Mundie Moms

Thursday, May 3, 2018

SPIES, LIES, AND ALLIES by Lisa Brown Roberts / Blog Tour; Book Review #LiesSpiesAndAllies


Welcome to the next stop in the SPIES, LIES, and ALLIES blog tour hosted by Entangled Teen! Today's tour stop features my review, an excerpt from the book, and a giveaway! Be sure to read all the way through this post so you don't miss the giveaway. First, about the book. 

ABOUT THE BOOK




By: Lisa Brown Roberts
Published by: Entangled Teen
Released on: May 1st, 2018
Purchase from: Entangled Teen | Amazon | B&N
Add it to Goodreads
Rating: 3.5 Stars
A copy of this book was provided by Entangled Teen in exchange for my honest review


Summers are supposed to be fun, right? Not mine. I’ve got a job at my dad’s company, which is sponsoring a college scholarship competition. I just found out that, in addition to my job assisting the competing interns, I’m supposed to vote for the winner. Totally not what I signed up for.

My boss is running the competition like it’s an episode of Survivor. Then there’s Carlos, who is, well, very distracting––in a good way. But I can’t even think about him like that because fraternizing on the job means instant disqualification for the intern involved.

As if that’s not enough, an anonymous informant with insider intel is trying to sabotage my dad’s company on social media...and I’m afraid it's working.

Much as I’d love to quit, I can’t. Kristoffs Never Quit is our family motto. I just hope there’s more than one survivor by the end of this summer.  


MY REVIEW 

A fun sweet romance with friendship, and family at it's core. SPIES, LIES and ALLIES is a Breakfast Club meets The Apprentice during the summer time. Set at Laurel's dad's highly respectful office, this book is full of enjoyable characters all of whom I enjoyed getting to know.  


Laurel is a fun, upbeat character who just wants to spend more time with her hardworking father. Hence her working at her father's office, and helping him over see the summer intern scholarship competition. Laurel sees the good in others, and I liked how that helped her build the team work for the team. I enjoyed getting to know each of the interns, and seeing how their friendships evolved over the course of the story. 

One of the things I liked about this book is the positive female friendships in this book. Not to mention the close family dynamics, and other friendships. It's nice to read a book with characters who help each other, instead of tearing each other down. The friendships in this book, and the growth with the characters all felt genuine and realistic. With the office setting, it was nice seeing the various relationships including that of older characters who offer help, and advice.

The romance in this book is great. It's that slow burning chemistry that doesn't cross the lines aka doesn't break the rules of the no dating rule in the office. It makes it all that much more enjoyable when Laurel and Carlos are finally allowed to cross that line. Through out much of the the story they keep it light, and fun, yet desperately want to it to be something more. It makes their stolen moments together all that much more enjoyable. I admired Carlos for sticking to the rules, and respecting Laurel, and her father. Though he does know how to leave Laurel wanting more.

I enjoyed the geeky references in book. Especially when it came to Star Wars. While I loved all the various references, prior to reading half way through the book it felt like overkill. There are way too many references, and one liners through out this book, that it ended up taking away from the story. If it had half as many references I would have liked this story more than I did.


The plot was a very slow build up for the first half of the book. Which was okay, as it was introduces the characters, and allows readers to see their dynamics, and some of their histories together. The story doesn't pick up until the second half of the book, but once it does, it makes for a fun, enjoyable read that was hard to put down. Overall this was a fun contemporary. It has an upbeat writing style, characters I enjoyed getting to know, friendships, light romance, and a little bit of office drama, all of which make a good summer time read. 


READ AN EXCERPT 


“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.


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.

ENTER TO WIN!


Thank you to Entangled Teen, one lucky reader will win this fantastic prize pack!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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