But Then I'd Have to Kill You (10th Anniversary Edition) (Gallagher Girls)

This review is pertaining to the first four books of the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter (I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You (Book #1), Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy (Book #2), Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover (Book #3), and Only the Good Spy Young (Book #4)).

I read these books quite a while ago, when I was about 11-12-13 years old. I thought they were really clever and really enjoyed them! Sadly, when I was reading them I believe they were only out with the fourth book by that time and by the time the rest of the series came out, I had kind of outgrown it.

That’s not to say that older young adults and even adults wouldn’t enjoy this series, they just wouldn’t really relate to the main character as much, since the main character is a young adult herself.

These books are really unique and interesting – they’re about spies (obviously, if you couldn’t tell from the titles) and the struggle of the “spy life” that the main character goes through while growing up.

Overall, I’d highly recommend this series to young adults and adults alike, although I think young adults will enjoy it just a little bit more since it will be more relatable to them.

Fifteen-year-old Cammie Morgan is a student at The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a private, all-girls boarding school located in Roseville, Virginia. Beneath its typical, prep school facade, Gallagher Academy prides itself in training young women to become employable, internationally acclaimed spies. Wishing to follow in her parents' footsteps by becoming a respectable, well-known spy, Cammie dedicates herself to her studies. That is, until she meets the charming Joshua Abrams, turning her entire world upside down. Forced to choose between her forbidden boyfriend, lifelong friends, and a promising career, Cammie finds herself overwhelmed and unsure of where to turn.

When I initially picked up this book, I was searching for a quick, easy read, preferably with a bit of romance. At the time, I didn't realize exactly how fast of a read this would be. At only 284 pages, I blew through the book over the course of 2 days. I easily could have read it in one if I had been more intrigued by the storyline. The easy vocabulary, simple plot, and abnormally large font lend this book to a fifth or sixth grade audience. To say the least, I'm not a huge fan of middle school literature; I never was and I never will be. I found both the plot and the characters to be significantly watered down. The author went into explicit detail regarding every event, setting, and character. Additionally, this book fit the stereotypical mold of most novels involving a boarding school, particularly with regard to the characters and plot. Having ten years of all-girls, Catholic school under my belt, I can testify that very few of these stereotypes are actually true. I would have liked to see a more accurate portrayal of the environment at a private school. Consequently, the lack of originality significantly colored my views on the book.

Cammie served as the first-person narrator for the duration of the book. She had quite a sense of humor, which I appreciated. However, without hearing the text read aloud, it was challenging to distinguish between sarcastic and genuine comments. I frequently found myself rereading entire pages to determine which made more sense in a particular scenario. Also, Cammie appears to have forgotten to introduce readers to the staff and provide a description of the classes at Gallagher Academy. And no, Gallagher Academy is not offering Algebra or Physics. Instead, there are brief mentions of Covert Operations, Culture and Assimilation, and Research and Development. Cammie has the benefit of attending Gallagher Academy for several years prior to the start of the book. Readers, on the other hand, don't have that advantage and are left blindly guessing as to which character is which.

My main grip is the characterization, or lack thereof. Instead of gradually introducing traits and characteristics through a character's words and actions, Carter states them outright when a character first makes an appearance. This severely limits a reader's ability to use his/her imagination. Additionally, this method of characterization makes it challenging for readers to recall which character embodied which traits. On a similar note, the characters were poorly developed. They had a tendency to overreact when faced with minor provocations. On more than one occasion, situations were blown way out of proportion, making the characters appear superficial and unrelatable.

I'm slightly conflicted regarding the plot. While it was clearly intended for a younger audience, I found the general storyline cute, serving as a refreshing break from the complex, twisted books that I've been reading recently. The plot also served, however, as one of the most disappointing components of the book. Almost immediately, I noticed numerous similarities between the Gallagher Girls series and the Harry Potter series, identifying countless parallels between the two. First and foremost, Gallagher Academy and Hogwarts can be categorized as "special" boarding schools which are only open to a select few. Both authors created a secret world that remained hidden from the public eye. More specifically, one of the main teachers at Gallagher Academy arrives at the Welcome Feast late; Mad-Eye Moody in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire pulls a similar stunt. The similarities don't stop there, including the slew of unique courses and eccentric characters. For example, Cammie's best friend Liz is a spitting image of Hermonie; both are bookworms and constantly strive for academic perfection.

Overall, the accommodations made for a younger audience, the unrealistic characters, and the large number of similarities to the Harry Potter series significantly detracted from the book. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to move past these, hence my two star rating. Quite frankly, I don't understand why this series is so popular; I didn't find the plot, characters, or writing style to be exceptional, nor did I find it particularly entertaining. I didn't have high expectations for this book, despite the excellent reviews that I had read, so I wasn't exceedingly disappointed. While I will not be reading the remaining books in the series, I may read the Heist Society books at some point in the future.

Cammie is a Gallagher Girl, a sophomore at the all-girls Gallagher Academy. There’s just one thing about Gallagher: it’s a school for spies. Cammie and her friends are well-versed in covert ops, reconnaissance, languages, devices, and even murder. But no training at Gallagher can prepare Cammie for conversing in ordinary girl language with a boy. Yeah, she hacks into his phone and computer and tracks him around town, but she is lost when it comes to navigating the normalcy of a relationship. And there’s no way she can tell him the truth about who she is!

The book was quite humorous and a light read for the most part. It did remind me of The Princess Diaries. It is a cute read that made me giggle and snort as I listened. I will say that the language and thought processes of the characters is very teenish – exactly as it should be to fit the characters and the demographics population – and what gives the book much of it’s humor.

Cammie is second-generation GG (Gallagher Girl), and her mother is now the headmistress. Liz and Bex are geniuses, a couple of the best spies, and Cammie’s best friends and roommates. Most of the GGs have interesting backgrounds, although they were only barely touched upon in this first installment. I believe Carter is laying the foundation for the remainder of the series.

Despite Gallagher Academy being touted as such a prestigious boarding school to the outside world, Cammie has spent nearly all her life within the walls of the academy. Just like in Harry Potter, the GGs aren’t allowed to venture outside of the academy unless they have permission. The outside world doesn’t know much about Gallagher Academy. Most assume it is an expensive private boarding school for little rich girls…and they treat them as such. I thought that was very unfair, and this attitude is seen in the book.

Cammie doesn’t really know anyone who isn’t a spy or attending/teaching at Gallagher, so she is curious about how it feels to be a normal, ordinary girl. Her dad isn’t around, and she doesn’t have a close relationship with her mother, who is busy running the academy.

The new school year is starting, and the girls are excited about their new Covert Ops teacher, Joe Solomon. Mr. Solomon intrigues Cammie because he seems to know all about Cammie’s MIA father. Then they find out they are also rooming with the new girl, who is forced to attend Gallagher. That throws a slight kink in their sophomore plans, but then Cammie is assigned to follow a staff member from the academy. On her mission, Cammie runs into Josh. She likes him, and her friends all know it.

Cammie is very good at blending in, which is how she got the nickname “The Chameleon.” But with Josh it’s different. He sees past the facade and truly sees Cammie. In what possible world could she tell him the truth – that she could knock him to the pavement in a multitude of ways and kill him with a string of spaghetti? She can’t reveal who and what she is, or what the Gallagher Academy actually teaches, but she wants to spill her guts to Josh.

Enlisting her friends this new boy assignment, Bex and Liz begin an exclusive investigation. They need to know he’s not crazy. Or worse, that he has a record! As they delve deeper and uncover the ordinariness of Josh, Cammie falls even harder for him.

Cammie is teetering on the verge and finds herself entangled in a web of lies. Cammie struggles with balancing being a spy and just a girl falling in love. Not to mention her mother!

Unfortunately for Cammie, someone catches on to her lies. How can she explain this to Josh?

Originally reviewed at http://www.shaelit.com/2012/03/review-id-tell-you-i-love-you-but-then-id-have-to-kill-you-by-ally-carter/

What a fun book. I mean, really, it’s very fun. This isn’t a terribly deep book, nor terribly twisty, despite being about spies. There are some surprises, but nothing that will make you drop your jaw and go “Holy cow!” It has the light, fluffy taste of cotton candy with the munchability factor of popcorn. Despite telling myself that it was “just okay,” I found myself eager to return to see what would happen next.

The front of my sister’s book proudly proclaims that the ITYILY has been optioned by Disney (which means someday it may be coming to a screen near you), which makes sense to me. It totally felt like a Disney movie, in the best possible way. The professors are crazy in a non-threatening way (I heart you, Mr. Moskowitz), and the girls are charmingly boisterous in a way only fifteen-year-olds could pull off. I laughed out loud when Cammie started freaking out that Macey could decipher the mysterious language known as Boy, because it was all so over-the-top yet incredibly like how I remembered my awkward younger years. Boys are weird, y’all.

Sure, there are a couple minor things that bugged me. The book is supposedly Cammie’s official report to her mother but included far more extraneous personal detail that a spy would ever put in a report… or a teenager would tell her mom. Seemed to me like there was a better way for the author to frame the narrative. Some of Cammie’s more outrageous claims (mom allegedly killed a man with only a People magazine) grew a bit old. Also, there were some moments where I had to suspend disbelief (just wait ’til you get to the scene with the ropes and Josh’s roof and…), but I maintain that these moments are what would make the book a great Disney movie.

All in all, a surprising yet pleasant experience.

Points Added For: Non-dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship, homeschoolers (even if it’s just a cover), a female rival who isn’t a total you-know, giddy teen girls who balance the line between amusing and twee, an unexpected resolution.

Points Subtracted For: A girl named Dee-Dee who dots her i’s with hearts, full sentences in German and French that are never translated, Roseville’s unsatisfyingly explained hatred for Gallagher Academy.

Good For Fans Of: Heist Society also by Ally Carter, 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson (so says the store), Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins (so says my sister).

Points For Parents: One d-word and one implied b-word, some lying to authority figures.

I started this series because I enjoyed Ally Carter's Heist Society series, and with six books, I thought it would keep me busy for a while. This book only started to become marginally interesting, at about 48%. It seems that Carter has a consistent problem of overstating certain facts to an excessive degree. I thought I would loose my mind if I had to hear that Mr. Solomon was so hot or that Cammie could speak 14 languages, but she couldn't find any words or how hot her mother was. That was a little grating. There were also some holes that didn't quite make sense, and it kind of rambles on, but it wasn't horrible. I will probably get the rest of the series from the library to have something to read, but no strong praises for it yet. It has just as many story telling faults as Heist Society, but I like these characters less.

Genre: YA Boarding school
My review:
Right off the base, this book is engaging. Now, it may be in a juvenile way but I still highly enjoyed the main character's voice. Surprisingly, this book touched me in so many unexpected ways because I found the main character, Cammie, to be a clone of me. Also, all because of this book i'm pretty sure the majority of people who read it will want to become a spy. In fact, I loved each and every character dearly. This is the perfect book for a start of an epic series and this book left me needing more, albeit the satisfying ending and empowering message. I'm pretty late on joining this reading this series and regret it deeply, because i'm sure I would have appreciated it so much more in my past. In this book, every character has leaves and impression on Cammie, therefore the reader and this make a)the characters so much more flawed and realistic and b)makes the characters lovable despite their flaws. My favorite character has to be Cammie, though because her voice is so realistic (although sometimes not needed) she is a teenager just like me, so it makes me like her all the more. From all my gushing, one would assume that the characters were my favorite part of the story, and it is, but I believe the message at the end of the story was far more impressive. Throughout the whole book Cammie is obsessed with Josh and the reader cant help but support her, but in the end she realizes that friends and family shouldn't be blow offs because of her new relationship. To me, this is the best message for teens, and therefore is my favorite part. Overall, every aspect of this story was endearing, although somewhat juvenile, and the story ends on a great note.
Recommend: YES.

(Technically 3.75/5 stars)

Talk about a throwback Thursday! The NTTBF (North Texas Teen Book Festival) announced their lineup a month ago and Ally Carter made the list! The very Ally Carter whose books I devoured in high school, I'm now getting to finally meet in March. As soon as I heard this, I decided I needed to do a reread since it's been awhile. Great news: they're still just as fun as they were.

First off, the world that Ally Carter has created is WONDERFUL! Gallagher Girls have stood the test of time and the things that are attributed to them are both hilarious and believable. I can picture the school, the teachers, and the fellow students which made this book so much fun. Cammie, our MC, is great about taking us on an in-depth tour of the school, with all of its secret passageways and hidden nooks, which helped the book come together. I was surprised that I actually found this book to be believable; I wouldn't be surprised if there was a spy school posing as a snobby girl school near me because Ally wrote it so well that it was plausible. Basically, it's just all sorts of fantastic.

Cammie is a spy prodigy with both her mother and father being known spies; her father died before our story begins and her mother has since taken over as the head of Gallagher Academy. It was (can't find adequate word) interesting? to see Cammie deal with her father's death and how it still affected her to present day; we also get a chance to see a bit of their background which helps to understand the character of Cammie more. She's a really fun character, immature at times, but overall really enjoyable.

Speaking of characters, Cammie's ragtag team of awesomeness was... awesome; first up is Bex, the insanely clever (and British) GG who gets what she wants through her confidence and dangerous ways, Liz, the resident brain of the group, and Macey, the new student who teaches the girls that there are a lot of things that they don't know, like boys. The dynamics of this group was so much fun to read, they were a powerful team but they weren't perfect, they still fought but at the end of the day, they were always there for one another.

Don't read this book if you strictly want romance because it was... lacking. I actually found it to be annoying but I think I liked it in high school? Maybe. I actually forgot about this guy because there is another more memorable guy who I believe we meet in the next book.

I don't think I ever appreciated how funny this book was! I laughed out loud so. many. times. It was fun because there were jokes weaved throughout it that younger people could enjoy and others that older people could enjoy.

Two words: female empowerment.

It is geared towards younger girls but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't wait to meet Ally in March!

Ally Carter is by far the gold standard in writing teenage spies. There’s a lot of young adult books out there that feature finishing schools and teenage spies, but none really hit the mark quite like Carter. Her books are full of intriguing, realistic main characters and delicious plot lines that seamlessly weave together intriguing espionage and sweet teen romance.

In this novel, I fell in love with Cammie as the protagonist. She’s self-sufficient and just a little precocious, with a wonderful cast of friends at school and a really cool mom. The prep-school setting is really well done, and it just made me want to be a Gallagher Girl, fighting crime and sneaking around on all of the best cool assignments. Her best friends Liz and Bex are adorable and together the three of them make quite a team in staking out Cammie’s love interest. The spy elements are pretty downplayed as far as covert missions go, except when it comes to figuring out all there is to know about boys, but its fun and Cammie’s cluelessness when it comes to the opposite sex makes for a fun story.

I’ll definitely pick up the next book in the series! Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls are pure fun!

An elite academy of girl geniuses- sorry- spy geniuses. I had heard so much about this series by Ally Carter but delayed reading it because of a leeetle bit of embarrassment. My Niece and I were at the library and as I held the Gallagher academy book my Niece said 'everyone's reading those, they've all been taken out of the school library.' that trumped me a little, to think that I wanted to read the same books that my Niece and their friends were reading, when they're 14-15 and I just turned 24 :s

But that only stopped me for so long so now I'm on the second book because I loved the first. I enjoyed the missions these girls got up to, and how they all went to a spy school but had to try and deceive their more experienced and even smarter spy teachers. Plus it doesn't help that the headmistress is the main female protagonist's mother!

Cammie is one of the best spies at her school, nicknamed as the chameleon due to her ability of blending in and going unnoticed. That is until a normal boy notices her, and her life changes.

She cannot let Josh know her true identity and instead makes up an alternative life, one where she is home-schooled for religious reasons, her father is still alive andý she has a cat named Suzie.

But as her relationship grows, the lies tangle until - well you can read the book to find out!

I liked this book because although being a spy is all Cammie has ever known, being a normal girl is so much harder for her, and she's not so sure which life she prefers. The hidden bookcases, codename and life of tracking devices, or the normality of going to the movies with a boy who buys her a corsage and buys her cat toys for Suzie.

Favourite Quotes:

I had a pain in my neck from sleeping funny, at least five hours' worth of homework, and a newfound realization that women cannot live on cherry-flavoured lip gloss alone. I dug in the bottom of my bag and found very questionable breath mint, and figured that if I was going to die of starvation, I should at least have minty-fresh breath for the benefit of whatever classmate or faculty member would be forced to give me CPR.

"Darling," the senator said, pointing toward the stables, "come look. They have horses."
"Oh, is that what I smell?" Mrs. McHenry said with a shudder. (For the record, our school smells just fine, unless of course your smelling ability has been irreparably damaged by a lifetime of perfume samples.)

"It's lunchtime," I explained, realising that the green M&M had gotten together with the Tic Tac in my stomach and were trying to convince me that they would like some company. "We can go eat if you want-"

But Macey only wrenched her arm out of Bex's grasp and said, "Don't touch me, b-----," (Yeah, that's right, she called Bex the B word.)
Now see, here's where the whole private-school thing puts a girl at a disadvantage. MTV will lead us to believe that the B word has become a term of endearment or slang among equals, but I still mainly think of it as the insult of choice for the inarticulate. So, either Macey hated us or respected us, but I looked at Bex and knew that she was betting on the former.

This is my rating for the entire series. I started reading when I was a preteen and now, well now I'm not a teen and I still love this series!

You will read other people's comments and they will tell you that this is an innocent, harmless, fluff book for pre-teens. And they are right. But the series is not. Carter is a genius in the way that she makes the books grow up as you do. Ideally, one should start reading these books around age 13 and finish around age 19. That's how they are written, this first one for a 13-year-old and the last for a 19-year-old.

This is the story of a girl going to a school for spies. She meets the only boy she's talked to in the past five or so years and believes she's madly in love with him. This is the story of that girl trying to date this boy. The only thing separating the two is high tech security, secret passageways, tons of spy homework, a new friend, and the "Gallagher glare".

It's cute, up-beat, and will leave you feeling good with the world.

This is the SERIES of a girl learning to become a spy in order to follow in her (dead) father's footsteps. She battles terrorists, breaks in and out of national high-security buildings, almost dies like a million times, kills people, dates the wrong guy, jumps off cliffs, and explores secret passageways, all the while keeping her friends close and excelling at school.

It's a crazy, dangerous, heart-stopping series that will make you think "I'm so glad I never became a spy" because just this series is enough to tie you over for life.

It's the REAL story of what being a spy is (not the fluffy one).

Are you interested? I hope so, because no matter if you're 10 or 80 you will fall in love with this entire series.

My advice to you: Don't give up if the first couple seem too fluffy, you just have to catch up to your age level writing.

Really 3.5 stars

Even though I'd heard good things about the Gallagher Girls, I had never given much thought to reading the books. But one night, I wanted something different to read, something that would be good but also light and fun, and I thought that the Gallagher Girls books might be just the ticket. And I was right.

Cammie Morgan is just like any other girl...except for the fact that she attends spy school. The Gallagher Academy, unlike its facade of being a boarding school for rich girls, trains girls in martial arts, computer hacking, and various languages (to name a few subjects) so that they can work for the CIA or other similar organizations. And this year, Cammie and her friends Liz and Bex get to start Covert Operations - real field training. Cammie has always been like a chameleon, able to blend in and slip by unnoticed. It serves her well in her spy training. But it also means that, when a boy notices Cammie on a test mission, it shakes her. Because this boy, Josh Abrams, is not just another boy. And although Cammie knows fourteen languages and how to incapacitate any attacker, she soon learns that her toughest mission will be navigating life outside the Gallagher Academy.

I don't know about you, but there was a time when I was younger that I thought it would be awesome to be a spy. (This may very well have coincided with my seeing the movie Harriet the Spy, but I digress.) With the first book in the Gallagher Girls series, I got to revisit that dream. Ally Carter has done a fantastic job of creating a world within a world. The Gallagher Academy sounds like such a fun school despite all the work that they're doing. It was fun to live vicariously through the girls - I wish that I could crack codes or speak fourteen languages or do any number of things that these girls could do! After reading about the things the girls had to do in this book, I can't wait to see what is in store for them in the next one. I'm sure there have to be more spy secrets, and I want to know what they are! Beyond this, I enjoyed the interaction between Cammie and her friends as well as exploring Cammie's relationship with her mother. This book touches on a lot of issues while still maintaining its light, fun feeling.

As for the relationship between Cammie and Josh, I really liked that it was sweet and innocent. Josh is the kind of guy that every girl could fall for and would want as a boyfriend. Despite this, I appreciated that the romance aspect didn't completely take over the story. And yet not everything was easy and perfect. Cammie and Josh had and may still have some major issues to work through, which should be interesting.

Reading the first Gallagher Girls book has definitely left me wanting to read more by Ally Carter. This is the perfect book to read when you was something fast-paced and entertaining. I'm looking forward to reading Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy!

Ink and Page's Quick & Dirty Review

Rating: 4

The Low Down: In this first book of the Gallagher Girl series, you meet Cammie, aka the Chameleon. She knows how to blend into the woodwork and be average and invisible. The daughter of the head of the school, her mother, a former spy, took the post when Cammie's dad went missing (and is feared dead) a few years back. Despite what the people in town think, Gallagher Academy is not a school for snotty, rich heiresses. It's a girls' training school for spies.

While working a Covert Operations class project in town, Cammie sees him...watching her. As she tries to recover and finish her work, she ends up face to face with 5' 10" of cute boy - with a smile just for her. That's when the lying starts - about where she goes to school, that she owns a cat and has not one but two parents. Then after, that's when the spying starts. Certainly a normal reaction for a Gallagher Girl, right? Her friends, Bex and Liz, decide that they need to make sure Josh is who he says he is when Cammie and Josh start dating.

Can she keep up cover? Will Cammie stand up for her sisters, even if it means losing Josh? What will happen if the truth is uncovered? Is her relationship with Josh doomed from the start?

Best Thang `Bout It: I actually read Book 5 first...it's a long story. My daughter was reading this one, so I caught up with her and then we finished it together. I love the spy angle, of course...but I also think the portrayal of each of the girls is very realistic, with the strengths, weaknesses, insecurities not only with school, friends and boys but with the added pressure of what they might choose to do for a living. I love the covers for the series, too.

I'm Cranky Because: We have a paperback of this. While, technically, it's my daughter's copy, it hurts my sensibilities that it is so trashed. The cover is bent and curls back, and there's a circular stain (coffee?) on the front cover. She is not her mother's daughter in this regard.

Should You?: (After you read this, please eat): YES

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter was published on March 20, 2007 by Hyperion.

Genre: Young Adult Fiction Contemporary Romance Spy
Ages: 12 and up

Initially the only reason why I picked up this book was because it's one of my dream agents's clients so I figured I might as well try out what she likes and see if we see eye to eye (as that's rather important when choosing an agent you want to represent your writing, because otherwise it might not work out so well, huh?). Then I decided to wedge this into my Fear Itself Challenge because of that fact. Had it not been Kristen Nelson's author's book, I wouldn't have otherwise picked it up. In all honesty, I thought a school for teenage spies was a little out there.

I read a chapter before I got nice and horrendously sick so it lay stagnant for a week. My initial impression off of that first chapter? For how extraordinary Cammie is, she's a really normal chick. Normal speech, normal friendships (again, despite the circumstances). The language is normal, not trying too hard. While I'm not crazy about the boarding school thing, at least it doesn't center around the rich kids versus the single poor chick there on a scholarship or something. There aren't really any cliques. No one's striving to be part of one team or another. They kind of just exist. There are students Cammie and her friends don't get along with, as it should be, but nothing is over the top or crazy cut-throat. It's real, to me at least. Overall, a good start.

Then I kept reading and I just fell in love with it. Bravo, Kristen Nelson and bravo Ally Carter! I wish there were more female main characters in YA lit that were more like Cammie and less like the insufferable Bella. Cammie is independent and goal-oriented. She knows what she wants out of life (and let me just say, that can be anything, even being a mom, nothing wrong with that, giving up everything for your boyfriend, on the other hand, very wrong) and she strives her hardest to get it.

What you have to understand about the situation is that while these girls are teenagers, they're not your standard, normal teenagers. When you're working with a genius-level IQ, the teenage brain doesn't function in the same way. Yes, they will still have standard teenage impulses (like with boys, for instance), but the way in which they deal with situations is going to be far different than what your normal teenager would. These are girls that know everything EXCEPT being normal. Macey is their link to the outside world, so to speak. When she comes into the picture, she brings a world these girls know pretty much nothing about into their otherwise very programmed, very structured lives. The opted for this. They wanted it. But that's not to say wrenches won't get thrown in spokes.

I love how Cammie, Bex and Liz handled the whole boy situation with Josh. I think every girl can relate to trying to decipher "boy talk" and "boy action" but they take it to such an extreme because, well, they can crack CIA code. Why the hell can't they figure out what that note meant??? And therein lies the dilemma of a genius. You have someone that can pretty much think their way out of any and every situation, except for those involving common sense and normalcy. Because they're not normal. Not really. Enter Macey again. She's that breath of normal that helps all three girls adjust to something that they're not used to. Had Macey not been in the picture, I don't think Cammie would have been able to handle the situation with Josh as good as she did. None of them had any clue what was going in before Macey and yeah, while the chick's a bitch, she knew what she was talking about. Gotta hate it when that happens.

And I loved the humor. It wasn't an overkill but there was just enough off-the-cuff humor that I ended up laughing out loud. When Bex and Liz were dangling off of Josh's roof while Cammie tried to distract him. Oh dear god did I laugh! I could so see that happening and not in an obnoxious Disney sitcom sort of way either. Or when Cammie stuffed a piece of paper with Josh's handwriting on it into her mouth only to realize after the fact that is was just normal paper, not the dissolving kind she's used to. Ha! Yeah, I can totally see that happening too. I'm telling you, I'd love to see this book in movie form. It has an excellent balance of humor that isn't absurd but is just enough to carry you through the story and lighten the mood.

Let's not forget the writing. Ah-maz-ing. Cammie is such an awesome and relatable character. Yeah, she's a genius, but she's a girl that also lost her father, has a boyfriend she doesn't quiet know what to do with and friends that sometimes teeter on the line of oblivion. It's so real despite the circumstances. The relationships are poignant and touching and at the same time, yeah, it really could happen to you. Ok, so maybe you won't be kidnapped by your teachers in order to complete a final. But you will have teachers that you connect to more than others, that know more than you thought they knew about you, and want only the best for you. It's just such a great book with such strong, admirable characters that you won't be able to help but love them.

I have the next book, Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy sitting in m TBR pile and while I probably won't get to it for a while, I can't wait to see what happens next in the series. Sure, so much can happen when you go to school for spies but it's the normal stuff that's really exciting. Not to mention the awesome problem-solving techniques the girls utilize to figure it all out. God, I love it!

SUMMARY -
Cammie Morgan is totally normal. Except, she's a genius. Okay, and she goes to a private all-girl's boarding school. Okay, and she's a spy, too. But that doesn't stop her from at least trying. (Trust Cammie when she tells you it's harder than it looks!) When adorable Josh Abrams befriends Cammie during a CoveOps mission, Cammie must go undercover and live a normal life if she wants to see Josh again - and she might even find he's her soul mate.

MY THOUGHTS -
Yep, this book was radical. A little slow at first, but it picked up the pace like crazy and swept me away. I'm love struck, for sure!

So, can I have Cammie for a BFF? Oh, wait, I think I already do. Seriously, she reminds me of one of my dearest friends (you really should check out her blog...). She's got the wit, the sarcasm, the drama (I mean this in a totally and completely endearing way, of course). I can't get enough of Cammie!

The story lacked a bit at the beginning, but when they went on that CoveOps and Cammie met Josh - whooohooo!! Talk about fast! :) Josh is charming, lovable, and totally sweet - and perfect for Cammie. And he shares my last name. How cool is that, right?

I think this series has a lot to offer; it's fun, sharp-witted, and heartfelt. The end was happy, but not in a perfect-ending kind of way. I really appreciate that. It made it more realistic and has me wanting more - and very very soon!

This book reminds me of...
Best friends (seriously, click here, because you want to check out this blog)
The color blue
Really cool (last) names
Innocent romance
Overall cuteness
Witty jokes
The best kind of dates (burgers and a movie)
Spires
And a smokin' hot teacher who I pictured as something like Josh Duhamal ;)

For the Parents -
Nothing! Such a fun tween-teen book! :D Recommended 12+

I had seen these books advertised around for a while but was never really interested in reading them. However, I was reading the description a couple of weeks ago on Goodreads and realized that it really sounded like it would be a really fun read. And I wasn't wrong; this book was really fantastic in a completely fun, adorable way.

So, Cammie Morgan is a student in a typical, prestigious, private, all-girls school called The Gallagher Academy. Or, at least, it WOULD be typical, except that this is a school for female spies. While on an assignment for her Covert Operations course, she meets a boy named Josh, and that's when Cammie's well-planned, well thought-out world completely changes. She can't tell Josh anything about herself, because of where she goes to school and who she'll be in the future, so what follows is basically Cammie living two different lives: her real one, and the one she creates for herself when she's with Josh.

First of all, all of the spy stuff in this book was awesome. I loved all the backgrounds for the teachers, and the lessons in their classrooms, and the little asides about various accidents that the girls have had while learning to be spies. However, the big draw of this book for me personally was just that the whole thing had a really fun, totally cool vibe about it. I loved Cammie. She has such a quick wit and sense of humor, and there were some serious laugh-out-loud moments in her narration. She just seemed very real to me, and I loved every second of her. Her interactions with Josh were absolutely perfect; this is truly a book that describes that feeling you get when you meet your first crush and are starting out in a relationship. Honestly I can't find any other word to use to describe Cammie and Josh except for "adorable". The whole thing just made me want to draw hearts all over it. <3

If you want a really witty and fun, but still totally relatable teenage girl narrator, Cammie is your girl. Honestly my thoughts upon finishing the book were simply that all 280+ pages of it were pure fun, which I loved every second of. I will definitely be picking up the next book in this series.

First foremost I really liked the cover of this book; it was cute and very chic. In honor of Ally Carter's newest book to this series, "Out of Sight, Out of Time", I decided to read this book, which is the first of five in this series. I really wanted to enjoy this book, but surprisingly I didn't. The main character, Cammie Morgan is a 15-year-old Sophomore at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women; everyone thinks the school is for rich, snotty girls, but it's really a school for spies. She has two best friends who are also her roommates, Liz Sutton and Rebecca "Bex" Baxter. As if being a super spy at the age of 15 isn't hard enough, Cammie's father is dead and her mother is the headmistress at the Academy. When the new teacher Joe Soloman takes over the CoveOps class, he puts the girls through a series of tests to see if they really have what it takes to really make a profession out of being a spy. Later rather than soon, the girls befriend the new girl, Macey McHenry, who helps Cammie decode "guy talk". While on a mission, Cammie meets Josh; he knows NOTHING about who the real Cammie Morgan is. Overall, this book was okay; the biggest thing that took away from me actually liking this book was how late of a start the book has; it just seemed really slow to me. I also didn't like the person Cammie was becoming before she got knocked into her senses; I just felt like she was kind of turning her back on the girls she had known basically all of her life for a guy that she had just met. So why the four stars??? Because it's just the first book in the series, in order to really be the judge, I'd have to read ALL the books in the series to really understand where the author was trying to go with this. If it had been just one book, without a series, it would've been totally different.
[...]

Initially the only reason why I picked up this book was because it's one of my dream agents's clients so I figured I might as well try out what she likes and see if we see eye to eye (as that's rather important when choosing an agent you want to represent your writing, because otherwise it might not work out so well, huh?). Then I decided to wedge this into my Fear Itself Challenge because of that fact. Had it not been Kristen Nelson's author's book, I wouldn't have otherwise picked it up. In all honesty, I thought a school for teenage spies was a little out there.

I read a chapter before I got nice and horrendously sick so it lay stagnant for a week. My initial impression off of that first chapter? For how extraordinary Cammie is, she's a really normal chick. Normal speech, normal friendships (again, despite the circumstances). The language is normal, not trying too hard. While I'm not crazy about the boarding school thing, at least it doesn't center around the rich kids versus the single poor chick there on a scholarship or something. There aren't really any cliques. No one's striving to be part of one team or another. They kind of just exist. There are students Cammie and her friends don't get along with, as it should be, but nothing is over the top or crazy cut-throat. It's real, to me at least. Overall, a good start.

Then I kept reading and I just fell in love with it. Bravo, Kristen Nelson and bravo Ally Carter! I wish there were more female main characters in YA lit that were more like Cammie and less like the insufferable Bella. Cammie is independent and goal-oriented. She knows what she wants out of life (and let me just say, that can be anything, even being a mom, nothing wrong with that, giving up everything for your boyfriend, on the other hand, very wrong) and she strives her hardest to get it.

What you have to understand about the situation is that while these girls are teenagers, they're not your standard, normal teenagers. When you're working with a genius-level IQ, the teenage brain doesn't function in the same way. Yes, they will still have standard teenage impulses (like with boys, for instance), but the way in which they deal with situations is going to be far different than what your normal teenager would. These are girls that know everything EXCEPT being normal. Macey is their link to the outside world, so to speak. When she comes into the picture, she brings a world these girls know pretty much nothing about into their otherwise very programmed, very structured lives. The opted for this. They wanted it. But that's not to say wrenches won't get thrown in spokes.

I love how Cammie, Bex and Liz handled the whole boy situation with Josh. I think every girl can relate to trying to decipher "boy talk" and "boy action" but they take it to such an extreme because, well, they can crack CIA code. Why the hell can't they figure out what that note meant??? And therein lies the dilemma of a genius. You have someone that can pretty much think their way out of any and every situation, except for those involving common sense and normalcy. Because they're not normal. Not really. Enter Macey again. She's that breath of normal that helps all three girls adjust to something that they're not used to. Had Macey not been in the picture, I don't think Cammie would have been able to handle the situation with Josh as good as she did. None of them had any clue what was going in before Macey and yeah, while the chick's a bitch, she knew what she was talking about. Gotta hate it when that happens.

And I loved the humor. It wasn't an overkill but there was just enough off-the-cuff humor that I ended up laughing out loud. When Bex and Liz were dangling off of Josh's roof while Cammie tried to distract him. Oh dear god did I laugh! I could so see that happening and not in an obnoxious Disney sitcom sort of way either. Or when Cammie stuffed a piece of paper with Josh's handwriting on it into her mouth only to realize after the fact that is was just normal paper, not the dissolving kind she's used to. Ha! Yeah, I can totally see that happening too. I'm telling you, I'd love to see this book in movie form. It has an excellent balance of humor that isn't absurd but is just enough to carry you through the story and lighten the mood.

Let's not forget the writing. Ah-maz-ing. Cammie is such an awesome and relatable character. Yeah, she's a genius, but she's a girl that also lost her father, has a boyfriend she doesn't quiet know what to do with and friends that sometimes teeter on the line of oblivion. It's so real despite the circumstances. The relationships are poignant and touching and at the same time, yeah, it really could happen to you. Ok, so maybe you won't be kidnapped by your teachers in order to complete a final. But you will have teachers that you connect to more than others, that know more than you thought they knew about you, and want only the best for you. It's just such a great book with such strong, admirable characters that you won't be able to help but love them.

I have the next book, Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy sitting in m TBR pile and while I probably won't get to it for a while, I can't wait to see what happens next in the series. Sure, so much can happen when you go to school for spies but it's the normal stuff that's really exciting. Not to mention the awesome problem-solving techniques the girls utilize to figure it all out. God, I love it!

SUMMARY -
Cammie Morgan is totally normal. Except, she's a genius. Okay, and she goes to a private all-girl's boarding school. Okay, and she's a spy, too. But that doesn't stop her from at least trying. (Trust Cammie when she tells you it's harder than it looks!) When adorable Josh Abrams befriends Cammie during a CoveOps mission, Cammie must go undercover and live a normal life if she wants to see Josh again - and she might even find he's her soul mate.

MY THOUGHTS -
Yep, this book was radical. A little slow at first, but it picked up the pace like crazy and swept me away. I'm love struck, for sure!

So, can I have Cammie for a BFF? Oh, wait, I think I already do. Seriously, she reminds me of one of my dearest friends (you really should check out her blog...). She's got the wit, the sarcasm, the drama (I mean this in a totally and completely endearing way, of course). I can't get enough of Cammie!

The story lacked a bit at the beginning, but when they went on that CoveOps and Cammie met Josh - whooohooo!! Talk about fast! :) Josh is charming, lovable, and totally sweet - and perfect for Cammie. And he shares my last name. How cool is that, right?

I think this series has a lot to offer; it's fun, sharp-witted, and heartfelt. The end was happy, but not in a perfect-ending kind of way. I really appreciate that. It made it more realistic and has me wanting more - and very very soon!

This book reminds me of...
Best friends (seriously, click here, because you want to check out this blog)
The color blue
Really cool (last) names
Innocent romance
Overall cuteness
Witty jokes
The best kind of dates (burgers and a movie)
Spires
And a smokin' hot teacher who I pictured as something like Josh Duhamal ;)

For the Parents -
Nothing! Such a fun tween-teen book! :D Recommended 12+

I had seen these books advertised around for a while but was never really interested in reading them. However, I was reading the description a couple of weeks ago on Goodreads and realized that it really sounded like it would be a really fun read. And I wasn't wrong; this book was really fantastic in a completely fun, adorable way.

So, Cammie Morgan is a student in a typical, prestigious, private, all-girls school called The Gallagher Academy. Or, at least, it WOULD be typical, except that this is a school for female spies. While on an assignment for her Covert Operations course, she meets a boy named Josh, and that's when Cammie's well-planned, well thought-out world completely changes. She can't tell Josh anything about herself, because of where she goes to school and who she'll be in the future, so what follows is basically Cammie living two different lives: her real one, and the one she creates for herself when she's with Josh.

First of all, all of the spy stuff in this book was awesome. I loved all the backgrounds for the teachers, and the lessons in their classrooms, and the little asides about various accidents that the girls have had while learning to be spies. However, the big draw of this book for me personally was just that the whole thing had a really fun, totally cool vibe about it. I loved Cammie. She has such a quick wit and sense of humor, and there were some serious laugh-out-loud moments in her narration. She just seemed very real to me, and I loved every second of her. Her interactions with Josh were absolutely perfect; this is truly a book that describes that feeling you get when you meet your first crush and are starting out in a relationship. Honestly I can't find any other word to use to describe Cammie and Josh except for "adorable". The whole thing just made me want to draw hearts all over it. <3

If you want a really witty and fun, but still totally relatable teenage girl narrator, Cammie is your girl. Honestly my thoughts upon finishing the book were simply that all 280+ pages of it were pure fun, which I loved every second of. I will definitely be picking up the next book in this series.

First foremost I really liked the cover of this book; it was cute and very chic. In honor of Ally Carter's newest book to this series, "Out of Sight, Out of Time", I decided to read this book, which is the first of five in this series. I really wanted to enjoy this book, but surprisingly I didn't. The main character, Cammie Morgan is a 15-year-old Sophomore at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women; everyone thinks the school is for rich, snotty girls, but it's really a school for spies. She has two best friends who are also her roommates, Liz Sutton and Rebecca "Bex" Baxter. As if being a super spy at the age of 15 isn't hard enough, Cammie's father is dead and her mother is the headmistress at the Academy. When the new teacher Joe Soloman takes over the CoveOps class, he puts the girls through a series of tests to see if they really have what it takes to really make a profession out of being a spy. Later rather than soon, the girls befriend the new girl, Macey McHenry, who helps Cammie decode "guy talk". While on a mission, Cammie meets Josh; he knows NOTHING about who the real Cammie Morgan is. Overall, this book was okay; the biggest thing that took away from me actually liking this book was how late of a start the book has; it just seemed really slow to me. I also didn't like the person Cammie was becoming before she got knocked into her senses; I just felt like she was kind of turning her back on the girls she had known basically all of her life for a guy that she had just met. So why the four stars??? Because it's just the first book in the series, in order to really be the judge, I'd have to read ALL the books in the series to really understand where the author was trying to go with this. If it had been just one book, without a series, it would've been totally different.
[...]

This is a collected review of the four installments.

As you may or may not have figured out, it's nearly impossible describing the GG-books in a concise format of words. The plotline is simply put a jaw-dropping maze.

Carter is a genius. These books fall right under the category of books you're just awestruck by and cannot comprehend a human being has actually thought it all out. So again, Carter is a geniu, an amazing writer. She's an expert at story-developing and storytelling. Although these are serious (deadly, if you will) stories, Carter has a gift of executing with much appreciated humor - some books will be darker/funnier than the other - but what she never fails to deliver, is action. Excitement. Suspense.

Cammie is fearless and bold, yet vulnerable. Cammie's the average one in a group of friends with more particular personality traits, which will make her very approachable and neutral. And despite being a highly-trained spy, relatable. You'll grow to love and trust Cammie and her friends, as well as the people around them.

I would say the GG-books are the only ones ever physically making me gape, not believing what I'm reading. It will surprise you, even shock you, and the excitement and anticipation will be never ending. It's a page-turner and you'll be dying to know what happens next and next and next (most importantly, it'll deliver.)

I'll admit I've found myself several times questioning what's going on, asking why this and that happened the way it did and not another way around, and so on.. but it's safe to say Carter knows what she's doing.

It's an intricate, dramatic, action-filled story, so planned out and woven in detail. And, of course, there's some sweet romance..

Loved it? Yes
Will I read more from the author? Yes

*reviewed by Sophie*

True confession: I love spies. In college, while my fellow Poli. Sci. students were reading Marx, I was reading Ian Fleming. True story. So imagine my delight when I realized that Ally Carter wrote a series based on an exclusive spy school for girls?

Oh, the things I love about this first story. Well, there's the fact that our protagonist's dad is missing. And her mother is the headmistress. And then there's the small matter of the boy who captures Cam's attention. A townie named Josh. Here's a little scene between them from page 153 when someone places their hands over Cam's eyes while she's waiting for Josh to show up for a date:

One second you're standing there, being grateful that you'd remembered to pack a candy bar, and then...POW...everything goes black.
Well, that's what happened. But did I panic? No way. I did what I was trained to do - I grabbed the offending arm, shifted my weight, and used the force of my would-be attacker's momentum against him.
It was fast. Really fast. Scary, these hands-are-lethal-weapons fast.
I am so good, I thought, right up until the point when I looked down and saw Josh lying at my feet, the wind knocked out of him.
"Oh my gosh! I'm sorry!" I cried and reached down for him. "I'm so sorry. Are you all right? Please be all right."
"Cammie?" he croaked. His voice sounded so weak, and I thought, This is it. I've killed the only man I could ever love, and now I'm about to hear his deathbed (deathstreet?) confession. I leaned close to him. My hair fell into his open mouth. He gagged.
So...yeah...on my first pseudo-date, I not only physically assaulted my potential soul mate, I also made him gag - literally.
I pushed my hair behind my ear and crouched beside him. (Incidentally, if you ever want to feel a boy's abs, this is a pretty good technique - because it seemed perfectly natural for me to put my hands on his stomach and chest). "Ooh. What is it?"
"Do something for me?"
"Anything!" I crouched lower, not wanting to miss a single, precious word.
"Please don't ever tell any of my friends about this."
How I loved Cammie's voice and all her asides and reports. I also adored the fact that her friends and mom were there to help or well, distract her from her mission to find out if Josh was indeed a "honeypot" (a label used for a fellow spy who is trying to infiltrate their school). Ally captures everything that makes a good spy story - the intrigue, the missions and most of all the relationships between spies and the people who get tangled up in their lives. I'm thrilled that there are three more books in the series and a fifth one coming out next year. If you have mother-daughter book club, I highly recommend this book. You won't be disappointed. Now, I'm moving on to the next book in the series, because well, I need to find out what happens next to Cammie and her friends. You know that feeling Mundie Moms, it's one of the best, isn't it?

A cute little story about a bunch of privileged teen spies when one of them falls in love with a cute boy from town.

I kept waiting for this story to focus on something else rather than just the boy, but that was pretty much it and I think that that was my main problem with this book.

I mean, these girls are so smart and have all these amazing skills, so I really wanted to see them on a dangerous mission, kicking some ass, saving the day (perhaps the world!), but it never happened.

I'm sure this is just a first-book-in-a-long-series "problem" though, and I might read the next one, even if it's just to prove myself right.

I was also intrigued by Cammie's dad story (there must be A LOT more to it), and her mom is one of those memorable secondary characters that I wish I could know more about. Same thing for Macey, the improbable new best friend.

Cammie Morgan is used to blending in and even feeling like she disappears. She goes to a school where that kind of thing is considered cool.

The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is a private boarding school for geniuses looking to realize their full potential. As spies.

Of course the students are free to pursue any career that befits their exceptional educations. But when that education includes advanced encryption, learning fourteen languages and advanced martial arts . . . well let's just say it doesn't take a genius to figure out what it means.

At the start of her sophomore year at the Gallagher Academy Cammie learns that Gallagher Girls might know how to tap phones, surveil, and hack computers but when it comes to being a normal teenager their educations are sorely lacking. Turns out sometimes, even for a genius, being a girl spy really is more about being a girl than a spy in I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You (2006) by Ally Carter.

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You is the first book in Carter's Gallagher Girls series.

This book is a fun blend of girl power action, humor, cool spy tech and just a fun story. Cammie and her friends are exceptionally fun to read about. Carter hits the perfect blend between fun and serious as well as realistic and old fashioned made up details (two words: Napitime patches).

Though not quite as sleek as her later novel Heist Society, this book does have a frank, honest style fitting for a book filled with characters keeping secrets. The middle of the story was a bit frustrating, but maybe ultimately authentic, as Cammie struggles to determine her priorities and her own place as a Gallagher Girl.

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You isn't quite a fantasy (in the same way that James Bond movies are not quite fantasy but kind of are) but Carter's world building is fantastic. Cammie's evocative narration will draw readers right into the dangerous, exciting world of the Gallagher Girls in this story that is equal parts Bildungsroman, adventure and fun.

Possible Pairings: Hearts at Stake by Alyxandra Harvey, Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller, Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Fifteen year old Cammie Morgan is a spy. At least, she will be once she gets out of spy school. And if she doesn't end up getting her heart broken, failing field training with the hot new ex-spy teacher, or getting found out. Bringing public attention to Gallagher Academy would be so not cool.

As a sophomore, Cammie and her friends Bex and Liz, are now able to take classes in Covert Operations. CoveOps specializes in field training assignments and being able to observe a person of interest without getting found out.

I liked the overall setting of Gallagher Academy, but it takes a lot of willing suspension of disbelief. It's like 007 and the CIA on steroids, and then there is the conceit that everything really cool (like Velcro and other inventions) were all created by Gallagher students needing them in spy school. I would have been happy with just the spy stuff without all the product claims.

The tension between Cammie and Mr. Solomon is good, and it deepens the mystery of what happened to Cammie's spy father. I know this will probably be a staple of the series and I hope it gets resolved at some point because it sounds like a good story. The relationship Cammie maintains with her mother, who is also the director of the school, is fairly well developed. I'm not sure how I feel about the potential for a relationship between Mrs. Morgan and Mr. Solomon because I still have hopes that Cammie's dad is still alive and one of her missions will be to rescue him at some point.

I do love Cammie's best buds. Bex is an over-the-top Brit goddess and I liked her in-your-face attitude. Liz as computer geek/expert hacker is good and I liked her cautious nature. The three of them together make a good combination, and I enjoyed their repartee a lot.

The plot hinges primarily around Cammie's sudden interest in a local guy, Josh. That relationship is played primarily for laughs and I had a good time with it. The backstory of the Gallagher Girls against the townies also manifests in that relationship, though I felt like some of that conflict was heavily contrived.

I do have to admit that I was a little disappointed that there wasn't an actual threat or villains. I'd love to see the Gallagher girls matched up against their international counterparts. But the book is a teen romance with an interesting background, so that may not be in the cards. I'll have to read the next few books to see if that happens.

And I will be reading the next books. Ally Carter delivers a wonderful first-person narrative filled with charisma and humor. I want to see the characters again, and I want to know more of their stories.

If Hogwarts were a school for young spies instead of magic, it might look a lot like the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. Fronting as a boarding school for bratty rich girls, it's really a top-secret training school for spies. The school has hidden passageways, eccentric professors, and a rather unique curriculum, including classes in Covert Operations, Culture and Assimilation, and Protection and Enforcement (kind of like P.E., but way cooler). The heroine of the piece, Cammie "Chameleon" Morgan, is a sophomore and daughter to the headmistress, so naturally, she's a whiz at spy stuff. When it comes to talking to guys, however, she's clueless. So what does she do when she's befriended by a sweet, handsome local boy? She can't tell him anything about herself (that's classified!), so she decides to make things up. Before long, the inevitable strains between her new boyfriend and schoolwork begin to form. Can her new beau handle the truth? With excellent world-building detail, sympathetic characters, and a strong heroine, the Gallagher Girls series makes an excellent choice for female teens looking for a new series. Recommended for Ages 13-15.

Cameron "Cammie" Morgan attends a very special school, one where the townspeople think they're a bunch of spoiled rich girls, but no one knows the feats they're capable of, because it's a school for spies. They take classes like Covert Operations and their school is full of hidden passageways that would make Harry Potter do a double take.

Cammie's used to this life, since her mother is the headmaster and her father died while spying, but she still has a lot to learn (she's only a sophomore). When she goes on a mission to a local fair and meets a townie, Josh, she can't give him her phone number or email address...but she can spy on what he's up to and have her friends read his email. Their attempts to do reconnaissance on him are highly entertaining, though even Josh soon catches on that Cammie's not a "normal girl."

Her classmates each have special skills, and put them to good use when they help Cammie stake out Josh, with newcomer Macey McHenry proving herself worthy by deciphering "boyspeak" (something even some of us adults have yet to master!).

These girls know how to protect themselves, and Carter's made Cammie a wonderful mix of headstrong spy legacy and lovestruck teenage girl. The asides about all the things Cammie could do to Josh (and his annoying friends) if she wanted to are priceless. It's clear why this first of the Gallagher Girl novels was optioned for film; the ending especially features a students vs. teacher scene with all sorts of fancy maneuvers you can picture the girls--dressed naturally all in black--putting their classroom spy tactics to great use. This is true "Girl Power," not as a silly cliché or fake statement, but about girls who have very adult intelligence and could literally kill, but also get giddy when a boy tells them he likes them.

Carter's humor is infectious and teachers, students and the poor non-spies are well-rounded and make good matches for each other. From a teacher who changes his face every semester to recruiters who come to the school from the upper echelons of government, this is a page-turner, but mostly it's a book about female friendship, budding romance, and how those two can work together...or tear each other apart. As soon as I finished it, I picked up the next book in the series, Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, which I'm now eagerly tearing through.

The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is school like no other. On the outside it looks like a regular private school and on the inside is a pimped up school for spies. They try to keep the spy part a secret. Cammie Morgan is attending the academy with her mom as principal. Cammie learns many different languages, Russian, Japanese, French, and more. She also is taught how to kill someone with one uncooked spaghetti. One thing she isn't taught is how to talk and act around boys.

I actually read this book twice. Once in hardcover when it first came out in 2006 and then I saw my library had it as a audio so I thought it would be fun to listen to it. I didn't finish the audio book not because it was bad but because I have hard time paying attention unless I am listening in a car.

The book is fun, filled with humor, and secret spy gadgets. True is a premise that some movies have done usually with a boy in the lead but this one is for the girls. I want to read the rest of the series. I can imagine that the rest of the series will make me grin and laugh out loud as this one did.

Fifteen-year-old Cammie Morgan loves to feel invisible, because at the Gallagher Academy it's considered cool. Oh yeah, it's true--her private high school is for exceptional young women aka geniuses. It's also a secret training ground for future spies.

In this first book from the Gallagher girl series, Cammie meets a regular guy from town during a field trip to practice their "shadowing" skills. He's cute, and funny, and nice.
He also thinks she's an ordinary girl.

Despite the fact that Cammie should report this chance meeting to her superiors (and her BFFs) she keeps Josh a secret. Because while being invisible is usually cool, it's incredible that a guy finally noticed her. Eventually, her super-spy-to-be friends uncover the info and take on the mission of helping Cammie figure out how to capture Josh.

But what's a spy girl to do? She can't tell Josh the truth about herself and he's supposed to be completely off-limits.

Author Ally Carter it on a can't miss premise with the Gallagher girls series. It's fun and fresh with adventure, an innocent romance, and lots and lots of humor. I'm hooked and plan to get my hands on the second book soon. Very soon.
-- Reviewed by Michelle Delisle

This was Alias meets high school. Cameron Morgan is a Gallagher Girl. Translation, she's being trained to be a spy at her private school. She and her other soon-to-be-licensed-to-kill gal pals speak in multiple language, have been using roundhouse kicks for years, and absolutely don't know how to act around normal boys. To make it even worse, Cameron's mother is the principal of said school and so her problems are multiplied. Of course, Cameron meets a normal boy and can't tell him who she really is.

She finds herself on a tight balance, trying to date her hottie and do well in classes such as CoveOps, where she learns to trail people successfully on the DL. Her friends all call her the Chameleon for obvious reasons. What she really loves about her new boypal is that he seems to notice her, whereas usually she has been taught to blend in to the background.

There is a town vs. gown kind of rivalry going on, as well. The townie folk don't trust those Gallagher Girls. They are thought to be snooty and rich. While the Gallagher Girls are for the most part wealthy, they certainly aren't snooty, just can't reveal who they really are to most people. So Cammie has to pretend she is NOT a Gallagher Girl, causing her to tell lie after lie. You know she is going to be caught eventually, but you sympathize because this is her first boyfriend.

There are a lot of funny moments: the girls get ready dressed up for the CoveOps class (the teacher is really hot) only to find themselves facing the creepier paranoid chemistry teacher. I also laughed out loud as said boyfriend drove a forklift into a building while Cammie is performing a simulated heist. He thinks she is being kidnapped. I also enjoyed when they learn how to learn dirt on people through what is in someone's trash. Next thing you know, Cammie, Bex, and the other girls are looking through the boy's trash collecting notes and candy wrappers like they are evidence.

It is an enjoyable read for girls that are sick of the whole Clique or Gossip Girl scene. These are REAL girls with REAL problems (dead parents, how to tell if a boy likes you, choosing your friends over boys). It also had humor reminiscent of Kiki Strike. The girls are feeling bonded as they connect themselves to rappelling cables.

This was my first book by Ally Carter. It definitely won't be my last.

Gallagher Academy is definitely not what it seems to the outside world. It is an all-girl school, definitely "no boys allowed"--unless, of course, you're one of the male teachers. Society sees the students as rich, spoiled girls, which is exactly what the Academy wants them to see. The lengths that the students and teachers have to go through to hide everything spy related when the occasional visitor shows up is quite funny.

Cammie "The Chameleon" is smart, spirited, and a bit of a rule-breaker. Although her mother is a former spy-turned-Headmistress of the Academy, it still doesn't stop Cammie from sneaking out. She and her friends launch a mission to find more information about the boy she met on a "field trip" (aka field tracking test). Although Cammie speaks fourteen languages, the one language her education didn't include is "boy". Seeing Cammie and her friends trying to interpret Josh's words and actions is hilarious.

"I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You" is full of great, believable characters and a fun plot. I will definitely be picking up its sequel "Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy" soon!

I honestly can not say enough good things about this book. I could not put it down. And after listening to Ally Carter read the first few pages of the book, which you can listen to on her myspace page, I fell in love. I love listening to the author read their books. You know how they meant to write it and what the character, in their mind, sounded like.
I loved the character of Cammie. She isn't your normal girl, since she is the spy and her mother is the headmistress of the school. But as you read, you know that deep down Cammie wants to be a normal girl and not know how to kill someone with a nail file. Then she meets Josh. I really loved Josh's character in this book. He was the typical boy, but since Cammie has always been sheltered from the normal life she has no idea if he likes her or not. Then she lies to him. Not a little lie, but a huge lie that kept growing and growing. She told him that she was home schooled, that she had a cat, that her mother and father were still together, and tons more. Towards the end of the book Josh finds out what Cammie really is. I am sad that this seems to end their relationship towards the end of the book. But now I am on to book two. And I can not wait!