Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - Truly Devious

The first thing I will say about this one is that it had really, really weird pacing. The best way to describe it is that it felt like one big set-up for the next book, as nothing was really solved or fully investigated. That being said, I really enjoyed reading this. It had so many of my favourite elements: secret tunnels, an isolated boarding school, hidden spaces, and a cold case. Also, Johnson described what Stevie was thinking and feeling really well, so that she felt like an actual person. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

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cherry__tomatoes's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I loved the character and the slow burn romance. I loved the world building and the mysterious question, of who is truly devious? I just felt like the book focused on the character growth of the main character and not really on the details or the real mystery at hand. If you compare this book to other books in the same genre and tropes it doesn't really compare to them such as books like, A Good Girl's Guide To Murder, The Inheritance Games, and Ace Of Spades. If you take the time with these books there's enough evidence in them to solve the murder yourself, where as in this book it felt like the mystery was just an afterthought and the main character and her life were more important. To sum it up, this book as a murder mystery book doesn't do it for me, but as a book following the life of a teenager moving to a new, mysterious school then it really does it for me. I have high hopes that hopefully the second book in this series is more murder-mystery based now that we know a lot about the main and supporting characters. Another plus I liked about this book, was the plot twists, the surprise deaths and revisiting of dead people. Like I said, compared to other books this one just doesn't compare, but on its own its quite a good read.

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lanies's review

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This is basically going to be a review of the whole trilogy. I enjoyed this series; it was fun, engaging, and a decent balance of trope-y and self aware.
The characters were a bit one-dimensional and sometimes frustrating but overall likeable. I never felt that the plot was lagging. The series is essentially one long book broken down into three parts, and I’m glad I waited until all three books were out so that I could read one straight after another.
I don’t love when authors throw a bunch of current pop culture references in, because they just strike me as cringey sometimes (yes, this is about the reference to “sexy” BBC Sherlock), but this series didn’t have too many of them.
As a person with an anxiety disorder, the discussion of Stevie’s anxiety didn’t really bother me, but if you are triggered in any way by in-depth discussion of anxiety/panic attacks, I would exercise caution.
The one real gripe I have with this series is only an issue in the first book. Early in the book, Janelle informs Stevie that Vi uses they/them pronouns, but everywhere else in the book, the author uses she/her pronouns for Vi. I’m guessing that Vi being non-binary was probably a detail added after most of the book was written and no one remembered to go back in and change the pronouns (as opposed to deliberate misgendering), but either way it was disappointing to see it throughout the book. In the 2nd and 3rd books, they/them pronouns are used consistently for Vi.

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