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Spies and Prejudice by Talia Vance
ARC received from Egmont USA
Release Date:
6-11-2013
Reviewed by: Middle
Sis Jenn
The Sisters Say:
Flirty, Fun, and Fiery
Oh how I just love Talia Vance! The first book I read and loved by her was
Silver, a paranormal, mythology-based young adult book; so when I saw (months
and months ago) that she was writing a contemporary spy novel, I swore to
myself I would get a copy as soon as possible.
I am so glad that I kept that promise!
Talia once again blew me away!
This book will truly establish Talia Vance as a versatile
and fantastic writer. Spies and
Prejudice is completely different from her debut novel, but it will still grab
ahold of your heart strings and give them a nice, tight tug. I just loved Strawberry Fields—ha, literally
laughed out loud at that—who goes by Berry.
She’s strong and confident and doesn’t give a crap about what anybody
else thinks. If a guy gets too obnoxious
or handsy, she just rears back and kicks him in his special place—or pepper sprays
him, whatever works in that moment. She’s
this awesome tough chick whose witty repartee will leave you fighting to catch
your breath.
I loved the spy aspect and the gadgets in this book. I have only read one other ya spy book (Also
Known As), so I’m pretty new to this side of the ya genre, but I will say, I am
definitely going to have to read more. I
found myself fascinated by all the James Bond stuff that Mare creates! It literally had me wanting to go on the
internet and buy a bunch of spy toys just so I could feel all tough and
duplicitous. I may have to make my 2
year old’s birthday theme “I Spy” this year just so that I can buy some cool
techno gadgets!
So…now for the guys!
Because we all know I read these books for the guys. Who doesn’t?
There are two guys that line up for Berry’s affections—Tanner and
Drew. Tanner is the arrogant and
conceited hottie that just grates on Berry’s nerves (and heart), and I was
really drawn to the “Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy love/hate” aspect of their
relationship. It might be cliché, but I love
when characters go from hate to love. It
always means there are going to be plenty of laughs followed by plenty of oohhs
and ahhhs. It’s a cliché for a reason,
people!! It works, and Talia wrote it
perfectly. I did wish we could see a
little bit more into his background and motivations, so I’m hoping Talia
decides to write a follow up to this one with a bit more attention on the
beautiful jerk.
Then there’s Drew. He’s
genuine and caring, and he seems to really understand Berry. She opens up to him when she feels like she
can’t to other people. I liked how Drew
played foil to Tanner. Where Tanner was
hard, Drew was soft; where Tanner was delicious, Drew was the understated
hottie. They worked well playing off
each other, and I found that it added some drama and tension to the story. I do wish we could have gotten a bit more
info on Drew, too. I knew he was cute
and ripped, but I had a hard time picturing him in my head. Had there been a bit more description, I
think I would have seen him better.
Overall, I really enjoyed the action and mystery in this
book. The characters were so realistic,
and Berry’s mistakes, pain, and expectations really resonated within me. I kind of felt like the ending was bit
rushed, but that’s the romantic in me. I
wanted to see a big, passionate, “I love, love, love you,” scene like we get in
Pride and Prejudice. Still, I rushed
through the pages, not being able to get enough of Talia’s quirky main
character and brooding mystery boy.
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