Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

I've realised that the Gallagher Girl books aren't as light as I first thought and that there are many reasons I really like them, not just because they amuse me. There is something very appealing about the Gallagher Academy - not just the idea of a school for spies, but the mansion-come-boarding school with its tunnels and secrets. Likewise, there is something equally appealing about Cammie and her friends - regardless of their exceptional abilities, they're believable teenagers, and without embodying the crueler aspects which adolescent girls sometimes possess.

Don't Judge a Girl by her Cover is more serious than the first two - instead of revolving around mysteries and deception relating to the girls' school and social endeavors, it show more is about an attempted kidnapping. Cammie's roommate, Macey, is in the public spotlight as her father is a prominent politician in the presidential campaign. After Cammie and Macey fight off would-be kidnappers, Cammie and her other friends fear for Macey's safety and well-being. They decide to break rules, using their espionage skills and training to become Macey's secret security team. However, this brings them up against more unanswered questions - and people Cammie wasn't expecting to meet again so soon...
Ultimately, it is about disguises, looking out for your friends (and family), belonging and what it really means to be a Gallagher Girl. Like Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, it presents more questions than it answers, but it didn't feel inconclusive; instead, it is about Cammie realising that - for now - there are some answers she doesn't need (or perhaps want) to have.
The story focuses much more on Cammie and her roommates, than their classmates or other acquaintances; getting to know these characters in greater depth is satisfying. As a story about spies-in-training, it is suspense-filled and dramatic, as a story about friendship, it is touching and humorous, and the more serious note running through is both believable and stops it from being dismissed as merely light entertainment. I enjoyed Don't Judge a Girl by her Cover very much, and am looking forward to reading more! show less

The Great Gallagher Girls Reread

The stakes are getting higher for Cammie and the other Gallagher Girls in Don't Judge A Girl By Her Cover. Suddenly life is a whole lot more complicated than spying on cute boys and training for upcoming CoveOps assignments when Macey and Cammie get caught in a kidnapping attempt. Zach seems to turn up everywhere Cammie is (and even where she's not supposed to be!) and she doesn't know what's going on. But her spy instincts won't let her take no for an answer.

Unfortunately for Cammie, she's starting to find out firsthand just how many secrets there are hidden in her world and not all of them she can know. Cammie is oblivious to the danger surrounding her in this book and continues to bend the rules. show more Considering her upbringing and her training, I completely understand this. She had received no information she was in any danger (mistake!) and when she needed answers, she tried to find them herself. The decision to sneak out of the school with Macey seemed silly when it was thought Macey was the one in danger - but just try telling two spies-in-training that they can't do something everyone else is doing! Their actions, though something I would normally roll my eyes at and say 'stupid!', were completely in character.

It also seems that nobody gives these Gallagher Girls enough credit. "We know where Macey is." "No you don't, let us handle it." And who finds Macey? The girls who know her better than anyone else! Silly adults. And they're the ones who trained them!

Another enjoyable read from Ally Carter's fantastic Gallagher Girls. Already got the next one beside me, keen to know where they go from here! show less

Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover is the third instalment of the Gallagher Girls series, and begins at the start of Cammie's junior year (which is Yr 11, I understand). Cammie's visiting her friend Macey in Boston when everything changes, and suddenly, the real spy-world is nearer than ever before. Where before everything was a learning experience, a training exercise, Cammie and her friends find themselves thrust into the midst of a conspiracy.

I think the plot of this book is a vast improvement on the other two: there's finally some substance and meat to a series that was previously mostly concerned with the silly adventures of a very silly girl. I liked the action, the intrigue, and enjoyed all the new characters (and the reappearance show more of some old favourites). The secrets in this book aren't as obvious, or as trivial, as they were before. In particular, Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover isn't all about the opposite sex, thank all the powers that be. There's a lot going on throughout the book, and I feel like I got to know a bit more about Cammie, her mother and their family. I still don't feel like we really made much progress on the series arc, or about what happened to Cammie's father, but maybe that's not the point of the series after all.


In terms of character, I don't really think I liked Cammie any more than in previous books. But I feel that the author has gone to great lengths in this novel to explain some of the incongruities in Cammie's character: in particular, she goes to some effort to balance Cammie's need for camouflage and to be unnoticed with her notoriety and penchant for drawing attention to herself through rule breaking. I also liked that in this book, Cammie is a lot more reluctant to break rules, perhaps because she finally understands how many things could go wrong when she does.

Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover is a lot more focussed on Macey that the other books have been (they've largely focussed on Cammie + a boy), and I found I really like this way of telling a story. Boys dance around the periphery of the narrative, but this novel is more focused on the friendships between Cammie, Macey, Bex and Liz, which I personally enjoyed. Rather than her group of sidekicks backing her up on some hare-brained plan, it's finally Cammie playing a supporting role to a friend in need. Since I have felt that on previous occasions the group dynamic has always been one of others giving and Cammie taking, I quite liked the change because it shows a compassionate, selfless side to Cammie that, until now, I'd found woefully lacking.

There are still inconsistencies and incongruities in the story and the way the author tells it: for example, Cammie explains how smart her friend Macey is great at math because she can do linear algebra in her head, but at a spy-school for the most gifted girls in the country, that's a skill I'd expect the students to have. I think one of my main problems with Cammie and her friends is that they aren't smarter than I was at that age -- I graduated in the top 2% of my state in AU, and consistently tested in the top 5% of the country in all the skills tests we did. Cammie and her friends are gifted, but not any more so than I was at that age, so it's hard for me to take them seriously, because by the internal logic of the series, I should have been in a spy-training school as well.

One of the other things I have noticed is that Cammie and her friends are always being taught how to overpower men. I think this is somewhat due to the author using 'man' to denote any enemy opponent, and also because many of the covert operations these girls can expect to be involved in will have male targets. I'm realistic about that, but it's always kill a man with uncooked spaghetti and kill a man with an issue of People Magazine and I just want to know whether the girls are also trained in specifically fighting women. Especially since one of Cammie and Macey's attackers was a woman, and her aunt and other alumni of Gallagher Girls are women, so there must be many more female enemy agents around too.

Another thing that ticked me off a little bit is how Cammie, after finding out a bunch of secrets, hurting herself, and being caught breaking school rules, focussed on how a boy didn't react to her the way she wanted him to rather than the important stuff. But at least the author, through Cammie, recognised at the absurdity behind her reaction.

So there you have it. I definitely enjoyed Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover more than the other two books in the series, and I can see why fans say the series improves at book 3. It's still a little too juvenile and boy-centric for my tastes, I really do need my female protagonists to be able to put aside the boy-drama and focus on, I don't know, surviving dangerous situations, but I see the appeal this series has. I said before that if I don't enjoy this book, I'd be swearing off the series forever, but since I did like it, and want to know more about the world and the secrets everyone's hiding, I'll be continuing.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review.
You can read more of my reviews at Speculating on SpecFic. show less

I love this series. Cammie is a fantastic main character, I love her relationship with her friends Bex, Liz and Macey and I love the Gallagher Academy. Having said that I felt like this third installment was too short and didn't feel like as much of a complete story as the first two. Book 3 raises lots and lots of questions - and leaves you hanging with very few answers. Which is great in a way, I'll definitely be waiting for #4. I just wish a few questions could have been answered and that the story felt more complete.

I would say that Don't Judge A Girl By Her Cover gets a little more serious, although it was still a light and fun read. As the girls progress academically, they begin to realize that espionage is not a game - it truly is a matter of life or death, who is the better spy in the end. The nice feature of the 3rd book was that we got to see a little more of the adults and their illustrious spy pasts.

I cannot wait to see what Ally Carter has cooked up next for the Gallagher Girls, and I hope that it includes more of Zach and boy spies! They definitely have an air of mystery, even after the 3rd book, and I hope that things start to make better sense with the upcoming books!

This third book upped the stakes, Cammie and her friends are in danger that isn't just her teachers pulling a pop quiz. During break, Cammie foils an attempted kidnapping but life doesn't go back to normal when the girls return to school. There's minimal romance in this, and more emphasis on the emotional toll of the girl's spy training.

I love the Gallagher Girl series. It's fun, it's witty and it's got great teen girl espionage. How often do you see that? The only problem with Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover was that the whole book left me with more questions than answers. Lots of intrigue, little satisfaction, but a great ride nonetheless. The next Gallagher Girl book can't come soon enough. No seriously. I need answers now.