Audiobook Review: Assistant to the Villain #3

Accomplice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Read by Em Eldridge

Published: August 2025

Summary from Goodreads:

REWARD Apprentice to The Villain wanted for treason (light), magical property damage (alleged), and one incident involving a weaponized scone (accurate). Frequently seen with a grumpy frog (crowned, judgmental). Answers to “Evie” or “Stop that.”

Evie Sage didn’t mean to become the right-hand woman to the kingdom’s most terrifying villain. One minute, she was applying for an entry-level position that promised “light paperwork and occasional beheadings,” and the next, she was knee-deep in magical mayhem, murder plots, and an entirely inappropriate crush on her brooding, sharp-jawed, walking disaster of a boss.

Now, with a magical prophecy unraveling, assassins showing up in the break room, and a suspicious amount of frogs wearing crowns, Evie has to figure out how to survive her job without setting the kingdom on fire―or her dignity, which is hanging by a very sarcastic thread.

Being evil-adjacent was never part of the five-year plan. But then again . . . neither was falling for The Villain.

A magical office comedy with grumpy bosses, snarky frogs, and definitely-not-feelings.

Confession:

Another fun and witty addition to this wonderful series. I just can’t get enough of Evie and Trystan and the rest of the gang as well. The audiobook was also wonderful, but it would be nice, now that we are getting so many points of view, if they would have more than the one narrator. It is getting a bit harder to keep track of whose point of view we are in at times.

Em Eldridge does do a great job narrating these books. She has a great voice, especially for Evie. I don’t think I could not hear her voice whenever I think of Evie. She is also very good with the sarcasm and witty remarks of all of the characters.

All of the characters go through a lot in this book. All of the couples are moving along in their relationships. There is a lot of kissing and some misunderstandings between them all and I just chuckled throughout the whole book. I particularly liked Bladen and Rebecca this time around, so much fun with these two. Finally we get some chapters from Kingsley’s point of view and they were just so precious. I loved them. He really has an interesting take on all of the shenanigans.

I don’t want to say much about the plot, because you really just need to read this one. There is a lot going on, not only with the characters, but also with the whole prophecy and magic leaving the world. There was quite the twist at the end that I didn’t see coming, but I also found a bit confusing. I think it just happened so quickly that I got a little lost with what was going on. The story did get a little draggy in the middle, and with all of the couples split up and doing different things it was at times a bit confusing. But the witty dialogue and all the snarkiness was there and of course lots of kissing!

A great addition to the series that I loved just as much as the first two, maybe even more so because of Kingsley. The ending was great, but a bit of a cliffhanger so it will be a long wait for the next book.