See the new cover for Desperate Measures (and a Q&A with Katee Robert!)

It truly feels like I'm a Katee Robert fan first and a person second. That's why when I saw the new cover for Desperate Measures, I almost screamed in excitement.

As someone who has met Katee Robert now, I figured I would be more chill. That was simply not the case but thankfully, Sourcebooks Casablanca was happy to indulge my fangirling and even allowed me to talk to Katee Robert.

If you're unfamiliar, Robert originally self-pubbed this series and it has now been picked up by Sourcebooks Casablanca. Due to that, there are some new additions and of course, some stunning new covers.

Thankfully, Katee Robert took time out of their busy schedule to answer a few questions we had. We'll get to that in a second, but first, let's just admire the cover one more time.

Don't miss the new cover for Desperate Measures!

If you've read the books, you'll know that Desperate Measures follows the dark and twisty romance of Jasmine and Jafar. However, the one change I want to note is that Jasmine's name has been changed to Yasmina. Other than that, this edition is also going to feature footnotes and all the bonus content your heart could ever want featuring these two.

With a release date set for October 15th, you'll want to get your hands on this book whether you're reading it for the first time or not. With that being said, let's get into our Q&A with Katee Robert as they had a lot of thoughts and I'm here for it all.

Culturess: Desperate Measures is the first book of yours I ever read. Would you say it's a good starting point for new readers?

Katee Robert: Oh wow, you really started strong! It's honestly one of my more hardcore books, and so when people start there, I always have the deep urge to apologize. Which is probably silly. These days, I usually recommend Neon Gods as a good taste test of whether someone will like my writing, but Desperate Measures is really special to me because it's the first book I went pretty hard on.

Culturess: Since the new cover is incredibly different from the original, did you have certain aspects you wanted to include on it?

Katee Robert: The first cover was very firmly a traditionally "dark romance cover" with its object and dark vibes, so for the reissue, I really wanted to take some chances and have an art-forward cover with the characters. Thankfully, my team at Sourcebooks was in agreement. We worked with Anna Moshak to create the art for this, and she knocked it out of the park so intensely! It's better than I could have dreamed and absolutely embodies the vibes with Jafar and Yasmina.

Culturess: How has it been to revisit the world of Wicked Villains after some time away?

Katee Robert: It's been really nice for a few reasons. I don't tend to re-read my books once they're out in the world, so having a good reason to go back through and make some small changes, as well as just immerse myself in the world again, has been a true delight. I'm actually writing a second-generation series with the children of the original Wicked Villains folks, so going back in has been so helpful for that project as well.

Culturess: Which upcoming WV release are you most excited for us to see the new cover for?

Katee Robert: I recognize that saying "All of them!" is cheating, so I'll restrict myself to two. I'm exceedingly excited to see Tink and Hook on their cover, and Malone and Aurora continue to be my favorite, so their cover is going to be so much fun!

Considering that the cover was just released today, I have to give a HUGE thank you to both Sourcebooks Casablanca and Katee Robert. It was so awesome to be able to spotlight this cover and get to talk to Katee about it. Hopefully, all of my fellow romance readers are just as excited as I am to see this series being recovered.

Desperate Measures by Katee Robert is set for release on October 15th, 2024.

What do you think of the new cover for Desperate Measures? Will you be grabbing a copy for your shelves?