Sunday, April 18, 2010

Review: Don't Judge a Girl by her Cover


Don't Judge a Girl by her Cover by Ally Carter
3.25 stars

Reasons for reading: I like the series; 10 in 10 YA Chick Lit Challenge

Description: "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…."

First line: " 'We're moving.' The man beside me spoke into his sleeve, and I knew the words weren't for me."

My thoughts: I've loved the idea of Gallagher Academy since the first book and I still do, but I had a few moments where I thought I'd had just about enough of this series while reading this book. Happily, Carter added some new questions and now I want to know the answers, but this wasn't my favourite G. Girls book. Macey isn't my favourite of the girls, so I wasn't loving all the focus on her. It was cool to meet Cammie's kick-ass aunt and learn a bit more about her family history. But it was the usual stuff - Liz being insanely smart, Bex being super-brave and cool and all three of them breaking rules and using their spy skills to help someone even when they're not supposed to. And the words "my best friend(s)" seem to appear on every other page, which I found irritating. The term best friend usually means one person (maybe two), not three. And we know that they're your friends, Cammie. But, as I said, the introduction of some shadowy information about Cammie's family and Cammie herself revived my interest a bit, so I think I'll be able to stick around to find out more in the next book. I do like the books and I like Ally Carter, I just tend to get series fatigue pretty easily.

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