The Gallagher Academy series

The Gallagher Academy series by Ally Carter follows four girls, Cammie, Bex, Liz and Macey, as they learn to become spies and cope with some pretty nasty men who, well, are out to kill them. Of course we need the love interest and Cammie manages to grab that aspect of the novel with the three other girls helping her like only best friends can!

Below is the blurb for ‘I’d tell you I love you but then I’d have to kill you’ the first book in the Gallagher series, where it all kicks off.

‘Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses – but it’s really a school for spies. Cammie Morgan is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways (three of which involve a piece of uncooked spaghetti). But the one thing the Gallagher Academy hasn’t prepared her for is what to do when she falls for an ordinary boy who thinks she’s an ordinary girl.         Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, and track him through a mall without his ever being the wiser, but can Cammie have a normal relationship with a boy who can never know the truth about her….’

Carter weaves a novel with extremely realistic characters that readers can relate to and fall in love with. One book reviewer said ‘If ever there were a new series chock full of characters to make Harry, Ron, Hermione et al look like wimps, then this is it.’Not that any series can make Harry, Ron and Hermione look like wimps because they are the BOMB but you get the drift that this spy girl series is pretty darn good.

Yeah the writing’s pretty simple so anyone above 12/13 can read it, enjoy it and understand it but even as a 16 year old there are still bits in it for you. What I’m trying to say is that it’s a kick-ass book that manages to spread itself a wide age range!
I really enjoyed reading about Cammie as she’s a plucky teenager with next to no experience with guys and really, is pretty freaked out by them (something we can all emphasise with at some point in our lives!) There’s zilch of the paranormal in here so for some of you, that’ll be a big bonus and for those of us (you) who do like paranormal a bit too much, take  a break, read something that’s just as good as Twilight or Halo or Nightshade, it just doesn’t have the fangs and the blood-suckers or the howlers…….. Though it does have plenty of knives, blood and bruises!
As the series progresses and the plot becomes more complex and intricate you can still rely on Macey to comment sarcastically or Bex to irrationally drop-kick something before she can – in other words they stay the same loveable awe-strucking characters they were in the first book even though the atmosphere around them is slowly  darkening and getting more dangerous.

On the whole the series are good fun to read, a good present for a friend or something to keep you ticking over the holidays – they’re pretty addictive and I promise you’d enjoy them!

The Gallagher Girls series is published by Hachette UK and can be acquired from Amazon.co.uk from between £3.29 and £5.24. As a series they get a 4 out of 5 from me and I suggest you get the first one to start you off soon!
En Bon Lu!
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