OMG! I haven't laughed this much in a while!Here's the cover blurb:Bayport High operates like any other high school--jocks at the top, outsiders at the bottom, and everyone else in between. Enter Toby Klein, a sophomore computer hacker who doesn't play well with others. She has zero school spirit, a black belt in karate, and what her guidance counselor calls an attitude problem. She's the last person you'd expect to be invited to join the varsity cheerleading squad.But things are different at Bayport.Bayport's varsity cheer squad is made up of the hottest of the hot. But this A-list is dangerous in more ways than one. The Squad is actually a cover for the most highly trained group of underage government operatives the United States has ever assembled. Athletically, they're unmatchable, though they make it all look easy on the field. Mentally, they're exceptional--but with one flash of their gorgeous smiles, you'll completely forget that. Socially, they're gifted, so they can command and manipulate any situation. And above all, they have the perfect cover, because, beyond herkies and highlights, no one expects anything from a cheerleader.Toby Klein might not seem like the most likely recruit, but she's never been one to turn down a challenge. If she can handle the makeover, Bayport Hight may just have found its newest cheerleader.Pretty, popular, armed, and extremely dangerous--meet THE SQUAD.********Despite being blackmailed onto the "God Squad", Toby manages to hang onto her snarky attitude. When the rest of the student body "discovers" her, the rumors start to fly.**********...."What's her name, anyway?" "Toby Klein" And that's when I realized they were talking about me. Silence fell over the classroom, and in one coordinated motion, everyone and their dog leaned toward me, Toby Klein, newly appointed member of the God Squad. They awaited my words with bated breath. I narrowed my eyes at the whole lot of them, but they just stared curiously back at me. "Boo," I said, trying to dispel their interest. One of the girls tossed her hair over her shoulder. "That's European for hot," she said loudly, and the entire class looked at me with newfound respect. For the first time in my life, I found myself wishing that a teacher would regain control of her class, but everyone was just way too far gone. "Toby, you look totally boo today." Mortified, I glanced back down at my pink sparkly shirt and renewed my vow to terminate the twin fashionazis. "Talk about boo, where did you get those shoes?" And now my oversized, clunky, unfashionable boots, the one article of clothing that I'd managed to retain, were being called boo. It was beyond all tolerance. "I am in hell." The girl who'd asked me about my boots tilted her head to the side. "Is that in the mall?"........... ********************....By lunchtime, I'd given up on the idea of homicide. I'd moved on to genocide. I would personally rid the school - nay, the world - of cheerleaders. "Toby, sit with us." "Look, there she is!" "Her? They picked her?" "Toby Klein? Who's Toby Klein?" "I hear she's related to Calvin." "Well, I heard that at her last school, she was like megapopular, but then her boyfriend died, and she swore off popularity forever, but the God Squad, they know these things, and ..." It was almost more than I could take. How anyone could think I was related to Calvin Klein was completely beyond me...........Then again, it was hard to believe that I was one "Go Lions" away from being the school's most boo combat-boot-wearing, European, Hollywood offspring of Calvin Klein. I rolled with the punches. ....****************************snort* Like I said, I laughed my ass off all the way through!
At first look, Bayport High looks like your typical high school in an affluent neighborhood, with the same social hierarchy and some really stellar athletic facilities. A closer examination proves that the high school is anything but ordinary. Toby Klein is a sophomore computer hacker with zero school spirit and a seriously bad attitude. She’s the last person you’d ever expect to be invited as a walk-on to Bayport High’s premier cheerleading squad, also known as the God Squad. She realizes that Bayport High is more than what it appears as she discovers that the school’s hottest girls are threatening in more ways than one. The cheer squad is a cover for a highly trained group of underage government operatives. If Toby can handle the makeover, she’ll be set on a mission with some very dangerous girls.I had a really hard time getting into this book, which felt very much like some other novels that feature teenage spies, only without a likeable protagonist. The premise isn’t anything original, with school activities being a cover for teenage government operatives, but what really bothered me about the narrative was the constant emphasis on being perfect. Every girl on the Squad, aside form Toby is picture perfect and obsessed with all things pink. The character development for the Squad felt off to me, with a bunch of them being introduced in the beginning and then real development occurring after the halfway point in the book when one of the girls gives Toby a rundown on each girl’s backstory. By that point I was already annoyed with them and hadn’t connected, so it was too little too late. As for Toby, I can see why she’d be wary of these perfect girls who drag her into some shady business, but I still had a difficult time connecting with her snarky demeanor. I don’t think that all characters need to be likeable in order for a book to be good, but I do need a reason to care about their fate, and I never did find out why I should care for Toby. Her motivations are unclear and it was hard to root for her. Overall, I just didn’t connect with the characters I this book enough to care about their outcomes, and I never really got on board with their mission. It all felt very cliché and done before for me, and when there are other amazing teenage spy books like Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls series and Robin Benway’s Also Known As books, this one failed to stand up to a higher standard.
What do You think about Perfect Cover (2008)?
What could be a more perfect cover that the cheerleading squad? Toby learns that her varsity cheerleaders are up to more than high kicks and social domination. They are also government spies and she's been invited to join the clique.Why I started this book: Recently found Barnes' other series and I am always up for a good teen spy book.Why I finished it: I've read this before, but didn't remember that until I was halfway thru. Fun to revisit the squad missions. Next I have to reread I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You.
—Maria
In the course of this book, the heroine hated on/mocked/sneered at (constantly!) cheerleaders, pretty girls, cheerleaders, pop music, cheerleaders, Britney Spears, cheerleaders, Christina Aguilera, cheerleaders, make-up, cheerleaders, sequins, cheerleaders, the color pink, cheerleaders, happy people, cheerleaders, hot boys, cheerleaders, dating, cheerleaders, jocks, cheerleaders, looking good, cheerleaders, fashion sense, cheerleaders.... you get the message.Stupidest book ever. And not even because of the underage CIA-spies/cheerleaders thing.
—Vinaya
Full review at http://bronzelock619.blogspot.com/2015/04/perfect-cover-squad-1-jennifer-lynn.html.Just like models make the best undercover agents due to their connections and how their jobs take them all over the world in the Code Red Lipstick, here cheerleaders make the best agents due to their athleticism and the fact that no one would believe that the ditsy drama queens would be capable of things like that. Both are really creative concepts, and successfully blended very different worlds. Wi
—Bronwyn
