Book Review: Going Rogue

Being permanently based in a local New York City high school as an undercover operative has its moments, good and bad, for 16-year-old safecracker Maggie Silver. 

Pros: More quality time with her former mark-turned-boyfriend Jesse Oliver and insanely cool best friend, Roux. 
Getting to spend quality time with her semi-retired and international spy honorary uncle, Angelo. 

Cons: High school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations. 

But when Maggie's parents are falsely accused of stealing priceless gold coins, Maggie uses her safecracking skills to try and clear their names. 
Too bad it only serves to put her and everyone she loves in danger. Maggie and her "new team" flee to Paris where they must come up with a plan to defeat their former allies.  Quoted from Goodreads

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Sadly, both Gallagher Girls and Heist Society ended last year, and we have to wait until next year for Ally Carter's Embassy Road series to begin.  In the meantime, my I suggest Robin Benway's Going Rogue, or really all of her Also Known As series.  This book is is a fun, light, exciting adventure, with just the perfect dash of romance and and more spy work than its predecessor.

Where do I even start?  Well, usually I start with the main character, but this time I'll have to start with Angelo.  If Robin Benway wanted to write a series just about him, I would snatch it up in a second. He's that perfect mix of all knowing and mysterious that I just adore in side characters.  I love his relationship with Maggie and the rest of her friends, how he takes time out of his busy spy life to play  chess with Roux and buys locks for Maggie.  He's just one of those delightful side characters that you can't help but love.  

This book takes place about a year after Also Known As, and while that book didn't exactly need a sequel, I'm really glad the author gave us one.  Here we get to see Maggie dealing with her decision to stay in one place after having moved around all her life.  We also get a lot more spy work this time around, which equals more adventure, tense moments, and even an exotic location or two.  

Don't worry though, Jesse and Roux are still a big part of this series and both help Maggie out despite her best efforts to keep them safe.  

You know what else I love about this series?  Maggie's parents are a real, active part of her life.  Sure, Maggie's a spy, but her parents always try and protect her.  Even when she's working with Angelo to clear her parent's name, they worry about her and try to keep her out of the line of fire.  They also do some awesome things themselves, so it's not one of those books where you keep wondering why teens are having this adventure when there are more experienced adults that really should be solving the problem.

This book is an absolute delight and a must read for anyone who enjoys Ally Carter's series, light, fun, contemporary reads, or spy novels in general.  It's a high 3.5 stars for me, and while the book doesn't need a sequel, I'm rather hoping that author decides to give us one.