Once Upon a Time meets The Office in Hannah Maehrer’s laugh-out-loud viral TikTok series turned novel, about the sunshine assistant to an Evil Villain…and their unexpected romance.
ASSISTANT WANTED: Notorious, high-ranking villain seeks loyal, levelheaded assistant for unspecified office duties, supporting staff for random mayhem, terror, and other Dark Things In General. Discretion a must. Excellent benefits.
With ailing family to support, Evie Sage's employment status isn't just important, it's vital. So when a mishap with Rennedawn’s most infamous Villain results in a job offer—naturally, she says yes. No job is perfect, of course, but even less so when you develop a teeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss. Don’t find evil so attractive, Evie.
But just when she’s getting used to severed heads suspended from the ceiling and the odd squish of an errant eyeball beneath her heel, Evie suspects this dungeon has a huge rat…and …
Once Upon a Time meets The Office in Hannah Maehrer’s laugh-out-loud viral TikTok series turned novel, about the sunshine assistant to an Evil Villain…and their unexpected romance.
ASSISTANT WANTED: Notorious, high-ranking villain seeks loyal, levelheaded assistant for unspecified office duties, supporting staff for random mayhem, terror, and other Dark Things In General. Discretion a must. Excellent benefits.
With ailing family to support, Evie Sage's employment status isn't just important, it's vital. So when a mishap with Rennedawn’s most infamous Villain results in a job offer—naturally, she says yes. No job is perfect, of course, but even less so when you develop a teeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss. Don’t find evil so attractive, Evie.
But just when she’s getting used to severed heads suspended from the ceiling and the odd squish of an errant eyeball beneath her heel, Evie suspects this dungeon has a huge rat…and not just the literal kind. Because something rotten is growing in the kingdom of Rennedawn, and someone wants to take the Villain—and his entire nefarious empire—out.
Now Evie must not only resist drooling over her boss but also figure out exactly who is sabotaging his work…and ensure he makes them pay.
I couldn’t finish this. I made it about 1/4 through and still felt nothing for the characters and didn’t care what was going to happen next. Kudos to the author for not only writing a book, but a series! Amazing accomplishment but this wasn’t for me.
i should’ve avoided this book as soon as i saw it was described as a “booktok sensation”. alas, i didn’t and that's on me.
a few reasons why i hated this:
writing was cringe
romance was cringe
the nonchalant attitude towards human torture and murder. you’re expecting me to sympathise and align myself with the “villain” just because he treats his love interest kindly, even though he murders and tortures people for fun? no, seriously, i don’t care if the people he murdered and tortured were bad. the fact that he derived joy and satisfaction from doing that is disturbing enough.
the protagonist does not seem to care about the above-mentioned issue. which is another red flag to me.
also, the ending ends on a huge cliffhanger and there’s no proper conclusion to events. i know it’s a series, but it honestly feels like a “part one” rather than a whole book on its own. so unless you’re dedicated to reading the whole series, it’s better not to pick this book up.