Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

 Having left her old job when her boss turned out to be a creep Evie Sage now needs a new one. Even more so since she needs to provide for her younger sister and ailing father. On the way home from a job fair she runs into The Villain hiding from the king's soldiers. Finding him to be nothing like the grotesque caricatures on the wanted posters she accept his offer to become his assistant. But there is something rotten in the office and it's not just the severed heads decorating the entryway. Someone is ruining the villains carefully laid plans. 

There's a spy in the office. 

My thoughts

I don't really know what I think about this book. Reading the blurb and looking at the cover I assumed that it would be set in modern times. The word villain leading me to think it of super heroes or James Bond. In hindsight the swords and spears on the cover should have been a clue that it is in fact set in a vaguely medieval, fairytalesqe period. But I didn't catch that and was somewhat disappointed when I started to read it. Until I had read a few chapters and realized that the historic setting is only thinnest veneer. Yes there are kings and dragons and swords and magic, but there is also Evies ongoing feud with Becky from HR, large amounts of coffee and interns. And just because The Villain (that's what he's called for most of the book) occasionally shoots arrows at them does not change the fact that interns was not a thing in medieval times.

It's basically a modern workplace drama about people working for the villain, which I suppose is what I thought it would be. But I'm still disappointed.

When it comes to the spy plot I was happy to find that my guess turned out to be wrong (it would have been too predictable if I was right). I think maybe they should have worried about it more at least after the assassination attempt. Maybe not worried because they do but there should be more descriptions of them doing countermeasures to trap the spy. Then again I like clever people competing in a game of wits and this is a romance first and spy thriller maybe third. But all in all a fairy decent plot until the end when the spy is revealed turned out to be cartoonishly evil. 

This is the part I was interested in but there was also the romantic main plot. I don't care much for  romance as a genre and I didn't really care that much about their ongoing lovestory. I mostly don't really see why they would be interested in each other, apart from him being hot and her not being afraid of him. Which is really no basis for a relationship. But it didn't impede the spy plot that much so it's fine.    

All in all its a nice book but probably better for someone who likes romance.

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Assistant.