Truly Devious Books 1-3 - Maureen Johnson

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆ 

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover of Truly Devious:

"Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. "A place," he said, "where learning is a game."

Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym "Truly, Devious." It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history.

True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester.

But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder."

📚📚📚 

Okay, bit weird here, but we just read the first three books in this series for our book club, and since this book wrapped part of the through-line from the first two books I figured it was a good time to do a review. This series has been a unique experience for me in a way - I feel like usually with a series like this, there's an encapsulated story with a resolution for each book with a larger storyline connecting them. In this case, however, the synopsis for the first book could really, maybe with minor tweaks, be the synopsis for the first three as a whole. There was ZERO resolution in the first book, and in fact I felt like I ended the first book with more questions than answers.

That said, I don't intend that as a critique! In fact, I think the biggest strength of this series so far has been the suspense. There was almost no point at which I felt like I had a handle on what was going on. I trusted no one, I second-guessed every single thing that happened, and I HAD to know what happened next. Things got so obfuscated that I even found myself suspicious of the road sign warning about moose! Did the kidnappers escape on a moose? Who can say?!

It's truly so hard to talk about mystery books without giving things away, so I don't even know what to talk about here. I found the characters flawed and endearing (most of them), I thought Ellingham sounded like such a weird, cool place, murders and kidnappings aside, and I loved the way things swapped back and forth between present day and past. If you asked me which book was the best, I'd say they were all good but personally I thought the third was the best so far, possibly partially because I actually got some answers at last. I found the first compelling, the second was maybe the most heart-wrenching, and the third was thrilling.

We'll be working our way through the rest of the series in our book club, and I'm interested to see what transpires in book four. Perhaps you'll see another three-book review in the future!

What the duck?

How do you get your husband, who isn't really a puzzle guy, into puzzles? Maybe get him puzzles featuring things he likes? I decided to try that and got him some duck/geese puzzles.

It didn't work, he still isn't into puzzles.

But my sister helped me put together this duck puzzle!

It IS missing a piece, possibly because a piece got left out when they packaged it (not the first time that's happened to me), but equally likely, because our dog got to a piece and ate it (also not the first time that's happened). Missing piece aside, though, pretty cool puzzle. Putting together the water, the words at the top, and the names of all the ducks - fun challenge. Putting together the rest of it, most of which looks virtually identical - SO mind-numbing. 🤣

Seriously, though, while it was challenging, it was kind of fun trying to distinguish between tiny variations in color and figure out what went where. While I'm not sure I would rush back to buy more puzzles from this brand, I also truly enjoy that they use such unique puzzle shapes, and I really enjoyed seeing all the many types of duck. This was probably a 4/5 on the puzzle scale for me. Not among my ultimate favorites, but it was a good time.

2026 mystery reads!

My sisters and I carried on our tradition of wrapping TBR books for each other so we have one to reveal and read each month. I'm glad we did, I really loved doing it last year, and I think having those mystery reads has kind of shifted my mindset when it comes to reading from my TBR shelf and purchasing new books. Even outside my mystery books, I made a much more concerted effort to read books from my already owned TBR list over something else, and I specifically pulled from my TBR for my Read Harder books before I looked outside it for ideas. Also, I used the library (yay!) way more, particularly for Read Harder and book club books - I bought less than half the number of new books in 2025 versus 2024. It's interesting, to me anyway, because this honestly wasn't even a conscious thing that I decided to do, it just happened naturally by being more aware of the books I have waiting for me to read.

That said, I did finish 100% of the books I bought in 2024, while I only read about two-thirds of them in 2025...but we don't need to talk about that. It was mostly my monthly subscription books that I didn't finish last year, and I'll get through them!

Anyhow, my shifting book purchasing and reading habits aside, it's mystery read time! I've been giving it some thought, and something I'd wanted to be more consistent with last year and wasn't was actually sharing my thoughts after reading each book. It was tricky posting the book reveal at the start of the month and then either circling back to the last month's in the next reveal post or trying to slot in a review after already having posted about that book once, so after this week's post, I'm going to make a change and start recapping each month's Read Harder progress at the start of the following month and then reveal AND review the mystery book at the END of that month. That way I'll have already read it, instead of posting about a book I know nothing about and being like "shrug, hope I like it!"

All that said, this month's mystery read is Greenwild by Pari Thomson, and "shrug" I hope I like it! 

It's a middle grade realistic fantasy described as The Secret Garden meets A Wrinkle in Time, which seems promising, and I've already read the first few chapters and am very intrigued. It's the first of at least three books in a series, so we'll see if I end up reading the whole series or if I gripe that it didn't need to be more than one book.

Read Harder 2025: The End

Well, let's see...when last we caught up about Read Harder, I was working on Cantoras and Information Hunters. I have since finished Cantoras, which was beautiful and sad and hopeful. Still working on Information Hunters, but I'm getting close to being done. Like I said, it's interesting, but a bit slow and a bit dry. Plus it doesn't help that I read it before bed, so I usually only read a couple of pages at a time. I'll get it done.

I was not a very good library steward, I kept Braiding Sweetgrass until I finished it. 😬 Sorry, people who were waiting for their hold to come in! I did also check out the audiobook, though, so I listened to it when I couldn't sit and read the book and read when I couldn't listen to the audio, and that helped me get through it a little faster. I also finished Earth Keeper, discovering in the process that apparently I've read it before? Who knew! Somehow I accidentally put a different edition on my TBR without noticing, silly me. Hey, a good read twice, nothing to complain about!

The cozy book challenge, Her Good Side ended up being SO good! I still couldn't tell you if it's fuckin cozy or not, but I found it delightful - sort of To All the Boys I've Loved Before-esque, a different vibe but just as cute, and I loved the main character, her love interest, and all her friends. I was eager to add the author's other books to my TBR after being so into it, but as it transpires....that's her only YA book. Le sigh.

Last but not least, reading a holiday romance that isn't Christmas! Sadly, The Matzah Ball was a dud - the story centered around I guess friends/lovers to enemies to lovers, but the whole "friends/lovers" bit was when they were TWELVE at summer camp, and the way that they were both still SO fixated on their camp drama was deeply weird. Age them up and make them camp counselors and maybe it would have made more sense, but as it stood...uncomfortably strange. Maybe that by itself would have been something I could look past, but the rest of it was just...so boring. I gave it 200 pages and then gave up. Fortunately, my beautiful new library opened, so I got my copy of A Holly Jolly Diwali, and I found that adorable. I wish there had been a little more focus on the actual holiday, which happened pretty early in the book, but I found the characters mostly likeable and I thought the romance was very sweet. 

And now...Read Harder, 2026 edition! 

I'm telling y'all, 2026 is going to be my year. I've already rolled for each month's challenges, I've got a journal set up to track titles and keep notes, and I'm working on getting the books chosen for the first few months of the year. My goal this year is to pick as many books as possible from my existing TBR on the Storygraph, so I can attempt to whittle that behemoth down. It will never happen, but I'll continue to fight the valiant fight. I'll also probably pick two options for each month, just in case I really hate one and give up on it or really like one and finish it super fast. 

For January, here's what's on deck:

#6: Read a gothic novel published in the last ten years. (Did I have to google what a gothic novel was to be sure I was picking something in that vein? Yes, I did.) My choices for this are The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson, which seems somewhat spooky, and My Dear Henry by Kalynn Bayron, a retelling of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. Intriguing!

#19: Read a book by an intersex author. Unsurprisingly, can't really filter for intersex authors on my TBR! I ended up searching for lists of recommendations, and I found three that I'll be trying out - Trans Liberty Riot Brigade by L.M. Pierce, Rought Paradise by Alec Butler, and A Proper Young Lady by Lianne Simone. Excited for all of these!

And there you have it. Let the 2026 Read Harder challenge begin!

Revelle - Lyssa Mia Smith

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆ 

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Luxe Revelle, star of her family's fantastical show, knows the splendor is just an illusion. With Prohibition threatening their livelihood, her family struggles to make a living, watering down champagne and patching holes in their sequined costumes. So when the son of Charmant's wealthiest family makes Luxe an offer - all the liquor the Revelles need to stay in business, in exchange for posing as his girl and helping him become mayor - she can't refuse.

The moment Jamison Port sets foot in Charmant, he can't shake the feeling of familiarity. An orphan with as few memories as gemstones, he's desperate to learn what happened to his parents. But as he delves into the island's secrets, he risks angering the wrong person and discovering a truth that just might break his heart.

When Luxe and Jamison accidentally meet, the sparks that fly are more than her magical enchantments. But keeping secrets from powerful people is a dangerous game...one that could destroy them both."

📚📚📚 

I read a lot of books, and I'd say I enjoy the majority of them, but it's been a bit since I read a book that had me as riveted as this one. The initial draw was already there - a historical fantasy set during Prohibition on a mysterious, magical island off the coast of New York, I'll read that book any day. And then I started reading and it was even better than I had expected. The world was gorgeous and intriguing, and the pacing was perfect. Just enough mystery to be tantalizing while information was revealed at exactly the right time to keep you wanting to read one more chapter.

Speaking of reveals, MY GOD, there were a few that got big reactions from me, to the point where I had to try and recap the entire book to my husband when I had about three or four chapters left because I was like "what is happening?! How will they get out of it??" I was reeling for probably the last half of the book. I read this at night before bed, and it was so hard to put it down when I had to go to bed.

Beyond the plot hooks and excitement, I think the thing that ultimately made me fall in love with Revelle was the character building. There was a pretty solid cast that was built out, and I found them all so lovely and endearing! I'm not sure I could pick a favorite if I tried. The book started off feeling like it would primarily focus on Luxe and Jamison, and while most of the action obviously centered around them, the way it became almost an ensemble story was really impressive. Villainous villains, starry-eyed love interests, fiercely dedicated family...all so well-crafted.

I always feel like I do such a bad job with these because I talk around the actual content of the book when I should probably be describing specific things that make me feel the way I do, but just like with every other review that I do this, I don't know how to talk about specifics without spoiling things! All I have to say is if you like magic, if you like intriguing historical fiction, if you like cool stories...read this book.

The best VRBOs have puzzles

I'm not generally the person who ends up actually booking the VRBO when we go places, so I don't ever get to leave reviews after a stay. But if I did, I would bump the rating up a little if at least one good puzzle is provided. It's simply good customer service. In this VRBO case the presence of puzzle was sort of negated by the fact that they locked the AC (allegedly by accident?) so we couldn't adjust it and then they didn't have any fans in the bedrooms (for the love of god, who doesn't have at least a standing fan??). But hey, at least there was a puzzle. And a Boardwalk one, at that! Red Rock Adventure.

You may recall that I've talked about my love for Boardwalk puzzles, specifically their national park puzzles, in a previous puz post, so while this isn't a part of the national park collection, it's a similar enough vibe and it was nice to get to do another of these without having to buy it for myself. It was a 500-piece, but the pattern of the table made it a little more challenging, so I was genuinely worried that I might not finish it before we headed back home! It was a great puzzle experience, though. I continue to love Boardwalk's unique piece shapes, and this puzzle had the added fun of having little critters and easter eggs incorporated, which was a nice little treat. A solid five stars for this puzzle.

December mystery read

It's December 7th, and I finally today remembered to actually open my mystery book. I knew it was December, but sometimes my brain is like yes, it's December, but it's a separate December from the one where I'm supposed to do this. I don't know how to explain it, but once I had two things scheduled for the same date in April and legitimately thought the same date was two different days, even though I knew they were both the same date. I don't know.

Anyhow, my last book of the year is The Poison Season by Mara Rutherford! 

I just read another book of hers a few weeks ago and LOVED it, so I'm looking forward to this one, especially because last month's mystery book ended up being kind of a snore. If this is anywhere near as good as her other book (A Curious Kind of Magic) was, then it'll be a strong end to the year!