“Mom always said my dad is the devil. I never knew she meant it literally!”

All Angel’s father (a.k.a. the Devil) wants is to be a part of her life. And in return he has the power to give her anything she wants—including popularity and a date with her long-time crush, Cole Daniels. But Angel will only accept him on her terms: get out of the devil business and leave his special powers out of the equation. Is Angel condemning herself to an eternity of lunch at the losers’ table? Or can she and Daddy Dearest strike some kind of deal?

Ah yes, I found the second book of this series about thirteen years ago at the library book sale. Perhaps more. My mom asked if I wanted to buy it, and I passed, but it stuck in the grey folds of my mind, and I’ve finally read the series.

It’s certainly an interesting premise, and despite dealing with the devil, it is fitting for middle school hijinks. That was actually the most surprising part for me. I knew a book for 12 year olds wasn’t going to go too dark when it comes to the concept of sins, the Bible, the devil and all that (Hell is only referred to as Hades, for example), but I didn’t expect to laugh as much as I did. I don’t laugh much at books in general, but this got more than a few chuckles out of me.

It’s all thanks to Angel’s newly revealed powers. Not selling or receiving souls, but the typica telekinesis kind where when her emotions get riled up, anything she thinks or says gets taken a bit too literally. This includes turning everyone into Looney Tunes, ending up in Hawaii, controlling twisters and more. The most embarrassing things happen to her including the ugliest dress ever, the dreaded arriving at school without a shirt, and in an attempt to rectify this, trying to grow her double As to double Ds only to end up with mutant double Gs.

I feel bad for Angel because so much public humiliation would have turned me into a hermit a long time ago, yet Angel keeps trying to be a good person. Well, a good, impulsive person. I think the reason she goes through so much self-inflicted angst is because Petroff knows that Angel can sometimes be annoying. She makes the same mistakes, stubbornly insists she can control her powers this time (hint she never does) and doesn’t listen to those who know better than her. It’s karmic comeuppance, it’s just unfortunate that the real bullies in the school never get that same justice. For as short-sighted and selfish Angel, at least she has the heart in the right place most of the time, I was just waiting for her to finally win over alpha bitch Courtney and her boyfriend D.L. but it never came.

Another thing that never comes to pass that I suspect others readers would want would be more world-building about Hades, Lou (Angel’s dad, short for Lucifer, yes he thinks he’s super clever) and the existence of (some friendly) demons and angels walking around the Earth but that’s never explored. Shame because I had a huge suspicion that Courtney’s BF, D.L. Helper was another one of those demons masquerading as humans. He is that jerkish and suspiciously unaffected when Angel’s powers go kablooey.

The side characters in Angel’s life are well-done like her mother who is comically New Age as an overcompensation for falling in love with the devil and having his child. Lou is also a delight as Petroff hits on that mix of devilishly charming with Dad trying to reach out. Gabi, Angel’s best friend is cool and I enjoy that Petroff doesn’t keep her as supportive best friend. I mean she is, at points, but there are underlying resentments explored in book 3 and 4 that show her frustrations.

In fact, Gabi may have a crush on Angel’s crush/bf Cole and honestly, I think they might work better. So much of Cole from Angel’s POV is preteen anxiety over how he perceives her, trying to hide her powers from him, and how cute he is. They both like the same band, and . . . there’s much else to their relationship. Cole doesn’t have much personality in general besides being nice (well enough not to bully others, but he tends to give disproving looks rather than stand up for Angel or Max or any of the targets) and being popular.

The few interactions between Cole and Gabi actually have warmth and commonalities that sometimes I wondered if Petroff was going to have a big switch that reveal that Gabi and Cole fit together better, Angel realizes her feelings for him were superficial and end up with DL (This was when I was still under the assumption that he was secretly a demon with hidden depths). Did not happen. But it’s a shame that the Cole/Angel relationship which is the impetus for so much of the drama ends is so shallow. I mean even Courtney (the bitch) and Max (the nerdy gentle giant with a crush on Angel) are more distinct than Cole.

The final books feels similarly abrupt, bringing some closure on the Lou and Angel relationship front, but I didn’t feel Angel developed much as a person nor with her powers.

Ah well, it was a fun series nonetheless. A good quartet for a beach read.