Assistant to the villain

A delightfully weird mash-up of office comedy, fractured fairytale, and unrequited love story, TikToker Maehrer's debut will captivate readers from line one thanks to her quirky sense of humor and incredible writing chops. The novel overflows with fast-paced action and adventure, lighthearted banter, and romantic yearning. Ever optimistic, Evie Sage is a local villager whose luck finally runs out after an accidental meeting with the kingdom's most infamous antagonist, a powerful magician simply known as The Villain. She expects to be killed on the spot but instead walks away unscathed, with a job as his assistant and the expectation that she will join him at his estate the very next day. The Villain's manor may be filled with tortured screams, gruesome scenes, and the occasional venom-breathing creature, but over time, within its walls, Evie finds camaraderie in a cast of hilarious and fully formed secondary characters, respect from a dastardly yet secretly soft marshmallow of a boss, and a very real chance at finding her one true love. This story is exceptionally charming and joyful from beginning to end, and readers will likely find themselves all smiles despite the nail-biting cliff-hanger that the book ends on. A must-read.

Debut author Maehrer's TikTok series--turned--novel follows Evie, a chirpy personal assistant who catches the eye of her boss, a decidedly grumpy dark lord. Though it seems she may have magic of her own, Evie must keep her job in order to support her family--which is why she initially rationalizes hanging around Massacre Manor after the first stray eyeball squishes beneath her stiletto-heeled boot. In a departure from similar retellings of "Beauty and the Beast" (see Diana Wynne Jones's classic Howl's Moving Castle and Naomi Novik's more recent Uprooted) wherein a beastly wizard's employer's reputation is undeserved, Tristan, the Villain, actually is murdering people. The change adds some grimly funny moments but is undermined by audio narrator Em Eldridge's plodding pacing, which draws attention to Maehrer's repetitive and underworked prose. Fans of the TikTok series will likely be disappointed in Eldridge's wooden characterizations, which lack the infectious, unselfconscious glee of Maehrer's TikTok skits. The novelization of a viral video series might attract an audience but is less than magical as read by this narrator. VERDICT A possibility for listeners seeking a grumpy-sunshine romantasy, but an otherwise optional purchase.--Lauren Kage