Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Assistant to the Villain

It be easy to say this is enemies to lovers or sunshine/moody or call it a coworker romance but it really isn’t. The romance is there sure but reading this(while I SO wanted to see them together) I also wanted to see how they interacted with everyone else and see how they realize their feelings. It was more like a romcom where the main characters are more afraid of their feelings than they are oblivious. Over the story was great, awesome fantasy elements, cute humor and all and all a solid read. Sometimes it felt like big reveals weren’t explained enough but that is also a bit of a personal preference. I am also now truly a victim of the book as I torturously wait for the sequel in August.

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abicaro17's review against another edition

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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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merylas's review against another edition

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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

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rehtaehwashere's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

What I liked: The story concept, the addition of magical creatures (really wasn't expecting that at all), family dynamics, a realistic feeling sibling relationship (even if it was minimal). The slow burn romance and will-they-won't-they, and the thirsting wasn't excessive at all
What I disliked: the twist where
the villain isn't actually the villain (that's what SOLD me on the book)
, that the character was an obvious author insert plus the cringey quirkiness (typical romance-fantasy style) and inserting outfits randomly everywhere. Plus the
<'dating her boss' /spoiler> trope was kinda eh
Overall thoughts: really cool story and I love the concept! Much better writing than fourth wing even if the characters are still the author-insert quirky girl thing which was less bothersome here because the story was interesting and was advertised PURELY as a romance so it is almost expected. Crabby male characters will always win me over because it's funny. The
fake-trustworthiness of the 'good' people being pretty convincing
was good too.
Recommend to a friend? Y

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jess_thefacts's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

The beginning of this was choppy. I struggled to relate to the characters. By the end however, I was invested. There were some things that irked me and I know shouldn't like the word "robotic" in a world that seemed to be tech free save the "bomb". I liked the premise and have high hopes for the second installment

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wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

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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.

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steen19's review against another edition

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adventurous funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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