Review: The Phoenix (Spy Girl #6), by Jillian Dodd

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From USA Today bestselling author Jillian Dodd comes the next book in a sizzling series filled with action and adventure. Fans of The Selection and The Hunger Games will discover a heart-pounding thrill ride of espionage and suspense set in glittering high society.

A single sentence is muttered from the lips of an assassin dangling from a four-story building, “It starts in Montrovia.”
That sentence led Black X to send a spy to protect Prince Lorenzo.
And that sentence haunts Huntley as she realizes her time is running out. 

When athletes from around the world descend on Montrovia for the Olympics, another group is coming together, its years of planning a new world order finally coming to fruition. 
A disease is released.
People start dying. 
And, with rumors of an impending coup, the country falls into chaos. 

Alliances are betrayed. 
Lives are lost. 
Loves are challenged.
And hearts are turned.

Can Huntley stop what has started, or will Montrovia and the world fall?


Review
4.5 out of 5 stars

I just LOVE everything about the Spy Girl series.  I love the main character Huntley, I love the mysterious plot line and every ounce of suspense that comes with constantly trying to figure out the the end game.  It's utterly addicting.  The Phoenix dives right into the continuation of Huntley's story and honestly it never slows down.  Major plot lines are revealed, character identities are answered and the mystery still continues.  It's like solving a puzzle and this book gives you almost all the pieces but in the end it's really just enough to keep you coming back for more.

Huntley's strength and passion continue to amaze me.  She has grown so much as a person, not only does she follow her instincts but she hardly every jumps to the wrong conclusion. She is very careful to examine things from all angles before making a decision, but what if even after doing all that she still doesn't see the end game?  What if she isn't able to save Montrovia? Part of me wonders if at the end of this mission the real lesson was learning one person alone cannot be responsible for Montrovia's safety but instead it comes from trusting the right people, depending on the people you love and working together?  It's just one theory running through my mind as to what we will find in book #7.   

Jillian Dodd throws us readers some serious curve balls with The Phoenix.  The rumors are all true - yes this book ends on a cliffhanger, yes characters die and yes you will be nervous about book #7 because I have real fears things are going to get even worse for Huntley before this mission is over.  This series is awesome, full of interesting characters you will find yourself wanting to live vicariously through and mystery in spades!  Thank you Jillian for this guilty pleasure, I for one love it!! 

Review: The Dauntless (Spy Girl #5), by Jillian Dodd

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From USA Today bestselling author Jillian Dodd comes the fifth book in a sizzling series filled with action and adventure. Fans of The Selection and The Hunger Games will discover a heart-pounding thrill ride of espionage and suspense set in glittering high society.


Review
4.5 out of 5 stars

Thank goodness this book is finally out!  I have a love hate relationship with cliff hangers.  I love how they leaving me wanting more while at the same time find myself frustrated with having to wait what feels like forever for the next installment to release.  I couldn't wait to jump right in and see what would happen with Lorenzo and Huntley now that the Queen announced, without warning, an engagement between Lorenzo and Lizzie.  Secretly what I most hoped were these two characters wouldn't go back to square one.  I really didn't want to see their character regress.  I won't give it all away but I'm pleased to say not only was I not disappointed but I really think Lorenzo and Huntley managed to strengthen their bond.

While the pace of this book never slows down I found myself reading slower than my normal pace.  Partly due to wanting to savor my time with these characters and partly because I found myself even more engrossed with the "spy" part of the story.  I think in some of the previous book within this series I've felt lost or even overwhelmed but I think having Huntley go "rogue" and work through all the details in her mind helped me get a better grasp of all the different players in this mission.

The Dauntless is a page-turner filled with lots of surprises, and honestly a lot of love and I'm not just talking about the romantic kind.  Boundaries are established and then their pushed.  We're introduced to a new character and we even get to know a couple of regular ones on a deeper level.  You're constantly trying to figure out who can be trusted, whose the enemy and what's their end game.  Of course by the time you reach the end you're left with another pretty crazy cliffhanger - one I never even saw coming.  But it's one I think is going to take this series to the next level.  Well done Jillian Dodd!  I don't know how you keep dreaming up these stories but I hope you never stop! 

Review: The Valiant (Spy Girl #4), by Jillian Dodd

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From USA Today bestselling author Jillian Dodd comes the fourth book in a sizzling series filled with action and adventure. Fans of The Selection and The Hunger Games will discover a heart-pounding thrill ride of espionage and suspense set in glittering high society.


What will happen when the world goes ka-boom? 

The assassin known as The Priest was tasked with a series of three hits, and the last one blows up in his face—literally. 
People will die. 
People will go on. 
Unlikely alliances will be formed.
And when British intelligence learns that a series of nuclear backpack bombs were smuggled into their country, there’s a lot more to worry about than discovering why a covert agent was assassinated over six years ago or what’s going to start in Montrovia.


Review
4 out of 5 stars

I was on pins and needles when the bomb went off in book #3 and then ended, leaving us wondering about Huntley and Lorenzo's potential demise!  I mean if they had died there really wouldn't have been a need to continue the story so I felt confident they would make it but I was dying to know how Jillian would spin it.  Let me just say she did it brilliantly!

So what did I love about this installment?  Mainly Huntley and Lorenzo's relationship.  It's like they are both finally on the same page, the same team and have the same goals in mind.  They have finally freely admitted their feelings for one another and while Huntley is struggling to balance feelings she was trained to stay away from she continues to push through and choose love.  I was so excited and felt all the "feels."  She's a girl on a mission and I especially enjoyed the "treasure hunt."  I think watching her re-live her memories left me feeling more connected to her character.

What I found myself frustrated with was trying to keep track of all the secondary characters and their back stories.  Jillian, if you're reading this review, can we get a flow chart or something at the start of the next book with a little brief synopsis of where the previous book left off?  I think because I read other books in between waiting on the new releases of this series I forget important details and then I spend the first several chapters trying to re-familiarize myself with the players and that takes away from really being able to focus on the important details and clues as the new material progresses.  Maybe I should just re-read the previous book before I start the new release?!?!

I do wish Huntley hadn't reacted so quickly and stormed out at the first sign of trouble in paradise.  I would have loved to of seen the two of them stand united, fight for one another and their relationship.  I think they are stronger and better together and only hope they figure this out very quickly in the next  book because I'd much rather see them stand together than apart.

Needless to say I love these characters and really do enjoy this series.  I without a doubt recommend you take the plunge into this series yourself!  It's full of mystery, love and seriously who wouldn't want to pretend they were living vicariously through this Spy Girl as they escaped their own reality?

Review: Spy Girl by Jillian Dodd

What happens when you get pulled out of spy academy before graduation because you look good in a bikini?

Your mission, should you choose to accept it:
Protect the heir to the throne of Montrovia, while uncovering the person or persons behind the plot to assassinate him in order to take over control of this geographically important sovereign nation, and eliminate the threat.


Get close to the hottest prince on the planet and work for Black X, the double-black covert group so secret even the President of the United States is on a need-to-know basis?  I accept. 

Review 

4 of 5 Stars

We were pretty excited to read this new book from Jillian Dodd.  We absolutely love the way she perfectly mixes drama and fun into each one of her story lines.  From the get go Spy Girl sounded like something a little different from her normal genre, so needless to say we were interested to see if it lived up to our expectations.

Agent X is pulled from her elite spy academy suddenly to go on a Top Secret and important mission to protect the Prince of Montrovia and find out who is out to kill him.  Taking the cover of Huntley Von Allister, an orphaned heiress, the journey begins.  From her introduction I was intrigued by this character, and even now, with the last page turned I still have many unanswered questions about her true identity, what really happened to her parents and the story behind Blackwood, her spy academy.  Agent X is no doubt a fun character, who sort of reminds me of Keatyn in her personality.  The Prince of Montrovia is her first "real" mission.  This is a chance to actually prove herself, which is necessary if she wants to achieve her ultimate goal, and in order for this mission to be successful she will have to keep her emotions at bay, a task which is proving more and more difficult the further into the mission she gets.

In order to  meet the prince, Huntley and her "brother," another under cover agent, Ari have to make friends with influential people.  Cue the introduction of several notable hotties.  So now not only do we have a dreamy real life Prince interested in Huntley but then there is also Daniel, the VP of the United States son, and let's just say when Huntley and Daniel share a page their chemistry is off the charts!

We throughly enjoyed the first book in this new series from Jillian Dodd!  The second half of the story seemed to keep my attention more than the first part, since I think I had more of a connection to the characters once the story's groundwork was laid.  The first half of the book primarily felt like a launch pad, which I now understand was needed in order to catapult this book into a full blown series.  The only other thing we did not love was the POV.  It seemed to alternate throughout the mission from Huntley to a narrator perspective.  We would have preferred to just have the entire book from Huntley's perspective.  

In conclusion, if you love drama, mystery, fun, and a strong, self sufficient bad ass female lead in a book, this one is for you!  We are certainly hooked and are excited to see where book 2 will lead Huntley on her next mission.  Hopefully, we will get the answers we are seeking on her real identity as well!  Either way, one things for sure...we predict each book to be more and more addicting the further we dive into Agent X's story.