Abandoned by Booklikes

Seriously after finishing with this book I listened to Prince's "I Would Die For You" and thought to myself this would be a great theme song for this book.

I have to say that when I started Devilish I didn't have a lot of hope that this would be a good read. Just because the young adult novels I have started in 2014 have been pretty hit or miss for me. This one was definitely a hit.

The main character is Jane who is anxious about her best friend Ally getting through her senior year at St Teresa's Preparatory School for Girls. Every senior is supposed to have a Freshman that bids to be the Senior girls little. Jane is pretty much over anything dealing with St. Teresa's, but Ally desperately wants to fit in and be part of things. After a school wide embarrassing incident starring Ally, Jane becomes even more worried for her friend. However, Ally suddenly transitions into the most beautiful, articulate girl at St. Theresa's. Jane is left wondering who or what is behind Ally's transformation.

I liked Jane's voice throughout this book. The snark was seriously strong in this girl. Also though she likes to play tough she really does love her mother, father, and sister Jane. And through the entire book her love for her best friend Ally comes through. Some characters needed to be fleshed out a bit more (like Jane's mother) but other than that I was fine with the dialogue and flow of the book.

Also I have to give Ms. Johnson kudos. For once I wasn't forced to plod through a book that has a girl stuck in the midst of a love triangle, or trying to fight to the death for something in a dystopian future where no world building has been established. This was a very funny wry look at teenage girls and specifically on how one teenage girl truly loved her friend and would do anything for her.

I went and looked and I don't see that Ms. Johnson followed up with a sequel to this book which is a shame. It would have been nice to have a series of books starring students at St. Theresa. She did leave things with a nice little setup to the future so you could see that future books starring characters from this book would be possible.

"It doesn't matter how old you are when you die, I'd been told.

When you die, that's the right time for you.
I'd also been told my life was a small price to pay.

I was glad to pay it for Allison."