Don't Judge A Girl By Her Cover

This post originally published September 19, 2010.
 
Author: Ally Carter
Published: June 2009
Publisher: Hyperion Books
Series: Gallagher Girls #3
263 pages (hardcover)
 
Having read and enjoyed Ally Carter’s Heist Society very much, I decided to read some other books by her and came across this one (at the library). Unfortunately, at the time, I didn’t realize this book was part of a series as the book didn’t give any hints of being part of one. This book is actually the third book in a series about Cameron Morgan and her special school that trains spies. I kind of figured out that I was reading a book that was a part of a series a chapter or two in, but luckily, I discovered you don’t need to have read the previous books to understood and enjoy this one. (I mean, I’m sure it helps and adds to the experience, but I got through this book just fine without the prior knowledge).

Cameron Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, an elite finishing school to the outside world, but is secretly a school for training female spies. Cammie is on vacation at the moment though and supporting her friend Macey as Macey’s father accepts the nomination for Vice President of the United States. A political convention goes wrong though when a team of seemingly trained operatives trap the girls and attempt to kidnap Macey! Fortunately, they manage to escape but as Macey’s father continues his campaign, it appears that the kidnappers are determined to succeed in their mission and it is up to Cammie to make sure her friend stays safe.
Despite not having read books one and two, like I mentioned before, didn’t hinder me from enjoying this one. It’s my first time being exposed to Cammie and the Gallagher Academy, and I have to say, I really like the idea of a secret school that is training spies! And when I say secret school, I don’t mean secret like Hogwarts where only people of magic can see and visit it; the Gallagher Academy, like the spies, are good at disguises and whenever the school needs one, it’s ready! Bookshelves turn around and are filled with ‘normal’ books, classroom plaques flip over to read normal things like ‘Biology’ instead of ‘History of Espionage’, secret classrooms built underground … I loved immersing myself into the world. I wish Cammie wasn’t so rebellious and trying to escape all the time, I would have loved to got to know the school more and how they educate spies-in-training! (Maybe the first two books do that, I don’t know).

I really liked the book, although something about the plot didn’t seem as ‘secret-spy-story’ as it could be, to me. I guess, when I pick up a book about spies, I expect something a little more on the drama/epic side. Cammie and her fellow students are all around sixteen years old, so the story also touches base a lot with things like friendship and of course, boys and the ever puzzling question of ‘Does he like me, or doesn’t he?!’. Don’t get me wrong, there’s action and there’s fun, but there’s a slight juvenile element to it all. Then again, it is a book for teenagers (teenage girls, to be exact). I haven’t read the first two books so I can’t compare them and tell you if the this book deviated from a norm set by the first two, or stayed the same, but that’s the way I felt about this one.

Anyway, this is the perfect book to read if you want something fun and fast. The plot is entertaining and, while not exactly jaw-dropping, it is also unpredictable. The characters are all fairly likeable; nobody stood out for me, but at least nobody annoyed me so much that I want to reach into the pages and hit them over the head with a frying pan either. A book that I feel mainly (or perhaps, only) girls or females that are young-at-heart can enjoy, but yeah, if you fall in those categories, you should definitely try it out! (Maybe you’d want to read the series in order though, unlike me). I’m going to hunt for the first two books before continuing on to the fourth!

My Rating: 4/5