Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter

Title: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy (Gallagher 

Girls #2)

Author: Ally Carter

Publisher: Hyperion

Release Date: October 2, 2007

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

After staking out, obtaining, and then being forced to give up her first boyfriend, Josh, all Cammie Morgan wants is a peaceful semester. But that's easier said than done when you're a CIA legacy and go to the premier school in the world…for spies.

Cammie may have a genius I.Q., but there are still a lot of things she doesn't know. Like, will her ex-boyfriend even remember she exists? And how much trouble is she really in after what happened last semester? And most of all, why is her mother acting so strangely?

Despite Cammie's best intentions to be a normal student danger seems to follow her. She and her friends learn that their school is going to play oct to some mysterious guests--code name: Blackthorne. Then she's blamed for a security breach that leaves the school's top secret status at risk.

Soon Cammie and her friends are crawling through walls and surveilling the school to learn the truth about Blackthorne and clear Cammie's name. Even though they have confidence in their spy skills, this time the targets are tougher (and hotter), and the stakes for Cammie's heart--and her beloved school--are higher than ever.

I've only just finally started reading this series and I'm really happy that I finally did. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy was a light and fun read that I just sped through. I just love everything about this series and I'm happy to have finally discovered it.

Cammie Morgan is back at the Gallagher Academy for a new semester, trying to put everything that happened with Josh behind her. Her new goal is to always be herself. Except when you are being trained to become an elite spy, always being yourself is often easier than done. And to make things better, it seems that the Gallagher Academy will be host to some unexpected visitors: boys form another spy school. While the Gallagher Girls may be equipped to deal with just about any situation, sharing their school with boys is not one of them. But Cammie is over the whole boy thing, or so she says. But then there's Zach who manages to get under her skin and push all the right buttons to drive her nuts. But there might be something bigger going on at the Gallagher Academy.

Even though I've only read the first two books, I can already say that I love this series. It's just so much fun to read and I can't help but have a smile on my face as I'm reading. But while Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy was definitely light and fun, there were also moments that were a little more serious that made me appreciate the book even more. The other great thing about the Gallagher Girls series is that I can pick one of the books up and read it all in an afternoon and escape for that time. And this book definitely provided a great escape from all the exam studying I was doing at the time.

I love Cammie Morgan and, like I said in my review of I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You, she is a fantastic narrator. The things she says just always seem to put a smile on my face. Cammie is also the kind of character whose emotions you can really feel. I felt both her joy and her pain. And of course I felt all her confusion about boys, especially Zach. Heck, Zach even drove me crazy at times. He was just such a hard person to figure out. Even once I finished reading the book, I still didn't really have a clear handle on him. Once again I also loved Cammie's best friends. They bring a lot of life and action to the story with their crazy plans and ideas. And in spite of everything, I just knew they would always have Cammie's back.

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy definitely confirmed to me that I was seriously missing out by not having read the Gallagher Girls series sooner. It is a fantastic series and a great way to escape for an afternoon. I can't wait to read the next installment.

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

Title: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You (Gallagher Girls #1)

Author: Ally Carter

Publisher: Hyperion

Release Date: April 25, 2006

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is a fairly typical all-girls school--that is, it would be if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest 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.

Cammie Morgan is a second-generation Gallagher Girl, and by her sophomore year she's already fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways (one of which involves a piece of uncooked spaghetti). But the one thing the Gallagher Academy hasn't prepared her for is what to do when she falls for a boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl.

Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, and track him through town without his ever being the wiser--but can she have a relationship with a regular boy who can never know the truth about her?

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

For the longest time, I have been hearing about how good Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls series is, but it wasn't until recently that I finally picked up the first book in the series. Of course, I have now discovered exactly what I was missing out on and I will definitely go back and read this series.

To the outside world, it looks like Cammie Morgan goes to an elite boarding school for rich girls. But as often is, everything isn't always what it seems. Because while it is an elite all-girls boarding school, the Gallagher Academy is also a school where girls with genius IQs go to be trained to become spies. Cammie has always embraced her future as a spy, but when she meets Josh, she may be reconsidering the whole thing. Because with Josh, Cammie wants nothing more than to be the normal girl that he sees when he looks at her. But normal is the last thing Cammie can be, and she can never tell Josh who she really is.

While I have read both books in Ally Carter's Heist Society series, it wasn't until recently that I decided to give her Gallagher Girls series a try. I'm glas I did because I was finally able to discover what I was missing out on. It was one of those books that i just fun to read and takes you away from your own life for a few hours. I loved getting lost in the spy world of the Gallagher Academy, and discovering some of its secrets. What I loved best about the story was that it could go from being completely normal one minute to being full of spy action the next. I just didn't know what would be coming next.

I absolutely loved Cammie's voice as narrator. She just had a way of telling the story that made it so she could make me smile at the smallest of things. But she wasn't always that happy person and those other times often made me really feel for her. I could understand her yearning to be the normal girl that Josh saw in her. I could also really see why she would fall for Josh the way she did. He was definitely great and I loved his stubbornness when it came to Cammie. And Cammie's friends were also pretty fantastic, I would love to have them in my own life. I am definitely looking forward to seeing more of Bex, Liz and Macey in the next books in the series.

After reading I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You I can say that I will be going back and reading all of the Gallagher Girls books. If they're all like this one, then I'm sure I'm going to enjoy them.