My Desperate Measures Book Review - No Spoilers
Plot Summary
Desperate Measures by Katee Robert kicks off the Wicked Villains series with a sharp, steamy twist on an Aladdin-inspired story. Jasmine is the only daughter of a powerful underworld boss—a “princess” living in a tightly controlled cage. When her father is taken down by his ruthless second-in-command, Jafar, Jasmine faces a brutal new world where loyalty, lust, and danger are all tangled together. Jafar offers Jasmine a choice: fight for her freedom and risk losing everything, or surrender and become his—on his terms. Trapped but not powerless, Jasmine tests the boundaries at every chance, captivated by Jafar’s dark magnetism and the promise of freedom he both dangles and denies. Their explosive dynamic draws them into a power play filled with dominance, submission, and trust games as secrets, betrayals, and rivalries in Carver City push them toward a reckoning neither expected. The result is a blistering, enemies-to-lovers romance where the real fight is for agency and control.
Why I Love This Book
I love how “all in” this book goes when it comes to spice, power struggles, and morally gray characters. Jafar is every bit the villain—commanding, intimidating, but always careful with Jasmine’s consent and boundaries. Jasmine, despite being tossed from one gilded cage to another, never stops fighting for herself or her choices. Their chemistry is instant and wild, a mix of heat, danger, and respect that sets the pages on fire. I especially liked how the story explores submission and dominance as safe, consensual choices, not simple lack of power. The world is decadent, a bit lawless, and unapologetically queer—almost everyone gets to chase what, and who, they want. The book acknowledges the dark and the taboo without making apologies, and the kink dynamics are explicit but handled with thought and care. There’s no hand-holding or softening the rough edges, and the result is brash, bold, and addictive. “Desperate Measures” never pretends to be more than it is—danger, desire, and the villain getting the girl, all with a knowing wink.
Who Will Like This Book
If you want your fairy tales dirty, modern, and flipped inside out, you’ll enjoy this book. It’s perfect for readers who like villain main characters, taboo or kink-forward romance, and explicit open-door encounters. If you love enemies-to-lovers, domination/submission, consent-focused kink, or just want an erotic retelling where the villain actually wins, it’ll deliver in every way. Do not pick this up if you dislike explicit content (including consensual non-consent, dubcon, and group scenes), mafia underworld settings, or morally gray main characters. All the trigger warnings apply: this one is bold, brazen, and doesn’t pull any punches.
⚠️ Trigger warning: explicit sexual content, consensual non-consent, dominance and submission, mentions of parental abuse, emotional manipulation, violence, and group sex.
Tagged As
dark romance, villain romance, erotic romance, open-door romance, retelling, Aladdin, enemies to lovers, consent play, BDSM romance, mafia romance, morally gray hero, protective hero, kickass heroine, forbidden romance, group sex, bi heroine, queer romance, kink, modern fantasy, power dynamics, series, indie romance, kindle unlimited, HEA, emotionally complex, explicit, standalone
Steam Level
This book is off-the-charts steamy. The sexual content is graphic, frequent, and includes group play, exhibitionism, dominance/submission, and other explicit kinks. The spice is not window dressing—it’s the centerpiece, and every scene is meant to be bold, boundary-pushing, and pulse-quickening. Nothing “fades to black” here—if you want the most explicit experience romance can offer, this is it.
