All Fall Down

Title: All Fall Down (Embassy Row #1)
Author: Ally Carter
Genre: YA
Rating: 4.5/5
Cover: 10/10
Release Date: February 5th

I was given an egalley of this book by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

"Grace can best be described as a daredevil, an Army brat, and a rebel. She is also the only granddaughter of perhaps the most powerful ambassador in the world and Grace has spent every summer of her childhood running across the roofs of Embassy Row.

Now, at age sixteen, she's come back to stay - in order to solve the mystery of her mother's death. In the process, she uncovers an international conspiracy of unsettling proportions, and must choose her friends and watch her foes carefully if she and the world are to be saved."

**

Stunning, as usual. I had truly missed Carter's specific brand of storytelling; because while the book was in no way thin, it simply flew by in a flash.
Carter is an expert storyteller; she has complete control over the narrative, and it shows very clearly here. We are only allowed to see what she wants us to see, when we want her to see it. As such, everyone becomes a possible suspect, and we end up just as paranoid as Grace. It is a delight to read, making us feel connected to Grace through our confusion and shared mistrust of everyone - and even of Grace, the very unreliable narrator.
And the plot twist at the end (well, one many in a quick succession - this book isn't for the faint of heart, I'll tell you that much!) left me breathless, and desperately wanting to find out more.

That it, ultimately, the one problem I had with All Fall Down: the ending felt a bit rushed. After all the shocks of the last few pages, to have that just dumped on us halfway, and not explained in full, left the ending lacking somewhat compared to the brilliance of the rest of the novel. However, knowing that there will be sequels does help with that, as I'm sure it will all be explained in due course.

Blog Tour: Model Spy Fashion Assassin

Author: Sarah Sky

Title: Fashion Assassin (Jessica Cole: Model Spy #2)

Genre: Contemporary / Crime YA

Publisher: Scholastic

Format: Paperback

Pages: 300

Published: 1^st January 2015

Goodreads Link * Amazon Link

This is for all you disgruntled Ally Carter fans out there, who are still not over the end of Gallagher Girls (a group that most emphatically includes me!). Model Spy: Fashion Assassin and its' predecessor, Model Spy: Code Red Lipstick, give you the chance to dive back into the world of sassy girl-spies headfirst - not a series to be missed!

"Models, spies and lipstick gadgets in this fast-paced teen series. Supermodel Jessica Cole has no intention of ever spying again after she was nearly killed by an embittered ex-model and a rogue MI6 agent. That is until she's blackmailed into posing undercover as bodyguard to a very rich fellow model. What seems like a simple job aboard a luxurious yacht in Monaco soon turns into a deadly mission to stop the most dangerous weapon in the world falling into the wrong hands. Jessica will need every gadget in her make-up bag if she wants to get out of this one alive."

Expect my review of book 1 to be up sometime this week, but what I can tell you so far is that Jessica is one spunky, funny teenager. And while she's no Cammie, her adventures have been very entertaining so far; if only I didn't have a mountain of paperwork to wade through this last week, I'd be done with #1 and #2 probably, they're just that easy a read! Definitely worth your time.

United We Spy

Title: United We Spy (Gallagher Girls #6)
Author: Ally Carter
Genre: YA
Rating: 5/5
Cover: 9/10


What is a Gallagher Girl?

As Cammie, Bex, Liz, Macey and Zach hurtle towards their biggest and last adventure, the future is looming in the distance, and Cammie will do everything in her power to run from her.
But sometimes even a chameleon has to stop changing colours and face the music... or does she?

I honestly, seriously loved this book. I blew through it so fast, I kind of want to go back and start again.
Zach, oh Zach... if only real boys like that existed. Liz was amazing, to see her grow and develop into the powerful woman I knew she would end up being. Bex just yanked my heart and twisted. She really is that best friend we all want if we don't have one like her, and if we do, the one we treasure more than anything in the world, because they know us better than anyone else. Macey hasn't changed one iota - which I loved.

The Circle is closing in again, and as the group runs against the time to try and stop Catherine Goode from killing off all the Inner Circle members, a bigger and darker truth starts to be uncovered. Who do you trust when the Circle is everywhere? And most importantly, who do you save, and who do you hunt - the Circle members, who are trying their hardest to instigate WW3, or Catherine, who is on a psychopathic mission of cold, calculated deaths - of Circle members and their progeny alike.

When the world is your backyard, there are few places to hide. And Cammie has the best team behind her. But can a group of adolescents take down a powerful group of terrorists with moles in every government and secret agency in the world?
They can, if they're Gallagher Girls.


So, what is a Gallagher Girl? She's whatever the hell she wants to be!

Cover Reveal

As promised (though one day late, so I apologise for that), here is the cover, blurb and release date for Heist Society #3 by Ally Carter.
The covers for these books have been beautiful from the start, but Perfect Scoundrels' is just stunning - plus we get a look at Hale (that's him in Kat's glasses, if you're wondering.

"Katarina Bishop and W.W. Hale the fifth were born to lead completely different lives: Kat comes from a long, proud line of loveable criminal masterminds, while Hale is the scion of one of the most seemingly perfect dynasties in the world. If their families have one thing in common, it’s that they both know how to stay under the radar while getting—or stealing—whatever they want.

No matter the risk, the Bishops can always be counted on, but in Hale’s family, all bets are off when money is on the line. When Hale unexpectedly inherits his grandmother’s billion dollar corporation, he quickly learns that there’s no place for Kat and their old heists in his new role. But Kat won’t let him go that easily, especially after she gets tipped off that his grandmother’s will might have been altered in an elaborate con to steal the company’s fortune. So instead of being the heir—this time, Hale might be the mark.

Forced to keep a level head as she and her crew fight for one of their own, Kat comes up with an ambitious and far-reaching plan that only the Bishop family would dare attempt. To pull it off, Kat is prepared to do the impossible, but first, she has to decide if she’s willing to save her boyfriend’s company if it means losing the boy."


Perfect Scoundrels is scheduled to be released on Feb. 5th, 2013
And can someone please tell me when the hell Hale became Kat's boyfriend? Because either I REALLY need to re-read these books, or something is weird here... A friend just reminded me that they 'brushed lips' in Uncommon Criminals. Sorry, but I need a more sturdy base than that to go around calling guys my boyfriend. Though, honestly, I'd jump at the slimmest chance to call Hale that, so who knows...

Book Review: Out of Sight, Out of Time

Title: Out of Sight, Out of Time
Author: Ally Carter
Genre: YA
Rating: 5/5
Cover: 3.5/5

I want to start off saying that of the two books that came out last Tuesday, I left this for last because all of the over Gallagher Girls books didn't impress me all too much. I mean sure, they were great books, but they didn't grip me in the I-cannot-stop-reading-this-I-need-to-keep-reading-and-never-stop frenzy. I was expecting much the same from Out of Sight, Out of Time.

Boy, was I in for a shock.

I loved it!
No, really, I did. Let's find out why...

Cammie Morgan is the Chameleon. The daughter of two of the best spies of their time, pupil of another, girlfirend of a spy, and best friend with the next generation of super spies, she has never known the true meaning of "normal". But even her notion of normal goes crazy when she wakes up in a cottage deep in the Alps. There is snow on the ground, but the last thing Cammie remembers, was leaving Gallagher Academy for summer holidays, to go after the Circle. Five months of her life have gone by, and she has no idea what happened to her during that time. She doesn't know what she did, who she spoke to, where she went, or even what went wrong.
The only thing she does know is that she needs to find out, because her friends don't seem to entirely trust her anymore, Zach has been spending alot of alone time with Bex, and Bex will hardly look her in the eye. To make matters worse, Cam's mom and aunt are determined that it would be best for her not to remember what happened - after all, sometimes ignorance truly is bliss.
But Cammie is taking no chances. She knows something big happened during summer, and she is determined to find out what it was, even if that drives her mad - literally speaking.

It already started off good, but seriously, as the book goes on, the plot thickens, and yet you're still going "ok, that's cool, but... what's the plot, anyway?" which just makes everything even more interesting. There is everything in this book: humor, suspense, creepiness galore, heart-pounding moments, and of course, lots of spying.
Who can you trust?

Resenha: Uncommon Criminals

O trabalho da família nem sempre foi fácil, ou o melhor, e nem sempre Kat Bishop quis o legado, mas uma coisa nem mesmo Kat poderia negar: ela é uma das melhores no negócio.
O negócio de roubo.

O livro é bem estilo Ally Carter: bobinho, bom demais, engraçado e sem faltar o romance, mas nada muito meloso também.

Seguindo o estilo do primeiro livro, Heist Society, Uncommon Criminals segue a hisstória da jovem Katarina Bishop, que está viajando pelo mundo roubando artifatos antigos e devolvendo-os aos seus donos de direito.
Mas quando uma senhora lhe aborda em Nova Yorque, usando o nome sagrado dentre ladrões, Visili Romani, para fazer com que Kat roube o Cleopatra Emerald, uma emeralda que, de acordo com lenda, é amaldiçoada, as coisas parecem meio complicadas.
Mas não tão complicadas quanto, quando ela, Hale e sua prima Gabrielle conseguem roubar a emeralda, Kat descobre que a senhora não é quem ele pensava que fosse e que, pela primeira vez na vida, Kat foi o alvo de um roubo.

Review: Uncommon Criminals

Title: Uncommon Criminals (Heist Society #2)
Author: Ally Carter
Genre: YA
Rating: 5/5
Cover: 10/10

As delicious as its predecessor Hesit Society, Uncommon Criminals continues to follow the young Kat Bishop as she jumps from country to country, following the family job: stealing.
When an old woman finds her at the airport in New York, where a not-at-all-happy handsome friend, W. W. Hale the Fifth is there to welcome her home, and the woman uses the name Visili Romani - a sacred name within thiefs - when asking Kat to do a job for her, things seem complicated.
But when Kat, Hale and Kat's cousin, Gabrielle, manage to steal the Cleopatra Emerald for the old lady, and Kat discovers that she has indeed been conned into stealing the emerald, things get nastily complicated.

How far can a group of adolescents go?
How far is Kat willing to go to right her wrong, and follow what Romani - this time the real one - told her to do?
And, of course, what on earth will she do about Hale?

A perfect read for a rainy day in which one is stuck to bed due to an unfortunate dinner the previous night that didn't sit too well in the stomach in the morning.

Resenha: Espiã Para Sempre

Nesse segundo livro da série de espionagem da Ally Carter, Cam tem que enfrentar novos desafios: seu ex namorado teve a memória apagada, e ela prometeu à sua mãe que não iria mais se meter em confusão.
Mas essa promessa vai ser severamente testada quando uma ala da escola é fechada, e rumores estranhos sobre a vinda de garotos para a Academia Gallagher estão voando pelos corredores - rumoers que provam estar certos.

Agora, Cam e suas amigas vão ter que aprender que as vezes, promessas são feitas para serem quebradas, que garotos igualam problemas, que nem tudo é o que parece, e especialmente que, na posição de espiãs-em-treinamento, não se deve confiar em ninguém...
...muito menos em garotos lindos de morrer.
... muito menos em garotos lindos de morrer, e espiões.

Com seu típico jeito engraçado de contar histórias, Ally Carter entrega um livro que fala das descobertas da adolescência, da família, amizade, e claro, muita espionagem - geralmente proibida!