The Devil She Knows by Alexandria Bellefleur * * *

I read The Devil She Knows by Alexandria Bellefleur for prompt #40 of the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, “A book outside your comfort zone”. Romance is very much outside my usual reading preferences, so this was a good opportunity to try something different.

The premise immediately caught my attention. It is essentially a queer twist on Bedazzled. Chef Samantha "Sam" Cooper meets the demon Daphne after the two become trapped in an elevator together. Daphne offers Sam six wishes, which she plans to use to win back her ex-girlfriend. It is a fun setup, and I was looking forward to seeing how the wishes would spiral out of control.

Unfortunately, my biggest issue with the novel was the pacing. The story takes almost the first fifth of the book just to get to the actual deal. Sam and Daphne spend a long time chatting in the elevator, Sam slowly discovers that Daphne is a demon, refuses to believe it, asks questions, and only then do they finally reach the part the premise promises. I kept waiting for the wishes to begin, and it felt like the story took far too long to get there.

Once the wishes finally started, I enjoyed the book much more. I liked that they were closely connected to Sam's career as a chef instead of being completely random magical adventures. Her profession actually matters throughout the novel, which made the wishes feel more personal. My favourite was probably the third wish because it explored an especially interesting idea, although I also felt that Bellefleur could have pushed that concept much further. It had more potential than the story ultimately explored.

The novel also takes a major turn near the end. With about twenty percent of the book left, the focus shifts away from the wish structure into a different direction. While I understood why the story needed that change, it mostly delivered emotional closure rather than excitement. I found myself thinking that the final quarter dragged on longer than necessary. In many ways, only the middle half of the novel is really devoted to the six wishes, while both the beginning and the ending feel much slower.

I also struggled with Sam as a protagonist. She constantly puts herself down and rejects every compliment anyone gives her. I understood where that insecurity came from, and I even recognised some of those habits from my own past, but after a while it became frustrating rather than sympathetic. I kept waiting for meaningful character growth.

That is probably my biggest disappointment with the novel. Sam certainly changes by the end, but not in the way I had hoped. Rather than truly learning her own worth and finding confidence within herself, it felt as though she simply transferred that need for validation from one person to another. Instead of believing in herself, she ends up relying on someone else to believe in her. For me, that weakened the emotional payoff because I wanted her to discover her own confidence, not simply find a different source of reassurance. A story like this could have carried a really powerful message about self worth, and I do not think it quite got there.

Overall, I enjoyed parts of The Devil She Knows, especially the central concept and the creative use of the wishes, but I also felt it was longer than the story needed to be. A tighter pace, a little more exploration of some of the wishes, and stronger character development would have made a much bigger impact.

In the end, I gave it 3 stars. It was an enjoyable read with a fun premise, but one that never quite fulfilled the potential of its own idea.