Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

117 reviews

octopus18's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I enjoyed the light-hearted darkness, the environment, the context.

The romance was ok, I felt like it was a bit repetitive and not progressing much for most of the book.

The plot was interesting, though it didn't keep me on my toes too much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child death and Abandonment

baileynoel's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

singingshooter's review against another edition

adventurous challenging lighthearted 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Sexual content and Abandonment

shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Confinement, and Torture

eloquentmuse's review against another edition

dark funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad fast-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

3.0

Enjoyable fantasy-romance comedy between a grumpy and a sunshine.

After the female MC is attacked by her employer, she desperately needs employment. Her family is poor, a severely ill father and younger sister reliant on her earnings. She runs into a mysterious and handsome villain who is taken instantly by her intelligence and hires her as his secretary. What choice does she have?

There’s a mystery and a rat to sniff out, and the MC spreads her sunshine as she acts as detective. She works in the villain’s castle office that is full of his newest victims’ hanging heads, a talking prince frog, and a dragon. 

This was fun and a light read; however, there’s definitely dark and gory situations, sensitive issues discussed, and crazy plot twists. 

It’s worth a read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Child death and Death of parent

espurrr's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted 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? Yes

4.5

This book started out pretty silly, but then it gets so good. The characters are better developed than I expected. The plot is also surprising and fun.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

kaybee23's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A fun read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Death, Torture, and Violence

mandalevelsup's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.5

This has been one of my favorite reads of the year. It is a glorious deconstruction of grumpy/sunshine, office comedy with an absurdist twist that uses its premise to quietly reflect on how we are shaped by trauma. 

This is a book that would benefit from trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Trafficking, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Gore and Violence

drawmejay5233's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted mysterious fast-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

4.25

It's a 4 star purely based on vibes. Not a lot really happens plot wise until the end - but the romance is cute. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Sexual assault and Violence

Minor: Abandonment

kp_reads_in_the_dark's review against another edition

lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.0

I almost DNF this book, but I committed to seeing it through since I didn't want to feel like I'd wasted my money buying it. The first thing I got hung up on was that the lead female character is stereotypically "adorkable," small, and clumsy. I got exasperated very quickly with her constant stumbling and falling - which seemed to also be the primary way that the auther created chemistry between the two main characters. Thankfully the chapters are short. I slogged my way through it and finally felt like I got some payoff in the last 5 chapters (when the main mystery was solved). Although the book ends in a cliffhanger and I'm tempted to read the sequel to see how the story is resolved, I'm not sure I'd have the patience. I found the whole thing very one-dimensional (characters, dialogue, scenery), which is unfortunate because the premise has so much promise.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Confinement and Abandonment

I don't want to harp on this book or it's author (after all, it's her first) but man - it was a painful read. The dialogue felt forced, unnatural (at worst) or stilted (at best). (After I finished it, I realized that the main female protagonist's description matches the author's appearance, so take that for whatever it might mean.) In short, I had been looking for a story with more grit, maturity, and authenticity, but instead got something that felt more like a clunky, YA adaptation of a Disney movie.