2019 – Story-eyed Reviews

“Schools may be famous for many things: academics, graduates, sports teams.
They are not supposed to be famous for murders.”

Truly Devious follows Stevie Bell on her way to her first year at the illustrious Ellingham Academy. Ellingham is somewhat famous for a bizarre murder where the killer left a riddle, that is still yet to be solved. And there’s another odd thing about Ellingham– they believe that learning is a game.

All of her classmates seem to be prodigies or special in some way and she comes to wonder if that doesn’t have something to do with the school’s odd philosophies. Stevie herself is somewhat of a prodigy, or she hopes to be, when it comes to solving crimes. Her plan? To solve the Truly Devious murder that happened right here at Ellingham all those years ago. Which only gets more complicated as another grisly murder envelops the school.

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Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson was a truly fun read.

It had some highs and lows for me personally, but I still can’t say that I didn’t enjoy this book all the way through. There’s something I can’t quite put my finger on.

Let’s start with the highs.

The main character, Stevie, was my favorite part of this book. Stevie is smart, witty, confident and has watched Law and Order: SVU almost as many times as I have. Her humor is quick and funny and I also thought that most of her choices aligned well with her skills and background, which I love to read in a book. I never felt like “why is a high school kid doing this right now?” which is so refreshing. Whether it was her fascination with crime, striving to be herself with conservative and concerned parents, or reacting to a friend’s death, I felt that Stevie was a pretty authentic teenager, and I enjoyed following her around. I could’ve done with a few less Sherlock Holmes references, just because I think the comparison between them isn’t serving to Stevie, but that’s something small I don’t consider a real issue.

Personally, I especially loved her battle with anxiety throughout the book. I struggle with an Anxiety Disorder myself and they are the worst, so to see it portrayed in such an accurate and relatable way was wonderful. From her struggle to remember if she has her medications with her when she needs them to a very authentic panic attack near the end of the book, I felt honesty and empathy in all of these scenes. I appreciated that Johnson added this layer so much.

Another aspect of this book that I liked was the fact that the main plot is written alongside a sub-plot that happens in parallel in 1963, when the first Truly Devious murder took place at Ellingham. Many times I found myself more invested in this story than the other and it was hard to go back and forth sometimes! These were probably my favorite chapters, and reading about the old murder and how it all fell out felt like an important piece of this story.

One thing Truly Devious has an abundance of is side characters. All of them were unique and interesting, but at some point I stopped being able to keep track of all of the people we’d met. Some of them we meet so briefly that I wasn’t sure why they were there in the first place, except that this is a series and they may come into play at a later date. I kept thinking about googling a character chart.

The only aspect that I truly struggled with was an odd one, and that’s the feeling that…nothing really happened throughout most of this book. Some big events cluster at the end, which had a more satisfying feel, but for a lot of the novel Stevie is settling in at school and the focus is on her and her friends’ lives. This may be a personal preference, but I wanted to get to the crime solving already! It’s a great premise for a novel but I felt that there were a lot of opportunities missed to focus on the most interesting parts of this book. Now, knowing that its a trilogy, I temper this complaint with the fact that this book may have been our introduction to the characters for this series. But I still wanted more. Even the end, while technically having two cliffhangers, felt something like a dream melting away when I set the book down. I can’t completely decide how I feel about the end.

Right now you may be saying “Wait, I thought you liked this book, but nothing happened?” Yeah! I did! I know, it’s weird. Aside from any complaints I have about the plot or the characters, Truly Devious was fun to read. I never found myself in a position where I wanted to stop reading or didn’t want to turn the page. It swept me up into a confusing momentum that I rode out until the end.

Overall, I think I would recommend Truly Devious. Especially those who like more contemporary or teen relationships than gritty murder or those who like a gentler kind of crime novel. It definitely achieves these and more. I really do look forward to reading the sequel, both to see how the series improves and because I want to know what happens.

Overall, good and bad, but Truly Devious was still a ride I would get on again. Look for the review to the sequel, The Vanishing Stair, in the coming weeks!

“There is nothing so serious as a game.”

“Luck, fate and determination – whatever it is, I’ll take it. I pull Ethan down to me, feeling the slippery slide of his tank top under my hands and my laugh echoing into our kiss.“

When her sister’s wedding ends in widespread food poisoning, Olive gets sent off on the non-refundable honeymoon that her sister so meticulously planned. Only there’s a catch— her new brother-in-law has sent the Best Man, Ethan, in his place too. And Olive and Ethan do not get along.

What starts off as a test of endurance to enjoy her vacation without punching Ethan in the face, soon becomes something else. Forced to pretend they’re married in order to fool Olive’s boss, who they find at the same resort along with Ethan’s ex-girlfriend, both of them start to see a different side of the other. Soon they start to realize that maybe they aren’t pretending anymore, and that fate may have had more of a hand in their “honeymoon” than they thought.

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It’s official! The Unhoneymooners by author duo Christina Lauren has ushered in the Summer of 2019.

This was the first time I’ve had the privilege of reading a Christina Lauren novel and I enjoyed every second of this delightful romantic comedy. It is warm, sexy, and written with a wicked sense of humor that had me smirking and cackling over and over again. And it’s now a NYTimes Bestseller!

The main characters in this book made it for me, they were each so funny and relatable, frustrating and flawed, and incredibly sweet together. At least when they weren’t tossing hilarious banter back and forth. The dialogue between them feels easy and real and I often found myself laughing or sighing contentedly at some special moment between them. Olive and Ethan may have started off hating each other but it was easy for me to fall in love with them.

Even the side characters were people I cared about and laughed with throughout the novel. Olive’s family is huge and loving and the way they take care of her was one of my favorite parts of the novel, as well as her relationship with her sister.

I think what I loved most about this book was that, as sweet and romantic as it is, it still isn’t an easy, straight shot for Olive and Ethan from enemies to lovers. When their vacation ends, there’s a pretty big, emotional twist that immediately pops the happy love bubble they’ve built around them, for them and the reader. It was jarring, but I appreciated it. It felt real even though it was dramatized and, even though Ethan’s behavior at times had me grinding my teeth, I was ultimately glad that they learned they can survive a tough blow. Something about this addition to their love story was emotional and powerful, and added another layer of depth that I enjoyed. I felt so much for everyone in these scenes, and I still feel it hours after finishing.

Ultimately, this was the Summer read I was waiting for. I read this on a rainy day and I loved how it was written so that you could practically feel the warmth of the Hawaii sun on your skin. I felt like I was on the beach with them, warm and without a care in the world. The world that the authors create in the Unhoneymooners feels real and tangible, like a breath of fresh, ocean air.

I blew through this Summer read and wholeheartedly plan to read more Christina Lauren soon, they have joined the ranks of authors I adore. This is the perfect book to read near the beach, dreaming of your own Olive or Ethan. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

“Ami watches her go. “She’s so brave.”

She doesn’t say it like its an epiphany; she just says it like its a face, something we’ve all always known about Olive, a core quality. And its true, of course, but these little truths, finally being spoken aloud, are tiny, perfect revelations, dropped like jewels in Olive’s palm.”