Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

16 reviews

noor_sidhu's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

I was debating on giving this book 4 or 5 stars, but honestly, the banter alone deserved the extra push. This book was so fun and goofy; it was everything I could hope for in a light-hearted fantasy about a "villain" failing to remain cold around his raucous cabal of office workers - an underqualified himbo, a heavily starched ringleader, a gossipy lesbian, and best of all a terrifyingly unfazed ray of sunshine. I'm really happy that this book proved me wrong and that I went into it completely blind because I hope it stays this funny and fast-paced for the rest of this series. The tension was also absolutely PERFECTION, and we need more books with the not-so-grumpy love interest's POV. All in all, I need more of The Villian and that flirty Himbo. 💀💞

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Content Warnings

Minor: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual harassment

blackcatl's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-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? Yes

3.75

The book starts quite slow in my opinion, and Evies character needs way more depth. In the second half, however, everything comes together and you can see way more of Evies development which I like - and missed in the beginning. Also, way more romance is needed in the first half imo. But, because of the second half, I am thrilled to read the second book and its still almost 4 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Blood

Minor: Torture, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

culzean's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

roadesntoades's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.25

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Toxic relationship and Stalking

rhi_'s review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship

callidoralblack's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

abicaro17's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

rehtaehwashere's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

maggies's review against another edition

lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

No idea what was happening here. It did not come off as though it was written by a human. A strange mix of fantasy and contemporary that didn't work. The twists didn't twist. Calling the mmc "The Villain" was really weird the entire book - he could have had a more specific title and it would have worked way better. My interpretation: this is fanfic about a morally gray guy and the woman he loves, but it leaned too heavily toward the generic at the expense of anything truly interesting. Won't be finishing the series.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail