Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Assistant to the Villain

I was suprised by how much I genuinely enjoyed this book. It’s unique perspectives of the villain. And his assistant Evie were funny, refreshing and riddled with each’s impulsive thoughts.
The focus on the villains and not a hero archetype was very refreshing and and something I look forward to continue reading in its expected sequel.

Atop of its unique perspectives, this book was truly unpredictable and I never saw many of the betrayals coming. Arguably though, this just kept me infinitely more engaged.

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callidoralblack's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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dinahquinn's review

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funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I actually didn’t guess the twist until close to it happening which a nice change up. There’s definitely hints before, but not the “hints” that are really a brightly lit billboard.

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abicaro17's review

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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.

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toastyghosty13's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book was very lighthearted, emphasis on lighthearted. I picked this up after seeing it on social media about being a cute book where a woman goes to work for the villain of the story and starts to fall in love with him. It's exactly as described.

Something that slightly bothered me about this book is that a majority of it reads like it is for middle grade/YA. It was giving me flashbacks to reading the Septimus Heap series, except the characters were all in their mid-twenties instead of being 12 and in Assistant to the Villain there are minor mentions of sex (very minor, I almost wonder why it was even included considering how the book is written). I think it would have been better if the author had either leaned into just keeping it middle grade or leaned into making it for an adult audience rather than a strange mix of both.

Despite that dislike, I did find this to be a cute story and I like the main character Evie. She is a klutz and trips on everything, but it is kind of endearing and she doesn't try to change that about her. She still gets things done and it fully shows within the story that she is the central cog in which the Villain's machine functions around. At the base of it, the Villain is just a man that grew up quite lonely and was spited by others around him. I enjoy that Evie becomes that sunlight for him without pinning her to the manic-pixie-dream-girl trope, since he very much thinks he doesn't deserve someone as amazing as her.

There are some mysteries to solve and character backgrounds to unfold, but it isn't super deep. I liked the 2 main characters and want to see more of them. Some of the plot twists were a bit predictable but it was still fun to read and a nice change from what I normally read.

This book ends on a cliffhanger, and the sequel does not come out until later this year. I will definitely be reading the sequel since I am sold on the story.

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wickeddelights's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing slow-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

2.75

This book suffered from a lot of editorial drawbacks. There were inconsistencies that started from the get-go and moments where little things like the severity of ailments or a characters stance on whether or not they would reveal something would change in the space of 1-2 pages.
Some of the names of characters felt very out of place in a fantasy environment. And the characters could act downright cartoonish at times (ie, waving their arms wildly around, or quite literally rolling on the floor laughing)
I don't think it is meant to be taken too seriously, but there were so many instances where it felt like there should be a Disney sitcom laugh track playing in the background.
It just wasn't for me.

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colorwriter's review

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious medium-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? Yes

5.0

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readera's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This ends on a cliffhanger but the ending is still satisfying. I can't wait for the next one!

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