It’s here ladies and gents. Finally! I spent hours trying figure out what book confession I should fess up. I have a lot. At first, I wanted to start with one of my biggest secrets, then I thought maybe I should be tame. Don’t want to scare people away or be too boring, right?
So, after said hours I finally came up with something in the middle. Here it goes…
I’m pretty sure that many of you are familiar with Ally Carter, Best-selling Author of the Gallagher Girl series and now Embassy Row series. She also wrote Heist Society.
I started the Gallagher Girl series in Grade 11 (junior year) and boy did I latch onto this series like those tight jeggings. I first read the third installment in the series because someone had taken the first and second book out from the school’s library. And boy, the minute I met Cammie and the squad, the series became my world. Literally. I barely slept. I don’t really know what hooked me in first, romance (’cause I’m a sucker for book romance- Zack and Cammie, Joe Solomon and Cammie’s Mom?) or a world of espionage. I think it was the espionage, because as I finishing high school, I was convinced I was going to be a spy. And I was still sad that Fringe ended. Anyone remember that series?
I really loved the unravelling of secrets that came up and how the girls were a united front. Smart and they can be anything they wanted. The mere fact there was a black British girl in the series, Bex, I took it as a sign. This is who I was supposed to be. Not British. I was supposed to be a spy like Bex. I loved all characters in the series, but Bex was my girl. Fearless, fierce, and ready to knock you out. I even had a picture where I posed as her with my bitten apple (cover #3) on my BBM. Remember BBM? Ole Blackberry days. Lol, I even asked my dad why he was not a spy so that I could be his legacy. Bless my dad for not institutionalising me.Lol, I even started doing research, about agencies in my country and other countries. I started searching information about different agents and assassins. Learning the lingo. I even attempted teaching myself different languages. Movies like RED, series like Covert Affairs, and the rest of action entertainment became more than entertainment, they were my drug, my drive, and motivator to make it into the espionage world. I watch documentaries on the subject. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *I’m laughing out loud where I am right now.*
I was so serious about this spy thing that I changed my personality. I wanted to be more like Bex. Minus the exercising part, I wasn’t into exercising then. My arms got enough exercise from flipping pages at night, thank you very much. I became more paranoid, cynical and aloof. I even stopped using my phone. In fact, during my summer holiday after high school. I told my dad not to buy me a phone, and only half-way through my second semester of Uni did I slightly let go of the idea of being a spy and started using a phone- LOL. I found out that I don’t take orders well. I’m inherently defiant and stubborn, so going into that world would have been being my fastest ticket to early death. Imagine the hits on me. By MI6, the CIA and the Russian Government. Let’s not forget assassins and private contractors. Although I must be honest, I’m still holding hope that someday I will be a spy. Maybe I’ll start my own agency. When I’m not too busy reading that is.
Side track: In United We Spy, Liz Sutton gave the most beautiful valedictory speech ever, and it stuck with me all throughout the first year in varsity.
“A Gallagher Girl can be anything and anyone…” – I stand to be corrected for the exact words used. But you get the idea. Trust me, if you read the series, you were a Gallagher Girl. Period.
Back to my encounter with Ms. Carter, once I had to return the rest of the Gallagher Girl books, for a week because I was basically hoarding the series, I got myself a copy of Heist Society. Man, talk about addiction. On top of being a spy, I wanted to be a thief too. Lol! I being serious. I even remember my English teacher giving me the look…the-did-you-read-these look. I don’t know if it was obvious that I had fallen hard for the dark world. Or if the look was because of my looonng reading list, looonng wacky reading list. And it was bad. I probably had a handful of romance but mostly it was on the extreme end of thrillers, horror, crime and espionage. But really, I figured if I don’t become a spy at least I will be a con artist. Logical and rational. Like the espionage world, I Googled everything there is to know about that world. Sometimes when shopping with friends or on a lunch date I casually pass my knowledge about spies and con artists. In public. Like I’m talking my a new method of taking a selfie.
If I had to choose the world I would want to live in, I’d choose the con artist world. That squad did everything in style. If I had to choose to be who I want to be, I’d choose both. Yes, I’m that messed up. Please don’t inform the authorities… this is a false alarm, NSA.
I started reading Embassy Row, and I liked it but I’m waiting for the series to be done then can I only continue.
Ally Carter’s books were not the only one’s I read that convinced me that I was ‘meant’ to be a spy or con artist. Authors like Jennifer Lynn Barnes and Robin Benway played a role too. And much more.
Ally Carter has new editions out of the Gallagher Girl series with some extras. Check them out.
I hadn’t intended to write this much, but once I started fessing up this story I couldn’t stop. I hope you enjoyed my Book Confession. If you have had similar predicament as me here, let me know so that we can have a good laugh about it.
Covertly,
Duchess♥
P.S. I’m hoping to do this tag every second Friday. Be on the lookout. If you want to the tag, please acknowledge me (for my idea) and you can tag anyone you want. You can also use the logo. 😉
Duchess Reading 