Title: Spies, Lies, and Allies
By Lisa Brown Roberts
Genre: Y/A Contemporary Romance.
Year: 2018
Rate: 💥💥💥💥
Cute and funny. A lovely story about friendship and romance.
The book is about Laurel, a teenager working in her dad’s company, a place nothing like she expected but, where she would discover the true meaning of teamwork.
I enjoyed the reading. The narrative is good, and I can overlook some telling and repetitions because of the mention of wonderful movies that I love.
I liked the concept and definitely, the author has a wide acknowledge of teenager’s world. The pace, dialogues, and descriptions are great in most parts of the book. However, If I’m being honest, I had a hard time going through the first 20%. It wasn’t about the pace or the narrative, it was about the main character’s motivations and the settling of the story, I don’t think it was as strong as the rest of the book.
My other problem is the protagonist. She is so insecure and the weakest character in the story. The secondary characters are fantastic, they aren’t what the reader would expect and that was what I liked the most, and of course, there is Carlos, the love interest, he’s everything that a teenager girl could ask in a friend and in a boyfriend.
This is my third book by the author and I found the same issue with the protagonist in her other books. However, I’ll keep reading Lisa Brown’s stories, I believe she can write a strong female lead as she writes her stories.
This book deserves four solid stars and I 100% recommended.
I received an ARC from Entangled Publishing, LLC. Through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. And I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
About the author:
Award-winning romance author Lisa Brown
Roberts still hasn’t recovered from the teenage catastrophes of tweezing off
both eyebrows, or that time she crashed her car into a tree while trying to
impress a guy. It’s no wonder she loves to write romantic comedies.
Lisa’s books have earned praise from
Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and the School Library Journal. She lives in
Colorado with her family, in which pets outnumber people. Connect with Lisa at
www.lisabrownroberts.com.
Author
Links:
Excerpt from Spies, Lies, and Allies:
“Let’s see where helping me on my project falls on this list.” Carlos picks up a pen and clicks it, eyeing me from underneath ridiculously long lashes.
Cautiously, I take a tiny step toward his desk so I can read the list.
“Number three.” I point to the napkin. “Teamwork.”
He nods and underlines the word. I notice he’s added numbers six through ten. Nothing is written next to those numbers, except for ten, next to which he’s drawn a smiley face.
“What’s that for?” I point to the smiley face. He leans back in his desk chair and grins up at me.
“Not sure yet.”
My heart throbs in my chest and my imagination is off and running, fantasizing about number ten.
Carlos points to number five: nicknames. “I think this is where we left off at lunch.” He clicks his pen repeatedly and I resist the urge to snatch it out of his hand. “I’d prefer not to be nicknamed for a pasta, but I gave you a cereal nickname, so…” He shrugs but keeps his eyes on mine.
“I…pasta…what?” He’s not making sense.
He bites his bottom lip, and I have no trouble picturing what will make me “smiley face” if we ever make it to number ten. Also, I’m pretty sure he’s a mind reader because his gaze drifts down to my lips, then back up to my eyes.
“The Manicotti. Who is it?” He glances across the room. “Elijah? He can be sort of cheesy.”
My mind analyzes his words, sliding them around like one of those puzzles where you have to move a string through twisted metal. And then it clicks.
“You read my notebook! You’re the one who—” Panic zings through me as I remember what I wrote about him, Carlos is trouble, and his editorial comment, True. Is Carlos adorable?
Apparently, I’m not the only spy around here.
“Why’d you pick this desk?” I’m desperate to change the subject.
“I like the view.”
“But it’s better by the windows.”
“Depends on which view we’re talking about.” He gives me a cryptic smile, one that makes my stomach dip. “Anyway, I saved your notebook. You’re lucky no one else read your notes.”
Mortified and defiant, I cross my arms over my chest. “You didn’t have to read it. You could’ve just returned it.”
“I was just checking to make sure you’d listed all of Mr.
Mantoni’s rules.”
“Uh huh.”
Across the room, Elijah stands up and stretches. He glances at us, an amused smirk twisting his lips like he knows something I don’t.
Carlos writes on the napkin again. Number six: healthy disagreement.
“You’re kidding, right?”
His responding grin packs more heat than it should.
“I think we’ve gone off track.” I’m proud of how calm I sound, even though my nerve endings are exploding like firecrackers.
Note: Information and Pictures provided by Entangled Publishing.
