THE DEVIL MAKES THREE series: by Julie Mangan (author) and Arthur Nelson (Illustrator)

Reviewed by Lindsey

Can a woman date a man with Multiple Personality Disorder and still call herself a one-man woman?
This question plagues Gretchen Tanner as she finds her life inundated with a tasty man who all at once is an assassin, aiding and abetting her in vengeful homicide; an FBI officer, trying to nail her for the crime; and a criminology professor, trying to teach her the basics of the topic.

To make matters worse, one of the personalities has discovered her darkest secret (other than homicide). He knows she’s robbing graves in the family cemetery, and he’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants in exchange for his silence.

Gretchen’s once independent life has been shattered by the arrival of her unorthodox suitor. And the most pressing problem? She’s not sure she can say no to any of them.  (Amazon summary)

Everyone who knows me knows I am a cover SNOB. Cover rated a B. It's cute but looked like it would be a silly romance, and I don't care for silly romances so I assumed I would read a couple of chapters and delete.

I was hooked from chapter one. The main character is a 23 year old who is going to school, working at her folks' funeral home and trying to figure out what she is going to do for the rest of her life.

She had a twin sister who was killed when she was eight, so there are all kinds of family dysfunction.
Gretchen feels she must stay and help her folks with the business even thought she resents it on a daily basis.
On the other hand, she helps herself to the possessions of the deceased to fund her schooling. She digs them up and takes their jewels. She reasons that where they are going they don't need them.

She meets Corbin in a very unusual way, and then she meets Collin , her professor.  And then she meets Cohen, the FBI agent. Oddly, they all look exactly the same. As a reader, I couldn't figure out if this guy had three personalities, or if they were twins and one had dual personalities. It kept me guessing until I figured out what was going on.

The dialogue between characters is fantastic. Even with all the constant change of characters and many story lines, I never got lost. The main character is not She-Ra; she is fairly normal. She tends to dip into the not-so -legal way of life, yet refuses to leave her parents hanging with the family business.

For you Swashbuckling pirate readers (you know who you are), there is romance involved, if not a lot of severe romance. Again, I am no prude, but when you have to figure out how someone can bend a certain way ,or get your anatomy book out to figure it all out, it gets old. 

I could go on and on, but that would ruin the story. These books were fun and extremely addicting. The cover seems very feminine, but I think there are a lot of men who would enjoy these too.

So fake a illness, stay home from work, kids' practices, whatever and start reading. Once you start, you won't be able to put these down.