"I'd tell you I love you, but then I'd have to kill you" book review

Synopsis:

"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?"

Several times after coming  home from the library I've found myself holding a book or two that I picked up off of the shelves on a whim because I was really bored. Well, that's pretty much what happened when i picked up Ally Carter's "I'd tell you I love you, but then I'd have to kill you" yesterday at the library.
On a scale of one to five I'd give the book a three. It wasn't amazing but it wasn't too bad, it definitely wasn't torture to read the book. Judging by the flow of writing and characterization I'd have to say I think that this book series was originally written for preteens and younger teens from ages 12-16 in the YA novel demographic group. Though I didn't really mind because it was a light read.
The book had quite a bit of humor in it with CIA, FBI and other spy agency references and the awkward collision of Cammie and Josh's lives; an intelligent aspiring spy girl from a well known spy family and a normal teenage boy from the suburbs.
The concept of this book was kind of new for me, although the whole boarding-school phase is well known especially nowadays in the YA genre, but the whole spy theme was new. Towards the middle of the book I felt that Cammie kind of grew flat as a character and we kind of lost her for a while. Until she popped back up like a fence with a section that's been run over; it's still there but it's not as strong and prominent as it could be. I really liked the characters Bex, Macey, Liz and Cammie's mom and I really wish that the characters would have had a little more depth to them.
All in all this book was so-so to me, it wasn't the best I've read but definitely not the worst. I'm considering reading on to see if the story gets better as the Gallagher series goes on. In case you were wondering the next book to the Gallagher Girls series is "Cross my heart and hope to spy".I definitely think my younger preteen sister would love this, so perhaps if you like books intended for 12-16 year-olds then this book is right up your alley.

Library dilemma

So yesterday I went to the library in high spirits anticipating finding all of the research resources I needed for a Psychology class essay. As soon as I walked through the doors I marched (quietly of course) over to the nearest computer and immediately began to search for general psychology books. Several results popped up, placing a huge smile on my face, only until I saw that they were only available at other libraries. After modifying my search for books only located at my library there were 0 results.
Over the years my local library has become less and less of the book utopia it had once seemed to be. At first I thought it was just me getting older and that I was going through the realization, every adolescent goes through, that not everything is as big as it was when your were five. However, several of the librarians of stated that the library isn't quite what it used to be and that it's practically shrinking while one library in particular further away from our community is booming because of their ebook technology.
I'm still kind of undecided about what I think of ebooks. I've always enjoyed the adventure of searching through library shelves and coming across a treasure and taking all of your spoils home to read on the front porch with a glass of lemonade.
I decided to stop moping around about the fate of my library and take action, so whenever I go to the thrift store (sometimes 1 or 2 times a month at the most) I'll buy a few books that look like interesting reads and once I'm done reading them I'll donate them to the library. It's not much but every time I visit the library they have one more book than before I had come in, so that has to count for something right?

So after about an hour of touring the shelves and searching the library database with the head librarian we found absolutely nothing. I ended up having to put a single book on hold that was currently checked out and request another book to be sent from another library to mine within a week. Next week I should be making yet another journey to the library and hopefully this time I'll be able to carry books home for my research project. My essay isn't due for a month or so but I certainly don't want to wait until the last minute, trust me procrastination has gotten me into undesirable, shudder-worthy situations in the past and I don't intend to ever repeat any form of last-minute work.
On the bright side, while waiting for my ride (I had to wait for two hours before getting picked up because the family cars were being used) I decided to tour the shelves and see if I could find any good reads. While strolling through the arts aisle I found a couple of writing books, both motivational and instructional, to help me with writing my novel. (I'll go into more detail about my current novel later on). I also picked up a couple of young adult novels for light reading; "I'd tell you I love you, but then I'd have to kill you" by Ally Carter was a book I had seen way back when I was in middle school in Barnes & Noble but wasn't sure if I wanted  to get it. Now that I found it I decided I'd just take a shot and read it and see what I think. The other book I happened to stumble upon was "Ashes of Roses" by Mary Jane Auch. I had read this book way back in middle school but only half-way. Back then I had a tendency to read assigned novels only partially and then BS on the essays, which I ended up passing everytime, but that's beside the point. Thankfully, I've gotten out of that habit and I really want to start rereading all of those books I didn't properly read, which is a lot. However, even though I had only read half of "Ashes of Roses" I did enjoy that half, which makes me wonder why I didn't finish reading it.
Back in middle school I wasn't really into reading, that is until I read the infamous "Twilight" in the summer after eighth grade that completely changed my perception of leisure reading.


That was my library journey dilemma but I didn't come home empty handed! I make it a goal to always at least get one book to take home when I go to the library because it's like going into a restaurant and not ordering anything even when you're smelling really delicious food, you just can't resist. I'm halfway done with "I'd tell you I love you, but then I'd have to kill you" so hopefully I'll be uploading a book review shortly!

Happy Reading Everyone! :)