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viviwolfe's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
WHY IS THERE NO SEQUAL??????
beastreader's review against another edition
4.0
The only thing "dangerous" about this book is how good it is. I could not stop reading it. Riley made this book what it is...awesome. Riley is a no nonsense type of gal with brains, sass, and can kick butt. In other words...me. Yet, Riley was not the only one that kept things interesting, The guys Von and Sam are good eye candy. The battle of the brawns had me laughing. There was this scene where Von and Sam were competing for Riley's affection; Riley was having not of it. Instead she was playing them for the fools they were. Besides the laughs, there is action, and a good storyline. Oh and a cliff hanger of an ending that left me silently screaming "Nooooooo". I can't wait to read the next book in this series to see what new trouble Riley finds herself in (she will).
kdurham2's review against another edition
4.0
Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings
Riley Collins hasn't had the typical childhood, she has missed out on the traditional experience, but at the same time has had some that are out of this world. She has a little blip on the radar and this sets quite a few things in motion. She is sent to the United States and must try to disguise herself as an American teenager while also completing a mission.
Riley Collins hasn't had the typical childhood, she has missed out on the traditional experience, but at the same time has had some that are out of this world. She has a little blip on the radar and this sets quite a few things in motion. She is sent to the United States and must try to disguise herself as an American teenager while also completing a mission.
vikcs's review
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
4.25
A thrilling, fast-paced chase in the world of spoiled rich kids.
Lately I’m not really into YA stories but the synopsis of this one just fascinated me. Maybe because I loved Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ The naturals series and this one somewhat reminded me of it. So yes with less enthusiasm that it would deserve but I started it. In the end I freaking loved it.
I adore the cover. It’s nothing really special or outstanding but thanks to the bright colors its quite eye-catching also I love when the small details on the cover has meaningful role regarding the storyline. I also find the headers and the rules in the beginning of every chapter creative and adorable.
The writing style is smooth, easy to read and engaging. The plot is awesome, thrilling, fast-paced. It’s full of suspense, intrigue, action and just a touch of romance. Seriously, once I started it I couldn’t put it down. Really the only thing that I can ‘complain’ about is that I would have liked a bit more investigating and actual action, but then it would mess up the dynamism if the story. Because however ridiculously the base concept of the plot sounds at first (secret agents choosing a 17 years old girl without real experience to work for them) , the way the author built up her storyline, not taking things over a certain line made the book more realistic, even believable.
I liked Riley character from the beginning. She grew up in a quite unconventional way and thanks to things she saw; experienced she has a different perspective of life than most teenagers. I loved how she handles herself in various situations. She is entertaining and relatable. She has a great moral code, she is smart, brave, resourceful but not without doubts or fears.
Even the secondary characters are amazing and well fleshed out. They all present a very wide range of personalities.
This was a marvelous, ineradicable read and quite honestly I can’t wait to read the next one. This book doesn’t exactly ends with a cliffhanger but you definitely left wanting more.
Lately I’m not really into YA stories but the synopsis of this one just fascinated me. Maybe because I loved Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ The naturals series and this one somewhat reminded me of it. So yes with less enthusiasm that it would deserve but I started it. In the end I freaking loved it.
I adore the cover. It’s nothing really special or outstanding but thanks to the bright colors its quite eye-catching also I love when the small details on the cover has meaningful role regarding the storyline. I also find the headers and the rules in the beginning of every chapter creative and adorable.
The writing style is smooth, easy to read and engaging. The plot is awesome, thrilling, fast-paced. It’s full of suspense, intrigue, action and just a touch of romance. Seriously, once I started it I couldn’t put it down. Really the only thing that I can ‘complain’ about is that I would have liked a bit more investigating and actual action, but then it would mess up the dynamism if the story. Because however ridiculously the base concept of the plot sounds at first (secret agents choosing a 17 years old girl without real experience to work for them) , the way the author built up her storyline, not taking things over a certain line made the book more realistic, even believable.
I liked Riley character from the beginning. She grew up in a quite unconventional way and thanks to things she saw; experienced she has a different perspective of life than most teenagers. I loved how she handles herself in various situations. She is entertaining and relatable. She has a great moral code, she is smart, brave, resourceful but not without doubts or fears.
Even the secondary characters are amazing and well fleshed out. They all present a very wide range of personalities.
This was a marvelous, ineradicable read and quite honestly I can’t wait to read the next one. This book doesn’t exactly ends with a cliffhanger but you definitely left wanting more.
katkinney's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Curiosity Quills Press for allowing me to read and review this cute debut novel by Kes Trester! Whew! Riley sure packed in a lot of adventures in a single book. I loved Trester's rich descriptions of living overseas, the smells of the marketplace in Pakistan, the taste of the foods Riley had grown up eating and learned to crave. I could totally picture being there!
And I loved the adventures and descriptions once Riley comes to the US to serve as a bodyguard for a student in a boarding school. No one can beat Riley at anything. She is completely unstoppable, a super-soldier in the body of a young girl. The storytelling was very nicely done, and the pacing really picked up in the second half. And WOW that cliffhanger!
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the author.
Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
And I loved the adventures and descriptions once Riley comes to the US to serve as a bodyguard for a student in a boarding school. No one can beat Riley at anything. She is completely unstoppable, a super-soldier in the body of a young girl. The storytelling was very nicely done, and the pacing really picked up in the second half. And WOW that cliffhanger!
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the author.
Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
kristy_k's review against another edition
3.0
Recommend for fans of Ally Carter.
Riley goes "undercover" at an elite high school to protect a technology heiress. While suspending disbelief is necessary as some scenes were obviously implausible, this is still a fast, fun YA read.
I liked all of the characters and their roles, and am excited to see who makes the cut to be in the next book.
Riley goes "undercover" at an elite high school to protect a technology heiress. While suspending disbelief is necessary as some scenes were obviously implausible, this is still a fast, fun YA read.
I liked all of the characters and their roles, and am excited to see who makes the cut to be in the next book.
fairybookmother's review against another edition
4.0
In Kes Trester’s A Dangerous Year, the first in the Riley Collins series, Riley Collins is offered a position at Harrington Academy, a prestigious boarding school in Connecticut. She must, however, use her tactical and diplomatic skills to keep an eye on Hayden Frasier, the daughter of a tech billionaire who’s created a software that promises to uncrack every code and stop wars before they start. Riley is the daughter of an American ambassador, but she’s never truly been immersed in American culture, so the elite world in which Hayden lives is a culture shock for Riley. Riley is smart, however, and learns to adapt and try to fit in as she navigates both high school and her role as Hayden’s security. But nothing is as it seems.
A Dangerous Year is a really fun, fast-paced YA spy thriller that I found well-crafted and well-paced. Sure, the idea of a seventeen year old young woman being another young woman’s security requires a little suspension of disbelief, but in the context of the story, it works. Riley felt like a seventeen year old who was highly skilled in some areas and a little socially awkward. She has to navigate a school with its own weird little hierarchies and try to save the day at the same time, and sometimes that balance is difficult to attain, but Trester made it seem effortless. The only real downside I saw to the whole story was that Riley felt a little too perfect in her skill level, but I hope that will be explored in the next books in the series!
Trester’s A Dangerous Year will be great for readers who like high school boarding school stories, Gossip Girl and the like, and Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls spy series!
I received a copy of this book for review from Book Sparks, and all opinions are my own.
A Dangerous Year is a really fun, fast-paced YA spy thriller that I found well-crafted and well-paced. Sure, the idea of a seventeen year old young woman being another young woman’s security requires a little suspension of disbelief, but in the context of the story, it works. Riley felt like a seventeen year old who was highly skilled in some areas and a little socially awkward. She has to navigate a school with its own weird little hierarchies and try to save the day at the same time, and sometimes that balance is difficult to attain, but Trester made it seem effortless. The only real downside I saw to the whole story was that Riley felt a little too perfect in her skill level, but I hope that will be explored in the next books in the series!
Trester’s A Dangerous Year will be great for readers who like high school boarding school stories, Gossip Girl and the like, and Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls spy series!
I received a copy of this book for review from Book Sparks, and all opinions are my own.
jasmine_books342's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this, any book with teenage spies is one I want to read. It was full of twist and turns, and had such an unexpected ending. I can't wait for the next book in the series.
bookmarklit's review against another edition
3.0
Wow, very mixed feelings on this one. Most of the book had little annoyances throughout, like the author saying “hooker red lipstick” or not knowing how MCM/WCW actually work. I didn’t love the romance (the sort-of love triangle wasn’t really the issue though) and I’m not sure how I feel about Riley as a person or friend. However, the ending was a whirlwind! I thought I had everything figured out but there were soooo many surprises in the last 10% alone. There was a definite cliffhanger that I’m curious about, so I’ll be reading the next book.
jenabrownwrites's review against another edition
5.0
“Grades aren’t always good enough,” he said. “Right now, the only extracurriculars you can list on a college application are street fighting and instigating international incidents.”
It is with this sentence that Riley Collins finds herself heading away from her life as a diplomats daughter and into the illustrious halls of Harrington Academy. She wonders which is more dangerous: the streets of Pakistan where a price is on her head, or the halls of a school filled with spoiled rich kids who would rather eat her alive than befriend her.
“They may not kill you here, but that doesn’t mean they won’t try to eat you.”
Her attendance is a little more complicated than just attending her Senior Year and getting some talking points for her college resume. She has been tasked with an actual mission from the State Department. Official oath and everything.
Once she agrees, it takes little time to whisk her to New York. There she is groomed to within an inch of her life, thrown into a shopping spree most girls only dream of and given an “emergency” American Express. Maybe this year won’t be quite so bad after all.
“They had to perform an extraction. In my world, that meant a black ops team going into dangerous territory to recover a lost man. Here it involved squeezing every pore on my face until I would have willingly confessed to anything.”
Why does there always have to be an ‘except’?
Her reception to Harrington is less than warm and fuzzy. The head mistress makes it clear she is actively looking for a way to throw her out. Her roommate, Hayden, ignores that she even exists. This is sort of a problem though, since Hayden is the mission. Well, protecting her is the mission. Riley finds it difficult to make sure she’s okay when you have no idea where she is throughout the day. Or acting like a stalker.
Even worse, she finds out that the reason for Hayden’s chilly reception is that Riley is taking the place of her former roommate and best friend Rose. Who was killed a week before the term began.
“There was a reason Harrington didn’t admit seniors; they had to wait for one of them to die to make room! What else was out there waiting to ambush me?”
This was such a fun read! I loved it! Riley is a delight. She has an incredibly fun sarcastic humor to her. I loved that she used growing up as a diplomat’s daughter to her advantage by applying the lessons her dad would teach her. Very useful in negotiating angry head mistresses and demanding teachers. She also comes fully equipped with all the lessons her bodyguard and second father, Benson, taught her. Mainly fighting and military tactics. The combination is entertaining and extremely amusing!
In addition to Riley and Hayden, who does eventually thaw to Riley, we get an ensemble of characters, each just as enjoyable as Riley. Von, the cute boy who she meets her first day. He is helpful in showing her around the school, but also in helping her get near Hayden. Quinn, Hayden’s new sidekick and BFF. She starts off nice to Riley, but as Hayden warms to her, Quinn takes a jealous turn for the worse. Stef, who is probably my absolute favorite character outside of Riley. Gorgeous and charming with a lovely penchant for the dramatic, Stef is delightful to read. And then there’s, Sam. The insanely hot head of the MMA club who makes Riley’s insides melt when he looks at her. Too bad he’s Hayden’s ex, which equals very off-limits. It’s also too bad he doesn’t agree with that assessment.
The adults in this book are excellent too. There is nothing worse than reading a YA book with great teenagers and all the adults are duds. This is not the case here!
I adored her dad and Benson. Her dad teaches her diplomatic skills and parents her the best way he can. And Benson sends her a footlocker full of tasers, tactical equipment and spyware. Which is how he helps and loves her the best way he can. It’s awesome! I smiled at every interaction they had.
“My dad would probable be appalled at what I was considering, but Benson would cheer me on from the sidelines.”
Mr. Bracken is also a treat! Described as “Bracken the Kracken” by other students and known for being extremely tough in his classroom, he was far more well-rounded than just another hard-ass teacher. Yes, he takes student expectations to a whole new level, but there is a lot of substance to him and he was very enjoyable to get to know.
“I’m thinking I should send you on your way. I wouldn’t want to lose the most entertaining TA I’ve had in years.”
This novel sounds like a spy novel for kids, but it’s so much more. It’s James Bond meets Mean Girls. How does that NOT sound like an amazing combination? Every obstacle Riley encounters feel real. She has to balance trying to be a bodyguard and navigate the treacherous waters of High School. Sometimes she makes mistakes, or does the wrong thing. Which you would expect. I didn’t find the adults to be flat or annoying, or the kids to be uber-adult. They all felt exceptionally well balanced and well rounded.
Using her dad as an international diplomat, along with Benson training her with military tactics and skills, the way Riley problem-solves various situations make a lot of sense. And again, she doesn’t know everything. She asks for help. She makes mistakes. She just uses what she knows to try and problem solve.
This is the first book in an expected series and I cannot wait for book 2! I will absolutely be continuing to read future books. This is a story I could easily see becoming a movie or a TV show, although I really hope they do the writing justice. If you’re a fan of spy novels, or military type novels, and you also love YA, this book is definitely for you! Less explosions, but no less entertaining.
Thank you BookSparks and Curiosity Quills Press for sending a copy to read and review!
It is with this sentence that Riley Collins finds herself heading away from her life as a diplomats daughter and into the illustrious halls of Harrington Academy. She wonders which is more dangerous: the streets of Pakistan where a price is on her head, or the halls of a school filled with spoiled rich kids who would rather eat her alive than befriend her.
“They may not kill you here, but that doesn’t mean they won’t try to eat you.”
Her attendance is a little more complicated than just attending her Senior Year and getting some talking points for her college resume. She has been tasked with an actual mission from the State Department. Official oath and everything.
Once she agrees, it takes little time to whisk her to New York. There she is groomed to within an inch of her life, thrown into a shopping spree most girls only dream of and given an “emergency” American Express. Maybe this year won’t be quite so bad after all.
“They had to perform an extraction. In my world, that meant a black ops team going into dangerous territory to recover a lost man. Here it involved squeezing every pore on my face until I would have willingly confessed to anything.”
Why does there always have to be an ‘except’?
Her reception to Harrington is less than warm and fuzzy. The head mistress makes it clear she is actively looking for a way to throw her out. Her roommate, Hayden, ignores that she even exists. This is sort of a problem though, since Hayden is the mission. Well, protecting her is the mission. Riley finds it difficult to make sure she’s okay when you have no idea where she is throughout the day. Or acting like a stalker.
Even worse, she finds out that the reason for Hayden’s chilly reception is that Riley is taking the place of her former roommate and best friend Rose. Who was killed a week before the term began.
“There was a reason Harrington didn’t admit seniors; they had to wait for one of them to die to make room! What else was out there waiting to ambush me?”
This was such a fun read! I loved it! Riley is a delight. She has an incredibly fun sarcastic humor to her. I loved that she used growing up as a diplomat’s daughter to her advantage by applying the lessons her dad would teach her. Very useful in negotiating angry head mistresses and demanding teachers. She also comes fully equipped with all the lessons her bodyguard and second father, Benson, taught her. Mainly fighting and military tactics. The combination is entertaining and extremely amusing!
In addition to Riley and Hayden, who does eventually thaw to Riley, we get an ensemble of characters, each just as enjoyable as Riley. Von, the cute boy who she meets her first day. He is helpful in showing her around the school, but also in helping her get near Hayden. Quinn, Hayden’s new sidekick and BFF. She starts off nice to Riley, but as Hayden warms to her, Quinn takes a jealous turn for the worse. Stef, who is probably my absolute favorite character outside of Riley. Gorgeous and charming with a lovely penchant for the dramatic, Stef is delightful to read. And then there’s, Sam. The insanely hot head of the MMA club who makes Riley’s insides melt when he looks at her. Too bad he’s Hayden’s ex, which equals very off-limits. It’s also too bad he doesn’t agree with that assessment.
The adults in this book are excellent too. There is nothing worse than reading a YA book with great teenagers and all the adults are duds. This is not the case here!
I adored her dad and Benson. Her dad teaches her diplomatic skills and parents her the best way he can. And Benson sends her a footlocker full of tasers, tactical equipment and spyware. Which is how he helps and loves her the best way he can. It’s awesome! I smiled at every interaction they had.
“My dad would probable be appalled at what I was considering, but Benson would cheer me on from the sidelines.”
Mr. Bracken is also a treat! Described as “Bracken the Kracken” by other students and known for being extremely tough in his classroom, he was far more well-rounded than just another hard-ass teacher. Yes, he takes student expectations to a whole new level, but there is a lot of substance to him and he was very enjoyable to get to know.
“I’m thinking I should send you on your way. I wouldn’t want to lose the most entertaining TA I’ve had in years.”
This novel sounds like a spy novel for kids, but it’s so much more. It’s James Bond meets Mean Girls. How does that NOT sound like an amazing combination? Every obstacle Riley encounters feel real. She has to balance trying to be a bodyguard and navigate the treacherous waters of High School. Sometimes she makes mistakes, or does the wrong thing. Which you would expect. I didn’t find the adults to be flat or annoying, or the kids to be uber-adult. They all felt exceptionally well balanced and well rounded.
Using her dad as an international diplomat, along with Benson training her with military tactics and skills, the way Riley problem-solves various situations make a lot of sense. And again, she doesn’t know everything. She asks for help. She makes mistakes. She just uses what she knows to try and problem solve.
This is the first book in an expected series and I cannot wait for book 2! I will absolutely be continuing to read future books. This is a story I could easily see becoming a movie or a TV show, although I really hope they do the writing justice. If you’re a fan of spy novels, or military type novels, and you also love YA, this book is definitely for you! Less explosions, but no less entertaining.
Thank you BookSparks and Curiosity Quills Press for sending a copy to read and review!