I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
Amanda Peterson is an ordinary girl on her fall break from school, going to visit her aunt Christie. But the Christie she sees is not the aunt she remembers. Christie is a spy, working for the government. Amanda finds out that she already has security clearance and has been undergoing training without even realizing it. So when Amanda is given an assignment, she thinks she's prepared. She must determine whether or not Will, a seventeen-year-old boy, is a hacker. No problem, right? Who wouldn't be able to get close with a tech nerd? Only when she sees Will does she realize her problem: Will is a hottie. And that means trouble for Amanda, who is totally shy. But, if Amanda wants to complete her mission, she'll have to be able to investigate the hottie.
I would first like to mention that this book is fairly short - 193 pages of the actual story. However, that said, I whipped through it. I started it at breakfast and finished it at the lunch of the same day. It is such a good read. Incredibly entertaining, unpredictable, and amusing, I laughed and fretted along with Amanda. The spy theme reminded me of the Gallagher Girls series, but once I got reading, I found that they weren't very much alike. This story was more entertaining, in my opinion. I fell in love with the characters. However, there was that length issue. Even though it was 193 pages, I think it would have been even shorter if the words were lined up on both sides of the page. This book was published in a different way than most, with the paragraphs aligned to the left, instead of being justified. Even without being long, though, I found there to be strong and well-built characters. Good job to Juli Alexander!
As I mentioned before, this story reminded me of other books I've read. In that way, it wasn't totally original. However, I appreciated the fact that it was very family-oriented. I don't mean that in the way that everyone cared about their families, though that's true. I mean that Amanda never even met the organization that she's working for. She was instructed and worked with her aunt Christie the entire time. In the Gallagher Girls series, Cammie's mom was the headmaster of the spy institution. However, they didn't work as a team, like Amanda and Christie did. I found this to be something new, because even though they mentioned that there's not a lot of time for relationships, romantic or otherwise, the bonds were close.
Another thing I supremely enjoyed about this was was the hilarity! Almost every scene got me laughing - out loud. I love funny books on serious topics. It retains the amusement while still having a good backbone. This is ideal, because it lightens up serious situations and keeps things from getting too dark. There were many things that made me giggle, ranging from Amanda's internal dialogue, to conversations between characters, to descriptions of characters, to just plain old funny or awkward situations. This novel is great because it never got too dreary, a serious improvement from previous books I've read.
This book astounded me. How could such a great story be hidden in those pages? It doesn't have the type of cover that would usually draw me in. You know what they say: Don't judge a book by its cover. That's especially true in this case. I would rate this book four stars. It's a terrific read for anyone looking for spies, mystery, and comedy.
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