Book Review: Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway

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Emmy & Oliver
Author: Robin Benway
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: June 23, 2015
Review Source: Harper Teen

Emmy’s best friend, Oliver, reappears after being kidnapped by his father ten years ago. Emmy hopes to pick up their relationship right where it left off. Are they destined to be together? Or has fate irreparably driven them apart?

Emmy just wants to be in charge of her own life.

She wants to stay out late, surf her favorite beach—go anywhere without her parents’ relentless worrying. But Emmy’s parents can’t seem to let her grow up—not since the day Oliver disappeared.

Oliver needs a moment to figure out his heart.

He’d thought, all these years, that his dad was the good guy. He never knew that it was his father who kidnapped him and kept him on the run. Discovering it, and finding himself returned to his old hometown, all at once, has his heart racing and his thoughts swirling.

Emmy and Oliver were going to be best friends forever, or maybe even more, before their futures were ripped apart. In Emmy’s soul, despite the space and time between them, their connection has never been severed. But is their story still written in the stars? Or are their hearts like the pieces of two different puzzles—impossible to fit together?

Readers who love Sarah Dessen will tear through these pages with hearts in throats as Emmy and Oliver struggle to face the messy, confusing consequences of Oliver’s father’s crime. Full of romance, coming-of-age emotion, and heartache, these two equally compelling characters create an unforgettable story.

Oliver, after being kidnapped and hidden away for ten years, is now back. His childhood best friend, Emmy, is stuck in a protective cage that her parents put her in. When Oliver returns, Emmy is determined to connect with Oliver again.

Emmy & Oliver is a story where there's more than meets the eye to it. There is romance, yes, sweet romance, but it is so much more than that. We go on a journey of what a kidnapping does to a town. Parents grow overprotective. Then, when the person who was kidnapped comes back, well… how do you begin to understand what he's going through? How he feels?

It was a tiny bit hard for me to get into the story, but once I did I was truly sucked in to the book. Robin Benway teaches us, through Emmy & Oliver, about family, friendships, loss and gain. It's what makes this story a powerful one. The characters were brilliant and each shone on their own. I loved Emmy and I loved Oliver. (ps I LOVE their names too.)
Overall I would definitely recommend this book, especially because it is a deep read, and has some strong messages that need to be shared.

Book Review: Also Known As by Robin Benway

Also Known As
AKA #1
Author: Robin Benway
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Mystery/Spy Thriller/Romance
Released: February 26th 2013
Review Source: Walker Childrens

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.

Maggie Silver the main character in this book lives in a family of Spies. She knows how to crack safes and she is only in High School. This book was a page turner and I couldn't put it done because it was such a awesome book. Sometimes I wished I had that life in High School. But there is a lot of disadvantages of being a spy. You can't tell anybody and you don't ever use your real name because your always undercover.

After the last mission that Maggie was on she found out that she was going to be moving to New York City and going to High school. The one catch was that she was going to have to be on a job. Her next assignment was to keep an eye out on Jesse Oliver. What she has been told was that his father was writing an article that was going to expose all the spies including her family. Her job was to try and find out the details of the story and stop Jesse father from writing it. Along the way she meets a friend in school that has her own personality and is always home alone because her parents are always gone. Maggie goes to parties and tries to keep to her assignment but the one thing that she was hoping wouldn't happen. She ends up falling in love with her assignment. Maggie can't keep her eyes off Jesse Oliver when she meets him. They end up hanging out and going on dates but the one thing she is always trying to do is stick to her job and find out why his father wants to expose them. She does end up getting a USB card but it ends up just having pictures on it of Jesse when he was little. So her family thinks she is getting to involved with him and can't even think straight because she is head over heels in love with him until something happens that changes her life forever. She finds out the guy that sent her on the mission was actually involved with the whole crime after all. She needs to find a way to stop him, get the article to not be published and try to keep her friends by her side. But she knows she has to tell her friend and the love of her life. She hopes when she tells them they will understand and stick by her and help her with her plan. In the end it turns out to be an awesome ending. 

I love when you come across those characters in the story that you hope fall in love and stay in love. You keep rooting them on. That's what I did with Jesse and Maggie right up until the end. Grab this book and read it. It's a wonderful book for all ages. You will love it...

Book Review: Also Known As by Robin Benway

Also Known As
Author: Robin Benway
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Contemporary/Spy Thriller
Released: February 26th 2013
Review Source: Purchased
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) 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.

I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Benway this past weekend at Books & Books at the Triple Threat Tour with Yelena Black (Dance of Shadows) & Megan Miranda (Hysterical), but I had never actually heard of Benway until I met her. I know, lame. I found out that she actually did the audio book for Also Known As & after hearing her read a passage from the book, I can't say I'm surprised. If you like audio books, I highly recommend getting it. The way she reads her characters is truly something magical. 2013 is shaping up to be the year for contemporary romances. I enjoyed this book immensely, but for totally different reasons.

Maggie is part of a family of spies. Her specialty: safe cracking. Maggie, along with her parents, works for a secret organization called The Collective. In a nutshell, they travel the world correcting the misdoing of others. When they move to NYC for Maggie's first solo mission, The Collective doesn't make it easy on her. Not only does she have to go to high school for the first time, she also needs to get close to a boy named Jesse Oliver (who I must say is absolutely adorable)! His father has some how gotten a hold of some important files that could put everyone in The Collective, including her family in danger. She must retrieve those files no matter what. Her only problem? Cracking people isn't as easy as cracking a safe.

Reading that you would think "Yes! This is going to be a super awesome spy book. I can't wait to dive right in." That, my friends, is not the case. Really the whole aspect of anything remotely close to something spy related is lost in these incredible characters. Even though Maggie does pick some locks & cracks a couple of safes, that really isn't the main focus of the story. We mainly focus on the interactions between the characters and I, for one, was ok with that since in the end it's what really made the book so like able. 

Maggie has to be one of the few characters that I loved inside & out. Not only is she funny, she's also very clever. She one of the few heroines that actually thinks things through. As much as I enjoyed Mags, Roux (her first real friend) & Angelo (her kick-ass mentor) actually stole the show for me. From being over-dramatic to absolutely hilarious, both of the characters were perfectly written. I've never had the pleasure of reading so many secondary characters that shine throughout the whole book. That's including her parents & Jesse. 

Even though I did start reading Also Known As for the spy aspect of the story, in the end I really did love reading this book. Benway's wit and sense of humor leaps off of the pages & will keep those pages turning while laughing out loud throughout the whole book. So, if you're looking for a couple of laughs & a little bit of romance this is the book for you.