Also Known As by Robin Benway {Review}

Pugsy's modeling the old cover.

Publisher: Bloomsbury Juvenile

Publish Date: February 26th, 2013

Source: ALA for honest review

Goodreads

Pages: 320
Series: Doesn't have a name, but there will be a sequel

Rating: Hit

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 col 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.

Also Known As is a super cute read. (Has anyone else noticed that I tend to start off my reviews with weird sentences?)

The spy aspect of the story was neat. It didn't feel too over the top and I love that Maggie was all about just picking locks and didn't use a bunch of gadgets and whatnot. It felt way more believable than the the movies that involve lots of rappelling down building sides and acrobatics to avoid lasers. More believable = easier to stay in the story.

The romance is freaking adorable. I love that Jesse and Maggie have their awkward moments, but there's also an ease to their relationship. They make a natural (okay, so he was her assignment, but still) progression from friendly to more than friends, and play off each other well. Jesse is sweet an you can tell he really likes Maggie. He talks openly with her about personal things, but still acts goofy around her. He felt like one of the most realistic YA guys I've read in a while.

Roux and Maggie's relationship is pretty great too. I love that Benway managed to balance a boyfriend relationship and a best friend relationship. Roux and Maggie start off kind of weird since Maggie seems to think she's a bit of a witch and Roux's closed herself off from personal relationships, but they do a good job of helping each other grow. And Roux is fantastic. She's loud and obnoxious, but in a rather endearing way. She's like that one crazy friend we all have.

Angelo is straight-up awesome. I loved every single scene he was in. He's a great mentor to Maggie, and manages to be humorous in an elegant way. Plus, he's not intimidated by Roux which kind of says a lot.

If I had one gripe it would be the overuse of “gonna.” Okay, I totally get that it's what we say instead of “going to” most of the time, but Maggie said it every single time it came up. It really started to drive me insane. You can even ask Jacob, I had a little outburst while reading.

The Nutshell: Also Known As is a cute and quick read. There's some good spy action, but there's a lot of focus on Maggie and her relationships (parents, boyfriend, best friend, etc.) which I found really nice. If you want a cute romance, some action, and a good “realizing who you are” story then Also Known As is your story.