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

Title: Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover
Author: Ally Carter
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Pub. Date: 2009
Genre: YA
Main themes: Spies, Spy School, Elections, Love, Family, Friendship
Pages: 263
Plot (from book jacket):
"When Cammie "The Chameleon" Morgan visits her roomate Macey in Boston, she thinks she's in for an exciting end to her summer break. After all, she's there to watch Macey's father accept the nomination for vice president of The United States. But when you go to the world's best school (for spies), "exciting" and "deadly" are never far apart. Cammie and Macey soon find themselves in a kidnappers' plot, with only their espionage skills to save them.
As her junior year begins, Cammie can't shake the memory of what happened in Boston, and even the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women doesn't feel like the safe haven it once did. Shocking secrets and old flames seem to lurk around every one of the mansion's corners as Cammie and her friends struggle to answer the questions Who is after Macey? And how an the Gallagher Girls keep her safe?
Soon Cammie is joining Bex and Liz as Macey's private security team on the campaign trail. The girls must use their spy training at every turn as the stakes are raised, and Cammie gets closer and closer to the shocking truth..."

I've been procrastinating doing this review for few days now... It isn't because it was a bad book, quite the contrary actually! I loved it! It is the perfect blend of boarding school drama, spies, romance, and mystery! It is just difficult to write a review for this book without saying: "Go read the first two!" I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You and Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy are both amazing books, but I think that this may have been my favorite one so far!

Cammie's aunt is a present throughout this installment of the series. Not only was she a pretty awesome character, I welcomed the knowledge and glimpses she gave the reader into Cammie's family and past. I feel like we will find out even more about that in the next book.

Speaking of the next book - I need to know what happens with Cammie and the guy in her life! I can't even give a name because if you haven't read book one and two, I don't want to ruin it for you! I'm totally in love with their love story. It is important to point out at this point that I am pretty much obsessed with the show Alias - so obsessed that I own all 5 seasons and have watched them multiple times. I may have cried when I watched the last episode... :S Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls books are basically Alias for a little bit younger crowd. Vaughn and Sydney from Alias? I'm as obsessed with Cammie and her love interest as I was with Vaughn and Sydney. There is just so much TENSION!

Ratings (Out of 10):
Plot: 10
Characters: 10
Writing style: 10
Romance: 10
Originality: 10

Total: 50/50 (A!)

Go out and read the Gallagher Girls books - they are some of my absolute favorite books! There is another book coming, but I haven't the slightest clue when (which drives me crazy because Ally Carter leaves you with questions and wanting more)!
I do know that Ally is writing a new series though. The first book is called Heist Society and comes out February 2010 from Hyperion. Here is a little blurb from GoodReads:
When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre...to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria...to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own--scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving "the life" for a normal life proves harder than she'd expected.

Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat's dad needs her help.

For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in history-or at least her family's (very crooked) history.

I want this book so badly! Perhaps if I were a thief/con man (or possibly a spy) I could just slip into Hyperion headquarters and steal the manuscript... alas, I am not... darn.