Book Review #12

It's 1AM here. You can blame my late-night book review on the Excedrin I took at 7. WIRED.

Today's (er, tonight's) victim shall be:

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter

As always, it will be subjected to the rigorous 5 Steps of Doom: Summary, What I Liked, What I Didn't Like, The Overall Mood Said Book Left Me In, and The Overall Rating. The Overall Rating will be based on my highly selective Sara's Scale of Suck or Soar, as follows, lowest to highest:

Level 1: This is How Not to Write a Book
Level 2: What Editor Read this and said "Hmm, Let's Publish it"?
Level 3: My Faith in Writers is Wavering Precariously
Level 4: This Doesn't Suck
Level 5: I'd Read the Sequel
And the coveted Level 6: Fan-FREAKING-tastic. Buy at All Costs.

Summary: This is the sequel to I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, the first the Gallagher Girls series. It continues the sophomore year of Cammie, the daughter of the headmistress and also a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, aka a school that trains spy girls. Okay, on to the fun synopsis.

All girls at spy school are awkward with boys. Headmistress/administration think it is good idea to bring in boy spies. Enter boy spies. Boy spy (Zach) crushes on girl spy (Cammie) -- or does he? -- which causes all kinds of ruckus amongst the boy-clueless girl spy and her friends. Girl spy and friends investigate as weird things start happening (namely security breaches) that are linked to boy spies -- or are they? Cool gadgets, hot boy spies, covers, strapless dress, tacos, quarters, ex-boyfriends, secrets, secrets, and secrets. Or are there secrets?

What I Liked: ITYILYBTIHTKY (HOLY CRAP long acronym) didn't thrill me, so I didn't even intend on reading CMHAHTS (holy crap, not-as-long-but-still-long acronym). But at the urging of the ever-fabulous Natalie, I bought it. And you know what? I liked this one SO MUCH better than the first one. I don't know why. I mean, of course I know why, I just don't know why the first one couldn't also have been awesome. CMHAHTS was so lighthearted and cutesy and fun and mysterious and moving that I couldn't put it down. I got shivers. The message at the end, the building themes in Cammie's life, her life-lessons and growing sense of self were so relevant and exciting. Where were these exciting life-lessons and relevant themes in ITYILYBTIHTKY, Ally Carter? Hm?

What I Didn't Like: Carter did this in the first book really bad, but it was only slightly annoying in this one. She tends to hit the reader over the head with things. Beat the dead horse, if you will. Yes, Carter, we get that Cammie is ridiculously smart and this makes her socially awkward. Yes, Carter, we get the irony in Cammie knowing a dozen+ different languages and still not finding things to say. Yes, Carter, MOVE ON NOW. Thank you. Like I said, it was distractingly bad in the first book (notice how I've stopped using that insanely long acronym now), but only twitch-worthy annoying in this one.

The Overall Mood Said Book Left Me In: Strong. Hopeful. The message this book left off with was so girl-power and happy that I want to go out and kick something while wearing stilettos, just because I can.

The Overall Rating: Level 5: I'd Read the Sequel. Carter's writing still leaves something to be desired (or, more specifically, something that I desire there to be less of. Let us imagine some of it ourselves, Carter), but this book left me very, very hopeful in her ability to build a series. I shall wait until it is in paperback, but I will absolutely be reading Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover.