Review: Model Spy by Shannon Greenland

Title: Model Spy (The Specialists #1)
Author:  Shannon Greenland
Source:  Nook Book

Teen genius Kelly James is in a lot of hot water. A whiz with computers, she agreed to help her college RA, David, uncover some top-secret information. After all, she doesn't have many friends and David has always been nice to her. It doesn't hurt that he's supercute and irresistible, too. All she has to do is hack into the government's main computer system. But a few hours later, her whole life changes. She is caught and taken in for questioning, only this isn't your run-of-the-mill arrest. Rather than serve a juvenile detention sentence, she accepts the option to change her name and enlist in a secret government spy agency that trains teen agents to go undercover. As if that wasn't overwhelming enough, she discovers that David works for this agency as well! And before she even begins to understand what is going on, she's sent on her first mission as an undercover model. And who better to partner with than David himself!

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MY REVIEW: 

I am going to start this review by saying that this book had been on my paperback swap wish list for over one year, and now that it is available as an eBook I could not be happier, and I was not disappointed in the book.

Kelly James is in trouble with the law, when she gets taken in by The Specialists, all because of a boy.  The first guy who had ever had in interest in the freaky genius   So when he asked her to find information on his dad in the government file she did try to find the information.  Now to stay out of jail Thomas Liba "TL" the leader of The Specialists program offers her the chance to disappear and become Kelly Spree.  Accepting the terms with no where else to go, no living family, Kelly joins "The Specialists".

Upon arriving at her new home and being introduced to her now "family", she finds that David had set her up to get in trouble, and he is also a member of The Specialists, and she was his first assignment.  Now known as the resident Genius Girl, GiGi is on her own first assignment with David.  The sparks are flying, at least on her side, it seems that David has no interest in her as more than what could be assumed a "little sister."

The there is the mystery of the whole book, where is David's dad really since he is not dead like the rest of The Specialist's parents are, he was just raised by TL and grew up learning everything of The Specialist program.  So when they have a lock on where David's dad is possibly being held, they need GiGi's hacking skills since the government files she was hacking into were designed by David's dad.  Will they find David's dad in time or will they lose their chance forever?

Now I will admit I am really looking forward to getting my hands on copies of Down to the Wire, Native Tongue and Fight to the Finish (I already have The Winning Element) and seeing how the relationship between GiGi and David plays out but I am also looking forward to getting to know GiGi's new family/friends.

Greenland did a good job of giving a diversity to the group that makes up The Specialists and  making them alike in the little way that the only family they have is this one they are building together.  Kelly (GiGi) is a computer genius with an IQ of over 190, Molly (Bruiser) who is a Martial Arts Specialists who was running an underground fighting ring, Darren (Parrot) is an linguistics expert who can speak 16 different languages, Joe (Mystic) who is clairvoyant and sees objects beyond natural vision (I can not wait to see what he can do later on), Priscilla (Beaker) who can mix chemicals together, and Frankie (Wirenut) who is good with alarm and security systems.  These characters look like they will be great on their own as well as a team and the times you see them all interacting is great.

I really enjoyed this book, though I know there are plenty of spy teen books out there now, this is one that I wanted to read, maybe it was the pink cover or maybe it was that no matter how hard I looked I could not find a copy.

MY RATING: A