Book Review: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

TITLE: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy
Book 2 in the Gallagher Girls series
AUTHOR: Ally Carter
PUBLISHED: 2007
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: mystery, adventure
PREMISE: Cammie is still reeling from heartbreak but in a school for spies she doesn't have time to dwell. Especially not when cute spy boys arrive at the school and turn Gallagher Academy upside down.
MY REVIEW: My love affair with Carter's books continues. I loved this just as much as the first one, if not better. Mostly because 1) Spy school is AWESOME! I want to attend! and 2) Zach is a ten times more interesting and better love interest then Josh. He actually challenged Cammie and also wasn't slightly sexist. Plus, the boy is hot and as I said, interesting. I also bought him and Cammie together and they technically never even really got together. Really hope he shows up in the next two books at some point.
I also love how Carter is not afraid to have strong females in this but doesn't over do it. Much as I love feminist books (you have Tamora Pierce to thank for this) sometimes they can be a little over the top in the women are super great message. This one has a very nice balance. There's a definite feminist message but it's balanced. For example the girls are just as good as the guys in this, but no one goes on about it. In fact, gender is never even brought up. It's actually about school pride for the most part. Never once do the males imply that these girls would make bad spies simply because they're female. But Carter doesn't forget that these are still teen girls. Teen girls who haven't been around boys since coming to Gallagher.
While I do think the ending was somewhat of a let down, I am still eager to read this. I'm dying to know what happened to Cammie's dad, if she'll get with Zach (I hope so) or heck, even background on characters like Mr. Solomon would be awesome. Have I also mentioned I love Bex and Liz?
WHO SHOULD READ: Those that have read and liked the first book, those that liked Heist Society, spy noir fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five stolen school vans

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