YA Review: Model Spy by Shannon Greenland

Model Spy by Shannon Greenland (The Specialists #1)

Egalley thanks to Penguin Publishers

Synopsis from Goodreads
Teen genius Kelly James is in a lot of hot water. A whiz with computers, she agreed to help her college RA, David, uncover some top-secret information. After all, she doesn't have many friends and David has always been nice to her. It doesn't hurt that he's super cute and irresistible, too. All she has to do is hack into the government's main computer system. But a few hours later, her whole life changes. She is caught and taken in for questioning, only this isn't your run-of-the-mill arrest. Rather than serve a juvenile detention sentence, she accepts the option to change her name and enlist in a secret government spy agency that trains teen agents to go undercover. As if that wasn't overwhelming enough, she discovers that David works for this agency as well! And before she even begins to understand what is going on, she's sent on her first mission as an undercover model. And who better to partner with than David himself!

 Amazon kindle US/UK | BooksOnBoard

7.5/10

* * * 

This was fun, light and not too silly. I could understand main characters and relate to them.

Kelly (nicknamed GiGi as in Girl Genius) is a computer whiz, a total geek, genius at what she does and she loves it. She can get lost in it to the point where she'll forget to eat and drink pursuing her passion.

When David recruits her for a group of teenage wannabe spies each of them with their unique calling, she is giving a fantastic opportunity to do what she loves and get praised for it. Although she does have to work on her social skills and get all round education too.

Then suddenly she has to go on a mission! Pretending to be a model no less. Totally out of her comfort zone. Which is where my rating of this book dropped a couple of notches because the author introduced us to a fake country with villains who have horrible accents and make-believe Russian names which would not make any sense to an Eastern European. Really, Shannon, really?!

I was "slightly" affronted because of the names. They were made of two surnames like Shnurkov Petrov or Alexandrov Mihailovski and we were supposed to believe that this was normal.

 I don't think I'm explaining it well, peeps. Let's just say IT WAS BIZARRE and TOTALLY UNCALLED FOR. I know that majority of readers would not notice it, but I found it offensive that someone either did not give a fig to create normal names or did it for a laugh.

That issue aside I really enjoyed the adventures of teenage spies and Mission Impossible stunts in the dark, and role-playing, and general camaraderie amongst the team. It was genuinely nice, fun and relaxing.

* * *

Често говоря, русскому читать эту книгу - одно раздражение. Ну вот всё неплохо шло, пока автор не внесла в сюжет несуществующую страну с "русскими" мафиози, у которых отвратительные акценты и странные имена, состоящие из одних фамилий. Да да, представьте, как я ржала когда главного злодея представили как (уже не помню точное имя, но примерно) Петров Шнурков, где Петров - это имя, а Шнурков - фамилия. *ржу не могу* Сначало было смешно, потом стало раздражать.

Я не могла понять, автор издевается или ленится найти нормальные имена? *вздох*

В остальном, книга увлекательная, симпатичная, бездумная. Чисто почитать, ни о чем не размышляя, и расслабиться. Хотя всё-таки по подросткам-шпионам никто пока для меня Алли Картер не побил.