Tag Archives: fairy tale retelling

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Book Review: Assistant to the Villain, by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

I borrowed an audio copy of Hannah Nicole Maehrer‘s Assistant to the Villain through Hoopla.
assistant to the villain audio cover

ASSISTANT WANTED: Notorious, high-ranking villain seeks loyal, levelheaded assistant for unspecified office duties, supporting staff for random mayhem, terror, and other Dark Things In General. Discretion a must. Excellent benefits.

With ailing family to support, Evie Sage’s employment status isn’t just important, it’s vital. So when a mishap with Rennedawn’s most infamous Villain results in a job offer—naturally, she says yes. No job is perfect, of course, but even less so when you develop a teeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss. Don’t find evil so attractive, Evie.

But just when she’s getting used to severed heads suspended from the ceiling and the odd squish of an errant eyeball beneath her heel, Evie suspects this dungeon has a huge rat…and not just the literal kind. Because something rotten is growing in the kingdom of Rennedawn, and someone wants to take the Villain—and his entire nefarious empire—out.

Now Evie must not only resist drooling over her boss but also figure out exactly who is sabotaging his work…and ensure he makes them pay.

After all, a good job is hard to find.

my review

I have got to stop letting TikTok convince me to read books. I’m having difficulty remembering a book that left me feeling as let down as this one did. First off, how did I miss that this is set in a fairytale setting? I’ll accept that the fact that I missed this is probably on me. But I was 100% put off when I finally realized what I had really signed on for in choosing to read this book. Just go ahead and preemptively roll your eyes. You’ll want to before you get very far into this story.

I could nitpick a million reasons this book didn’t work for me. But there are a few main ones I will concentrate on. First, I was bored silly. The book is working hard to be quirky and, yes, silly. But I’m fairly sure being bored silly was not the aim. There is far too little plot to keep a reader engaged. Second, the author tries far, far too hard to be funny, and most of the jokes don’t land. Third, how exactly are you going to title a book Assistant to the Villian and then write a villain that isn’t really a villain? I was incredibly disappointed and somehow also not at all surprised by this fact. Fourth, while the villain may not be villainous, he also isn’t particularly charismatic, and the heroine is a bland Mary Jane. Fifth, it ends on a cliffhanger…because, of course, it does. Sixth, the narrator (Em Eldridge) was wrong for the book. She did a fine technical job but didn’t carry it off in a tone that worked for the story.


Other Reviews:

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

 

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Book review: The Bone Way, by Holly J. Underhill

I purchased a copy of The Bone Way by Holly J. Underhill.

Teagan’s wife, Cressidae, is missing. She has left for the Shadow Realm, a kingdom of the dead filled with untold nightmares—and the only place that can save Teagan from a lethal poison that’s killing her slowly. It is ruled by a princess said to make powerful deals with those brave enough to find her, and Cressidae has gone to bargain for Teagan’s life. Cressidae has forgotten one very important thing: no one makes it out on their own.

Despite the risks to her own safety, Teagan is determined to save her wife—and perhaps even herself in the process. The princess of the Shadow Realm, however, doesn’t let mortals roam her territories without opposition. In this thrilling fantasy novella, Teagan and Cressidae must face both the horrors of the Shadow Realm as well as their own past.

my review

This should have been…needs to be…a full-length novel instead of a novella. I liked the idea of it. I liked the world. I liked that it’s a retelling. The writing is mechanically sound. But it 100% feels like part of a story, as opposed to a story of its own. It leans heavily on flashbacks to give a lot of what happens context. But the flashbacks just break up the flow of the already too-short work. You barely get to know or care about Teagan and not at all about Cressidae. The villain is villainous until she encounters the smallest push-back. All in all, I suppose I wanted to like this a lot more than I did.

photo the bone way


Other Reviews:

Book Review: The Bone Way

Review: The Bone Way – Holly J. Underhill

 

 

 

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Book Review: The Beast, by Jenika Snow

I purchased a signed copy of The Beast, by Jenika Snow.

the beast cover

What if the Beast never turned into the prince?

My father had just sold me off.

Bartered my body to erase his debt to the very devil himself.

A Beast of a man. Literally.

A creature whispered about amongst the villagers and feared by all.

He was a beastly visage at three times the size of a man, his monstrously huge body covered in fur. Sharp fangs and eyes that held an unearthly red glow. He had pawlike hands tipped with claws and horns that arched back from his inhuman face.

I was to live with him, to be his in every way—all ways—he saw fit.

I was to be his wife, and so I offered myself up as the proverbial sacrifice to the very devil himself.

I just didn’t expect to enjoy being with a monster as much as I did.

my review

Meh, I didn’t love it. I picked this up because I’d seen it raved about over on Tiktok and thought the idea of Beast, from Beauty and the Beast, remaining beastly was intriguing. But there’s just not much to it. Which might be fine (erotica doesn’t need much of a plot), except what is there doesn’t even try to be original in any way. It just feels like poorly done Disney fan fiction.

So, if the minimal plot didn’t interest me, that left the sex. What a reader likes in a sex scene is super individual. But, for me, this was far too focused on how he was going to hurt her and she’d beg for more. (Plus, all the spitting…and leaking…wasn’t my jam). Which means the sex wasn’t a big winner for me either.

Thus, to say it again, I didn’t love it. But to each their own.

the beast photo


Other Reviews:

Book Review: The Beast: A Monster Romance (Monsters and Beauties, Book 1) by Jenika Snow