Review: Also Known As by Robin Benway

Title: Also Known As
Author: Robin BenwayEdition: noneSeries: Shatter Me #2Released Date: February 26th, 2013Publisher: Bloomsbury Juvenile

Goodreads / Amazon Being a 16-year-old safecracker and active-duty daughter of international spies has its moments, good and bad. Pros: Seeing the world one crime-solving adventure at a time. Having parents with super cool jobs. Cons: Never staying in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend. But for Maggie Silver, the biggest perk of all has been avoiding high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations.
Then Maggie and her parents are sent to New York for her first solo assignment, and all of that changes. She'll need to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school's security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to gain the essential information she needs to crack the case . . . all while trying not to blow her cover.
Maggie is a spy. It's as simple as that. She enjoys cracking safes, picking locks, and getting into other secure places. Usually she's been helping her parents with these things, but now she's received her first assignment. Maggie moves to New York in order to swipe some papers from a man who's going to reveal Maggie and her family's secret to the world. But then the man's son, Jesse Oliver, is just too adorable and find herself not pretending to fall in love with him, but actually doing it.

I always like spies, even though I haven't had a chance to read them. I like the thrill that the characters receive when they're on the mission. That's why I liked the Heist Society series so much. Sadly, in Also Known As, there wasn't very many exhilarating moments where Maggie was on the verge of being caught or anything like that. I kind of wished there was, just to prove that Maggie actually WAS a spy. It just seemed like it was a title given to her that she never did anything with.

Regardless, Maggie was a fun character. Imagine going to a private school (I love the ideas of private schools. I always wanted to go to one) in the middle of New York. It would be a dream come true! But Maggie is supposed to just pretend to be friends with people, like Roux. But Maggie has troubles doing it. I'm sure that if I were in her position, it would be impossible not to get connected to these people. Especially characters like Jesse Oliver and Roux.
Jesse Oliver, ahh, yes. So it's kind supposed to seem like he's a bad child or something, like he skips and steals. Honestly, he doesn't really fit the description. Jesse is popular, but he's also very sweet and caring. Truthfully, he's a big ole softy. But I liked him. I didn't fall for him like Maggie did, but I do approve of their cute and adorable relationship. Honestly, they were so fricken adorable together that I was smiling for most of their scenes.
Maggie also connects to a girl named Roux. She's got a bit of a spunk to her, which makes Maggie and Roux's conversations pretty memorable. It was almost hard not to get attached to Roux. She's a pretty strong character, seeing as she keeps her head high. I mean, she seems to be pretty gorgeous, but everyone at their school hates Roux because she once stole a girl's boyfriend.

The one thing I didn't like was the absence of a "bad guy." Sure, Jesse's dad was the bad guy because he was going to reveal the spy's secrets, but it wasn't developed. He was never around and you never figured out any hidden motives or things like that. 

I think the reason why I liked this so much was because of the plot and the whole idea of the book. I love spies, private schools, funny parents, and a feisty friend and Also Known As seemed to have all of this! There were a few things that lacked in the book, but you don't really notice them until after you finish reading. If you're looking for a quick and light read that will make you smile and giggle, then this book is definitely for you!