Spy-A-Licious

Your teen years are formidable. It seems like you will barely survive, but you eke out the other side relatively unscathed and tougher for the challenge. But what if you were raised by international spies, a lock picking, safe cracking prodigy (given Master Locks to play with and crack as a toddler), and had never gone to school, gone to a dance, or even kissed a boy? In Also Known As by Robin Benway, Maggie is up for her first official case for the group of Good Guy Spies they work for: going to high school and fitting in!

When news of a journalist writing an article about the group of spies her family works for, thereby blowing their cover, is released, Maggie is given her first job: infiltrate the high school of the journalist's son and get the evidence for the story back. This job is even more important than the other "do-good" jobs Maggie has been a part of before, because now her family's safety is in jeopardy. Even though the group of spies only work their magic for good, stopping bad guys, toppling evil, and returning items to those good people who they were taken from, she is still a spy, complete with aliases and multiple passports. Infiltrating a high school sounds relatively harmless, unless you have ever been a new kid before. Then you know just how treacherous this assignment really was. Terrifying in fact.

To make matters worse, Jesse Oliver, the mark, is a popular bad-boy. Maggie knows she has no chance of getting to him without an in, so she makes friends with an eccentric former Queen Bee named Roux.  While Roux is currently a social-outcast, she still makes for a good in to Jesse Oliver's Halloween party. But after the party, Maggie realizes there is more to Jesse Oliver (she likes to say his full name!) than Maggie had expected. As she gets closer to him, she realizes she doesn't want him to just be a mark. But that would be breaking the cardinal rule for a spy: never get too close.

This was a fun, somewhat young, spy story, much in the same vein as Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls series. Maggie was a typical teenager, complete with sarcasm, snark, and a desire to be kissed by a cute boy, but it was her entourage that was the most fun. You find yourself really liking Jesse Oliver, and Roux is hilarious. I like the fact that Roux was a former-Queen Bee, fallen from her throne. It made her so much more interesting, and her hilarious rambling diatribes were so much fun! When she came face to face with Angelo, the family's spy friend, I thought I was going to die! Too funny!

But this is a rather young story. It would be good for any young reader transitioning from Middle Readers to YA. The cover screams girl book, but if you can get a boy to read it, I can see them being equally entertained, especially since Maggie isn't terribly "girly". The spy stuff isn't terribly dangerous, but made for a fun read. I am looking forward to the sequel to this story to see what happens to everyone!

Audrey, Wait!

Break-ups are hard enough. Filled with cliches, hurt feelings, and resentment, they never turn out well. Now imagine your break-up becoming the source of a world-wide musical phenomenon where everyone knows what happens... from your ex-boyfriend's point of view- Ouch! That is exactly what happens to Audrey in Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway.


Audrey is your average girl. She had a crush, dated a guy who was all wrong for her (but was a musician, so it is forgivable), and broke up with him when it was clear it wasn't going to work. He was a nice enough guy, and she liked his band, but he just wasn't the right guy for her. What she didn't expect was that he would write a song about their break-up and that single song would get the band discovered. Almost overnight, the song was all over the radio and the internet and the band was leaving town to tour. In one brief moment, Audrey went from being a normal girl to being in the spotlight of a global musical sensation. It wasn't pretty.


It also didn't help that she was secretly video-taped making out with another musician from a different band backstage at their concert. Audrey was swept up in the fun of being backstage and being the focus of a pretty well-known music star, but she didn't expect his manager to photograph her from the bushes and sell the tape. Next thing she knows, paparazzi are following her to school and taking pictures of her sleeping in class, her principal keeps her in the main office "for her protection", and the ice cream shop where she works is flooded with people who want her autograph and pictures with the Audrey they listen about on the radio. All Audrey really wants to do, though, is go on a normal date with the guy she works with at the ice cream shop who is very different from any musician she has ever met. But it isn't easy when her past follows her everywhere she goes, in the form of screaming fans and crazy photographers!


It is hard to peg an age group for this book because while the dialogue was sometimes really "pre-teen" and hokey, it also was full of choice language and many sexual references. I think many high school students might think the book corny, but it might be too mature for the age group who the actual plot would appeal the most to. I suppose it would be best for those older girls who just want a fun, easy read, or that girl who is just a little too immature for her age. 


The story does have some mature material, but it is actually a fun story. At times I wanted to strangle the main character because she just sounded too ridiculous (like straight off of one of those teen movies trying too hard to be more than a teen movie) and I couldn't imagine teenagers really talking like that or being that witty (and I am around a lot of teenagers, trust me!). But on the other hand, I thought her wittiness and spunk was pretty funny. The book left me unsure on a number of realms, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. I thought it was a lot of fun, actually, and even though some of it is pretty campy, it still has a place in your reading list if you are like me and sometimes just need a little camp and cheese! 

Extraordinary and Power-Filled Fun

AAhhhh... sisters. No one really understands the relationship between sisters unless they have them. I happen to have a younger sister who is also the middle child- talk about a therapists dream come true (just kidding!). When we were younger, we didn't hate each other, but we weren't the great friends we are today. Don't get me wrong, we still snipe, annoy, and nudge one another on a regular basis, but the sisterly bond is one no outsider or non-sister can understand. Now add newly realized "super" powers to sister rivalry and you have the fantastic and fun book The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, and June by Robin Benway.

April is the careful, driven oldest sister. May is the middle child who often gets lost in the flurry and sometimes feels forgotten. June is the impetuous youngest sister who just wants to be popular. When their parents get divorced, the girls move with their mother to a new school. As if that weren't traumatic enough, they begin to develop abilities that will test both their sisterly bonds and their futures.

April realizes she can see the future. She can't command the visions to appear, but when she is around a place or person involved in the future event, she can get snippits. May develops the ability to disappear. Not literally, of course, but she becomes invisible and no one can see her (a typical middle sister power). She can't control when it happens, and often finds herself in precarious situations. June learns she can read people's minds- even her sisters' minds. She chooses to use her power as a way to gain popularity and be part of the cool clique.

When the girls realize what is happening to them, April tells them they can't use their powers for self-serving purposes, but June refuses to follow April's orders. When April starts to see a future where a horrible accident occurs and Julian, a cute boy from school, and June are somehow involved, she decides to get proactive. In order to protect her sister, she starts spending time with Julian in order to keep him away from her little sister. Meanwhile, May is in the middle of her own personal crisis as a school mandated history tutor, Henry, challenges both her intentions and her (sometimes) self-imposed invisibility. At first May refuses to deal with Henry, but his persistence and odd charm cause some exciting moments as she gets flustered and her body parts (usually feet first) start to disappear. When June refuses to listen to April, her older sisters do everything they can to make sure she doesn't get hurt by using both their super powers and their sisterly powers.

The story is told from first-person perspective from all three girls. The chapters rotate between the three girls, giving the reader a glimpse of how all three are dealing with their new lifestyles. At first, this can get a little confusing, but the reader quickly gets used to April's controlling and concerned tone, may's snarkiness, and June's flakiness. Eventually, you can figure out which sister is talking without even reading the chapter headings. At first I thought the personalities of the three sisters were a little cliche and hokey, but it seems to work. The story is very interesting, and Benway doesn't disappoint with a formulaic story. There is enough surprise within the plot to keep the reader interested.

There is some adult language throughout the story, but it isn't overwhelming or distracting. The story itself is a lot of fun and appropriate for mature middle school students through high school. It would appeal primarily to girls, especially sisters, but you might find the occasional male student who enjoys this story. This was the first book of Benway's I have read, and I liked it enough to buy her previous book, Audrey, Wait! I will let you know how that one turns out!