Book Review: Devilish

Title: Devilish
Author: Maureen Johnson
Publisher: Razorbill (division of Penguin Group), 2006
Page total: 288 pages
Date read: February 4th, 2010
Genre(s): uh… Young Adult

Reviewed by Ginny

The reviews from the Junior Judges had gone up on the web site in the middle of the night.

Jane and Allison are life-long best friends, which is a common thing in books but rather rare in reality. But after a hideously embarrassing incident -Allison puking over a freshman girl during the big-little ceremony- , Allison comes back to school completely changed with new, adorable looks and clothes, hardly acknowledging Jane’s presence at all. With the help of a strangely wise freshman boy Owen, Jane discovers a shocking truth: Allison has traded her soul to the devil. Suddenly Jane finds herself in the middle of the battle about possessing human souls…

I think this is the kind of novel you either completely love due to its crazy uniqueness or strongly dislike due to the same reason. When I first read the book, it was more dislike than like, until I recently re-read it and found it better than I first thought.
This book deals with demons but not the kinds we know of other fantasy books like City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. They’re like normal people - they look normal, they eat, sleep and go to school if needed. But they are also in constant battle of possessing, or more likely consuming souls.
I really, really, really liked Jane. She’s intelligent, smart-ass, rebellious yet fairly reasonable and really strong (not physically of course - she’s rather short and fragile). I’d read the book again and again just for the sake of reading about Jane! It was fun to read about her family. You think your family is crazy? Just wait until you meet Jane’s. The plot was unpredictable. I had no clue what to expect, so I let myself flow with the book.


4 Kisses!


Quotes:

"Oh, I had no doubt they’d blame the whole mess on me, probably just because I had spiky hair and a tendency to talk too much."

"Joan is two years younger than me. I’m completely used to her looking up at me with that lip-glossy stare of hers and asking questions like, "Is the Tour de France in Spain?" or "Do they make cotton out of plastic?" This is a girl who I had convinced Alaska used to be called Frigidaire."

""You do have good cupcakes," I said, examining the high, creamy frosting.
"I only buy the best, sweetheart."
"There’s one thing, though. Not everything can be bought."
With that, I jammed the thing into her face and walked across the suddenly silent room. If I was going down, I was going down like that. Like Jane Jarvis. I had a reputation to uphold, after all."