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[katara]

Title: The Devil Makes Three

Author: Tori Bovalino

Genre: Romance, Thriller, Paranormal, Fantasy, Dark, Demons, Witches, Horror, Young Adult, Mystery, Urban Fantasy, Academia

Warning: Child Abuse, Self Harm, Gore, Violence

Date Started: January 8th, 2023

Date Finished: January 9th, 2023

Status: Finished

Rating: 4.1/5

Sypnosis: Tess Matheson only wants three things: time to practice her cello, for her sister to be happy, and for everyone else to leave her alone.

Instead, Tess finds herself working all summer at her boarding school library, shelving books and dealing with the intolerable patrons. The worst of them is Eliot Birch: snide, privileged, and constantly requesting forbidden grimoires. After a bargain with Eliot leads to the discovery of an ancient book in the library's grimoire collection, the pair accidentally unleash a book-bound demon.

The demon will stop at nothing to stay free, manipulating ink to threaten those Tess loves and dismantling Eliot’s strange magic. Tess is plagued by terrible dreams of the devil and haunting memories of a boy who wears Eliot's face. All she knows is to stay free, the demon needs her... and he'll have her, dead or alive

Review: I have been branching off my comfort zone from romances and back into the stories I used to read as a teenager. I must say this one was one that did not disappoint when it came to horror and gore.

Often coming across as having a temper and bitterness (she has every reason to be bitter especially when it comes to her parents), Tess is really a hard-working girl trying not only to put herself through school but also take care of her sister and her own tuition. She has two jobs - one of them working with her aunt in the library. One day, a request for several books comes in and this request falls right into hands. While pulling these books, Tess decides to place post-it notes on each of them and fill the with her thoughts about the requester. Unfortunately for Tess, the requester isn't happy with those notes and comes to find her. What she had thought was Dr. Birch really ends up being his son, Eliot.

Eliot is the opposite of Tess. He keeps to himself and he and his father do not get along. His mother is sick. All Eliot wants to do is find a way to save his mother and he knows that the book he needs is in the library. A request and post-it notes later, Eliot and Tess a small truce and descend into the basement of the library. There is where the trouble will begin for both of them....

I loved, loved Eliot and I loved the slow-burning relationship between them. It felt so pure and real to me, It has been the first relationship in a book that I have found myself rooting for the couple. I loved it. I even loved and sympathized with the devil.

Yes, yes I know we should never sympathize with something evil, but the question is - is he really evil? I mean, we do get small glimpses into his mindset and I don't really see him as completely evil. I feel sorry for him because like ourselves, he was something like an angel or perhaps a human himself at one point. He does say something like this in some of his thoughts.

The plot was definitely a change from the cliched reads of young adult horror. It kept you turning the page and on the edge of your seat with each chapter. I really loved how the author allowed us glimpses into the devil's mindset. It helped to understand him somewhat. I just wish we had more of a backstory for him. I would have loved to know how he fell or died. I think that would be the most interesting.

I really liked this book. It was a great read and I was able to devour it in just a few short hours. So if you are looking for something with gore, blood-like ink, and violence, then this is definitely the book you may be looking for.