Hannah Nicole Maehrer is back with the third installment of her Assistant to the Villain series, Accomplice to the Villain. If you’ve been following along from book one, you’ll know that Evie Sage never intended to be an evil henchwoman – she just kind of fell into it. But you also know, as it turns out, that she’s got a real knack for evilness, particularly when it comes to The Villain.

I have loved this series from the first sentence of the first book. It’s not full of romantic or sexual scenarios, yet it’s very romantic. It’s not full of weird, world-building names of magical dragons and witches and faraway places, yet it’s full of magic and dragons and witches and faraway places. The time and the setting are normalized, while still being sort of vague, so it feels like you’re running into town to grab some hummus from Costco, and whoops! your boss’s bestie- who’s been turned into a toad with a jaunty little crown (that may be) glued to its head – lands on your lap with a witty, sardonic sign that’s appropriate and well-timed, every time.

By now, Evie has been the assistant and the apprentice, and now she’s the accomplice. She’s excelled at every step in this workplace romcom. In fact, were she to get an annual performance review, she’d likely get five out of five stars. Trystan, aka The Villain, likes to grumble about her being a trouble magnet, but in reality, he is smitten. Likewise for Evie, who is more open in her pure affection for the boss. While he seeks out trouble in the name of villainy, his underlying intention is to save his country, Rennedawn. On the contrary, while Evie seeks out workday accomplishments, she inevitably leaves trouble in her wake. Their reaction to one another is what makes the story so good, and the romance so fabulous. She keeps him grounded in humanity, while he encourages her outrageous spirit.

It was difficult to enjoy villainous acts when they made you feel like you were being boiled alive.

There’s a huge cast of secondary characters here, and while that usually gets on my last nerve, I enjoyed the camaraderie amongst the peanut gallery. I think it’s because Maehrer has built complete, robust characters with their own lives, perspectives, and goals, who are also all helping Evie and Trystan get to their ultimate goal of seeing the magical prophecy through to the end.

The real world is so fraught with unrest right now, that Evie Sage’s plight to save Rennedawn and get through her To Do list while not strangling the man she loves with sunshine is the best distraction. This is the ultimate, epic love story, where loving each other is in defiance of the gods and destiny, and every small voice in your head telling you you’re undeserving. It’s fun and readable.

My only complaint is that while each of these books ends with a big resolution to one problem, there’s also a killer cliffhanger. I’m impatient, I like closure, and I don’t always want the Plot Twist to be on the last page. Alas, that’s what you get with these villains. Well, that and a very smartly written story with incredible sentence structure. Ultimately, I can’t do other than strongly recommend Accomplice to the Villain, and, indeed, the whole series.