Tuesday 17 July 2012

Devilish review

Devilish
Maureen Johnson
June 7th 2012 (UK)
HarperCollins Children's Books


Wickedly funny high school satire - what would you give to be popular? Ally and Jane may not be that popular but they're good friends...that is until they each get allocated a freshman, a 'little' to show the ropes to at school. Cracks begin to show as Ally changes into a whole different person, literally overnight. She's dressed better, making new friends, and ditching Jane more and more. But Ally's transformation has its price. And it's up to Jane to save her former BF from a ponytail-wearing, cupcake-nibbling devil in disguise!


I knew from the get-go that I wasn't going to fall head-over-heels in love with it, despite how much I love Maureen Johnson, but regardless of that Devilish is still a really quick, extremely fun book that I thoroughly enjoyed. Although I didn't read it as quickly as I wanted to because I don't know if you've noticed, but I've kind of become crap at blogging lately due to new obsessions with Veronica Mars and Teen Wolf. But I've only got like, 15 eps of VM left to watch now, so I should be back to my usual partial absentee status, instead of just, y'know, full blown neglect.


90% of what made this book for me was Jane. I know that most people say this, but Maureen Johnson is just really good at voice (from the 2 books of hers that I've actually read...). Jane is just a really entertaining character! She's funny and snarky, stupidly clever, really loyal, and just a lot of fun to read about. Even at the most serious parts of the book, she comes up with some smartass remark that you just can't help but laugh at.


I also really liked the fact that it was Allison and Jane's friendship that was really on the line here. I said all this in my Second Chance Summer review, but I really like reading about families and friendships, and seeing Allison's loyalty to Jane and vice versa was just really sweet. I love how it all worked out in the end, and that they would literally give up their souls for each other. I also loved that Allison, despite the whole making-a-contract-with-a-freaking-demon thing, which I think we can pass off as a minor lack of judgement, eventually did become a stronger character and a better friend for all of it.


The premise of the book just really intrigued me, too, because I've never really read a book where demons and stuff are taken kind of lightly, and I enjoyed that because you know me and funny books. I really like them. And this isn't just like a purely funny book. Like, some of the demon stuff gets pretty freaking serious, and it's more about friendship then anything, but it is also pretty funny. Which, I guess is mostly down to Jane, but still.

Despite it's short length, though, I did find that it dragged in places and felt quite slow every now and again. There were times when I would pick it up and just not find myself all that interested in it, which I guess was partially down to me watching (read: obsessing over) Teen Wolf (again, I don't even know why I love it so much, it's not even that good a TV show though season 2 is getting a lot better, and saying I don't know why I love it is a complete lie it's Stiles and Derek. Just don't even ask. Blame Tumblr.) So yeah, even though I really liked Jane sometimes I just wasn't that bothered about what happened.

Devilish is a quick, funny, sweet read that I did really like despite sometimes feeling like it was a bit slow. A must read if you're a big Maureen Johnson fan, or just feel in the mood for something, well, Devilish! (Yeah, I know, one day I will actually stop making awful title related puns in these end paragraphs. Today is not that day.)

3 comments:

  1. I've not read this one, but I've mostly enjoyed Maureen Johnson's books. Just read Name of the Star and loved it. But, I couldn't even finish Suite Scarlett -- you are right, the teen voice is excellent, but NOTHING HAPPENED in that book. Loved the Envelope books too, and Key to the Golden Firebird. So, all that to say, I'm going to give Devilish a try! Great review!

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  2. I've been considering this one, I did enjoy Name of he Star but I didn't *love* it, not sure if I'd love this one either. It sounds cute and funny though and MJ is pretty hilarious and out there

    Cait x

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