As an avowed fan of the Bravo ouevre, I am here for mess and as a character, Jac delivered that in spades. I loved this backstage peek into reality tv and even though I didn't like Jac all the time, I was rooting for her throughout. A deliciously fun read, perfect for summer.

I had so much fun reading this book. It is exactly what I would want from a book about contestants on a bachelor style show.

Our main character was far from perfect and it made her very relatable.

I was living for the romance. I could not put the book down.

Oh, this book was a trip! I was instantly sucked in to this intriguing premise (especially being a Bachelor fan). Jac was such an intriguing character to be in the mind of. She is essentially a bit of an antihero, and she is honest about her shortcomings-- yet we also get to watch her grow into and embrace her strengths. She is a very relatable and grounded character, and I loved her. I also loved her actual voice/the narration. The dry humor and blatant honesty was fantastic and refreshing.

The reality show backdrop was one of the most intriguing settings I have read in a long time. It was so layered and interesting with how we got to see Jac and her inner world, the competition amongst the girls, the nuances with the producers, the will they/won't they romance with Henry, and the confusing dynamic with Marcus. Having this many proverbial playgrounds kept the story moving and interesting the entire time. This premise also led way to creating super engaging characters and dynamics, especially with Jac's questioning what is and is not real.

Another huge win for me was how Jac inserted reflections into the story as it is playing out. When she would include an aside letting us know how it later aired on TV, it added this whole new immersive layer to the story. You really saw the manipulation in live time as she juxtaposed how something happened vs how it played out. It furthered that distrustful air that you as a reader have for the producers alongside Jac.

Finally, the pseudo-epistolary format of this was a slam dunk. Including the TikToks, the chat boards, the podcast transcripts, the group chats, and all of the other external platforms was solid gold genius. It helped to tell the story but also emulated the real-life feel of these shows where they take on such a new life outside of the filming, and it is not always accurate. I got excited to see what kind of tidbit would be next, and they were so creative and engaging each time.

I love a book that surprises me and keeps me guessing, and this one certainly had me conflicted alongside Jac. It was fun, it was different, and yes-- it was sexy in its own right, and I had the best time reading it. Thank you, NetGalley, Avon Books, and Laurie Devore for this treat of a book! I cannot wait for the world to discover it.

(Review will be posted on @bookish.kendall on Instagram per the date sent to the publisher)

Wow is this book a wild ride! It had me on the edge of my seat..really didn’t know how it would end. Laurie Devore does a great job exposing the underbelly of reality dating shows like The Bachelor, and also getting inside the head of a very vulnerable character. It was a nice twist on the heroine trope. There are a lot of themes woven together and explored adeptly…made me think. Queer rep: a smidge towards the end

Short summary: Jac is a once-successful romance author who’s running thin on ideas. She’s approached to appear on The 1 and thinks it’ll be great fodder for writing. Until she gets sucked in…and then there’s the producer she accidentally slept with before filming started, and the lines between reality and TV start to blur.

Thanks to Netgalley, and Avon and Harper Voyager. ARC exchanged for an honest review.

The blurb of this book got my attention immediately. I love reality tv and the show Fleabag. As I continued reading I couldn’t help but think of a fictional TV show that aired a couple of years ago. The show was about reality TV and the producers and cast behind the scenes. The more similar it got to that show the more I got the ick. And it got very similar. I won’t go into details as to avoid spoilers but it was too much for me to get past. Once I tried adding this book to goodreads and StoryGraph I saw that there are several other books with this title.

If you’re a fan of The Bachelor, this is a book for you! This definitely gave me what I needed from the in between season of The Bachelor and Bachelorette. I loved reading the behind the scenes and seeing how the villain became the winner. It felt slow at towards the middle but quickly picked up again!

This was a surprisingly complex book despite the airy premise. I’ve never been a fan of the Bachelor or any the spin-off series .I went into this purely for the romantic vibes promised. What I got instead was a pretty heady mix of complicated and unlikable characters and a gritty and unflinching view of reality television.

Let me start with the characters. They were flawed. Perhaps, not only flawed, but seriously fucked up. I don’t think I liked a single one of them, and perhaps that was the point. It was hard for me to feel sympathy for Jac, just like the audience wouldn’t. I understand that was fully the intention. I just couldn’t care that much about her and Henry because I don’t full understand the appeal of them. Like they bonded over how fucked up they were, but that was the extent. Their ending was clever, but there was a lot of reconciliation that the audience needed to see to truly be happy that they ended up together.

The behind the scenes POV of a Bachelor-esque show was as brilliant as it was horrifying. I can’t believe that they are treated that way, and yet I totally can.

Lastly, the writing style. It was very hard for me to like, but I do appreciate the craft. I felt that it was too abrupt and abrasive, but I think it was done so to really portray how abrasive Jac was. I may not have liked it, but I do think it is really well done.

This was a book that I couldn’t put down, though I didn’t necessarily like. It really mimics reality television like that. Well done to the author!

I thought the Villain Edit was such a creative and unique book! Even as only a casual watcher of the Bachelor franchise, I saw so much of its influences on the book! I thought this was such a fun and insightful take on what it was be like to be “edited” as the villain of a reality dating show! While show bring out Jac’s and Henry’s worst sides, I still found myself rooting for them throughout the book! It made them seem like more real and flawed people. The both leaned towards their more self destructive tendencies, but the book makes it how a show like “The 1” could push someone to be like this! I thought the two had great chemistry!!!

My Goodreads review is linked to this post and I will add my link to my Instagram post once it is up!

Before starting on the review for the book, I have to admit that I'm not a fan of The Bachelor/ette, Bachelor in Paradise, or any of it's many other spin-offs. I've watched a season of the Bachelor (or maybe the Bachelorette) and a season of Bachelor in Paradise. It contained a lot of what is problematic with society (serial dating, celebrity culture, women attacking women, misogyny, the list goes on). But reading a book about a Bachelor type reality show where the main character of the novel soon finds out she's getting the villain edit seemed intriguing. Sadly, it really wasn't.

First off, a minor editing/placement issue with the chapters. The first chapter is the opening scene of all the women walking up to the male bachelor lead, then the next chapter involves going back to five days before that opening scene, then we're back with all the girls at the house that first night, and finally we have the next chapter as going back four days before this opening scene. The placement of these two early chapters were odd as nothing like this happened the rest of the book. Yes, throughout the book there are articles, online message boards, podcasts, and more that analyze the episode and discuss how much of a bitch Jac is, but these weren't separate chapters unto themselves. Plus it made sense to have these snippets of people's reaction to certain scenes when they were edited and released to the public after reading the full scene unedited. The Four day and Five day earlier chapters would be better to start there and make it much less awkward to move through these first five chapters.

The content of the book itself was pretty boring. I thought we all understood that reality shows are completely fake and that many of these dating shows are toxic, but the theme of the book makes it seem like this is all new information. It does make me ask who the author had in mind for the intended audience because it wasn't me. I was slightly surprised by the ending with how Jac decides to be the lead on the next season of the 1...but she goes home and Henry's there, and they both knew this was a possibility?? I'm just confused because where supposed to understand that celebrity culture is toxic and horrible. I understand that Jac needed to get out of her NDA so she could sell her memoir about her time on the 1, but it felt like a weak way to end the book. Basically, I'm confused and bored and have some questions.

As someone who's watched The Bachelor for nine years, I knew I had to get my hands on this book! Laurie Devore really did her homework for this book: It follows Jac Matthis, the "villain" on season 32 of The 1 (an obvious Bachelor fill-in). Jac has a one-night-stand with Henry, a handsome man, the night before she reports for filming...only to find out Henry is one of the show's producers! And likewise, Jac doesn't know that she's in for the ultimate surprise: She's been designated as the season's villain.

The show pulled back the curtain on the filming of The Bachelor. I love podcasts like Game of Roses that fully acknowledge the artifice of the show and the ways in which producers script storylines and manipulate contestants, and I think the novel nicely captures that, too. Jac is a smart and sassy protagonist. She's not necessarily likable, but I think that's kind of the point. The show might portray her as the ultimate villain but she's certainly no "girl's girl" in real life, either. And Devore posits she shouldn't have to be.

As I often complain, the book had some pacing problems. For a fun summer read satirizing The Bachelor and centering a bada**, b*tchy protagonist, this was just too long. Some of the chapters in the middle dragged, then the book raced to the finish line. And some of the spicy scenes just didn't seem necessary for the purposes of the plot.

Overall, I was glad to read this one as I love anything that toys with The Bachelor universe, but the execution needed some refinement. It's definitely a good read for summer and a great book to pick up before the next season of The Bachelorette in July!

Who knew a book focused on a reality TV show could make me feel so much and keep me glued to the pages? This is so much more than a romance. I’d hesitate to even call it that even though there’s definitely romance. It’s more a searing look into the word of reality TV and how people’s assumptions of who we are inevitably affect the way we see ourselves too. It’s about loosing yourself while simultaneously finding yourself.

Jac is made to be the villain on the show but to me she was just so real. She wasn’t always likable, but she was definitely always relatable and I felt seen many times. I loved each character even if they were manipulative or deceitful or selfish. Jac has great chemistry with all the characters and the tension between Jac and Henry leaps off the page.

I read this in one sitting on my plane ride home and anything that can make you escape from a cramped 10-hour flight is a winner.

As a reformed former Bachelor Nation member, I found so many fun behind-the-scenes nuggets and nods to former favorite show leads in this first adult novel by the author. Not quite a standard contemporary romance novel, but is reality TV either? I enjoyed the cynicism and older age of our lead, and the quasi-love triangle. Jac was already not “here for the right reasons,” but this book takes the reader on even more of a ride than expected.

*I was honored to read an ARC of this book via NetGalley and the author/publisher. All opinions are my own.*

"The Villain Edit" by Laurie Devore presents a compelling glimpse into the tumultuous world of high school, where friendships are tested, secrets abound, and reputations hang in the balance. While the novel excels in capturing the intricacies of teenage relationships and the pressures of social hierarchy, it falls short in fully engaging with its morally complex characters and occasionally stumbles in its execution.

One of the novel's strengths lies in its portrayal of the main character, Ari. As a flawed and multifaceted protagonist, Ari defies easy categorization, oscillating between moments of vulnerability and moments of manipulation. Her journey from social outcast to reluctant queen bee is both captivating and troubling, offering readers a nuanced exploration of power dynamics and the lengths to which individuals will go to assert control.

Similarly, the supporting cast of characters is richly drawn, each possessing their own motivations and desires. From the enigmatic Sadie to the charmingly flawed Camden, Devore excels in crafting characters who feel authentic and relatable, adding depth and complexity to the narrative.

However, where "The Villain Edit" falters is in its handling of certain themes and plot points. At times, the novel seems to revel in its characters' morally ambiguous actions without fully grappling with the consequences of their behavior. While this ambiguity may be intentional, it can leave readers feeling disconnected from the story, unsure of who to root for or what to make of the characters' actions.

Additionally, the pacing of the novel occasionally feels uneven, with certain scenes dragging on while others are rushed through. This inconsistency can disrupt the flow of the narrative, making it difficult to fully immerse oneself in the story.

Despite these shortcomings, "The Villain Edit" remains an engaging read, offering a fresh take on familiar high school tropes and showcasing Devore's talent for crafting complex characters and relationships. While it may not be without its flaws, it nonetheless offers a compelling glimpse into the messy, often unforgiving world of adolescence, where the line between hero and villain is anything but clear-cut.

For publisher, review will be posted to Goodreads

Well well well, this was a deliciously bitchy and dramatic version of the Bachelor! This novel is told from the viewpoint of Jacqueline (Jac), the show’s appointed villain. Jac was a character you loved to hate but hated to love- she was frustrating, snarky, and entertaining!!!!

I ate this book up- I finished it in less than 12 hours. But I feel the complexity of the characters and how frustrating Jac could be at times made me feel the need to take a break from reading because I truly felt a range of emotions reading her story.

Thanks NetGalley and Avon & Harper Voyager for an ARC!

The Villain Edit is the story of Jac, a reality show contestant who refuses to play by the producers’ rules. As a romance writer, Jac understands the power of story. And so does Marcus, the star of the show who is looking for love. Jac is simply one of his options. But as Jac gets to know Marcus and the manipulations of the show are revealed, she must decide whether she wants the fairytale or something real.

The Villain Edit is a compulsive read that you won’t be able to put down! Similar to watching a reality show trainwreck, you can’t look away. Jac is a delightful and morally gray character who isn’t afraid to step on some toes. Her relationship with Henry was complex and both of them made mistakes. The ending was satisfying and I enjoyed the reveals along the way. If you like morally gray heroines, bingeable reality tv, and unputdownable stories then you need to check out The Villain Edit!

Thank you to Laurie Devore, Avon, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Goodreads, Instagram, Storygraph, Amazon, Barnes & Noble etc.

A friend brought this book onto my radar after we had a lengthy conversation about celebrity/fame books, and man am I glad she did. This is actually my second full five-star read of 2024, and I am just so genuinely obsessed with it. Spectacularly messed up and addictive, The Villain Edit explores what it means to be the villain in everyone’s story—and how to find your happy ending no matter the cost.

Jacqueline Matthis is a romance author whose career recently crashed after her publisher cancelled her books. After a few months of wallowing, she suddenly decides to go on the 1, a Bachelor-type dating reality show, as a means of improving her public persona. Once Jac arrives, she has instant chemistry with Marcus, the lead, but everything soon comes crashing down when she runs into Henry Foster, the only producer she hadn’t met prior to the show—and coincidentally the man she had a one-night stand with the day before filming started. As she navigates the complexity and toxicity of a reality show set, she soon discovers that she’s getting the villain edit and must decide what she actually wants.

Again, I cannot stress how genuinely obsessed with this book I am. I read maybe 20% in one day and was like, okay she’s good, and then somehow the next day I got so sucked in and read the rest of the book in one sitting over the course of some 7 hours. So yeah, it’s that serious for me.

I loved how complex Jac’s characterization is. Her voice is snarky and up-front and not afraid to get on your bad side, a self-admitted bitch. On the other hand, though, she’s so tired of being “too much” for every guy she’s ever dated; she just wants to find love, someone who will finally accept all of her. She wants so badly to be special and to be recognized for being special, and when her career came crashing down, she didn’t really know how to cope. Going on the show is clearly some amount of self destruction (and a lot of her actions on the show are too).

There’s also something to be said how her character shines even in this over-produced and heavily-manipulated reality show setting. Jac is so contrary and stubborn that she won’t play the game and ingratiate herself to the other contestants. While she doesn’t necessarily do anything to provoke them (that’s mainly the producers’ job), she doesn’t exactly try to make them like her in any capacity. That’s not the type of person she is: she’d rather be real than good, someone people love to hate just because they’re not doing the same thing as them.

And that’s what makes her relationship with Henry so good! Henry is similarly not by any means a great person; I mean, to be a producer for a reality show, you kinda have to leave your morals at the door. You, as the reader, know that he’s manipulating Jac and she knows that he’s manipulating her, but there’s also something so real between them that makes him irresistible to her, and vice versa. He sees her and she sees him and they understand each other so fundamentally that they can have literal conversations in loaded glances and one-word subtext.

Of course, there’s some difficulty in all this since everything’s mixed in with the lies. I won’t deny that their relationship is toxic, especially at the beginning (and throughout?), but that’s what makes it so, so good. Jac does get the upper hand on him at one point, and from then on, you’re just along for the ride honestly.

I also really liked the side characters! Going in, I thought Marcus would be some boring stock character who’s an obstacle to the main romance despite being the lead of the 1. However, he proved to be a very intriguing character with his own interests. I liked that Jac genuinely liked him before going on the show, mostly because she saw a lot of herself in him. This made her undeniable tension with Henry even better, the fact that she had good chemistry with, you know, the man she’s supposed to fall in love with yet still couldn’t stay away from the one man she’s supposed to avoid.

The only one of the contestants that Jac has a good relationship with is Rikki, whom I loved. Their lives are drastically different, yet Jac takes her under her wing while Rikki sees through the character the producers have cast Jac as. Instead, she sees Jac’s good heart, underneath all that bravado. I really loved their strong bond and their scenes together.

This book was a bit longer than I expected since it covers the entire exhausting process of filming a reality show, as well as some interspersed snippets from the present as the season is airing. I am actually glad that it was so long because I got to enjoy that much more of the book, which is an outstanding compliment coming from me honestly. I kept looking at my reading progress and being like, wow we’re not even halfway through yet (said positively)?? So much is packed into the first half, and by the time I got to the last 10%, I was racing through it because I so desperately needed to know what happened but also didn’t want the story to be over.

Anyways, The Villain Edit was one of my absolute favorite reads of the year, one that I know that I’ll come back to over and over again. In fact, I ended up rereading the book a week or so after finishing it the first time because I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Perhaps it was just the mood I was in, I don’t know. I still can’t recommend The Villain Edit enough, especially if you’re a fan of addictive, slightly toxic romances with heroines who are always cast as the villain!

The Villian Edit by Laurie Devore. This book hooked me from the start with its unique voice and tone. A dark look at the behind the scenes of overproduced reality bachelor type dating shows through the eyes of a misanthropic female MC Jac. Jac believed people her whole life, who said she was special until she moved to NYC and realized special is a dime a dozen there. Her debut novel fails, and she feels washed-up by the age of 32. She signs up for The 1, because she feels a kinship with the male lead and thinks being on the show, with her affected cool girl personna, will boost her books sales. The night before filming starts, she hooks up with Henry, after some smart banter, only to find out he's her producer on the show.

This book was so smartly written. It reminded me of a millennial take on a turn of the century comedy of manners, where every statement has a double meaning, and you have to be on your toes to understand the characters' true intentions. Jac could easily have been an unlikable character with her quips and better-than-you attitude. However, Devore allows us to slowly see the cracks in her veneer and insecurities even while Jac acts like a bad bitch saying things to other girls you always wished you could say but couldn't come up with til hours after the confrontation.

Henry and Marcus (the bachelor like character) were also well drawn and complex. Their true intentions evolving slowly over time. Loved fast friend Rikki, who is more than just a party girl. Appreciated the diversity in this book. Some of the PA characters blended together. The ending was unexpected. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to more from Devore. 4.5 stars. Thanks to Net Galley and Avon Publishing for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was so fun and addicting— exactly like reality tv! I loved how she recognized the flaws of the process and couldn’t help getting swept up in it all anyway. I wish I had hated the bachelor more.

“And that’s not what I meant, it’s never what I meant, because the happiness I need is so much bigger than romance or fairy tales or beautiful dinners where I starve because starving is how everyone might like me best. That’s not real. That’s not what I want. But that’s what this show is. It’s not about bone-deep sorrow or aching loss or anything that really matters. It’s about a happy ending, however it has to come. And I’m here to play along.”



Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this read now copy on NetGalley.

This book was a wild ride! It follows Jaqueline as she goes onto a Bachelor type dating show, not intending to fall in love but to play a likeable character and help her book sales. Things don’t go quite as planned, as she has no interest in making friendships with the other girls and is being manipulated by the producers (one of whom she starts to have feelings for) into revealing more about herself than she intended. She starts to realize that the producers may be giving her the villain edit.

I haven’t watched the Bachelor, but I love Love is Blind and reality competition shows like Project Runway. Books like this are definitely in my wheelhouse (I loved Curtis Sittenfield’s Eligible and enjoyed One to Watch by Kate Stayman). I loved The Villain Edit. It was everything good reality competition tv is—juicy, messy, gossipy, drama filled, scandalous—but it also went much deeper and examined the misogyny of this industry and how these shows are edited to be “good tv” instead of necessarily portraying the truth and always giving context to why someone said something, etc. I like that Jaqueline slowly found herself over the course of the book and found a way to regain her autonomy and speak her truth.

I would highly recommend this book for others like myself who love reality television and who enjoy complex, flawed characters. This would make a really excellent beach read for any upcoming vacations and conveniently comes out right before the Fourth of July.

4.5 stars out of 5

Despite long ago giving up my weekly Bachelor watching, I will read any book with a Bachelor-esque premise.
In The Villain Edit, Jac signs up for the 1 to save her plummeting writing career, and winds up in a love triangle with a producer AND being portrayed as the season’s villain.
I was not surprised to see the author’s note mention Courtney Robertson’s (fantastic) Bachelor memoir, as Jac’s biting sense of humor felt very inspired by Courtney’s turn as the villain.
Overall this was fine! There’s the possibility I’ve read too many Bachelor inspired books and despite the villain twist I’m not sure I found this one memorable enough to recommend highly.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!