Assistant to the Villain

by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Kindle Edition, 418 pages

English language

Published Aug. 29, 2023 by Entangled: Red Tower Books.

ASIN:: B0BYM2LJDX

(12 reviews)

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 …

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.

After all, a good job is hard to find.

5 editions

73pctGeek reviewed Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (Assistant and the Villain, #1)

Not as fun as I'd hoped

3 stars

A young woman lacking better opportunities, goes to work for the local villain.

While the writing is fine, and the premise fun, it's not as amusing as I'd hoped. It feels overly long and the romance is clumsy, relying on misunderstandings. The heroine is meant to be feistier, funnier, and more charming than she actually comes across. If the plot's turns are meant to be surprising it failed, all are telegraphed well in advance, and a certain narrative choice causes the world to feel very small.

Ends on a tiny cliff, I'll probably read the sequel.

Teejay reviewed Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (Assistant to the Villain, #1)

Not for me

2 stars

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.

Jam reviewed Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (Assistant to the Villain, #1)

mad that i wasted my time on this

1 star

Content warning spoilers

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.