REVIEW: The Devil You Know by Trish Doller

 Title & Author: The Devil You Know by Trish Doller

 SYNOPSIS: (According to my husband, who has NOT read the book —  see how well he listens to my bookish ramblings)

A lot of bad, bad stuff goes down in this book. It all starts when an innocent girl goes deep into the woods with 2 bad boys. Why would she do this? IDIOT.     

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• – THE KISSING –  Trish always brings the feels. In this one she showed the intensity of love at first sight… two magnets pulled so strongly together! I loved the way Arcadia felt so drawn to Noah!!
• THE SWOONING –  Two cute guys to choose from! Matt is good looking, flirtatious, and just fun to be around. Plus, he loves pie, so that’s a huge win! Noah is just as good looking, but takes the cake (or should I say pie? haha) with tattoos covering his sleeves. Yeah, he has that edgy factor I’m addicted to. He also has a dog he is obsessed with, which was freaking adorable. I loved his protective side!
• THE SWAGGER –   Cadie is sick of taking on all responsibility at home and sacrificing everything she loves to do it. For once, she takes a risk and lets herself have fun. She meets 2 guys at a party and decides to go on a little road trip through Florida, only to discover that one of them is a complete psycho!
• THE OH SNAP! –  1. Skinny Dipping 2. Ex-Boyfriend Drama 3. Camping 4. Adventure 5.Sociopaths 6. Sex In Cemeteries 7. New Beginnings 8. Murder 9. Naked Ed 10. Florida Swamp Creatures
• THE UMMMM WHAT?? –   1. Why would a girl just go off in the woods with 2 strangers – GUYS, one being quite large and dangerous looking?? 2. The Lindsay situation should have set off some major alarms or at least raised a tiny red flag. Come on, Cadie… WTF.

ENCORE:

This book had me sweating! As the truth unraveled toward the end, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough! To be honest, the plot twists were somewhat predictable. I had an idea who the killer would be from early on, but it didn’t make it any less exciting! There were definitely some, “No!! Don’t do that, you idiot!!” moments, which made feel like I was watching a horror flick! I would seriously love to see this as a movie! The setting was clutch in making every moment extra creepy. The tone of the book was very different from the contemporaries I’ve come to expect from Trish!

Cadie was a great MC- selfless, brave, tough, and had a backbone! It was fun to see her throw all caution to the wind and be the person she wished she could be, even if only for one night. I appreciated the theme that one does not have to have life all figured out or fit a specific mold, and that it is okay to take life one step at a time. I didn’t love the sexual experience or the way it felt like a PSA on casual sex. I liked the attempt of showing that having sex doesn’t make a girl a slut or change who she is, but considering the girl lost her virginity, it felt downplayed and insignificant, especially on the guy’s end of it.  I’m not trying to go all “Chatty Betty” on the issue, but regardless of whether it’s a guy or a girl… sex is significant and does matter, both physically and emotionally. Maybe if she wasn’t a virgin, I would have absorbed it differently.

As usual, Trish Doller gives off a “cool” vibe in her writing. The plot and setting were vivid and well developed. I didn’t feel as connected to the characters as I usually do in a Trish book. I expected more layers, but this was also a different style of book, so I probably shouldn’t compare them. The exception was the relationship between Cadie and her father. Trish always writes awesome father figures! This was not my favorite by her, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend reading it!

RATING: