Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy is the second book in the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter, so some spoilers might come up about Book One.

After a winter break spent trying to get over her first boyfriend, Josh, and being debriefed by the CIA, Spy-in-Training, Cammie Morgan is back in school and ready for some normal. Well, as much as life at the Gallagher Academy is ever normal when you don't know what language you're going to be speaking at dinner. 

But then, something comes to shake things up at the Academy, and that something is... Boys! Not even regular ones but Spy Boys. Among them Zach Goode, who always seems like he knows something Cam doesn't.  

As the semester progresses, Cam realizes that there is a lot to boys she doesn't know, and that Blackthorne Spy Boys might be the hardest to figure out. With many questions swirling about, Cam and her friends Liz, Macy and Bex navigate through a semester full of secrets as they begin to realize what the rest of their lives might be about. 

I'm so glad I gave this book a second chance - I think I was having a bad week when I first tried, but I decided to come back to it after I loved Book 3: Don't Judge a Girl By Her Cover - because I had so much fun with it. I love how Cam and her friends are still girls even though they wouldn't fit any definition of normal thanks to all the skills they have, they still have crushes and wonder about boys and make mistakes but you can also feel how they learn from them. 

And, having read all three books now, I can see Cam's growth. Also, I'm more intrigued than ever about Mr. Solomon and want to know what's up with Blackthorne Institute and Cam's Dad. 

But, good for me, the 4th book of the series, Only the Good Spy Young, will be out this June.

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Once was Lost by Sara Zarr

Once Was Lost  is the story of Samara Taylor, who's having quite a rough time lately: being the daughter of the most popular pastor in her little desert town she feels like she's constantly under the microscope, her mother was just arrested for DUI and sent to rehab, her family's finances can be described as broke and there is a heat wave over the town that seems like it will never break. 

Then, on a day like any other, a girl from Sam's small town is kidnapped throwing the town into turmoil and putting more strain on Sam's already shaken faith. 

For me is hard to talk about Sara Zarr's books, they always make me uncomfortable and unsettled, and I don't mean it in a bad way, more like they make me think about things I rather not think about sometimes.

That being said, I do believe Once was Lost is the book by her that I've enjoyed the most so far, as a person who has gone through a couple of crisis of faith in the past, I could identify with Sam much more than I could with the girls from Zarr's other two books. And I found easier to get into the story thanks to the brisk pace of it. 

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Book Gossip #22

Fresh news!

Ally Carter just announced via her Twitter that her upcoming book Heist Society will be turned into a movie by Warner Bros! I'm happy though I have not read the book yet, I did read BookChic's review of it and he made it sound awesome.

Plus, I do lover her Gallagher Girls books. 

You can see more info about it in these articles by The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. Plus in Ally Carter's blog.

Cover Love #1 - Keys to the Repository

You guys know how much I love my covers! so I've decided to start Cover Love as an extension of Book Gossip (where I usually posted the covers I came across) so it'll be more focused.

This time I bring you, courtesy of Melissa De La Cruz's blog, the preliminary cover for Keys to the Repository:

Pretty nice, huh? I love how they keep the theme of the Blue Blood's covers with the keys in silhouette in the bottom part, where they usually put a city's skyline. 

See ya next time,

Books Read in January

So, I'm doing the 100+ Reading Challenge and the 2010 YA Reading Challenge and here is my tally for January!

1. Secrets of My Hollywood Life: On Location by Jen Canolita (review)
2. To Desire a Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt (review)
3. Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts (review)
4. Runaway by Meg Cabot (ARC) (review)
5. Killer by Sara Shepard (review)
6. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter (review)
7. The Spy Master's Lady by Joana Bourne (review)
8. Morning Comes Softly by Debbie Macomber (review)

And as for the YA challenge, as you can see from above, I read four YA books:
1. Secrets of My Hollywood Life: On Location by Jen Canolita (review)
2. Runaway by Meg Cabot (ARC) (review)
3. Killer by Sara Shepard (review)
4. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter (review)

That's it for this month! we'll see what February brings.