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 (goodreads)
I picked up this book because it didn’t look like the average private girls school, teen romance. It had that whole spy element and the secrecy. I actually quite enjoyed it.
Cammie “The Chameleon” and her friends attend the Gallagher Academy for girls. Everyone outside of this school thinks that it is an all girls private institution full of rich and snobby kids. In actual fact it is a spy school. So, when a boy sees her and speaks to her during a Covert Operation test for school, Cammie and her friends obviously have to make sure he isn’t a Honeypot (they have to make sure he isn’t secretly trying to infiltrate the school). Obviously Cammie falls for him, but she can’t tell him who she is and what she does because it is top secret.
There is obviously a lot of lying and sneaking around that ensues. What interested me about this book was the whole spy element. Obviously in History classes, everyone dreams of being a spy – what it would actually be like. We all think it would be extremely cool sneaking around and wearing disguises and doing stuff that normal people can’t. The fact of the matter is that none of us are actually spies though. So this book sort of fulfills a fantasy in a way that nothing else can.
I also found the reaction of the town boys toward the private school girls quite interesting. When we think of private schools, we automatically assume that the parents of the kids must be rich to be able to spend that amount of money on one semester of school. The pure hatred shown by the boys, however, is a completely different kettle of fish. It makes the reader realise just how judgemental they can be without actually knowing the full story.
The story was supposed to be written in the form a written report that the spy would then hand in to their superiors. The one in which there is every single detail of everything that happened. I didn’t get the feeling that it was supposed to be written in report form, however. It felt like a normal book written from the perspective of Cammie – which let me down just a tad.
Either way, I am looking forward to reading the second book! I gave this a 4/5 stars.
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