Week 33 Review: Beautiful Villain

From 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.

My Review:
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! I've never read The Great Gatsby, I've seen at least parts of the Leonardo DiCaprio movie, so I have a bit of a grasp of the story. This modern day retelling of the story-but with vampires, yeah, I loved it! 

That this book is set in the modern day, means modern day standards, like the fact that Daisy's parent's don't want her to get married and only see her to fulfill that purpose. They were actually pretty fantastic and got along with Gatsby. Which was easily shown in the chapter at the end, set in the same time as the original, but still with vampires. Loved it! 

This book covers maybe a third of the original story, and condenses it down, because the whole kill Gatsby thing, well, doesn't really work when he's a vampire and you didn't know. So there was a whole bunch of story left after that and I loved seeing them have that time together! It also meant that this story was not predictable to following the story beats of the original story, since it had already gone past that, and had it's own original story plots because of the whole vampire thing. Which was so fascinating to read, this take on vampires! 

One thing that was brought up in this book was the idea of checking your privilege, which is an idea that more people should embrace, this idea that hey, maybe you have enough, you don't need this and someone else does, then even though that's not the best move for you, you give it to them. Which is a really good idea! 

This book was really fun and enjoyable, and I loved this take on these characters and this world! I loved their romance, and how close they were after their shared past, and I'm excited for the sequel! I'm not sure if it's going to be set in the same world, or if there's going to be stand alone stories, since it has a different kind of magic. But since this one had a few varieties, I think it could be set in the same world! We'll see! 

Loved reading this book, and I can't wait to read the sequel! 

Author: Rebecca Kenney
Series: Gilded Monsters #1
Read: August 15th, 2024
Source: NetGalley 
Reason Why: Sounded really good, and it's a 2024 Retelling Reading Challenge Book and a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2024 Book! 
Publisher: Dreamscape Media 
Published: July 16th 2024

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars