Sunday, May 22, 2011

The Gallangher Girls

On the outside The Gallangher Academy For Exceptional Young Women may seem like a snobby rich girls boarding school, that's what it's suppose to be. But look inside the door, the bulletproof windows, and you see an all girl spy school. Yep, as in learning about bombs, poisons, tailing, covert operations. For the headmistress' daughter Cammie things begin to turn into a real mission in her sophomore year. A new Covert Operations teacher comes, along with a senator's daughter. Well, and then Cammie gets a secret boyfriend in the nearby town and has to sneak out of school. Cammie and her friends have to use all their spy training to try and make it work. Then operation Blackthorne starts, and a whole new chapter opens in Cammie's life, along with reopening of her father's death on a mission. Bugs, laundry chutes, and secret passages later their real mission begins. Kidnapping attempts, double agents, and top secret come into play as they learn of a new threat, a real threat, one that will stop at nothing to get their unknown prize.Their lives in danger, and confusion on friends and enemies lead to unreeling plot, and the fact that the group will kill. In a world where espionage, lying and spying is normal, how will Cammie figure out how to be a normal girl, or at least pretend to be one. Plus, for a girl who knows fourteen languages, will she ever figure out the language of boys?

Friday, May 20, 2011

A Great and Terrible Beauty



Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I've been reading a lot. "A Great and Terrible Beauty," by Libba Bray just goes to show that you should never judge a book by it's cover. Looking at the title you think of some high society rich girl drama with love and stuff like that. Although there is some of that throughout the book, this story is much more interesting. There is intrigue, magic, fights, confusion, and friendship. After some unfortunate and unclear events in India, Gemma Doyle is sent to London, to go to an elite private boarding school, The Spencer Academy. But something else is new to Gemma, other than her new home. She can see into the realms, magical places beyond our world. The only mention of anything like Gemma's gift is The Order, a secret group of women who had magic to travel to the realms. They have long been gone, and forgotten. With a group of friends, Gemma begins to realize the power she has, and it's importance. She also realizes the danger it poses to the world. What will she do to save her world?


I really liked this because it is more than what meets the eye. You find this heroin confused in this odd world. The beginning of the book you find the people you want to hate, but then you end up loving them. It shows how friends can be the most important thing ever, and you never do know who your friends will be. There is just enough magic that's mixed in with the drama of school and pressure to be proper noblewomen to make it good. I really enjoyed this book, and you can also check out the rest of the trilogy:)