Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

 

Reviewed by Kristin

Evie Sage is looking for a job. Employment isn’t that easy to come by in her fantasy/magical/medieval kingdom of Rennedawn, and soft hearted Evie stepped aside from her last job offer because the other applicant with multiple children hanging from her cloak looked so darn needy. Nonetheless, Evie is the main support of her household containing her ailing father and her young sister. She simply must find a job!

Cue the walk home through the dangerous forest where Evie gets caught between King Benedict’s guards and the man they are chasing. And it’s not just any man either—it’s The Villain.

The wanted posters for The Villain portray an old man with a gray beard and gruesome teeth. Even though this man exudes a sense of danger, he looks nothing like those posters. He’s young, strong, and quite handsome. As he clasps his hand over Evie’s mouth to keep her from crying out, she can’t help but notice that The Villain is rather different from the man who she and many others in the kingdom fear.

After The Villain whisks Evie away to his secret lair, he can’t just let her leave. What’s next? Her head hanging from a hook in his entryway? No, he gives her a job: Assistant to the Villain.

This novel is snappy and engaging, even if you have to choose to accept a few of the more unusual premises and plot twists. Evie quickly makes herself invaluable running The Villain’s business. The romance part (duh, The Villain is HOT!) is somewhat predictable, but nonetheless enjoyable. There were a few points when I wished that Evie would have remembered she had a brain instead of getting so wishy washy over the fact that surely her swooning feelings of love could never be reciprocated, but obviously the author needed to keep the action moving along for a few more chapters.

The twist at the end did give me hope for Evie’s spunkiness and leadership abilities, and leaves room for a sequel.

Assistant to the Villain actually started as a series of TikToks by @hannahnicolemae. After going viral as a BookToker, Hannah Nicole Maehrer penned her debut novel and has the sequel, Apprentice to the Villain, coming out in August 2024, and a third book contracted for 2025.