over the four (!) books since that first promising start, those things have slowly faded, and they have been replaced with a series of nightmares. a book gives you everything. it gives you a window into other souls, other worlds. the world is a door. books are the key."

David is a student at Ellingham who really isn't there for any reason? Everyone else has a particular skill, but he's just there. He has no personality or defining traits (besides being a jerk). He is specifically there to add ~romance~ and ~spice~ and to fail at his only job. Wtf did I just read , I think my brain just committed suicide and there are still 2 more parts to go!! the romance in this story is so bad. it didnt make any sense and the characters had absolutely no chemistry. IF YOURE NOT GOING TO WRITE A GOOD ROMANCE, DONT PUT ONE IN! And also the people who haven’t still read this please go away because there are gonna be a lot of spoilers!

And I can't believe that two students came up with the Truly Devious letter as a prank and in the end that prank just complicated the investigation 75 years after. Frankie and Edward are actually geniuses, though they obviously didn't think it'd turn so serious. I THINK YOU GUYS GET THE IDEA. BUT HONESTLY. NATE IS THE BEST CHARACTER. I LOVE HIS SARCASM AND HIS PERSONALITY AND HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH STEVIE!! UGHHHH. Also the ending was great and I can't wait to read book 2. Since I have such conflicted feelings about this book I won't make any recommendations. Yeah so oh boy, I just read this renowned, esteemed, honoured and lauded book that everybody was asking me to read when I last wrote in my review to suggest me a good y/a mystery thriller book.

You may want to have a talk with your tween and ask them if they are Ok with the book. If they say anything you may want to take the book away. Besides that, this is a good book 10 year old's will enjoy! I'm deciding whether I should just wait for the library copy of The Hand on the Wall or be impatient and read the ebook.😅 I have no idea what to do.🤷‍♀️ Stevie wants to solve this mystery once and for all, and her passion for doing so is the criteria that gets her admitted to Ellingham. But even though she has a real purpose, and attends a school that supports that purpose, adjustment isn't as easy as she had hoped. She's never really made friends before, and isn't sure of what to make of her eccentric and creative dorm-mates, including a scientist and inventor, a popular and handsome web-series actor, a novelist, an artist with a penchant for alcohol and the saxophone, and David, a coder, who seemed to get under Stevie's skin from the moment they met.There's still some three or more murder mysteries yet to get solved and one very important mystery that had started it all still looming large. On the night Dottie Epstein is killed, Francis and Eddie secretly observe Albert and Miss Nelson—the housemistress of Minerva, where Francis lives—embracing in the gymnasium building, which is under construction. A worried Albert gives Miss Nelson a gun and tells her to protect herself and the students as all of them vacate the school. In a later chapter, it is revealed that Albert and Miss Nelson were having an affair.

This is a case of personal taste though, and nothing else. Some authors just can't entertain me no matter what. Jenny Han, Victoria Schwab and yes, Maureen Johnson. The story also follows messages of bravery, teamwork and perseverance. Stevie is brave, strong and is willing to work with other students. PS: Some amazing science facts are briefly explained in the book. For kids who have read mystery books they will definitely enjoy this one!

The Truly Devious Series in Order (5 Books)

Let's talk about said teen drama. The main conflict between Stevie and David in this book is - brace yourselves - his dad. David's dad is Republican politician/de facto Trump stand-in Edward King, who Stevie's parents are obsessed with and she loathes with every fibre of her being. She repeatedly refers to him as "the devil" and other such nonsense, even though we never actually find out why exactly she feels so strongly about him. Sure, he's clearly not a very good father, but in none of his scenes did he behave any worse than any other person in a position of power most likely would: using their influence to get ahead, and looking to make mutually beneficial bargains to achieve specific goals. Yet Stevie hates him to the point where she is repelled by the sight of his son, who she had been making out with a bunch before finding out. So clearly not that repulsive to begin with. Stevie thinks it will be so much fun to investigate the school (which is built into the side of a mountain, like, so freaking cool) but another murder soon happens to a person that she recently befriended. Now, she feels like she must get to the bottom of both of these mysteries, and she’s uncovering more and more secrets that were supposed to be kept hidden. My favorite thing about this book was definitely the atmosphere. It was ominous, unsettling, slightly creepy. Something big was always on the verge of happening. Small clues would appear, slight changes in the mood of the room. It's a little too quirky for my tastes (there was a character whose strange attire was described literally every time she entered the room), but I can see how that worked well for the story. TRULY DEVIOUS is about your typical female slueth-in training who is pretty much a carbon copy of Pip from A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER (except I liked Pip a bit more). Stevie, our annoying MC that overthinks EVERYTHING, decides to go to this boarding school for highschool age kids who are too smart for the public school system because of this kidnapping and murder that happened a long time ago. It's been a cold case for eighty years, and it's one of the most famous kidnappings in the world, but apparently she thinks that she can solve it. Again, romance, language and alcohol, isn't really serious as the tweens will be captivated by the amazing mystery/adventure the book has, so they will probably forget about the ''inappropriate'' stuff.