life's more dangerous when you're a fifteen year old spy
I just finished reading the first three books of the Gallagher Girls series (there's four published, and looks to be six in total) and they're SO DELIGHTFUL. It's a YA series about a spy school for girls. Let me repeat. A SPY SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. HITS EVERY KINK POSSIBLE WITH ME SAVE TIME TRAVELLING. Why is there not more of this subgenre is what I'm saying. I'd read them happily.
I really enjoyed reading them.
Basically think of the St. Trinian's films meets The Recruit. (For those not familiar with any of those comparisons you should really at least watch St. Trinian's and then think: what if it was actually a spy school!?) I found the series randomly clicking through the iBooks store the other day because I was bored and all the other books I have weren't keeping my attention past page five so I was looking for something interesting or at the very least easy and fun to read. The latter definitely happened. The title of the first book caught my eye in a kind of lolwhut way. It's call "I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have To Kill You":
I kinda judged it on it's cover at first glance--lol crappy teen novel about whatever, probably vampires (based on the word kill)--but still decided to read the book summary because worst of all I'd screenshot it and send it in an email to Kay to giggle* over, but the summary was not what I expected: "Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses - but it's really a school for spies." [WHAT SPIES???? INTRIGUE!!] "Cammie Morgan is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways (three of which involve a piece of uncooked spaghetti). [LOL, THIS SOUNDS AMAZING.] "But the one thing the Gallagher Academy hasn't prepared her for is what to do when she falls for an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl." [Okay, I'm not surprised it has a love story, I read the title. LET'S BUY IT. IT'S ONLY £4.**] So I bought it and it just delighted me! It's funny and has one of the more amusing and genuine teen first person POV I've read in while. And I'm not a big fan of the first person POV as I find that it doesn't fit every story it's used in, but it works her for Cammie. And while the love story is a bit obvious and predictable I loved how Cammie chose to persue it.
* Me and Kay do this kind of thing a lot. Msg or email bad book covers. It's a thing.
**£3.99, really. Though it's not a UK series, actually. It's based in the US and all four published books are out there. The UK iBook and Kindle stores only have the first three so if all my US flisters if you decided to read them, you're one up on me.
At times the book is a little too out there with the spy history and things they learn in the school (though I loooooooooove the history if the school itself!) but it's all in good fun. For example, at breakfast, lunch or dinner they're instructed to speak in different languages. Lunch could be Spanish, dinner could be Farsi, etc. You constantly have moments of the girls speaking different languages in the books. It's where P&E stands for Protection and Enforcement. It's also not the kinds of books fandom will every get crazy over ala Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Twilight, etc. They're too... easy? I don't like to use that word for the series because I found the books to be legitimately enjoyable, full of awesome friendships, family relationships that feel natural, but they're easy reads. Simple reads. It took me about two days to read all three and I think that in print they'd be about 300pgs? Idk I was reading them on my phone. That's beside the point. The author, Ally Carter, does a good job of drawing out the girls relationship with one another -- the girls being Cammie (our narrator), Liz (our tech wizard), Bex (the only UK citizen ever allowed to enrol in the Academy.), and Macey (the new girl) -- as well as Cammie's relationship with her mother, who is the head mistresses of the school. (See the St. Trinian's parallels yet?) Cammie's relationship with her love interest is also well drawn out and realistically played.
Then we get more interesting characters attached to the spy world in books two and three. The girls friendships are highlighted more and more now that they don't have to be introduced. Backstories are explored more.
I don't want to give too much in case anyone decides to read these books, but while I found the first two fun enough, the third is my favourite. It takes these girls live to a new level in terms of each other, their families, and the spy world the exists outside the walls of Gallagher Academy.
Character breakdowns and mini casting spam!
left to right: Danielle Panabaker, Kesina Solo, Larissa Wilson, Ashley Benson.
Cameron Morgan : Main character and narrator of the series. She is a second generation Gallagher Girl. She is best friends with Rebecca "Bex" Baxter, Elizabeth "Liz" Sutton and Macey McHenry. They call her the Chameleon, bc she's a pavement artist, which means she's takes the art of blending into a crowd to whole new level. Her mother is the headmistress of the school, her father passed away on a mission when she was younger.
Macey McHenry: New student at the beginning of the novel and the Gallagher academy is the last chance she has. Being kicked out of practically every other school in the country, Gallagher Academy is her last resort. She's more life smart than the other girls, mostly because she's actually lived outside the bubble the school provides.
Rebecca "Bex" Baxter: The only ever non-US student ever admitted to the school. Cammie's best friend. Stubborn and theatrical, and loves to act, she's a natural born spy. Literally, her parents are both agents of MI-6. She's only the first person to jump off a building and into the action.
Elizabeth "Liz" Sutton: While all the girls are flirt with the genius IQs, Liz has passed it a while ago. Like when she was seven, when she first began cracky CIA codes. She's southern, and also probably the most naive, or earnest, of the four girls. She's also the smallest, but that doesn't mean the weakest.
- Other books I rec: "One Day" by David Nicholls. Except the end kills me and taints everything else for me.
crossposted!
I really enjoyed reading them.
Basically think of the St. Trinian's films meets The Recruit. (For those not familiar with any of those comparisons you should really at least watch St. Trinian's and then think: what if it was actually a spy school!?) I found the series randomly clicking through the iBooks store the other day because I was bored and all the other books I have weren't keeping my attention past page five so I was looking for something interesting or at the very least easy and fun to read. The latter definitely happened. The title of the first book caught my eye in a kind of lolwhut way. It's call "I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have To Kill You":
I kinda judged it on it's cover at first glance--lol crappy teen novel about whatever, probably vampires (based on the word kill)--but still decided to read the book summary because worst of all I'd screenshot it and send it in an email to Kay to giggle* over, but the summary was not what I expected: "Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses - but it's really a school for spies." [WHAT SPIES???? INTRIGUE!!] "Cammie Morgan is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways (three of which involve a piece of uncooked spaghetti). [LOL, THIS SOUNDS AMAZING.] "But the one thing the Gallagher Academy hasn't prepared her for is what to do when she falls for an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl." [Okay, I'm not surprised it has a love story, I read the title. LET'S BUY IT. IT'S ONLY £4.**] So I bought it and it just delighted me! It's funny and has one of the more amusing and genuine teen first person POV I've read in while. And I'm not a big fan of the first person POV as I find that it doesn't fit every story it's used in, but it works her for Cammie. And while the love story is a bit obvious and predictable I loved how Cammie chose to persue it.
* Me and Kay do this kind of thing a lot. Msg or email bad book covers. It's a thing.
**£3.99, really. Though it's not a UK series, actually. It's based in the US and all four published books are out there. The UK iBook and Kindle stores only have the first three so if all my US flisters if you decided to read them, you're one up on me.
At times the book is a little too out there with the spy history and things they learn in the school (though I loooooooooove the history if the school itself!) but it's all in good fun. For example, at breakfast, lunch or dinner they're instructed to speak in different languages. Lunch could be Spanish, dinner could be Farsi, etc. You constantly have moments of the girls speaking different languages in the books. It's where P&E stands for Protection and Enforcement. It's also not the kinds of books fandom will every get crazy over ala Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Twilight, etc. They're too... easy? I don't like to use that word for the series because I found the books to be legitimately enjoyable, full of awesome friendships, family relationships that feel natural, but they're easy reads. Simple reads. It took me about two days to read all three and I think that in print they'd be about 300pgs? Idk I was reading them on my phone. That's beside the point. The author, Ally Carter, does a good job of drawing out the girls relationship with one another -- the girls being Cammie (our narrator), Liz (our tech wizard), Bex (the only UK citizen ever allowed to enrol in the Academy.), and Macey (the new girl) -- as well as Cammie's relationship with her mother, who is the head mistresses of the school. (See the St. Trinian's parallels yet?) Cammie's relationship with her love interest is also well drawn out and realistically played.
Then we get more interesting characters attached to the spy world in books two and three. The girls friendships are highlighted more and more now that they don't have to be introduced. Backstories are explored more.
I don't want to give too much in case anyone decides to read these books, but while I found the first two fun enough, the third is my favourite. It takes these girls live to a new level in terms of each other, their families, and the spy world the exists outside the walls of Gallagher Academy.
Character breakdowns and mini casting spam!
left to right: Danielle Panabaker, Kesina Solo, Larissa Wilson, Ashley Benson.
Cameron Morgan : Main character and narrator of the series. She is a second generation Gallagher Girl. She is best friends with Rebecca "Bex" Baxter, Elizabeth "Liz" Sutton and Macey McHenry. They call her the Chameleon, bc she's a pavement artist, which means she's takes the art of blending into a crowd to whole new level. Her mother is the headmistress of the school, her father passed away on a mission when she was younger.
Macey McHenry: New student at the beginning of the novel and the Gallagher academy is the last chance she has. Being kicked out of practically every other school in the country, Gallagher Academy is her last resort. She's more life smart than the other girls, mostly because she's actually lived outside the bubble the school provides.
Rebecca "Bex" Baxter: The only ever non-US student ever admitted to the school. Cammie's best friend. Stubborn and theatrical, and loves to act, she's a natural born spy. Literally, her parents are both agents of MI-6. She's only the first person to jump off a building and into the action.
Elizabeth "Liz" Sutton: While all the girls are flirt with the genius IQs, Liz has passed it a while ago. Like when she was seven, when she first began cracky CIA codes. She's southern, and also probably the most naive, or earnest, of the four girls. She's also the smallest, but that doesn't mean the weakest.
- Other books I rec: "One Day" by David Nicholls. Except the end kills me and taints everything else for me.
crossposted!