Notes from the Shelf

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Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer is a 342-page fantasy novel and the first book in the series by the same name. Evie Sage is in a predicament with her being the sole provider for her younger sister and ailing father. When she is between jobs, she encounters Rennedawn’s infamous Villain, resulting in a job offer to be his assistant, which naturally she takes. Just when she’s getting used to seeing severed heads suspended from the ceiling, Evie suspects there’s a spy amidst the staff sabotaging the Villain’s plans and trying to get him killed. Now Evie must find the spy and make sure they pay.

This book is advertised as Once Upon a Time meets The Office, which sounds hilarious and right up my alley. However, I was very disappointed in the book. I found it through the author’s TikTok, where she would post scenarios of an assistant’s life to a villain, which is how she ended up writing the book. A lot of the situations I saw her act out on her TikTok seemed more intriguing than the book ended up being, although maybe some of those ideas will be in the later books. I also thought there would be a lot of spice, and there was basically zero. Maybe in the next book there will be more, but they barely even kissed once!

The one thing that I thought made this book alright of a read was that Evie learns to be a villain herself, standing up for herself and fighting the tyranny of the King. I do enjoy reading about women characters embracing the villain role. In the end, the Villain is taken away by the King, and it ends with Evie vowing to rescue him, which I am interested in seeing how that plays out, so I might read the rest of the series. However, if I do, I will be getting the books through the library. I don’t think the first one was worth buying, but I did since it was hyped on TikTok, so I learned my lesson and won’t be buying the rest.

I give Assistant to the Villain 3 stars.

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