Joined in 2023 
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the romance was just so cute!! i actually really appreciated that there was no spice and loved the ya feel…like this book embodies something that my inner fangirl self loved !! it was just such an enjoyable, lighthearted, hilarious, and fast paced romp and im so glad i read it. it sometimes came off as episodic which like that was the og format so obviously it makes sense and I really liked it because it kept me interested and the chapters were short after the prologue but we don’t talk about that. It was tropey for sure but i could feel the author having fun and i loved that. why shouldn’t we write books with tropes we know we all love? This book was also supposed to be 'laugh out loud' funny, when in reality, I didn't laugh once. I might have awkwardly cringe out of embarrassment for some of the characters but sadly, the humor wasn't my cup of tea. If anything, I found the Villain to be a bit funny - with his unpleasant, gruff replies and standoffish demeanor - whenever he interacted with Evie. But again, it was never lol kind of funny.
I've watched a lot of Hannah's Assistant to the Villain TikTok videos since the beginning, and was really excited about this book. Overall, it was pretty good for a debut novel. While it had its moments, I thought it was quite forgettable. So let's dive into the things I liked and didn't like: Look, regardless of the things I didn't like, the book was fine. I read it in one sitting and survived. There wasn't a lot of substance and it was definitely too long, but I didn't want to throw the book across the room or set it on fire. So it is at least entertaining enough and readable. But do I want to read it again? No. Do I want to continue the series? Unfortunately, no. But I do want to read a summary of what happens next. Would I recommend this to you? Maybe, if you want to read a low-stakes fantasy where nothing important happens for 80% of the book. It's not bad, but there's definitely better books out there I would prefer to spend time on. The Villain does have a name and an evil power that goes along with it. Which I thought was a cool power to have for an evil villain.She’d grown so alarmingly used to that look from the villagers, she’d cataloged it in her mind under things that made her want to commit acts of violence.
Despite these little bumps on the road, I can without a doubt claim this as one of my favorite reads of the year. The pacing of the book is fairly adequate. There are details scattered throughout which tell us more about the characters as we finish chapter after chapter. There comes a certain element of predictability once you have found the grove which it is rested upon, but that does not take away from the curiosity of what comes next. But after reflection on the book as a whole, I am in a solid 3.5/Like rating. It is billed as romantasy, but I’d call it more of a romantasy parody. The way it portrays the evil/gross things as almost humorous reminds me a bit of Gilded, which also took some getting used to. I also felt pretty lost at first, and I feel like we lost a huge chunk of potential world building by skipping over the first months of Evie’s new job as the assistant to the Villain. I get that Evie is meant to be this sunshine assistant, but did she have to come across so ditsy and annoying? She was just very child-like in her interactions with people, and was sort of in her own little bubble. And then whenever she thought, "He should scare me but doesn't. . . huh I wonder what that means" (and she thinks this A LOT), I couldn't help but roll my eyes. First off, this makes her seem like an idiot. And second, at this point the author is just holding the readers hand here, which is super irritating.Granted, she didn't want to become evil, but when you spend most of your life trying to see the sun, you begin to wish for rain.” ASSISTANT WANTED: Notorious, high-ranking villain seeks loyal, levelheaded assistant for unspecified office duties, supporting staff for random mayhem and terror, and other Dark Things In General. Discretion a must. Excellent benefits. It reminded me a little of The Paper Magician, especially the relationship between Evie and The Villain. She wasn’t light; she was color. Every single one, dancing otherworldly and bright over his unworthy eyes. She was the explosion of the vivid gleams and glows of the world around him, like a constant rainbow l, shinning not after the rain but during.” Every once and awhile you find a hidden gem after sifting from story to story, endlessly searching to fill a void you were unaware even existed in the pit of your soul, until it punches you straight in the face and fills you with silly joy. That is how I felt finding this treasure of a story.
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