Tag Archives: spies

Review: The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Connolly

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,
The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Connolly

The Lure of Wolves and Whispers
Amanda Connolly
Sarah Barley Books
Published July 7, 2026

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About The Lure of Wolves and Whispers

A darkly addictive romantasy debut about a girl who sacrifices everything to buy the dangerous magic that could save her sister—the first in a trilogy perfect for fans of Powerless and Throne of Glass.

On the mist-shrouded Isle of Eireann, buying magic comes with a price.

But when her beloved older sister is gravely injured, Maeve risks everything to buy the forbidden magic that might save her. In exchange, Maeve trades her life to a ruthless and dangerously alluring rebel leader. Bound to do his bidding, Maeve finds herself thrown into a deadly competition to become the next queen and stand beside a prince rumored to be more brutal than his tyrannical father.

With the isle on the brink of war, trust and survival come at a terrible cost—one that will tear Maeve’s world, and her heart, in two.

What would you sacrifice to survive?

My Review

There are a lot of elements about this book that appeal to me. The wrestling with how to take down an unjust government, and how to figure out whom to trust. Maeve struggles against the idea that she’s simply a pawn in the hands of the rebellion. What agency does she have? How can she serve her own ends while protecting herself and her sister?

The romance between a rebel leader and Maeve, an unwilling spy, reminds me of the kinds of romances we’ve seen in Divergent by Veronica Roth or Heir of Storms by Lauryn Hamilton Murray.

Several scenes contain extended gratuitous violence. Guards maim and murder simply because they can. Prisoners and accused magic users are tortured and executed. I’m probably toward the more sensitive side of the scale as a reader, so the long descriptions and repeated reminders of the cruelty of those in power were a lot for me to take.

As I read, I found myself asking, is this book marketed as young adult fiction because of genre trends and not because it’s actually young adult fiction? The magical contest and scrappy rebel romance remind me of The Red Queen or Throne of Glass, so I can see why this book could do well on the YA shelf.

Besides those themes, though, the story seemed very adult to me. Maeve didn’t read as much like a teenager as she did like a repressed young woman escaping an oppressive home life. I could see this appealing to fans of Fourth Wing with the emphasis on political maneuvering and the hate-to-love romance.

I certainly think there are teens who would read this book and enjoy it. It just hits a particular nerve for me to continue seeing books that seem like adult fiction pushed onto young adult fiction shelves. (This happens more often when the books are written by women.)

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 18 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used fairly frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. An extended scene shows explicit sex.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to perform magic. It’s woven into the lore and religious practice, though magic has been outlawed now.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Gratuitous violence and torture. Battle scenes show graphic injuries and fatalities.

Drug Content
One contest involves drinking poison.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: City Spies: Forbidden City by James Ponti

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, , , , , , , ,

City Spies: Forbidden City (City Spies #3)
James Ponti
Aladdin
Published February 1, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Forbidden City

In this third “thrilling” (Kirkus Reviews) installment in the New York Times bestselling series from Edgar Award winner James Ponti, the young group of spies help a fellow agent in another international adventure perfect for fans of Spy School and Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls.

After taking down a mole within their organization, the City Spies are ready for their next mission—once again using their unique skills and ability to infiltrate places adults can’t. The sinister Umbra has their sights set on recruiting a North Korean nuclear physicist by any means necessary, and the City Spies plan to keep an eye on his son by sending Paris to the chess prodigy’s tournaments in Moscow and Beijing.

Meanwhile, Sydney’s embedded as a junior reporter for a teen lifestyle site as she follows the daughter of a British billionaire on tour with the biggest act on her father’s music label to uncover what links both the band and the billionaire have to a recent threat from an old Soviet missile base.

From a daring break-in at one of London’s most exclusive homes to a dangerous undercover mission to a desperate search and rescue operation on the streets of Beijing, the City Spies have their work cut out for them on their most dangerous mission yet.

My Review

This series has really hit a good stride. This installment centers around Paris and Sydney, though the other characters play important roles, too. I especially loved the scenes with Kat in them.

The series isn’t always perfectly believable, but that doesn’t detract from the fun. I love that the approach is that kid spies would have access to people and places and trigger less suspicion than adult operatives. It’s a really fun idea, and the author uses that in some clever ways.

The books have a large cast of characters, but I like that each mission features different ones. That kind of changes things up a bit. They also have very unique roles within the team, making them best suited to certain situations. That’s been a lot of fun.

The story also takes readers to some interesting places. In this book, readers visit both Russia and China for chess tournaments. The chess component was interesting —I enjoyed learning how moves are recorded and getting some tidbits about different playing strategies.

I feel like I read this one really fast. The pacing made the story impossible to put down at some points. And the characters are so engaging. I’m a huge fan of the series. Definitely going to read more.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Adults with nefarious intentions chase kids. Agents of a shadowy group steal nuclear warheads.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I borrowed a copy of this book from my library. All opinions are my own.

Review: Augusta Pine Does Not Exist by Emily Lloyd-Jones

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Augusta Pine Does Not Exist
Emily Lloyd-Jones
Balzer + Bray
Published July 7, 2026

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Augusta Pine Does Not Exist

Combining the suspense of a thriller, the intrigue of spy fiction, and the emotional resonance of a confessional narrative, this is gripping, wholly original novel about a teen secret operative who must outwit a band of murderous cyberterrorists.

I was fifteen when I became a murderer.

After a hack gone tragically wrong, a teen girl is given an ultimatum: accept a harsh prison sentence or leave her old life behind and use her talents in the service of a shady government agency.

Three years later, the newly-named Augusta Pine has become a skilled wraith, one of the Identity Security Division’s secret operatives. She has no home, no family, and her only friends are her coolly professional handler and a snarky AI spybot. So when she is sent to Portland for an assignment, she seizes the chance to catch a glimpse of her beloved grandmother and rents the apartment next door.

What begins as nostalgic stalking turns into a fight for survival when a group of cyberterrorists hacks the building and imprisons the residents. Augusta doesn’t know exactly what they want, but she does know they are ready to murder for it. With her quick wits, tech savvy – and help from an intriguing fellow hostage – Augusta must race against the clock to stay one step ahead of the killers.

Unfolding through a suspenseful narrative interspersed with case-file excerpts, this is a pulse-pounding novel about identity, connection, and justice.

My Review

This book kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. Wow.

Okay, so the only other book that I’ve read by Emily Lloyd-Jones is The Wild Huntress, which I really enjoyed, and which is a lush fantasy. So it’s very different than this book. I wasn’t sure what to expect in picking this one up, except that I liked the other book I’d read and wanted to see how she handled a contemporary suspense/thriller novel.

Turns out… I quite like both!

This one has a little bit of a Die Hard flavor, but with a teen protagonist more likely to hack her way through the enemy’s defenses on a computer rather than with a machine gun. But the same sort of constant improvisation and high stakes run through this story as the other.

Fans of the Stars and Smoke series by Marie Lu who want more suspense with the romance dialed way back will really enjoy this fast-paced, compulsively readable novel.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used fairly infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
One brief kiss.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. References to a catastrophic car accident. References to hostage situations and the threat of murder. One-on-one combat between characters.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: City Spies: Golden Gate by James Ponti

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City Spies: Golden Gate (City Spies #2)
James Ponti
Aladdin
Published March 9, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About City Spies: Golden Gate

After thwarting a notorious villain at an eco-summit in Paris, the City Spies are gearing up for their next mission. Operating out of a base in Scotland, this secret team of young agents working for the British Secret Intelligence Service’s MI6 division have honed their unique skills, such as sleight of hand, breaking and entering, observation, and explosives. All of these allow them to go places in the world of espionage where adults can’t.

Fourteen-year-old Sydney is a surfer and a rebel from Bondi Beach, Australia. She’s also a field ops specialist for the City Spies. Sydney is excited to learn that she’ll be going undercover on the marine research vessel the Sylvia Earle. But things don’t go exactly as planned, and while Sydney does find herself in the spotlight, it’s not in the way she was hoping.

Meanwhile, there’s been some new intel regarding a potential mole within the organization, offering the spies a lead that takes them to San Francisco, California. But as they investigate a spy who died at the Botanical Gardens, they discover that they are also being investigated. And soon, they’re caught up in an adventure filled with rogue missions and double agents!

My Review

After reading the first book in this series, I wasn’t sure if I’d continue. There are a LOT of books out already, so I have a lot of ground to cover to catch up on book seven, which comes out in the spring of 2026. However, I was looking for something to listen to while I waited for my holds to come in, so I decided to try this one.

I’m so glad I did. While I loved the concept of the first book, it was easy to see how much Ponti had grown as a writer between writing the first book of the “City Spies” series back in 2020 and writing the first book of “The Sherlock Society” series in 2024. This book felt a lot more like his newer series in terms of how the story is executed.

I also enjoyed getting to know the cast of characters better, too, and learning more about Mother’s backstory and missing children. The ending has a big emotional moment that also really makes the story hit. I loved that. Reading this book made me pretty excited about reading what happens next!

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. A girl uses exposure to a toxic sea urchin to slow down a bad guy. Kidnappers take control of a ship filled with teen/preteen girls. The City Spies investigate a murder (no body on scene… the murder happened long before the story takes place) and dodge bad guys.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I borrowed a copy of this book from my library. All opinions are my own.

Review: Codebreaker by Jay Martel

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Codebreaker
Jay Martel
Wendesday Books
Published July 22, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Codebreaker

This original, interactive thriller from debut author Jay Martel follows a brilliant teenage girl as she races across D.C. to decode the clues her father left behind, which may just be the key to saving the country from a devastating tragedy.

Mia Hayes has peaceful plans for the summer—find a part-time job at a coffee shop and work on her application for Harvard. Those plans are shattered one night when government agents arrive unannounced at her home seeking something they believe her father has taken. When the dust settles, her mother is dead and her father is gone, a fugitive on the run.

Three weeks later, and still reeling from her father’s betrayal, Mia spends her seventeenth birthday at a protest in the heart of D.C., where she meets Logan, a rebellious and charming hacker. Just as she’s enjoying her first happy moment since the night her world exploded, a voicemail from her father arrives to upend everything she believed about her family, her past, and what really happened that night three weeks ago. Even more, the voicemail hides another encoded message inside which, once Mia solves it, sets her and Logan off on a mission from her sleepy suburb straight into the heart of the federal government.

With the same agents now hot on their trail, Mia and Logan must navigate their way through American history’s most iconic sites and uncover its most well-hidden secrets to reveal the truth about her family and stop a deadly attack.

In this non-stop thrill ride, the reader has the chance to test their own codebreaking skills alongside Mia, lending an exciting interactive element to this page-turning thriller packed with action, romance, and life-changing revelations.

My Review

One of the really clever things about this book is that it allows and encourages readers to break the codes along with Mia. Once the reader has all the information necessary to break a code, a certain symbol appears on the page. At that point, you can pause and break the code or keep reading and see Mia reveal the answers. I love that concept, and I had fun figuring the codes out myself as I read.

The story also kept me engaged. It’s fast-paced with short chapters, so it felt like I was reading really fast. I liked both Mia and Logan, and appreciated that the authors balanced Mia’s focus and intelligence with her fresh grief. There was one thing that I guessed before it was revealed. I don’t think it altered my enjoyment of the story.

Codebreakers feels like a great book for readers aging out of middle grade and into young adult fiction who like intense, action-packed stories. The interactive element would be great for kids interested in codes. I hope there are more books like this in our future!

Content Notes for Codebreaker

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A few instances of profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Gun violence. Death of a parent. In two scenes, a person with a gun threatens to harm someone else unless Mia cooperates with them.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: City Spies by James Ponti

Book Review and Content, Middle Grade 8-12, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, , , , , , , ,

City Spies (City Spies #1)
James Ponti
Aladdin
Published March 10, 2020

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About City Spies

Sara Martinez is a hacker. She recently broke into the New York City foster care system to expose her foster parents as cheats and lawbreakers. However, instead of being hailed as a hero, Sara finds herself facing years in a juvenile detention facility and banned from using computers for the same stretch of time. Enter Mother, a British spy who not only gets Sara released from jail but also offers her a chance to make a home for herself within a secret MI6 agency.

Operating out of a base in Scotland, the City Spies are five kids from various parts of the world. When they’re not attending the local boarding school, they’re honing their unique skills, such as sleight of hand, breaking and entering, observation, and explosives. All of these allow them to go places in the world of espionage where adults can’t.

Before she knows what she’s doing, Sarah is heading to Paris for an international youth summit, hacking into a rival school’s computer to prevent them from winning a million euros, dangling thirty feet off the side of a building, and trying to stop a villain…all while navigating the complex dynamics of her new team.

No one said saving the world was easy…

My Review

I’m waaay behind on the City Spies series, but I keep hearing people talk about it, so I wanted to give it a try. I have books five and six on my shelf, so I would love to catch up enough to read them.

The first novel that I read by James Ponti is The Sherlock Society, which I had a ton of fun reading. The tone of that one is different than City Spies, which makes sense, since one is a mystery and the other is a spy thriller. I think personally, I prefer the more low-key, Florida-based mystery vibe in The Sherlock Society, but I still found a lot to like about City Spies.

City Spies rotates through several points of view. It starts out with Sarah’s perspective and then introduces Paris’s point-of-view and that of the mentor they call “Mother.” We also see some scenes from the perspective of a girl no longer on the City Spies team. This allows us to get some backstory on how the team formed and what’s truly at stake. It also created a really nice setup for a sweet moment between Sarah and Mother at the end.

The book perfectly set up the series. It leaves tons of room for future adventures for the team who operate under the names of the cities they were recruited from. I love that little snippet of geography and the fact that future books take the team to different places. I’m interested to read more.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Someone threatens others with a biological weapon.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I borrowed a copy of this book from my library. All opinions are my own.