(Review) The Devil You Know

The Devil You Know by Trish Doller

Publication Date: June 2, 2015

Pages: 256 (paperback)

Genre: Young Adult

My Goodreads Rating: 5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis:
From critically-acclaimed author Trish Doller comes a powerful new psychological page-turner perfect for fans of Lauren Oliver and Sara Zarr.

Eighteen-year-old Arcadia wants adventure. Living in a tiny Florida town with her dad and four-year-old brother, Cadie spends most of her time working, going to school, and taking care of her family. So when she meets two handsome cousins at a campfire party, she finally has a chance for fun. They invite her and friend to join them on a road trip, and it's just the risk she's been craving--the opportunity to escape. But what starts out as a fun, sexy journey quickly becomes dangerous when she discovers that one of them is not at all who he claims to be. One of them has deadly intentions.

A road trip turns terrifying in this contemporary story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

My Review: 

Before we start here's an embarrassing story about the time I met Trish Dolle: I've spent years shopping at my local B&N and I always saw Something Like Normal on display, though I could never figure out why and I also never purchased it. Flash forward to me finding Where the Stars Still Shine at a thrift store and completing devouring it. So, here I am back at the bookstore buying Something Like Normal. A few weeks after that I'm there again (look, I have a book problem, it's why this blog exists) and I see a "Trish Recommends"sign in the Teen/YA section and then everything makes sense. Trish works at my bookstore. It gets even better when she's actually the one ringing me up and I'm stumbling my way through how much I love her books and she tells me to bring them in to be signed. I haven't done that yet. Basically I'm probably never going to do that because, in a lot of ways, I'm like Noah from The Devil You Know: 

"...when things get quiet, my brain tends to dredge up random song lyrics and all the stupid shit I've ever done."

Yeah, about me. 

Okay, so, the book. 

Cadie life is, well, it's kind of bad. Her mother died, her father isn't really there, and she is pretty much raising her younger brother. Oh, and her boyfriend dumped her. A party at a nearby park takes an interesting turn and changes Cadie's life in a huge way. 

When she meets Noah and Matt sparks definitely fly between them. By that I mean Cadie and both boys. You initially get a vibe from Matt, but the pull from Noah is too much to turn away. There is definitely some lust at first sight going on and I was definitely here for it. 

I loved that Cadie wasn't shy about getting to know Noah or about what she did, and didn't, want to do with him. Trish writes such great, strong female characters that I wasn't surprised at Cadie's actions when it came to Noah. 

Eventually things pick up from the park and Cadie finds herself on a road trip with Noah, Matt, and her friend Lindsey. It seems all well and good until Matt makes a move on Cadie and Lindsey decides to go home. 

After that things get a little different. There's still the tug between Cadie and Noah, but there's also something a little darker lurking within the book. So many things start coming out about the characters and things don't really make that much sense...until they do. 

A lot of what we see from Cadie happened because she was fed up with her life and needed a break from it, only she didn't really know how it would all play out. I feel like she learns a lot about herself and how she sees (or doesn't see) other people. The chemistry between her and Noah is great and I loved the easy way they got along from the beginning.

I loved the way that the story played out between these three. There were some twists and turns that I didn't see coming (okay, maybe I did because I'm a back-of-the-book reader) but everything came together nicely in the end. I'm a sucker for happy endings and this one made me smile big. The Devil You Know is going on my list of favorites. (Trish Doller is already there.) 

And there's pie.