Review: Don't Judge A Girl By Her Cover by Ally Carter

Here's the thing about covert operations: the really bad things always happen when you least expect them. The enemies don't give you a heads-up. And they never let you stop to put on comfortable shoes.
A spy-in-training, Cammie Morgan has a cover for every occasion. But what happens when she is forced to lose her cover to save her best friend, Macey? Cammie and her friends are determined to hunt down the group that threatens to tear their secret sisterhood apart. This time it's personal.

So I’ve been raving about this series for a few days now – the first book had me in stitches, the second book was a good follow up, and I was keen to get to the third book.

Again, it’s continued the train of awesome, but it made me realize that it had a lot more to it than the second book. “Cross my heart and Hope to Spy” was genius, but the further I’ve got from reading it, the more I’ve realized that there was very little in the way of plot, and it frustrated me that there was no real follow on from the open ends left at the end of the first book “I’d tell you I love you, but then I’d have to kill you.”

It was the shortest book in the series, and when attempting to sum it up for a friend, all I could come up with was “well there’s this all girls spy school, and then some boys from another spy school come and do an exchange, and well, hijinks ensue?”

Don’t take this badly, I still loved it, but I was frustrated by that, particularly when Ally Carter has shown what genius ideas she has. It felt like it was all there, but there wasn’t enough follow through.

Which made me particularly happy about this book, the third in the series, because it was a lot deeper (and a lot darker) than the second book.

For the first time bad things happen, and it isn’t a test in school. Which made me do a little happy dance.

The plot really kicks off with that, and whilst there are some lulls where nothing much happens, and they’re effectively playing the waiting game, it otherwise doesn’t let up from there.

We learn more about the characters, we learn more about the history of the school, we get more awesome lessons, and more brilliant spy missions.
I have to admit, when Mr Solomon hands out that box of t-shirts, I actually did a little whoop, it was so cool!

However, despite all the awesome, there were moment when I felt a bit lost. I felt like I was missing something, or I hadn’t been told, or maybe I was just being lame and hadn’t picked up on it – but it makes me grumpy with a book when I feel like I’m being left out of something.
I’m hoping that it’s just a case that answers will be given in the fourth instalment “Only the Good Spy Young.”

So in summary, the first book remains my favourite in the series, but this is a great continuation of the story. There was a lot more to this one than the previous book, which was great – it was a lot darker, and a lot less funny. But it was still the character’s I’ve come to know and love, and a few new ones to add to the mix.

I’d definitely recommend this series if you haven’t already discovered Ally Carter, as she knows how to bring the funny and the awesome, and this series is a truly brilliant concept. Now I just can’t wait to get into the fourth book, and hopefully get some answers to some of my questions!