Hi friends and welcome to the second installment of Fatigato’s Fiction Fix. As an avid reader, I’m always trying to broaden my lenses, reading across genres from fantasy and romance, to science fiction or thrillers, to find my next favorite read. I’m all for finding that comfort read, the one book that will make you cry your heart out, or one that’ll make you rethink and question the narrator themselves. For this week’s installment, we’re changing directions and going for a fantasy and romance story written by Hannah Nicole Maehrer, Assistant to the Villain. This post will include spoilers for the book.
Hannah Nicole Maehrer is a relatively new author in the publishing world with her debut novel, Assistant to the Villain, first released in August of 2023. The book achieved the mark of becoming a New York Times Best Seller shortly after its release. Since she’s a newer author with only two current published books, both part of the same series, it was interesting to see how she used social media as a platform to promote not only the books themselves, but also her writing process. Specifically, TikTok had become this mode of promotion and was where I actually had discovered her work and it quickly became refreshing to see a younger author making a name for herself with her witty and humorous stories.
To dive into Assistant to the Villain itself, the story follows Evangelina Sage, who with her ill father and younger sister to support, winds up taking a unique job offer to become the assistant to the Villain. This book felt like a complete guilty pleasure read for me as it followed the main trope of the morally grey villain and the sunshine girl, full of witty and sarcastic conversations as Evie pushes the Villain to give hints of a smile. Throughout the story, we see how Evie starts to realize she actually likes working in villainy even despite her better judgement. Even going to the level of building a sense of closeness to the Villain, later known as Trystan Maverine, and meeting his brother and sister as she works to find out who’s plotting against him.
While the book does play into more of the romance tropes and keeps the reader in suspense on whether or not the two will actually end up together, the book dives into some deeper themes as well. Over the course of the novel we learn about the disappearance of Evie’s mother who possessed powers that would ultimately drive her mad, but also the death of her brother that she felt responsible for. In the midst of humor and sarcasm we’re shown another side of the sunshine character, watching as grief surrounds her. On top of that, the book depicts sexual harassment from her previous employer and I appreciated the warning Maehrer gives in the beginning of Assistant to the Villain since that topic can be a trigger.
Overall, Hannah Nicole Maehrer’s Assistant to the Villain is up there as one of my favorite fantasy and romance books for the themes she was able to discuss while also maintaining the character’s personality, whether it be as a reflection of the trauma she endured. I mean, what’s not to like about a morally grey character seeing some of Evie’s darkest moments and then still giving a whole internal monologue of how “From the moment he’d met her, he thought of her like the sun. But he was wrong. She wasn’t light; she was color. Every single one, dancing otherworldly and bright over his unworthy eyes” (pg. 273).The book kept me hooked as I read through the romance developing between the two, but also with my investment in knowing who was truly plotting against the Villain and in the end, I never would’ve guessed who was actually behind the scheming.
If you enjoy a good romance and fantasy book full of adventure this is the one for you! I fell in love with the witty personality of Evie as she always said exactly what was on her mind, even if the situation didn’t always benefit from it. Along with the idea of growing and accepting one’s grief rather than trying to hide it away. While that’s all I have to say about this book for now, I’m excited to see what the next one has in store.
Catherine Fatigato – Prose Editor, Layout Editor & Blogger: Catherine is a Senior at Lewis University majoring in English with a concentration in writing. She aspires to have a career within the publishing field once she completes her Bachelors degree. When she’s not in class she can be found reading one of the many books on her to-be-read list; with some of her favorite authors including, Gayle Forman, Rebecca Ross, and Jeneva Rose.