Hot damn.

I don't usually post book trailers, but look. WATCH.

The music. 

Ominous DUN DUN DUN. 

That smile at 0:18. 

The flashing of images when the song kicks in. 

The promise of mayhem and destruction. It feels like a trailer for Skins. 

From the moment I read the first paragraph when it was a submission for a contest on Nathan Bransford's blog until now, I knew The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was going to be a winner. I haven't read the book yet, so I hope it will surpass my admittedly high expectations. 

(Side note: Imagine my happiness at finding out that TUoMD was going to be an actual book. Two years later, and that paragraph still sticks in my mind. It's amazing. Spooky, mysterious, intriguing. I could probably write a sonnet about it, BUT I WON'T.) 

Also, Lisa Desrocher's LAST RITE cover. You know how all those books with the main character having a choice to save the world, only it's just the set up and all we readers care about it whether she's going to choose between the mysterious bad boy or the mysterious good boy, but they don't really phrase it like that?

There, you've got it. A book cover conveying all 80,000 to 100,000 words.

I LOVE IT.

You're welcome.

(Side note: Gabe or Luc? I'm so for Gabe. For Fran, duh. Leaves Luc free for me.)

And heyyyyy, The Iron Knight trailer. FINALLY. Hello Puck! I think that it's the same model they have as Meghan on the book covers, and I'm impressed at the consistency. Team Ash, you got the whole video for you. Team Puck, watch the whole video too, but if you're reallllly impatient, 1:10's where it's at.

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

Title: Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover	Loved it	Graded
Author: Ally Carter
Genre: Mysteries, thrillers
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Elements: Boarding school, espionage
Series: Book 3 in the Gallagher Girls series

When Cammie "the Chameleon" Morgan visits her roommate 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 a 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 trapped in a kidnapper's dangerous 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 can they 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...

This review contains spoilers.

This series is getting better, delving more into the real world consequences of being a spy. GG3 starts during the end of summer, where Cammie is visiting Macey as Macey's dad is nominated as VP of the US. This is the first time I've read of the girls being out of school boundaries, without any school assignments. And as refreshing as it is to feel a difference in scenery, the freedom doesn't come without a price, and what a price it is. At one of the venues for a political events, Macey and the president's son are almost kidnapped. Cammie and Macey have to break out their moves, barely giving them an escape.

The kidnapping pushes Macey into the public's sympathetic eye--while helping her father gain some extra votes, this throws Macey, Cammie and the Gallagher Academy into the spotlight. We don't just get to see Macey dealing with her family life and politics, but also how GA and its staff rises up to the occasion.

The development of Headmistress Morgan and Mr Solomon keep on giving me the squee!, while Cammie and Zach's relationship take a downturn, with Zach having adopted the 'angst' and amplified the 'mysterious' parts of 'angsty, mysterious love interest'.

I loved that GG3 didn't deal so much with school events, and attempts to tie up some threads from the previous books such as Cammie's father's death, Blackthorne and the GA history. The CoveOps lessons are  once again a major highlight of the book, with some running jokes, such as Cammie and her friends inevitably applying the skills taught to them while sneaking out of school.

It did frustrate me though, because it seems as if Cammie just doesn't learn her lesson from the events in the previous books. Granted, they were all assignments, and the worst punishment she got was detention, if even that. She got off lightly, and I do feel she's taking advantage of her position as headmistress' daughter sometimes. That's not what irks me, because I would possibly do the same in her shoes. What irked me was that while the kidnapping is a major event, moving the plot forward and changing the overall tone of the book, it's like it's being taken lightly by the characters.

This is a school for spies, run by former spies who rightly shouldn't be duped by students. While Cammie is punished, it's like she's punished for the sake of being punished. The other characters all gloss over her mistakes and are all amazingly understanding and accepting of her reasons because of her being related to the big event, major arc of the book.

So while I loved the storyline, it's just something I noticed and that has been bugging me about this book. GG3 is an entertaining read, but you know, it's the little things that matter. It's those little things that after all, either make or break the spy. In this case, the school and its ability to not just train, but contain the spies.

The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa - Sneak Peek of the trailer

I know we're alllllll excited for more news of Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey's trilogy, the other trilogy featuring Ethan, and of course, The Iron Knight.

But I've got something better.

Feast your eyes on this snippet of The Iron Knight trailer:

Proudly brought to you by:

(Go! Be a fan of the page!)

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter

Title: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy	Loved it	Graded
Author: Ally Carter
Genre: Mysteries, thrillers
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Elements: Boarding School, espionage
Series: Book 2 in the Gallagher Girls series

After staking out, obtaining, and then being forced to give up her first boyfriend, Josh, all Cammie Morgan wants is a peaceful semester.But that's easier said than done when you're a CIA legacy and go to the premier school in the world...for spies.

Cammie may have a genius IQ , but there are still a lot of things shedoesn't know.

Like, will her ex-boyfriend even remember she exists?

And how much trouble is she really in after what happened last semester?

And most of all, why is her mother acting so strangely?

Despite Cammie's best intentions to be a normal student, danger seems to follow her. She and her best friends learn that their school is going to play host to some mysterious guests--code name: "Blackthorne."

Then she's blamed for a security breach that leaves the school's top-secret status at risk. Soon Cammie and her friends are crawling through walls and surveilling the school to learn the truth about Blackthorne and clear Cammie's name. Even though they have confidence in their spy skills, this time the targets are tougher (and hotter), and the stakes for Cammie's heart--and her beloved school--are higher than ever.

GG2 starts almost immediately where we left GG1, with readers and Cammie wondering if Josh will remember her after ingesting the ~speshul tea prepared by Cammie's mom as she told him the whole history of the Gallagher Academy.

**SPOILERS ONWARD**

Great news: He remembers her!
Bad news: He remembers her breaking up with him, and nothing else after. 
Worse news: He has a new girlfriend.

Ouch. Poor Cammie. The boy sure moves on fast.

Faced with the heartbreak, Cammie prepares to hide herself in the vents and tunnels of the Academy, only to find out that she's set too much of a good example to other students, and all of the secret passages are now closed.

GG2 introduces a new set of characters that answers a question that has been plaguing me since GG1: Why is there only a spy school for girls? The boys bring in some interesting challenges and test the girls' art of interaction and flirtation, which sounds silly, but seems pretty reasonable to me. After all, in the not PG version, spies will have to seduce their marks for information. However, I thought the basis for the GA was now a bit shaky.

Surely having, or introducing, a co-ed school for spies would remove the uncertainty of the girls not knowing how to interact with the opposite sex, especially if they were on a mission, where the objective is to blend in. (Or stand out, whatever the mission is.) I was mulling this over in my mind, and I guess everything would work out fine if the cover identity was designed to explain this. Or if the girls themselves were smart enough to manipulate the situation and the mark.

*shrugs* I have a lot of thinky thoughts about this, and "It's just a book. About teenage spies. Anything goes." doesn't fly with me.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed going on with the idea, and I'm glad I did. The introduction of Zach and his team brought about a whole lot of sexy banter that was a few notches better than the interaction between Cammie and Josh, which remained sweet. (And I'm have to say, possibly in the 'first love' and 'just friends' categories when compared to this.)

The action scenes and the characters were just as entertaining as GG1. Overall, GG2 is a fun and frothy read, continuing in the tone GG1 set. I hope Carter does address the mortality of the girls' chosen occupation, because a dose of real danger would make the tension feel more taut. While I enjoyed the climax, I never actually believed any of them were in danger.

I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd have to Kill You by Ally Carter

Title: I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd have to Kill You	Loved it	Graded
Author: Ally Carter
Genre: Mysteries, thrillers
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Elements: Boarding school, espionage
Series: Book 1 in the Gallagher Girls series

The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is a fairly typical all-girls school—that is, if every school teaches advanced martial arts in PE, chemistry always consists of the latest in chemical warfare, and everyone breaks CIA codes for extra credit in computer class. So in truth, while the Gallagher Academy might say it's a school for geniuses what they really mean is spies. But what happens when a Gallagher Girl falls for a boy who doesn't have a code name? Cammie Morgan may be 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 Gallagher Academy hasn't prepared her for 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, and track him through a mall without him ever being the wiser, but can she have a regular relationship with a regular boy who can never know the truth about her? Cammie may be an elite spy in training, but in her sophomore year, she's doing something riskier than ever—she's falling in love.

Aish. I enjoyed this book so much. the Gallagher Academy is like a school for Sydney Bristows in training. The little SBs are mostly all legacies: their parents are all in espionage world, and thus they have the background to be there. For the non-legacies, they'd either have to be geniuses or... genii.

Yeah, their requirements are pretty steep. I'd so want to go there, except that while I enjoyed the fun and fluffiness the premise brings, I can't help but to think of the life or death situations the girls are going to be in when they are out of school.

There's not really an explanation for the legacies who don't want to be in the spy world (where do they go?) and those who don't make the cut (where do they go?), but for the purposes of the book, I'm fine with that.

LYKY (as this book is known) is basically the Covert Operations semester report of an operative called Cammie Morgan, who goes to a school of spies. It's a way for her to practice writing actual reports after dong actual fieldwork. The report is thorough, and from a reader's point of view, Cammie is an excellent narrator, able to recall every and all details that she comes across.

I enjoyed the narration, the characters, their interactions and especially the training scenes. The background information was spread throughout the book, with instances of infodumps that I'm of two minds about. First, they included information that I thought the higher ups would already know upon reading, such as the Gallagher Academy being a spy school, and so there was no need to elaborate. Second, I thought that it was a way of covering all bases and being as thorough as possible; in such a report, it's better to have facts and not assumptions.

Cammie's relationship with Josh was sweet to read about, even if Josh seemed one dimensional and there doesn't seem to be any way for the star crossed lovers to be together. And while their romance is the central plot, there's another blossoming romance happening in the background that I enjoyed much more: Cammie's mom and her CoveOps teacher, Joe Solomon. I thought it was particularly well done, and so heartbreaking with Cammie's dad MIA and presumed dead. Poor Cammie's mom.

Overall, it's a fluffy and fun book that doesn't go into the darker side of espionage too much. Entertaining read.

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Title: Bloodlines	Loved it	Graded
Author: Richelle Mead
Genre: Paranormal
Publisher: Razorbill
Elements: Boarding school, alchemy, vampires
Series: Book 1 of the Bloodlines series, part of the Vampire Academy universe

     I wasn’t free of my past, not yet.

Sydney’s blood is special. That’s because she’s an alchemist—one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of human and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives. But the last encounter Sydney had with vampires got her in deep trouble with the other alchemists. And now with her allegiances in question, her future is on the line.

When Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, at first she thinks she’s still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir RoseHathaway. But what unfolds is far worse. Jill Dragomir—the sister of Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir—is in mortal danger, and the Moroi must send her into hiding. To avoid a civil war, Sydney is called upon to act as Jill’s guardian and protector, posing as her roommate in the unlikeliest of places—a human boarding school in Palm Springs, California. The last thing Sydney wants is to be accused of sympathizing with vampires. And now she has to live with one.

The Moroi court believe Jill and Sydney will be safe at Amberwood Prep, but threats, distractions, and forbidden romance lurk both outside—and within—the school grounds. Now that they’re in hiding, the drama is only just beginning.

Bloodlines was awesooommmmeeee.

I haven't read the VA books in a while, and I didn't read the synopsis of Bloodlines before starting (You know, "Hey, new VA book!" *grab and read*) so I wasn't sure if Adrian was the hero. I liked that Mead built a friendship between Sydney and Adrian, and showed that Sydney had to work against her tenuous suspicion to gradually trust and befriend Adrian--and the other vampires. No Instalove = major plus points!

The mythology. How much do I love an author who is not scared to create an opposition to her previous series, and have them be the good guys as well, rather than the bad guys? Sydney's background as an Alchemist made the VA universe well-rounded and very believable, with the different beliefs and way of life.

Some series have an offshoot book from another point of view that tends to highlight the qualities, whether positive or negative, of that of the original series. I appreciated that Mead did not just use the Alchemists as a way to beef up the Moroi and dhampir beliefs, but used it to further explain the Alchemists and their role in the VA universe to readers.

Sydney is perfect, from a character development standpoint, in the sense that while she respects the Morois and the dhampirs way of life, she did not neccessarily think they were right. While she also didn't like some aspects of the Alchemists' life, her background was fully Alchemic, and every decision she made from then on was in regards to her background, and what she learnt after interacting with the vampires.

Something I loved and fully respected: Sydney did NOT want to cast out her past and her calling as an Alchemist to hang out with the vampires, and they all got along extremely well despite their differences.

All in all, great introduction to a new series. I'm waiting for the next book.