An entertaining and fun read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC

For a quick and entertaining read, I do recommend Prettyboy Must Die. There are a lot of cliches, but its great having a book from a guys perspective. I feel that doesn't happen enough in this genre.

Put Die Hard, James Bond, This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp, and #AlexFromTarget in a blender.

That's #Prettyboy Must Die in a close-to-accurate nutshell.

I'm tempted to leave the review at that, but there are a few things I'd like to expand on juuuuust a bit.

Jake Morrow--alias Peter Smith--is a computer prodigy who was recruited into an FBI training profile for juveniles after his schemes as a tech-savvy juvenile offender caught their eye. His knack for languages didn't hurt either; he can speak eight of them. Unfortunately, he messed up an operation in Ukraine and he's now all but suspended from service and placed in an exclusive school in Colorado solely because he convinced his boss that the same tech genius who helped the Ukrainian crime syndicate is at that school. He's not officially on assignment, but he is in his own mind and that's enough.

His roommate Bunker (so nicknamed because he and his dad a literal underground bunker for almost all his life) pays too much attention and is sure "Peter" is a secret agent, but then a girl takes a photo of Jake after a run and he manages to go viral on Twitter for looking so darn good. Unfortunately, that's also alerted the Ukrainians of where he is and the son of the deceased former leader would like a little revenge on Jake for getting his father killed. But when the son and five other conspirators take the entire school hostage, is he really who they're looking for or is there someone else?

#Prettyboy Must Die is an absurdly fast novel with twists abound (another spy! codes of international interest!) and a vibe like a schlocky 80s action movie that's been successfully brought into the modern age. Things are sure to fall apart if you put too much thought into the set-up or expect much from the characters, but much like those movies, this book isn't meant to be thought about, it's meant to be enjoyed as it is in the moment. Jake Morrow being a rare Black boy action hero is a delight as well, but he's got one little problem.

See, Jake is pretty consistently sexist. Multiple times over, he gets surprised by women and girls he doesn't expect much from. They're girls, after all. Even after the umpteenth time a girl gets the best of him or defies his expectations, he always gets fooled again and his plans to save the school from the terrorists go awry because of his sexism. The guy just never learns! It's clear he never encountered any female criminals when he was doing international field work because he would have screwed up an operation and blown his cover much, much sooner if he had.

So #Prettyboy Must Die doesn't have much in the way of reread appeal and it has its flaws, but it too much fun of a read to regret. Go back and reread the first sentence of my review now. If that still sounds good to you, pick this novel up from your retailer of choice and clear your afternoon or evening schedule. You won't want to put this down long enough to so much as go to the bathroom.

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As a 16 year old recruited to Ukraine for a CIA mission, Jake ends up getting to close and the mission is botched, almost costing him his life. Jake is "retired" by his handler, but he refuses to stay completely out of the loop and bargains to be a spy at a private school of well connected teens. But being a regular teen does not end well for Jake, or as a social media post calls him #prettyboy.

Almost everything about the book was unrealistic, but I didn't mind it. When you are dealing with teens as spies, what do you expect. Jake is basically a one man swat team, saving the day, knowing everything and any way to escape or hack, basically a complete badass genius. The story was really fast paced so it was easy to get through and the author kept the tension level very high having the main crisis of the story take place in just a day or so.

I could see this be a good read for the younger teen audience who doesn't need too much realism to appreciate the story. There was not really much emotional depth or connection in the story, basically just an action situation with some problem solving. I was not a big fan of the story, but I didn't hate the book, just could not connect but I am sure others will love the story.

Entertaining story about a 17yo CIA agent. A few inconsistencies kept me from giving this 4 stars, but it was a good, light, quick read.

I picked this up for one reason: Alex From Target. This book was being marketed as the main character being inspired on this 2-week internet sensation and of course me, being the thirsty boy that I am, decided to consume every type of media regarding this celebrity, I regret it so hard.

It took me 7 months to finally be able to come here and review it. I genuinely did not want to do it because this book has around 0 aspects that interest me. I was expecting a page-turning action-packed novel and all I got was a tedious story of a egotistical boy that did not caught my eye. I feel like at times he was sexist due to his idea of superiority regarding girls and in this house we do not tolerate that. As Ariana Grande said: Thank you, next!

This was a fast paced fun read, with a hysterically dangerous take on the going viral photos, like #AlexFromTarget. Some aspects weren't very believable with him being a teenager, but I really got into it.

DNF @ 19% — I just wasn’t engaged in the story. It was a bit far-fetched, but I knew that going in with the blurb… It wasn’t that so much as I just didn’t care about our protagonist. I felt like I wasn’t getting to know him at all, and it was just a recounting of things going on in his quest to find the hacker. I need to connect to the characters to enjoy a story, at least usually…and in this case not enough was happening in the plot to keep me engaged and give him more time to get to me.

I’m a bit bummed because our main character is black, and you know I love me a diverse read. But I have too many other books to read to waste time on one that’s not engaging me.

(Note: I don't normally give star ratings to DNF reviews, but NetGalley asked for one)

Outstanding - no, but fun. At times Peter acts incredibly stupid for someone who has been recruited and trained by the CIA. But, if you're willing to suspend disbelief, the nonstop action makes for a fun read. And, as a Coloradan, I loved the accurate location references. For teens because of the language and some vague sexual references.

A fun and fresh take on the old spy genre as normally in YA its a female. I enjoyed the story and the shenanigans surrounding the diverse cast of characters and although the plot twists and action toed the line of being too ridiculous sometimes I still enjoyed it.

This was a great novel, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
The characters were great and the story kept me on the edge of my seat!

#Prettyboy Must Die sounded very much like it had a fun premise, given that it's based off of #AlexFromTarget. While it was full of potential, the story failed to grab my attention. The characters were hard to connect with and the plot lines had a hard time holding together since some details bordered on ridiculous, which distracted highly from the story. Though, I will give props for a diverse main character and for the little bit of good suspense thrown in.

I won't be publishing a review, or giving this book a rating on my blog or goodreads as I couldn't manage to finish it. I liked the premise of the story and was really excited to read it, unfortunately it was rather disappointing. I expected it to be exciting and funny, but the writing was too stiff, the characters too cliche or predictable and the jokes just awkward.

Note : The one star rating is due to the book being a dnf and the requirement of a rating to submit feedback, NOT based on personal preference.

*** Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC! ***

This book was just ok it wasn't very believable and these kids were kind of crappy spies.

The book overall was a fun, quick read. While reading I had a feeling that as a whole the story was a bit 2 dimensional - while entertaining and action-packed, nothing about the book really grabbed me. The side characters really ended up being the most interesting but we can only interact or view them from Peter/Jake's POV. At times what is happening gets a little confusing as he's navigating various parts of the school and interacting with different students. The plot as fairly predicable and I found myself skimming through parts.

this is one of the cutest books ever. Can you imagine being a teen spy that fails and is sent to a school, only to become famous and wrapped into another mission? Because that is what this book is, and I loved every second of it. I loved it some much that I finished it in 2 days, as well as reading in class (whoops!).

Readers are introduced to ‘Peter Smith,’ a CIA spy who can speak 8 (possibly 9) languages, is a hacking genius, and is very intelligent, as he takes on school. When a student takes a picture of his and posts it to Twitter with a caption along the lines of “Watch Prettyboy run,” no one expected it to become one of the top trending pictures on the internet. Now, being that he is a spy, having one’s picture trending is not the best idea when trying to stay undercover.

The characters are my favourite part of the story, especially Bunker, who is one of Peter’s friends. He gained his nickname from spending 15 years of his life in an underground bunker after his father believed the Year 2000 theory that the world was going to end. Bunker is presented as the comic relief, which is nice to have in a spy book, but he is also a smarter comic relief (if that is even possible) and is helpful in pushing the plot forward. Not to forget Katie as well, who just happens to be all kick-butt girl power and all.

Overall, this is a super cute and super quick spy read, along with many near-death experiences…for everyone, as well as a little bit of romance that is thrown in.

This book had it's fun moments, but moreso it had its laughable moments that put it to shame, but are so laughable you just want to see how it ends! It's action packed, spy-full, with questions within questions. Although it has its downsides and can't be taken one hundred percent seriously, coming across as something like a parody - almost, it's not half bad. Even though it's not a book that will change your life, it might be something nice for a break from all the dark and heavy stuff. Btw, I probably would have enjoyed this more if I was thirteen years old!

This book is fun, if a little juvenile. It read almost more like an MG novel than a YA. I also was able to predict much of the plot. Other than that, I greatly enjoyed the story.

Unfortunately #PRETTYBOY MUST DIE wasn't my new favourite book. It felt like Gallagher Girls, but with a more unrealistic plot and the caricature villains and cliches at every corner really sank my boat. I did like . Peter though, even if he spent 60% of the book telling us he's been "trained for this" and then promptly flaps about and gets locked on the roof. Ah, bless him. But he tries!

(And I unfortunately have no idea who "Alex from Target" is, even though this is supposed to be inspired by that??)

However there were many things to like, including the love interest, Katie, who ended up being a badass and capable and confident British teen agent. I loved how she took no shenanigans from anyone and always had an answer to a problem. (The lipstick taser gun was a bit cringey though.) And I only wish Peter hadn't been so freaking sexist the whole book, absolutely undermining EVERY woman he met. Peter, my man, no. It was really enjoy to dip this book lower in my opinion, knowing all the girls had to PROVE themselves to the narrator.

I also very much enjoyed the diversity, and it's epic to see black teens leading action/adventure stories! Plus the cover is absolutely awesome.

Peter and Bunker's friendship was also a lot of fun, with some banter and backup there. They looked out for each other and Bunker was surprisingly useful despite being totally awkwardly dorky. (However his backstory of being raised underground for 15 years was another example of the unnecessary levels of ludicrous that went down.)

It heavily featured slapstick comedy, which isn't my thing. And you really had to suspend ALL disbelief to get through the terribly convenient plotlines. And often cringey!? Aren't we past villains monologuing their evil plans so the heroes can get away?! And for being secret agents, I would've expected more efficiency and less bumbles.

All in all, I think this would be a fun one if you like comedic spy movies!

I wanted to love #PrettyBoy Must Die and I did NOT. It's not even entirely easy to pin point where it went wrong and why I am not here salivating over its goodness? It's got a teen CIA agent who is undercover, a mystery and some twists. My issue was that even though so many exciting things were happening in the story. I was not invested in the happenings. I did not care about the main character or the secondary characters and I didn't really care about what was going on.

I didn't passionately dislike or like the book so I basically have no idea how to rate it. Objectively, its not a terrible book but I do think that the writing might be part of the reason why I had 0 investment in the happenings of the novel.

The writing made me feel like I was reading a never-ending essay and to be entirely honest, I am not sure why I didn't DNF the book? Its short and yet it took me an abnormally long time to read because I kept having to read paragraphs again and again when I lost focus. I think there was never any real showing within the novel and I kept feeling like I was being told things?

Basically, I don't have as much to say about this book which sucks because I have no real strong feelings about it. Which means I CANNOT BLATHER ON ABOUT ANYTHING. Wow, reviews are hard. Anyway, I do think that in terms of whether or not you should read the book, it is a choice you should make on your own because the premise is amazing and maybe the book might just work for you where it didn't work for me. I do hope we'll get more CIA agents in YA though because I think we DESERVE THEM. I WANT THEM. SOMEONE GIVE ME THEM. Anywayyyyyy... I am off to hunt more books with teen agents/teen detectives.