When I read the blurb for Beautiful Villain, there was both something familiar about it and something that felt new and I can proudly say that the book reads very true to that prediction. With a fresh take on a very familiar genre, Beautiful Villain has the capacity to capture your attention from page one and hold it to the very last word.
As readers we’ve all come to absolutely love and enjoy the slow-burn build-up of a book; the patience and angst that comes with it only adding to the experience (when done well, of course). However, finding books that draw your interest and tickle your intrigue from page one are a rare and special treat and Beautiful Villain is certainly one of those reads.
Rebecca F. Kenney’s writing is fast paced and addictive and there’s a certain youthfulness to the read that I hadn’t expected to find. Given how long it had been since I dove into a book that reads this way, I was impressed to observe it did not much influence my experience negatively. What did surprise me about the book was that there were as many poignant moments as there was youthful angst written into it. With lots of heart and a unique storyline carved out of some seen-before themes, Beautiful Villain has the potential to be a ‘single-sitting’ read for most readers.
The set-up in this book is fairly familiar: a long lost friend that the FMC has never forgotten who reappears in her life and turns everything she knows on its head. A fairly simple world; but the way that Kenney has built this storyline and crafted the worldbuilding is what makes this book what it is. With deeply emotional moments, moral dilemmas, and surprises, Beautiful Villain secures its own little corner in the well-paved path of its genre. That being said, I would classify Beautiful Villain to occupy a sweet spot that exists between high fantasy, magical realism, and maybe even some science fiction! However you wish to classify it, Kenney has done a great job selling the narrative to the reader. Portrayed in single person perspective Beautiful Villain follows a straightforward approach to narration. Facts and emotion tangle in an initially simple but increasingly complex tale between two childhood friends who are more than they seem.
The plot for the story I think is definitely one of the more strong elements of the book. Beautiful Villain has many subtle details and intricate aspects that slowly merge and weave into one evident story purpose. However, as mentioned earlier, there are many other underlying emotional elements that infiltrate every scene. I do think that this book gave off the energy of a standalone, however if it were to be a series, I can see all that’s been written into it that would be perfect for resolving later. But, if this book is a standalone, there were many little threads that I found weren’t particularly tied off with a neat conclusion to them. They may not be extremely noticeable but they were my more favourite parts of the book and I loved that the author had included (subtly) and spoken about the many facets of a mental health struggle. So I personally would have loved seeing them all explored and concluded.
The characters in the book are aplenty, but I greatly commend the author in the way that she wrote them into the story. With precise and sometimes even hard hitting introductions, all the characters (be it primary, secondary or tertiary) were extremely well defined and occupied exactly the right amount of scene space and were mostly never plot devices. With unique and distinct personalities, every character will certainly leave an impression both in the story and in the reader’s mind.
As neat as many aspects of the book were, I did feel that some that seemed simple were made complex and those that were complex were simplified too much; especially as the book neared to the end. It was at those points that I personally experienced some disbelief and confusion; which also ties back to my struggles with the way that some of the plot lines were resolved
Beautiful Villain can certainly draw you into its story where science and magic co-exist and make you forget the world for a few hours. This book has many sensitive and graphic themes that can be triggering for some. Please check content warnings before reading.
Beautiful Villain is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of July 16th 2024.
Will you be picking up Beautiful Villain? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Seven years ago, I lost him for good. Now he’s back, but is he still the Jay Gatsby I used to know…or is he something more? Something…darker.
Daisy Finnegan is looking forward to the endless golden freedom of summer. She doesn’t want to think about life after college, or the newly awakened power of her voice, which has a way of making people do frightening things. But when her cousin goes missing at an exclusive house party, Daisy confronts the mysterious host…only to discover the wealthy recluse is Jay Gatsby, her childhood sweetheart―now sinfully hot and impossible to deny.
It isn’t long before Daisy becomes entangled in a web of dizzying wealth and lies and obsession darker than she could have dreamed―culminating in a shocking act of violence that shatters the summer haze and threatens to drown them all.
But it isn’t until Gatsby is shot through the heart―and survives―that Daisy discovers the truth of how Gatsby clawed his way up in the world by selling the secret of immortality to the highest bidder. Now with her friends’ lives at stake, her own untested power still volatile, and an unimaginable threat closing in, Daisy will have to face an impossible choice: side with the man who claimed her body and soul…or with the monsters who would see him lost to her forever.
An addictive and truly original spicy New Adult retelling of The Great Gatsby with a magical twist.
