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abicaro17's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is a hard book to rate. I really enjoy the concept and a lot of the plot points. An grumpy evil villain with a sunshine down on her luck assistant? Amazing! I think the issue is execution. The book is incredibly slow and any story advancement is basically in the last 50ish pages. The characters are also relatively flat and boring. Like Evie got a blip of development past the box she was shoved in during the last 5 pages. Becky and Blake are the worst examples of this because they're exclusively office suck up and the goofy guy. I tried to give this book grace because its part of a series but a lot of content could have been added to create context for a lot of things we're just like asked to believe. Like the Villian being a village terror (he basically only beheads people who work for him, people trying to kill him, or anyone who disrespects people he cares about ), King Benedict being a "hero" in literally anyones eye??, or the lack of world building (where are they, how far away is the palace, is it like a fairytale kingdom or am I supposed to be imagined King's Landing from GOT?) This just needed more world building content, more contextual characterization, and a story restructuring for me. Also when the Villian is like I love Evie! I literally closed my book and rolled my eyes. WDYM? This is a slow burn bro you aren't supposed to know that yet.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Classism, Kidnapping, Body horror, Gaslighting, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Child death, Chronic illness, Drug use, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Blood, Confinement, and Grief
merylas's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Gore, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
tacochelle's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I liked its concept, but the dialogue and romance were uncomfortably awkward. And I wasn't fully sold on how much of a villain the love interest was. The heads hanging in the lair, among many other crimes, were just so casually described, almost as an afterthought. Also, they just call him The Villain as a title for most of the book. It's so uncreative and boring, you could call him literally anything and that's your choice?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, and Animal cruelty
wickedgrumpy's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
2.5
It had promise but ended up lacking. The pacing felt awkward, the pining was uninspired, the world building was confusing.. I could go on, but it wasn't a bad book. Doubt I will continue the series.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Blood, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Gore, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship
notsobinaryart's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
A fun and easy read, but I had some major issues with the book.
It’s a fun concept, showing The Villain being not a bad guy and having a sweet bubbly girl working for him. The characters are overall charming, and you do root for them even when they do less than ideal things.
The book was long, having unnecessary scenes that serve as fun little moments without furthering any obvious plot, which can be fine but don’t seem super well edited. The book is very on the nose, which isn’t bad for an easy read, but don’t expect some earth shattering revelations, new concepts, or major twists on any tropes. The characters weren’t super complex either, and we mostly only get surface level insight into the characters until we get a few moments of insight to their trauma, often in an info dumpy way.
One of my biggest issues is with some ableist tropes is at the climax of the book. In the end, you find out the sick disabled father was faking it all along. Not only is he faking, he’s faking to further his villainous intentions. This stereotype further perpetuates that many disabled people are actually faking it, which is incredibly harmful towards public perception of real disabled people. I am extremely tired of disabled people, even fake disabled people, being the villain, especially if it’s a direct tie to their villainy. Almost every disabled person has experienced ableists questioning their disability perpetuated by these harmful tropes.
If you’re looking for a fun read, it can be enjoyable, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this book.
It’s a fun concept, showing The Villain being not a bad guy and having a sweet bubbly girl working for him. The characters are overall charming, and you do root for them even when they do less than ideal things.
The book was long, having unnecessary scenes that serve as fun little moments without furthering any obvious plot, which can be fine but don’t seem super well edited. The book is very on the nose, which isn’t bad for an easy read, but don’t expect some earth shattering revelations, new concepts, or major twists on any tropes. The characters weren’t super complex either, and we mostly only get surface level insight into the characters until we get a few moments of insight to their trauma, often in an info dumpy way.
One of my biggest issues is with some ableist tropes is at the climax of the book.
If you’re looking for a fun read, it can be enjoyable, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, Violence, Misogyny, Confinement, Abandonment, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Alcohol and Gore
Minor: Drug abuse and Animal cruelty
ajhling's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
(Please note it took me from October to December to finish it, not because I wasn't interested but because I'm Autistic and other things (video games, cooking, trying to learn another language, and a handful of movies, books and TV shows) caught my attention (yay for hyperfixation)).
This book is a fun read. It's obvious that the author doesn't have much experience in writing, and that - at least in the Google Books edition I had - there was some minor formatting and spelling issues.
But despite the clear inexperience of the author, I found myself enjoying the book. The cast of characters weren't 'diverse' in the real-world sense. But to be fair, its a fantasy world with fantasy nations and cultures, and we only know there are other cultures in this world because they were occasionally mentioned very briefly.
That being said, the characters that were depicted weren't of the same physical appearance (not all white, or supermodel 'pretty'), and at least two side characters were revealed to be not-straight (so for those of you that care about that sort of thing you'll find a little bit of representation).
However, there were definitely character tropes happening. The Villain (the love interest for the fenale protagonist) being described as really attractive and physically strong. The female protagonist having black hair and light-blue eyes (which apparently is seen as a cliche these days that doesn't bother me but apparently bothers orhers).
Random bitchy female character who would be the high school girl who thinks she's better than everyone because 'reasons' in a YA novel, but in this one she is a co-worker who thinks she's better than everyone because 'reasons.' A dumb geeky-jock-like character clearly crushing on the bitchy co-worker but probably doesn't stand a chance.
But even with the cliches and the plot being a little 'holey' (which is unsurprising because this whole idea for the story literally started thanks to a TikTok serie and was originally created for fun and enjoyment) the story was still good.
Would I say it was great or revolutionary? Nope. But it was still a great light-hearted read for when you don't want to read something too heavy or with to many 'moving parts' or complex lore.
Was the world and character building a little on the weaker side of things? Yes. But don't worry, there was character development for not just the maim characters but fir secondary characters as well (and most of the character development happened in the last five-odd chapters). Despite this the characters were interesting enough that I cared about what happened to them.
Will I be reading the sequel? Yes, because I genuinely want to know what happens next.
This book is a fun read. It's obvious that the author doesn't have much experience in writing, and that - at least in the Google Books edition I had - there was some minor formatting and spelling issues.
But despite the clear inexperience of the author, I found myself enjoying the book. The cast of characters weren't 'diverse' in the real-world sense. But to be fair, its a fantasy world with fantasy nations and cultures, and we only know there are other cultures in this world because they were occasionally mentioned very briefly.
That being said, the characters that were depicted weren't of the same physical appearance (not all white, or supermodel 'pretty'), and at least two side characters were revealed to be not-straight (so for those of you that care about that sort of thing you'll find a little bit of representation).
However, there were definitely character tropes happening. The Villain (the love interest for the fenale protagonist) being described as really attractive and physically strong. The female protagonist having black hair and light-blue eyes (which apparently is seen as a cliche these days that doesn't bother me but apparently bothers orhers).
Random bitchy female character who would be the high school girl who thinks she's better than everyone because 'reasons' in a YA novel, but in this one she is a co-worker who thinks she's better than everyone because 'reasons.' A dumb geeky-jock-like character clearly crushing on the bitchy co-worker but probably doesn't stand a chance.
But even with the cliches and the plot being a little 'holey' (which is unsurprising because this whole idea for the story literally started thanks to a TikTok serie and was originally created for fun and enjoyment) the story was still good.
Would I say it was great or revolutionary? Nope. But it was still a great light-hearted read for when you don't want to read something too heavy or with to many 'moving parts' or complex lore.
Was the world and character building a little on the weaker side of things? Yes. But don't worry, there was character development for not just the maim characters but fir secondary characters as well (and most of the character development happened in the last five-odd chapters). Despite this the characters were interesting enough that I cared about what happened to them.
Will I be reading the sequel? Yes, because I genuinely want to know what happens next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Child abuse
Minor: Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Child death, Torture, and Grief
Most content warnings were only briefly mentioned or implied. Only two were more obvious (gaslighting, blood and violence and sexual harassment coming up or implied more than the others) but even then they weren't overly explicit. The most explicit was description of an injury that resulted in death of a number of people.tym_flies's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Slay (the king).
Fuck that cliffhanger tho
Fuck that cliffhanger tho
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Kidnapping, Blood, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and War
protestmyboredom's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Ahhh this book is so good! Light and clever with so much personality. Original but also nostalgic and a cute romance with serious issues but it doesn’t feel heavy. I love Evie and The Villain and I was so excited to have his point of view too- I squealed to myself the first time. I can wait to read more and I’m sure I’ll read this again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Abandonment, Medical trauma, Death, Child death, Chronic illness, Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Grief, and Gaslighting
taryn_g's review
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child death, Blood, Torture, Chronic illness, and Gore
Minor: Animal cruelty
marci_travels's review
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Based on the age of the characters I thought I was dealing with a new adult fantasy romance. I thought the premise was a sunshiny assistant working for a grumpy villain and how she reconciled her need for a job with her horrible working conditions. (although this could be so much like real life I would hesitate to call it fantasy.) I thought the romance would be a nice long slow burn as the main characters would have to overcome some pretty hard stereotypes/values reassessment to make the relationship viable. I thought the secondary characters would add intrigue to the plot, clever banter to make the working environment even bearable, and a little magic because you know, it's marketed as a fantasy.
This just came across as one more ditsy beauty falling for the local bad boy with all kinds of cringey workplace harassment, "let's not talk about our feelings" emotional miscommunication, and world building so vague it had modern language in a medieval setting.
It's a fun little piece of fluff. The concept is fantastic and I really wish the author would have had a good developmental editor, "let's wait until it's ready" publisher, and beta readers who would have said the hard truths early to make this a better book. Because I believe it is in there. It's just not there yet.
This is a "read it in an afternoon" brain candy. An occasional treat that never hurt anyone.
This just came across as one more ditsy beauty falling for the local bad boy with all kinds of cringey workplace harassment, "let's not talk about our feelings" emotional miscommunication, and world building so vague it had modern language in a medieval setting.
It's a fun little piece of fluff. The concept is fantastic and I really wish the author would have had a good developmental editor, "let's wait until it's ready" publisher, and beta readers who would have said the hard truths early to make this a better book. Because I believe it is in there. It's just not there yet.
This is a "read it in an afternoon" brain candy. An occasional treat that never hurt anyone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Gore
Minor: Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Murder, and Torture