Friday, January 21, 2011

Cross my Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter

This is the second book in the Gallagher Girls series and was in my gift package from my Secret Santa, along with the first one, I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, which I read as soon as it arrived back in December but never reviewed. Now that I finished the second one and still want to continue with the series, I thought I'd write up some thoughts.

But first... thank you, thank you, thank you to my awesome Secret Santa, Kathrin from Secret Dreamworld of a Bookaholic! Kathrin looked through my wishlist and chose books that she loved herself, which I think is the perfect way to choose gifts. Kathrin, they were great choices, thank you so much!

Now on to the Gallagher Girls... they are not just ordinary girls. They go to a special privileged school, but it's not what sets them apart. The Gallagher Academy isn't for rich girls, it's for future spies! Yes, that's right, we're talking about teenage girl drama set in a spy school! How fun is that?

The characters are fun, the back stories are intriguing and even the simplest story lines become fresh when you add some spies-in-training, some family secrets and practice missions to the local town where the boy you like lives. Oh and I love the 'in-passing' mentions of some fantastic inventions that originated in the labs of the Gallagher Academy. And the mentions of some of the exciting things the teachers did when they were still working as spies. Not in too much detail obviously, a higher level of security clearance would be needed for that!

These books are light and great fun so if the mood strikes... indulge. I am - I just ordered the third one, Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover. :-)

Challenges: 2011 Challenge

5 comments:

Alex (The Sleepless Reader) said...

Sounds fun!

Where is it set? UK or States? Did it feel Hogwarts-ish?

Iliana said...

These sound really cute. I probably would have loved these as a teen. I remember being all into Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden and Harriet the Spy. I still read a few YA books here and there so I'll have to add this series to my list to check out.

joanna said...

Alex - it's set in the States. And it's not Howart-ish at all, there's none of that mystery in these books. I think that's one of the things that makes them so fun, all the spy stuff is just normal.

Iliana - I would have loved these as a teen too, I'm sure. I hope you like these!

Kailana said...

This series sounds fun. I am hoping to read it at some point!

joanna said...

Kailana - it's nice in times of stress, since it's so fun. Hope you get to it and like it!