The Devil You Know

by Louise Bagshawe

Rose Fiorello has nothing. Nothing, that is, except a mane of blue-black hair, she-wolf eyes and a blistering hatred of Rothstein Realty, the ruthless New York property developer that crushed her father's business like a cockroach. She's vowed to make Rothstein's pay and when she meets Jake, the sexy, arrogant heir to the Rothstein fortune, revenge might be within reach.

Poppy Allen is the perfect LA society wealthy parents, a lovely home, and looks that stop traffic. But Poppy craves the thrill of rock 'n' roll. It takes star quality to reach the top and Poppy knows where her talent lies. She doesn't want to be the star, she wants to be the star-maker, wheeling and dealing her way to the top.

For Daisy Markham, life at her English boarding school is unbearable. Overweight and underachieving, she's an easy target for her cruel classmates. But Daisy escapes her misery by devouring trashy bestsellers, and she's starting to think she'd be better off writing them than reading them.

Three women determined to get exactly what they want, who share more than burning ambition and dreams of success. What binds them is a secret they could have never imagined.

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Adult Fiction, Ebooks

560 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Louise Daphne Bagshawe was born on 28 June 1971 in England, UK. She attended local all-girls Catholic schools near her family home in Surrey, before going to Oxford University in 1989. After graduating with a degree in Anglo Saxon and Norse, she worked as press officer with EMI records and then as a marketing official with Sony Music. On her 22nd birthday, her passion for writing was realised with a major publishing deal as Louise Bagshawe. She is the author of more than fifteen novels, published in more than eight languages. She is sister of the also writer Tilly Bagshawe.

Louise married Anthony LoCicero, and they had three children, but since June 2011, she is married with her second husband Peter Mensch. She lives in Northamptonshire with her family, and has been the Parliamentary Candidate for Corby and East Northants since November 2006, and became the Member of Parliament for Corby after winning the seat at the 2010 general election.

Reviews

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather lengthy novel. The three women were great. All growing up in different areas and having no clue they are triplets. I think seeing how each grew up and shaped who they became was what I liked the most about the story.

[Sarah Mac · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. At least it reads quickly, so there's that. >___> But this sort of story has been done many times before in glitter trash fiction--with more elegant prose & more rounded characters, no less. Try DAUGHTERS OF FORTUNE, or QUEENIE, or even LACE (by far the weakest of that trio, but much better than this one).

The prologue, while handing the reader a delightfully evil villain + dastardly crime, passes so quickly that I couldn't get invested enough to care. The triplets were...well...just not that interesting. Rose bored me from the beginning (full disclosure: I started skipping her chapters by pg 50). Poppy probably had the most dynamic plot, but it was all telling & no showing, so (again) who cares. Daisy was initially my favorite in terms of her love of food & trashy novels, but I lost interest when she dropped her weight to become gorgeous like the others, but still clung to her hangups from school days. Yawn. 🙄 And the revenge bit at the end was over so fast that it made no impact. Blink & you'll miss it, y'all.

Overall verdict: flat prose is flat. I doubt very much that I'll bother with this author again.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! It's been a while since I've read a Louise Bagshawe, and I'd forgotten how good she is! I really enjoyed this book, well written, well paced book. I think it's about time I read Monday's Child and Tuesday's Child again.......I just wish she'd written books about the rest of the days of the week!

[Camille · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was better than I thought it would be. Lots of depth but the climatic ending only consisted of about 50 pages. The book was over 500 hundred. With that being said, this was a story meant to encourage. The male characters were very blah. Their main concerns were getting the women and then telling the women that they have been gotten. I think it was over the top to make a point.

[Kelly Boyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me start off by saying I love a good Louise Bagshawe novel and this is a good novel but there are tiny minuscule points that bother me. Nothing to stop me from enjoying the book or encouraging someone else to pick it up but enough to irritate a little.

Spoilers!!!!!
Firstly Daisy, who managed to get an agents deal, or several agents offers after her sending out a chapter for the first time. I'm not saying that it's impossible but I think most authors would say it does not happen quite so easily or quickly. It all just seems to fall in her lap just when she needs it the most.

Secondly Rose. She was in the right place at the right time to get her first step up on the property ladder but what happened to make her jump up the properties so quickly? Before she left college she had several properties under her belt but I want to know more about her empire. She was meant to be only in her late teens so how did she increase her portfolio so quickly?
Also, her relationship with the mafia when buying the hotel. Could this not have been explored more and result in some negative impacts as well as a buddy to help her find the truth about her parents. he certainly didn't fit into the stereotypical gangster, which is fine but really it feels like he was an afterthought to solve the family history mystery.

Thirdly Poppy. Her glorious rise to Music mogal and her own company. Apart from some bratty musicians and ungrateful but trusting mentor, was there any blips in the road? How did she manage to accumulate all the contacts she needed? The premises for her new company? The other tenants they moved in which all seemed to work out well? Again, all falling into her lap just at the right time.

Lastly, 80% of the book is following these three girls and their lives. Three great stories but with this over hang of being identical triplets and not knowing it. The last 20% is finding each other and enacting their revenge on the unknown uncle who killed their parents. To me this could have been be two separate books. for the first 80% there was no need for the girls to be sisters. It could have jut been about three girls and their stories to exert themselves on the world. The fact they were sisters and their quest to get justice for their parents could have been a completely separate book that was fleshed out with more detail.
It just seems a shame that so many components have been squished into one story.

I appreciate I'm nit-picking here but this is because I did enjoy the book. Just some thoughts about what might have made it even better...

[Bharath · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brutal crime fuelled by greed sees two parents killed, but their triplets (girls) survive quite by chance and luck helped a little by the dying mother. The criminal ensures they are separated and the crime is camouflaged as an accident.

While Rose Fiorello and Poppy Allen grow up in Australia, Daisy Markham grows up in London. Their interests are different – but the zeal to succeed in their respective professional areas is common to them.

Rose Fiorello enters the real estate business, and is also driven by a hatred for Rothstein Realty. She quickly finds the right contacts, and her imagination and foresight ensures she is successful very quickly.

Poppy Allen wants to be a rock star, but later realizes she is better off managing bands. After some time she launches her own management firm.

Daisy Markham has her insecurities, but finds her niche in writing novels, becoming a bestselling author.

All three are very successful, and all of them find love. It is quite by chance that they meet, and as it turns out, they have strikingly similar looks. A desire to dig into the past seizes them.

The book does very well in establishing the personalities of Rose, Poppy and Daisy. A large part of the book deals with how they become successful and is interesting reading, though a little too long. The section devoted to covering how the three go about tracing their past is accorded very little space towards the end of the book and could have been much better.

Overall, certainly a recommended read.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love Louise Bagshawe, she’s a writer I know I will read and reread for my whole life, her books are the perfect escapist glittery trash I need in my life. This book I haven’t read in at least 12 years and it retained all the same fun and drama as the first time I read it all those years ago.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

trashy novel but very enjoyable

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little on the darker side for chick-lit, but good plane reading.

[Sarah Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it!! My only thing is I didn’t like anyyyy of the men they ended up with 😒 typical amiright 🙄 but yeah especially the enemies to lovers plot line with Rose I was like what redeeming qualities does Jacob have despite being smart and good looking. ?!? He was kind of a jerk and a misogynist ? And the other two men were just nice and rich and also misogynistic.. meh. but I really liked all of the girlies!! And the whole flower running metaphor with their names was super fun. And I love how they had excelled in different areas. Roberto tried to take everything from them but he couldn’t take how powerfulll and smart and passionate their birth mom was from them and I love that. I will say that the fat storyline with daisy was a little strange.. because apparently she was gorgeoussss after losing weight but it’s like wouldn’t she still be gorgeous with the extra weight like how does fifty pounds hide beauty …. idk BUT OVERALL it was good maybe it was written like 40 years ago or something 🤷‍♀️ I’m not going to google that’s my truth and I’m sticking with it

[Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up a Louise Bagshawe book in the parents room while my kid was in hospital and she’s become a quick fave for me.
The books have good stories and I like the drama that always gets resolved.
I really liked the plot of this, especially the multi pov but I do find her characters are often a bit of teenage fantasy like rich, hot bods, etc
All that to say I really liked it and was thinking about it at work looking forward to reading it when I got home.

[Karen Rothe · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read about three women who rose from challenging circumstances to achieve success. Totally unrealistic but a great read when sailing on a cruise ship. The secret that binds them leads to a satisfying conclusion. It's always entertaining to read about women living glamorous lifestyles achieved through hard work. A touch of romance adds to the read as well.

[Lisa Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

So easy to read! But my goodness, the attitudes are so outdated now. Attitudes to any body shape that isn’t slim, men who say things like “you’re my woman” and the constant need to tell the reader how much every man wanted to rip off the protagonists’ clothes. Brand names on every page makes it even more dated.

[Emma Newrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Utterly trashy and yet I felt compelled to finish it. Awful ending, felt rushed. Good escape book to read a couple of chapters of at bedtime but won’t be making it onto my list of recommendations.

[Olivia Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Straight trash, absolutely fantastic.

[Ginger Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Previewed

[Tracy Doig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but they needed to get together a bit quicker, and then I wanted more detail at the end. This seems to be a recurring theme in my reviews...

[Lauren P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as her other book that I have read.

[Debbie Carver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy beach read.

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only Rose's story held my interest.

[Katherine Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

The reunion of the three sisters was touching, but I am saddened by the brutal killing of their parents who loved them so much.

[Elaine Seamark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not read a Louise Bagshaw book for a few years. I really enjoyed this one. The three sisters had completely different lives and it was interesting to see how they came together. I really enjoyed this book.

[Samine Mehrpour · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very captivating story! It's been a while since I've read something that's just different.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Felt that the vengeance part against the cousin could have been developed more.

[Laini · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my second Louise Bagshawe novel to read, the first being Tall Poppies which I really enjoyed.

I like the way she weaves her stories and her character to interconnect without them ever knowing. In this, triplets are separated after their parents are murderered by their treacherous uncle who wishes to take over the family fortune. He saves them as the last dying wish of their mother but sends them to different parts of the world to be adopted. Rose was sent to New York,adopted by Deli owners, Daysie to England where her parents sent her to boarding school and Poppy sent to LA living with a very rich family.

The Novel follows their lives from school to their mid twenties, their struggles and successes.

One fault I have which is that Bagshawe's stories always follow the same format. Girl wants success, but something stands in her way, meanwhile there is another girl(or 2) in the backround facing similar struggles, but these girls are very different, probably wouldn't get on if they met, but there is something that ties them together. So far it is a format which is working for her, but I'm not sure if I was to read another novel, if I could bear knowing more or less what is going to happen. But I'd be willing to give it a go!!

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I originally read this book in my teens and having had a sort through my books, I decided to read it again.

The book follows the lives of Italian-born triplets who were separated at birth by their jealous cousin once removed who murdered their parents.

Poppy, Rose and Daisy are all adopted by loving families but all have a very different home life. Rebellious Poppy is brought up in LA by her rich lawyer parents and is spoilt by their money and connections. Rose lives in New York with her deli-owner parents who are struggling to keep their house and livelihood from bullying real estate firm - Rothstein. Daisy was brought up in England and attends an all girls boarding school and struggles with both her weight and her confidence.

All three girls have their setbacks; Poppy's parents dislike of her music and lifestyle choices, Rose's parents financial struggles and Daisy's belief in her abilities, however all three go on to flourish in their careers and each of them become independent business women despite the people who want to see them fail.

I really enjoy this book and is the only Louise Bagshawe novel I've read. It's an easy read that's hard to put down and despite it being very different from my usual reads, I love it just as much.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book and what made it were the brilliant characters of Rose,Poppy and Daisy. All very different and in different parts of the world filled with their own dramas and problems. Daisy is a famous author, Rose a top business woman and Poppy high up in the music world, they are all very driven and successful and I loved all 3 of them.
Though my favourite was Daisy as she went from an over weight ugly duckling to a swan and for me she had the biggest journey.
The book is told from each of the girls throughout the chapters though there was a large section were it was all about Poppy and Rose and no mention of Daisy which was annoying and the girls went from being 16 and starting college or whatever to suddenly being 21 and no real indication of the years having past so quickly so that would be my only complaint.
The ending was a bit too quickly wrapped up after the girls finally meet up,their story could have been elaborated a bit more.
But regardless I still loved it and would highly recommend.
After reading a brilliant captivating book like that it really makes you want to go n find some more books by the author and I have read some Louise Bagshaw before but this is def up there in my favourites.

[Mekerei · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Devil You Know is another chick lit by Louise Bagshawe.

'What do a feisty New Yorker, an LA rock chick and a dreamy English public school girl have in common? On paper, not a lot. But even though they live thousands of miles apart and have never met, Rose Fiorello, Poppy Allen and Daisy Markham have the strongest of bonds. They just don't know it yet. A sinister secret is buried deep at the heart of all their pasts, and sooner or later it has to come out. When that happens, one thing's for certain: the three girl's lives will never be the same again. But will it finally bring them together? After all, when there are old scores to settle, there's definitely strength in numbers..."

Louise Bagshawe writes a good romantic novel, where the female characters have depth and are not standard cliches.

A solid three stars - chick lit that delivers a happy ending.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my third Bagshawe, and I enjoyed it far more than the previous two, which I found a tad formulaic and predictable. The happy ending is never at issue, but Bagshawe stretched herself a bit more on this one and had three protagonists rather than one, and the work echoes with homage to Archer, Krantz, Steel, et al., whose names she cites in the work anyway. There is the usual "ugly duckling" heroine, and the immensely sexy man who loves her, and everyone ends up married, but there is also a lot of cleverness and fun and psychology in among the romance.

I thought it odd (or perhaps found it annoying), however, that the descriptions of what the characters eat, drink, and wear are laden with brand names, especially in the case of the British protag, who gets out the Tetley and makes a cup of tea, as if making a cup of tea isn't simply English enough. There is Cristal champagne, L'Occitane bath products, Pratesi (?) sheets, Boots makeup, Donna Karan & Chanel clothing, Jimmy Choo & Manolo Blahnik shoes, blah blah blah whatever.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok, just too predictible for my taste. Three identical twin girls are separated at birth and they all go on to be incredibly famous/successful/rich in their chosen fields. Naturally! They meet up by accident and find out the truth behind their separation and vow to right the wrongs.

The author wrote of a lot hard rock bands from the 80's but she needed to do a bit more research. There were some errors in her references which really annoyed me on a personal level, but didn't really detract from the story. A LOT of product/designer name-dropping that made me wonder if the author got a kickback from the companies for multiple mentions. Overall, a great way to lose yourself in the fantasy of poor little girls growing up to be incredibly rich AND beautiful women. Not very original, I'll admit, but the writer still drew me in and made me want to find out what happened next. If you enjoy "trashy novels" (not necessarily a bad thing!)then this would be for you!