Gallagher Girl Appreciation: Love, Quotes, and GIFS

Anyone who has read my blog before would know that I am an Ally Carter fan. I can find an excuse to put Ally Carter's The Gallagher Girls (or Heist Society) in pretty much any Top Ten Tuesday list. I find a way to add this series in many bookish conversations or non-bookish conversations because really, who says there's a limitation?

I don't exactly remember how old I was when I found the first book while perusing my library's shelves. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You (ITYILY) came out in 2006, but I possibly didn't read it until a while after. What caught my eye first was the boarding school uniform. Once that lured me in, I couldn't race to the check-out counter fast enough when I read the word spies. My childhood friend and neighbor and pretty much anyone who knew or knows me can attest to the fact that I think being a spy would be the coolest thing ever. We used to tail people around, but being so not covert (being more Liz than Cammie). Our favorite game was using walkie-talkies and hiding all around my yard, ducking behind trees whenever a car drove by. Simply, spies fascinated me and there was finally a form of entertainment that I could enjoy that was geared towards my age range. Hooray for YA!

If any of you haven't read this series, you need to and are such sad souls, I pity you. There are so many reasons/elements to this series as to why I enjoy it so much that I could never explain it all. But I did try and here's the resulting, condensed list.

• The sisterhood. The Gallagher girls stick together and while they're not all "best friends," they have a bond that no one can replicate.
• The ultimate group of friends. In the midst of the Gallagher Academy is the unique four girls with varying personality traits. I love the dynamic between Cammie, Liz, Bex, and Macey. I honestly think that's what most fans adore in this series. While there's mysteries, action, missions, and boys involved, the friendship between the girls truly stands out. 
• The previously mentioned action. It's not fight, fight, fight all the time, but there's kicking and jabbing and spy-like moves that make me want to shout, "Girl power!" or something similar to that notion. 
• The romance. HELLO THERE. In the first book, we had innocent Josh, who had the unique trait of actually noticing Cammie the Chameleon. Her first love, first romance, and they met during her first co-op mission, which is fitting. Of course, I always wondered if there was something dark about sweet Josh because I would so not be surprised considering this is Ally Carter we're talking about. Then we have mysterious Zach, who is so frustratingly cute and dark and...yeah, I was all, "Josh who?" when we met Zach. 
• The emotions. When there are five books and you have read them multiple times, you tend to get very invested into the story and the characters. The fifth book does things to me. 
• It's by Ally Carter.

A few favorite quotes from Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy and Out of Sight, Out of Time.

*Apparently, I forgot to mark quotes from the other books and I lent out the first book.*

"No, guys, we don't hate DeeDee," I said.

"Of course you can't hate her–that would be petty," Liz said in the manner of someone who had given it a great thought. "But we can totally hate her."

-

"What he hasn't seen," said Macey, positioning me in front of the mirror, "is casual Cammie." 

I felt like Barbie's less-than-perfect friend. 

-

Basically the all of page 203 in Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy because there's Zach AND Josh.

-

The Mother Superior, however, didn't seem very concerned about ancient terror organizations. She had the look of a woman who might tell ancient terror organizations to bring it on.

-

"Scoot," Zach told her, and Tina smiled, sliding down to make room for the two of us on the bench.

-
"You're too skinny," Liz said, a girl who I swear once bought a pair of pants that were a size double zero and had to have them taken in. 

-

Zach must have sensed it, because he moved his hand to the small of my back and rested it there. 

-

"Because death is the only thing that could have ever kept him from you." 

-

"Did you teach me how to kill?"

"No." He shook his head slowly. "You mastered those skills all on your own." 

-

"Goodbye, [name here]," I said, then climbed the stairs and went to the fifth floor to die. 

-

"We have you, Cammie," Bex said. "We have you."

My mom didn't say anything. Tears dripped off her face and onto mine as I stared up at the woman I wanted more than anything to become. 

"Do you hear the music, Mom?"

"No, sweetheart. No. I don't hear it." She shook her head. Terror and tears filled her eyes.

-

"He took me to the circus. And then he died."

And then I slept.

-

She didn't hesitate or slow; she just threw her arms around me and said, "You're alive." She squeezed tighter. "Thank God, you're alive." 

-

"You're here!"

"Funny, I was about to say the same about you."

-

"You don't get it, do you?" Macey threw her covers off and stepped barefoot across the floor. "We're not mad because you left." She practically spat the words. I wondered if Liz or Bex might wake up, but neither stirred. "We're mad because you didn't take us with you."

-

"You are back, Cam." Macey went into the bathroom and started to close the door. "Which means for the first time that you left, it's okay for us to be mad at you for leaving."

United We Spy, or what a Goodreads user more accurately called it United We Cry, will be out in America in two days. September 17th. Tuesday. I preordered it months ago, but when it comes to my door, I will be at work. You better believe that I will be devouring that thing right when I get home though. I think the concept of self-control and savoring it will not even be manageable or possible. To celebrate this last addition, here is a bunch of GIFs that describe my feelings more than I could ever express with words.

What I will be like on my way home Tuesday:

I know, Mom. I will be perfectly safe.

When I get the book in my possession:

How I hope my crying will be like, especially on my break at work:

How my crying/emotional state will really be like:

I do not drink or support being drunk, especially since I'm 17.
However, this is really appropriate since it has a work desk and all.

Really, this will probably be me to a T.

I emotional eat. It's a problem.

When I read the very last word and the talked-about graduation speech:

When I try to write a review and move on with my life:

So now we wait. I've reread the series, squealed about it and about the ever-decreasing wait time with Emily on Twitter, and now have made this somewhat therapeutic post. I'm as ready as I'll ever be. The only two problems left to solve are: 1. Will I really like her next series as much or as much as Heist Society? and 2. Who will I shove my United We Spy copy at to borrow since all of my friends in person are too busy as well as my sisters? It'll be great squealing with all the internet people, but it always feels great to actually hand a person the book to borrow. 

Have you felt this way about a series before? Are you excited about the sixth, and last, installment of The Gallagher Girls? 

Audiobook Appreciation

This year, I have expanded my reading world to the listening side of things. Audiobooks were never on my radar because of several things.

• I thought I would mourn the loss of a paperback in my hands.
• I sometimes listened to music while I read or multitasked so how could I possibly listen to something? What could I do if I was listening to a book? Sit there like a lump? 
• Narrators intimidated me. 
• If I listened to a book, what if any negative feeling towards the audio element of it made me dislike the actual book? What if I was missing out on a wonderful piece of art because something else got in the way? 
• I don't like change.

Looking back at my list, I realize that I sound like an old lady. I couldn't process this technology and didn't care to. I was still resistant even coming into the blogging world until I read Starry-Eyed Jen's blog. She is a big promoter of audiobooks and when I read her reviews, I questioned if I was really looking at audiobooks correctly. 

Then my sister started listening to The Hunger Games audiobook in the car and when I went with her on errands, she played it. Since I was forcing** myself to not reread The Hunger Games series until Catching Fire came out in November, I was okay with this arrangement. Sure, I was nervous when she started playing it that it would ruin my love for the series. However, that irrational thinking went out the window when she hit play and we were at the cave scene with Peeta. Well, hello there. 

**I was forcing myself because I had gotten so attached to the series that I got more emotional each time I read it. I needed to use self-control more and also not experience so much heartbreak. Yes, listening to the book is kind of like reading it, but let's not discuss that small detail. 

I still thought that I had no room for audiobooks even though I wanted to go on errands with my sister even more and just sit in the car when she went inside all the stores. But then LIGHTBULB! I realized that I could play it on the iPad speaker in the bathroom while I took a shower. So that's where I listened to all the emotional scenes with Peeta, sad Gale moments, even sadder Prim moments, and Finnick *sobs*. Of course, I also retracted my balking at the thought of listening to it on my daily walk because I couldn't just listen to them in the shower, I needed more time with this lovely series. There was also the fact that I kept getting goosebumps right after I shaved from all the feels. 

That's when I realized: Jen was right! Everyone was right! Audiobooks aren't boring and they shouldn't be intimidating. You can get into them and when you do, they are a wonderful thing. I actually did just sit on my couch as I played an addicting game wasting a lot of time when I should have been doing school so I could listen to my audiobook. 

The things I realized during my audiobook experiences expand every time. 

• Sometimes I don't have time to sit down and read a paperback. Even if I do, I probably just finished reading lots of chapters in my textbook or had to write and reread and reread and reread and reread some more an essay for school. Audiobooks are a great way to help your desire for fiction, but gives a break on your eyes. 
• Like I mentioned above, you can still multitask! Indulge yourself in an addicting phone game. 
• Narrators can give the story more life. Really, that surprised me the most. My audiobook review for The Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce will be coming soon, but the narrator? Fan-stinking-tastic. 
• I might get into books even more if I listen to them because the narrators not only give life to the story, but also pronounce words for me, give voices to the characters, and by listening to a book, I could possibly be wrapped up in the story more. 
• Sometimes change is a good thing. 

I still absolutely love my paperbacks and would rather get a physical book for my birthday than a disc, but audiobooks are great alternatives. 

How I now feel about audiobooks.

All summer, SYNCYA has been giving away two free audiobooks a week, one classic and one YA. It's wrapping up this month, but it's not too late to download a few! Unfortunately, my computer is being wonky and won't let me get to the website. So go to Jen's page and try to get to it there. Or use the powerful Google. 

I might be the last one to the audiobook party, but if you still haven't gotten into them, I strongly recommend starting. 

What are your favorite audiobooks? Do you use audiobooks?