Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover - Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls #3)

Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

Ally Carter

When Cammie “The Chameleon” Morgan visits her roommate Macey in Boston, she thinks she’s in for an exciting end to her summer break. After all, she’s there to watch Macey’s father accept the nomination for vice president of the United States. But when you go to the world’s best school (for spies), “exciting” and “deadly” are never far apart. Cammie and Macey soon find themselves trapped in a kidnappers’ plot, with only their espionage skills to save them.

As her junior year begins, Cammie can’t shake the memory of what happened in Boston, and even the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women doesn’t feel like the safe haven it once did. Shocking secrets and old flames seem to lurk around every one of the mansion’s corners as Cammie and her friends struggle to answer the questions, Who is after Macey? And how can the Gallagher Girls keep her safe?

Soon Cammie is joining Bex and Liz as Macey’s private security team on the campaign trail. The girls must use their spy training at every turn as the stakes are raised, and Cammie gets closer and closer to the shocking truth….

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I think this is the most important book in the series so far and I like how it focuses more on friendship and the spy side of Cammie's life and not her love life like the past two books have.   One thing I didn't realize back when I was younger and read this book that I realize now and appreciate is Macey and Cammie's friendship.  I love Bex and Liz but Cammie and Macey's relationship seems much more special and unique than with Bex and Liz. Cammie was the first one to help Macey study and catch up in the last book and she is the one who was able to bond with her over the summer.  Cammie really seems to understand, relate, and care for Macey just a tad more than the other two.   I really liked how whatever the girls were learning in class connected with the story and filled in a few missing pieces.    I liked how the plot focused more on Macey than Cammie and goodness WHAT A PLOT TWIST! That ending was crazy.

Pages: 272

Happy reading!                                                                                                                                                                                  Baylee

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy - Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls #2)

 Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

Ally Carter

Cammie Morgan is back, and it's clear that her life hasn't calmed down since the events of I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You. At first, giddy anticipation is in the air. Gallagher Academy, Cammie's elite spy school, is hosting a visit from a covert training center for boys. Soon after the boys' arrival, though, everything goes dangerously awry when a series of security breaches are discovered at the academy. Worse yet, teenage agent-in-training Cammie is being blamed for the penetration. With the school's top-secret status at risk, the Gallagher Girls have to work quickly to save their beloved school.

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Yay we have made it to the second book! 

It was just as well written as the first book and there are so many questions about small details in the book that I have and really want answered.   It was interesting to see how the first time I read it I liked Zach but now I didn't!  He was so irritating and I hated not know if he was actually being honest or not!  Just like it annoyed Cammie so job well done Ally Carter.   Early on in the book they fly to the National Mall for a class assignment and I just really wanted to smack Cammie because it was so obvious what was going on but everyone makes mistakes, even Gallagher Girls.   I really liked how the big action scene is at the end (just like the first book) because I find myself losing interest when books have the climax like 3/4 of the way in and the rest just seems like filler.

Overall it's a fun and light read and I would really recommend reading it if you read the first one.

SUPER DUPER SPOILER AHEAD!!!!

I was SO dissapointed/irritated that Dr. Steve stealing the disk was fake!  I really wanted it to be true because that plotline would be awesome (Having a traitor) and I wanted the girls to save the day and not just pass a test.  So does that mean all of the code blacks were fake? What would Mr. Solomon have done if one of the girls had killed one of the guards? I know that's not really how they do it (they like to knock them out) but if push comes to shove you know the girls know hundreds of ways to kill a man (just with their bare hands)

Pages: 236

Happy reading!

Baylee

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You - Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls #1)

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Ally Carter

Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school-that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it's really a school for spies. Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real "pavement artist"-but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her? 

Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she's on her most dangerous mission-falling in love.

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The first official Read-a-thon post! I'm so excited! This has been amazing so far (and it's only the first week!) and I can't wait until we get to the other books!

I fell in love with this book all over again!  I forgot how much I enjoyed it the first (and second... and third) time.  There is a reason this has been my favorite book since Middle school (I think that's when I read it but goodness that seems so long ago)

I can never put into words how much I enjoyed every second of this book! There weren't any boring or slow parts and each part really fit in and there wasn't really any filler. The book is supposed to be Cammie's first covert operations report and it feels as if it actually was written by a fifteen year old! I Just love Carter's writing style and sense of humor and she really seems to connect with girls.  I love the little glimpse we get into the life of a spy like 'When you're on a plane home from Istanbul and you have a nuclear warhead in a hatbox the last thing you want to do it write a report about it' it seems like the paperwork would be the hardest/most irritating part! but doesn't everybody hate paperwork?   All of the characters are very relatable and I found I could relate to every one of them in some way, even the little side characters like Tina Walters and Anna Fetterman (Tina's probably my favorite! or maybe Anna... I can never decide).  It seemed like Josh and I have the same mom! But my mother doesn't make 18 different kind of banana bread and make me sample them all.  It was definitely interesting to see how my opinions and views have changed since I first read it so many years ago and I think I appreciate and enjoy the book more now then I did back then!   I think this would be a great book for an adult who doesn't read too much YA but wants to dabble a little bit and I really enjoyed experiencing Cammie's first crush and her first date (and kiss!) with her and I think other older readers will enjoy that too.

I just love this book so much!

Pages: 284

Happy reading!

Baylee

Gallagher Girl Read-a-thon!

So to start off the read-a-thon I thought I would make a post about the GG series. This is a series very near and dear to me ever since I started reading it back in the summer of '08 (I believe) when there were only two books in the series and I CANNOT wait for the new book coming out in just a little more than a month (I will be getting the B&N hardcover so I will get the little extra epilogue) and her newest series about an ambassador's granddaughter.

It's funny how when you look at my books it's like a gradient of how worn or as I like to say loved they are based on how old they are. Most of them are more loved around the corner and edges but some of the pages are bent and folded in places too but I have try to take care of them like I do with all of my books.

I actually love the British covers more than the American cover because the British covers are like pieces of the uniform whereas the American cover is different colors to show it's a different book (there's a few more differences than that but that's the easiest way to put it.)

I even made a bookmark in celebration of the RAT and I picked yellow and blue since the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women badge (patch?) is blue. So this is the bookmark I will be using for the RAT. You may not know I believe the bookmark you use is just as important as the actual book (and I love them just as much too!)



I am a big fan of Ally Carter's books and I have read all of her YA books (I'm hoping to find her adult books at used book stores since they are no longer printed) and I even met her once at a book signing and she signed my book and I got a few pictures but she signed HS 2 since it was actually the day the book came out but I can make another post with all of the details and little stories that I took back from that day (Ally is a lot prettier in person!)

Be sure to check out Books As You Know It since they are the lovely hosts of the RAT

Please take note that due to a family emergency my reviews may be a few days late so please be patient.


Happy reading!
Baylee

Summer Getaways - Peggy Darty, Nancy J. Farrier, Marilou H. Flinkman, Gail Sattler

Summer Getaways 

Peggy Darty, Nancy J. Farrier, Marilou H. Flinkman, Gail Sattler

(Sorry i can't find a bigger picture ANYWHERE)

Four inspirational stories of love set during vacation getaways in contemporary times. Authors Peggy Darty, Nancy Farrier, Marilou Flinkman, and Gail Sattler weave enchanting tales that you will want to take along on your own getaway.

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Overall, It's an okay book. All the stories seemed to go the same way, not to mention the characters in every story have a lot of similarities. All of these stories 

just moved way too fast and I know there could only be so many pages/chapters but I think they rushed things a little too much. Spring in Paris and Sudden Showers seemed to be most natural and not as rushed as the other two.

Spring in Paris

I was not impressed. Without giving away the details I think some of her choices were unsafe especially for a younger woman alone in a foreign country.

The Rock Wall

I really like how the characters were on a bike tour of England I thought it was unique and different (you don't read about biking everyday!) but I found the book to be just a little to cliche for me with the character who is the cliche 'jealous girlfriend' who sabotages the girl she thinks is trying to steal her boyfriend but really the girl is innocent in her intentions and she is the childhood friend that moved away and the guy starts to like her and realizes what kind of person his girlfriend (the woman he was going to propose to on the trip) really is. It gets really cliche and predictable at the end. If you can get passed the cliches the story was pretty great. 

The River Runners

This was another one that I thought was a little different  I didn't think it was very realistic based on the fact that the main character talks about God while rafting. Unless you worked for a christian based company you would get fired/reprimanded pretty quick. So I thought this book was okay at first but they had known each other TWO weeks and he was already mentioning moving close to where the main character lived. If you didn't think that was soon enough just a few days later he was asking the main characters uncle if he could marry her! They met TWO WEEKS ago! I was not very impressed with this one.

Sudden Showers

I had issues in just the first few pages. First he calls her Miss (he doesn't know if she is married or not so the author should have used Ms.) and then he walks her home, now I don't really want to put my own personal opinion in this review (though I know I already have) but I would not want a man who is a stranger to walk me home and learn where I live there are some really creepy people out there nowadays. I liked the idea of sightseeing and vacationing in your own town so I enjoyed this story a lot.

Pages: 346

Update

Goodness it's been a while huh?  I have been super busy with life and other things i'm involved with so I have not uploaded my reviews here but I have been reading books and writing them so all I have to do is actually write the post.

I wanted to update you all on a few things!
1st  I have been participating in a summer reading program for all ages with my local library so I will be uploading all of those books (Your reviews are giveaway entries so lets hope I win a prize!)

2nd I will be participating in a Gallagher Girl read-a-thon hosted by Books As You Know It and you can find the link at the bottom of this post.  I am so glad they are doing this because the whole GG series and HS have been a big part of my life.  I first read them while I was on vacation to Disney World back in 2008 so there were only two books published at that time. You should definitely check out the host blog because it's pretty awesome (I love the colors.)  Leave a comment if any of you are participating too!

3rd  I will be starting up with weakly reviews again (probably Sundays) so be sure to look for those.


http://booksasyouknowit.blogspot.com/2013/07/sign-up-gallagher-girls-by-ally-carter.html#more

Playing Nice - Rebekah Crane

Playing Nice

Rebekah Crane

Martina "Marty" Hart is really nice. At least, that's what people think. 

It's Marty's junior year at Minster High. Minster's a small town where making great grades, smiling pretty, helping old people, running the new-student Welcoming Committee, and putting up decorations for all the dances--including the totally awful Hot Shot fall hunting celebration--gets you ... what? Marty's not sure. Instead of dreaming about a sororities-and-frats future at nearby University of Michigan, she's restless, searching for a way out of the box her controlling mother and best frenemy Sarah have locked her in. When Lil--don't call her Lily!--Hatfield transfers to Minster, Marty gets her chance. Lil's different. She smokes, wears black, listens to angry punk records, and lives in a weird trailer with her mother. Lil has secrets--secrets that make her a target for all the gossiping and online bullying Minster can muster. But so does Marty. And Marty sees something different in Lil. Something honest. 

Something real. 

PLAYING NICE is the achingly true story of a girl who's been following the rules for so long she's forgotten who she was when she started. It's about falling in love with the wrong people and not seeing the right ones, about the moments in life when you step out of line, take a chance ... and begin to break free.

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First off I love the cover!  The font and the use of colors really makes this book stand out on a bookshelf.

There were a lot of things that irked me about this book and it seems like Crane never went to high school or knew anyone who went to high school.  For example:

1. Band kids do NOT wear their uniforms to school
2. There seemed to be all of these stupid 'rules' in this town/school that make no sense for example "Once you date someone in Minster, you're off-limits for the rest of your high school career.... It's unwritten dating law."   You're kidding me right?
3. She seems to think kids can't text in class whenever they want.

Some of the situations in the book are believable particularly the whole teenage 'Who am I?' crisis but others... eh not so much.  There was one particular thing Marty's mom said I think people could really relate too about how you could love somebody but not always like them.  I also found Marty's view on her and her best friend's relationship changing extremely relatable!  I have been through that myself and I am sure plenty of others have too.

I really thought Marty was an idiot for following Lil outside to sit with her while she smoked and then she was paranoid about people smelling it on her, well Honey if you didn't want anyone to smell it you shouldn't have been sitting next to someone who is smoking illegally.

"And then Matt winks at me. A deliberate, slow, super-sexy wink that makes his hair fall in his face." This just makes me go "What?"  I really wish someone would do this for me as an example because in my mind it just looks weird and how does just eye lid movement make your hair fall in your face?

I hate to say one of the most popular things used in my notes was 'Really!?'

Now lets address the main protagonist Marty!

I did not like her.  She seemed to have an obsession with sex and her virginity.  Some of the thoughts she has about a rocker boy who she has a crush on was just a little too much at times (and keep in mind I am young so this isn't coming from some middle-aged woman) and I was thinking 'What is this?  50 Shades of Teenagers?'.  She keeps referring to her 'rotten and stinky virgin vagina'  (not an exact quote) and I was getting really irritated/tired of it it.  Here is a quote from the book "I'm surprised at how steady my voice sounds and the fact that his leg is touching mine isn't sending my mind into a crazy montage of sex scenes"  reeeally!?.  You know how in some books with angst-y teens they always go on and on about something or how people fish for compliments and it gets really annoying? This was Marty's version of that. 

I understand teenagers have angst and disagreements with their parents but at certain parts of the book Marty was downright disrespectful, immature and overreacting.

She says at one point "It makes me want to tear off my skin and crawl into someone else's. Someone like Lil, who says what she wants, who can sleep with any body and not care and smoke cigarette after cigarette out in the open for the whole town to see.  Who can say you smell like a virgin and I want to get laid and 'Shot through the heart is a terrible theme because no one cares about Bon Jovi anymore!'"  why would you want to be somebody like that?

But what's up with her obsession to become friends with Lil?  Does she not understand that some people might not like her?  Does she think she's that amazing and perfect?   The answer to that is yes.  Through out the book you notice that she's not nice she's actually pretty rude immature and conceited.  She doesn't do things to be nice or helpful she does them for self gain and benefit. 

She seemed to judge and assume things about EVERYONE whether it was Lil when they first met or her mother.  At one part of the book she thinks "I touch my black jelly bracelet.  I was overreacting about Meghan. Matt's busy with guitar and school.  His pothead mom probably doesn't have a computer" did she ever think that Matt's mom feels the same way Lil and her mom do when it comes to stereotypes and people assuming things?

She has these ridiculous rules about dating boys!  For example  "But he's a jock, and I just can't date a jock. I hate the smell of sweat."   Has she never heard of showers? She also went to a party as one boy's date just so she could talk to another guy she even thinks "I'm not supposed to leave with Alex I'm supposed to be with Matt."  Who does that?

I got really tired of her always 'Because it's the nice thing to do' or 'Because that's what a nice person does' now when you just read it it doesn't seem that bad but it's all about context.  You shouldn't have to think about or remind yourself to be a nice person if you really are a nice person.   I also thought the fact that she used curse words was a little out of character for a character who has such high expectations from her parents and is just all around supposed to be perfect and nice.

She has no idea what humility is.

At the beginning of the book I thought I could really relate to Marty but I learned really fast that that was not the case.

I'm glad that Marty finds out who she really is inside and she does grow up some in the last chapter or two but she still has A LOT of growing up to do.  I was glad that she finally understood her mom at the end.

Now it's Lil's turn.

I did like that she seemed to be the voice of reason at certain parts but I found her pretty cliche a lot of the time.
That is all.

The book features quite a bit of poetry written by 'Marty' and I will be honest after the first few poems I started skipping over them.  I understand she write poetry but do we really have read everything she writes?  I found it unnecessary but I'm sure someone out there liked it.

I feel like the only person who would enjoy with book would have to be 13 years old but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone under 16.  I wouldn't consider this a coming of age novel because I don't think this shows Marty or Lil's transition to adulthood. Marty still has A LOT of maturing and growing up to do.   I ended up reading it just to see what happened not because I wanted to (thank goodness it's short!).

Pages:  270

P.S  I actually had to stop about half way through writing this review because It brought up all of my frustrated feelings I had while reading the book!

P.P.S  There is a huge spoiler for West Side Story in this book that I was not pleased about.