Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover - Ally Carter

Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover 
                       (Gallagher Girls #3) - Ally Carter
Grade: YA
Rating: 5/5 stars

Cammie Morgan has a cover for every occasion. As a spy-in-training, aliases, phony passports and fake IDs are a means of survival. But what happens when the ghosts of her past see through her flawless façade?

In her junior year at Gallagher Academy, Cammie continues to flirt with danger. When a national political convention turns into a trap, she is forced to lose her cover to save her best friend Macey - a major political target - from being kidnapped.

But are the kidnappers political extremists or something more sinister? And why has Zach, Cammie's mysterious (and totally hot) crush, suddenly returned?

With the help of an ex-Gallagher Girl, Cammie and her friends are determined to hunt down the group that threatens to tear their secret sisterhood apart.

This time it's personal. (Description from Goodreads)
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Someone told me weeks ago that the Gallagher Girls series is the type of series where each been keeps getting better and better. They were right, so far – ‘Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover’ raised the bar – and I can only imagine what will come next.

The previous two books proved that Cammie and her friends are pretty skilled spies-in-training, but clueless when it comes to life outside the Academy and that they still have a long way to go before they’re ready to be full-time spies. But when faced with an unknown and dangerous external threat, Cammie’s skills are put to the test and it could mean life or death. I can’t stress enough how awesome Cammie is. I love that she has a spy role already. She’s known as a pavement artist – someone who blends into their surroundings – who can tail people without being seen. We get to see this side of her again, a side I’ve been waiting for since she was first introduced as ‘The Chameleon’. Cammie tries to stay out of trouble, but it seems to be difficult for her to do.

The action in this book was more than I could have asked for. From the moment I opened the first page, it was almost non-stop movement, which made the book awfully hard to put down. From a spy point-of-view, it’s nice to know not everything is about sneaking around and leaving coded messages to be found. Sometimes face-to-face encounters occur and the only way out involves throwing a punch or two. As an action fan, this definitely worked in the book’s favour.

I love that it’s not just Cammie we get to learn about, especially in this book. Macey – the newest spy in Cammie’s group of friends – is in the spotlight a fair bit; and that’s not just because she is the Senator’s daughter during an election campaign, but because an attempted kidnapping brings her life outside the Academy into full focus. It’s nice when not only is the main character’s life explored, but when the best friends are pulled into the story as more than just a person you talk to between classes; it’s good to have more than one character to focus on.

My only issue with this book was the lack of romance, but I feel like that is because there was a darker tone to the book than in the previous ones. With the mystery of the kidnappers taking over everyone’s thoughts and the danger that seemed to accompany every action scene, there wasn’t a right moment for romance to enter the pages. It didn’t help that the focus of the books moved away from a major theme from the first two books: boys. But despite that, a little more romance wouldn’t have been a bad thing in my opinion – not that what we got wasn’t awesome.

‘Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover’ left me with so many questions, which I hope will be answered in the next book. Can’t wait to see what secret spy adventure Cammie will be a part of next.

5/5 stars


Kim
(Originally posted on Goodreads)