Alexandria Bellefleur’s The Devil She Knows is a sweet-as-sin sapphic romance.
Our main character, Sam, is an underpaid and overworked pastry chef, disrespected by her boss who refuses to give her the promotion that they both know she deserves. The rotten cherry on top of the shitty sundae comes when Sam’s proposal to her would-be fiancée goes horribly awry, leaving her alone and desperate for a second chance. Enter Daphne, a beautiful demon who offers Sam six wishes in exchange for the low, low price of her immortal soul. But, Sam will soon come to find that what she wishes for isn’t always what she wants (or needs), and that the devil she knows might just be the girl of her dreams.
This book is highly reminiscent of the 2000 cult classic Bedazzled, with some dialogue that is copy and paste verbatim from the film. These quotes took me out of the story a bit, and made me concerned that Bellefleur’s goal in writing The Devil She Knows was simply to write genderbent fanfiction wherein the two leads inevitably end up together. No shade to fanfiction, but Bellefleur’s inclusion of direct quotes from the movie led me to believe at the beginning of the story that I was about to read a story that I was already familiar with, and I was hoping for something new and original. Even Sam’s first wish closely resembled Brendan Frasier’s from Bedazzled, showing that Bellefleur was relying not only on dialogue, but plot points from the film as well. It was at this point that I resigned myself to 300 more pages of a story that would have nothing new or interesting to offer.
I am so glad that I was wrong.
After Daphne twists her wish, Sam is forced to make another (and another, and another), and this is where the story diverges from its inspiration and becomes an original tale. Sam’s second wish is my favorite, and you’ll just have to read the book to find out why. In fact, if the whole story had been a continuation and expansion of Sam’s second wish, I would’ve liked it even more. I also really enjoyed discovering Daphne’s secrets at the same time as Sam, and I thought that her backstory was really compelling and well thought out. It’s clear that this is Bellefleur’s first foray into writing with fantastical elements and she definitely seems more comfortable when writing more contemporary scenes, but I have no gripes with her writing itself. The quick and quippy dialogue between Sam and Daphne stands out throughout the book.
If my enjoyment of this book were to be graphed, it would definitely be a bell curve. Now that we’ve talked about the positives, we have to discuss the negatives.
The book takes place over just one day (give or take with a little demon magic), and I think its timing was really its downfall. How as readers can we be expected to believe that, in a mere twenty-four hours, Sam is able to transition smoothly from being obsessed with her ex and wanting her back to falling capital L in Love with Daphne? The romance feels very abrupt and not at all like a natural progression. In fact, I think the story might even be better without the romance. I would honestly rather read about Sam falling back in love with herself before falling in love with Daphne, especially with the number that her ex did on her self-esteem. Without any meaningful period of self-reflection, for either woman, the relationship seems doomed to fail from the start. And we have to talk about the lack of representation. Both main characters are stated to be lesbians, but it seems like no other marginalized identities are represented and the characters are overwhelmingly white.
If nothing else, the book is certainly fun. Many enjoyers of sapphic stories will love this one, and others won’t find it to be their cup of tea. Try it for yourself and let me know which one you are.
Content warnings: Infidelity, Mentions of suicide, Injury detail, Hospitalization, Sexual content (one scene)
My name is Kit and I love sapphic stories. You can find me at @ShelfConscious.Library on Instagram.
