Gallagher Girls

First Lines Fridays: December 8, 2017

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First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

First Lines:

I suppose a lot of teenage girls feel invisible sometimes, like they just disappear. Well, that’s me — Cammie the Chameleon. But I’m luckier than most because, at my school, that’s considered cool.

Interested? Scroll down for the cover and summary!

I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter
(Gallagher Girls, book 1)

Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school — that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it’s really a school for spies.

Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she’s an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real “pavement artist” — but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her?

Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she’s on her most dangerous mission-falling in love.

October 2017 Wrap-Up (Part 2)

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Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter
(Gallagher Girls, book 3)
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  October 15 – 16
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Dem sweet spy skillz!
Least Favorite Thing:  Boys somehow being more important than life-or-death missions???? (Don’t get me wrong, I get why it’s like that, but I still roll my eyes every single time.)

I read this one in one sitting, which should tell you how engaging it was. So far I think it’s the best of the Gallagher Girls series, although I’ve got 3 books still to read, so maybe that will change!

I read this book for The Cookie Read-A-Thon 🙂

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Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter
(Gallagher Girls, book 4)
Rating:  ★★★☆☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  October 16
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Overprotective besties.
Least Favorite Thing:  Townsend. Obviously.

I’ve realized something. I could literally never be a spy in this world. Why, you may wonder. Because of the danger? No. Because of the need for super special spy skillz? No. Because it’s fiction? Nope. I could never be a spy in the world of the Gallagher Girls because when people give me cryptic ass responses to more than two questions in a row, I start planning their murders.

I literally don’t even like Zach anymore. Just like answer a fucking question ever you mediocre boy. Ugh.

Other than the fact that no one can just answer a straight question ever, the book was good.

I read this book for The Cookie Read-A-Thon 🙂

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Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter
(Gallagher Girls, book 5)
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  October 16 – 17
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  That music trigger thing was coolio. (But obviously, you know, very bad.)
Least Favorite Thing:  Dr. Fucking Steve. Like honestly could I have even said anything else? Screw that guy…

Is this my favorite Gallagher Girls book now? I think it might be? There was a moment in the beginning where I was Not Enjoying It, but that did not last long at all! I think this has got to be my favorite yet. Wow.

Also like, I never liked Dr. Steve because he was annoying, but what the fuck dude… He better die in the next book I swear.

I read this book for The Cookie Read-A-Thon 🙂

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United We Spy by Ally Carter
(Gallagher Girls, book 6)
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  October 17
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  “the blow stuff up and run approach”
Least Favorite Thing:  For super secret spies, almost every op they go on is like suuuuper public!

Well, that’s the series done! I’m pretty glad I decided to go back and reread the first book and finish the series. It was worth it.

I read this book for The Cookie Read-A-Thon 🙂

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Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
Rating:  ★★★☆☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  October 19 – 20
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  I could practically taste everything they ate through my eyeballs. Yummy book.
Least Favorite Thing:  I can’t believe nobody punched that prick Matteo in the face.

I made a separate post about the Mexican knife fight thing because I have Emotions™ about it and because it’s one of the reasons this book is 3 stars and not 4. Not the only reason, but a decent sized part of it.

I read this book for The Cookie Read-A-Thon 🙂

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We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
Rating:  ★★★★★
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  October 21 – 22
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  The rhythm of the writing.
Least Favorite Thing:  I literally can’t think of anything I didn’t like. Sorry, not sorry.

I can’t wait to get my hands on more books by Nina LaCour. Reading this book reminded me of reading a Cynthia Voigt novel. Which anyone who has spent any amount of time on my blog would know is the highest compliment I can give anything.

I read this book for The Cookie Read-A-Thon 🙂

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Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan
(The Lynburn Legacy, book 3)
Rating:  ★★☆☆☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  September 28 – October 30
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Lillian’s favorite story. Ha!
Least Favorite Thing:  Um…why does every male in Kami’s circle that isn’t her father have to profess his romantic feelings for her?

I’m kind of disappointed… I didn’t like this one very well. It didn’t flow as well and didn’t really hold my attention well. It was okay, but only that, in my opinion.

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In Progress

October 2017 Wrap-Up (Part 1)

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Sons from Afar by Cynthia Voigt
(The Tillerman Cycle, book 6)
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  October 2 – 5
Read Count:  3
Favorite Thing:  The way James and Sammy both admire each other, with neither of them realizing it.
Least Favorite Thing:  Not enough Dicey & Gram.

I was right in this post, to expect that I would like this book more now that I’m older. I even rated it higher than I had in the past.

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Seventeen Against the Dealer by Cynthia Voigt
(The Tillerman Cycle, book 7)
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  September 5 – 6
Read Count:  3
Favorite Thing:  The way Dicey thinks about things.
Least Favorite Thing:  Cisco. (Please read that name with your lip curled up in disgust, because that’s how I think it and how I typed it.)

Wow. I was right to expect it to be different to read when I was older. Not good different or bad different, but different.

The best way I can think to explain it is:  When I was younger and I read it, I was reading it with the kind of optimism about the future that mostly only people under 18 have, even the ones who don’t think they really have it much. Because no matter what was going on I thought pretty much like I always had with all the other books, that everything would fall into place and work out because Dicey deserved for it to. And because that’s what I was reading it for, when Dicey feels satisfied with the way she’s moving forward at the end, I felt like everything had fallen into place and worked out.

Now though, I see it more realistically. Things don’t work out because you deserve for them to or because you want them, but even when things don’t work out the way you dreamed, there’s usually something you can still do to pick yourself up and keep going with your life, whichever way you go. Not that it’s all hunky-dory, of course, but if you look at things with an eye to solve problems and keep surviving, that’s almost always what you’ll do eventually, even if it doesn’t feel good the whole time and even if it isn’t the way you wanted it to be.

I feel like this book was trying to teach me something my whole life, and I got it, but I didn’t get it.

It’s a great book, but it’s a hard one too. Because you only want things to work out the way they ought to and be simpler, and you have to grow your thoughts up right alongside Dicey as you read. And the process doesn’t feel very good most of the time, though there are bright spots, but in the end you feel satisfied with yourself and with the book.

This bit got a lot longer than I usually have it, but I can’t see a single thing I’m willing to take out, so long it will have stay.

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Empress of the World by Sara Ryan
(Battle Hall Davies, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★☆☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  October 12
Read Count:  2
Favorite Thing:  Nic’s insistence on “bisexual”.
Least Favorite Thing:  It’s a tie between everyone else insisting on saying Nic was gay/lesbian and her straight friend Katrina making every single thing about Nic and Battle into something sexual as if queer relationships aren’t about anything except sex.  (Note:  I didn’t enjoy reading those things, but they are totally accurate so I wouldn’t want them removed from the book.)

I read this book once before when I was in middle school or early high school. I decided to reread it because there’s something about the cover art and title that constantly bring me back to it even though it’s not exactly a mind-blowing piece of writing. But I can actually remember clearly the exact moment I first saw this book on a shelf, and if you know anything about me and my terrible memory, you know that’s a huge deal.

I did have a couple of complaints, but they are small:

  • There was something off-putting about the way all Nic’s straight friends kept saying “dyke” all the time… Maybe Yankees use the word more than Southerners and that’s why I’m not used to it, but it practically made me flinch every time.
    (It’s only used as an insult a couple times, the rest are it being used in place of the words “gay” or “lesbian”, but in my life I’ve only ever heard anyone use that specific word on tv, even my queer friends never used it.)
  • It didn’t feel like there was a plot? I’m sure there must have been, and I guess it was that the romance was the entire plot, but honestly it barely felt like it had a plot at all. I’m assuming that I am just not used to novels that are literally about romance and nothing else at all.

Overall it was a decent book and it was nice to see a portrayal of the different ways bisexuality is erased and dismissed by other people.

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Persuasion by Jane Austen
Rating:  ★★★☆☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  August 2 – October 13
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  THE LETTER!!!!!
Least Favorite Thing:  Anne’s family…

I no longer hate Persuasion. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it either. It’s just as well written as all Austen’s novels, even if I couldn’t get into it, and I’m so glad to have finally read it all the way through.

I finished this book for The Cookie Read-A-Thon 🙂

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I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter
(Gallagher Girls, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★☆☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  October 13 – 14
Read Count:  2
Favorite Thing:  Mr. Moscowitz during the final!
Least Favorite Thing:  D’Man.

I’m pretty glad I decided to reread this one and see if I wanted to finish the series (which I never did the first time I found this book, back in middle school.

I read this book for The Cookie Read-A-Thon 🙂

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Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter
(Gallagher Girls, book 2)
Rating:  ★★★☆☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  October 15
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  The suitemates’ friendship makes me happy.
Least Favorite Thing:  Cammie doesn’t question things enough man… Or when she does she forgets them almost immediately.

I can’t believe someone actually debated who would make a better Gallagher Girl between Buffy and Veronica Mars when the answer is so clearly and unarguably Veronica. Buffy wouldn’t know stealth if it kicked her in the face…

Also I don’t actually remember reading this book before, but somehow I knew about Blackthorne? That is, I knew it was a boys school when Cammie overheard that first conversation and I knew it was specifically “Blackthorne Institute” so….???

I had a short feeling of Second Book Syndrome, but the book was engaging enough that I could just keep reading through it and luckily it didn’t last very long.

I read this book for The Cookie Read-A-Thon 🙂

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Part 2

 

Thursday Quotables: October 19, 2017

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This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week; whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written.

I looked up at the fireworks that filled the sky. It was exactly the kind of moment when Zack liked to show up say something cryptic, and kiss me.

Summary:

Cammie Morgan has lost her father and her memory, but in the heart-pounding conclusion to the best-selling Gallagher Girls series, she finds her greatest mission yet.

Cammie and her friends finally know why the terrorist organization called the Circle of Cavan has been hunting her. Now the spy girls and Zach must track down the Circle’s elite members to stop them before they implement a master plan that will change Cammie—and her country—forever.

Thank you Bookshelf Fantasies for this fun book meme!

Cookie Read-A-Thon: Day 5

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Well, I met my goals, but only barely. To be completely honest I slept most of the day today. I’m only awake now because I got up for water and was thinking about my read-a-thon goals and just couldn’t stand the idea of breaking this good streak I’ve been on. So I spent some very drowsy hours finish the Gallagher Girls series. It’s a testament to the writing I think that it held my attention and I actually retained what I read.

I’ll probably go back to bed once this is posted…

Books Read Today:

Time Spent Reading Today:  4 H 6 M

Total Pages Read:  1745

Total Time Spent Reading:  20 H 56 M

Books Completed During Read-A-Thon:  7

I don’t even know what to set as a goal for myself for tomorrow… I don’t even know what I’d like to read next! (I’ll gladly take suggestions from anyone, the books I have to choose from can be found here.)

I suppose my goal will be… figure out what I want to read and read at least half of it (all of it if I manage not to sleep the day away, but I won’t get my hopes up).

Teaser Tuesday: October 17, 2017

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But as I looked at everything I was supposed to carry and thought about all the things I was supposed to know, I had to wonder:  Do all girls go through this? Is every girl on a date really in deep cover?

– Ally Carter, I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You (Gallagher Girls, book 1), page 143

Version:
Hardcover, 284 pages
Published April 25th 2006 by Disney-Hyperion

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

Cookie Read-A-Thon: Day 4

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Ha! I stomped all over my goal from yesterday. Take that, Goal!

I’m pretty proud of myself considering I feel terrible physically, I waited a stupid long time to actually start reading today, and I didn’t even read for very long.

Books Read Today:

Time Spent Reading Today:  4 H 54 M

Total Pages Read:  1362

Total Time Spent Reading:  16 H 50 M

Books Completed During Read-A-Thon:  5

My goal for day 5 of the read-a-thon is to finish the Gallagher Girls series completely (just a little over 1 book at this point). I’m pretty confident that I can do that, but once that’s done I’ve got no idea what I’ll read next!