Review: Also Known As by Robin Benway

Title: Also Known As
Author: Robin Benway
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Age Group: Young Adult
Category: Contemporary, Mystery
Release date: February 26th, 2013
Pages: 320 (eGalley)
Rating: 5 out of 5
Source: Netgalley
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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.

It's hard enough to be a teenage girl, let alone the daughter of two spies.  Maggie has been cracking the codes to locks since she was two-years-old.  She's become a rare and crucial safe-cracker, which means that she and her family must move from place to place every time they're needed.  They're real life superheroes who stop the bad guys, but will it ever become too much?  Will Maggie eventually crack under all the pressure?

I loved Maggie, whose hilarious personality made this story a new favorite of mine.  She's never been to high school, so when she's thrown into this prestigious New York private school, she's forced to find a way to make friends and get closer to the person of interest--Jesse Oliver.  Only there's one thing that no one told her...Jesse Oliver is charming and absolutely gorgeous.  She can't let herself get attached, because if she does, either she'll get hurt or her cover will be blown.  Either way, things are bound to get messy.

The characters were fresh and entertaining, and you will definitely grow attached to their personalities.  Roux, Maggie's first real friend is crazy and a little unpredictable, but she turns out to be pretty loyal.  Jesse definitely doesn't act like the spoiled rich kid I first expected him to be.  In fact, he's pretty sweet from the start, and the attraction to him grows the more that Maggie gets to know who he really is underneath the expensive clothes.  The romance that comes from this mission is adorable, and you can't help but feel everything that Maggie feels.  All of this may prove to be too much, but when they find out the truth, will her new friends stay by her side when she needs them most?

The author did an awesome job telling the story of a 16-year-old spy.  There are very few times where I enjoy a book so much that I read it in one sitting, but this was one of them.  I just loved the snarky and sarcastic tone, the writing and the story as a whole.  Also Known As is entertaining, especially for younger readers who enjoy contemporary and a little bit of mystery mixed into one.