Emma is a psychopath - something the CIA take full advantage of as they train her as an assassin. But going undercover and blending in to school as a normal teenager doesn't exactly fit with her skillset ...

This is a fast read with elements of a spy thriller and kept me pretty engaged throughout. I wasn't a huge fan of Emma, but the plot was good and left me keen to know how it was all going to end!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Diagnosed as a psychopath as a child and trained as an assassin at a secret CIA institute, Emma Garthright is not like other teens. But now Emma is faced with the one mission she isn't prepared for—making friends at an ordinary high school.

This was so good!!! You really can't beat a YA mystery/contemporary book. This to me was the perfect mix of those two, with the normality of Emma and her friends but the mystery/spy element that kept me so intrigued throughout it all.

I really liked Emma as a character and watching the way she grew and changed was probably my favourite part!

I rated this 4 stars and would definitely recommend it to lovers of YA!

I have to admit that I'm obsessed with this book. It focuses on a secret spy school for future assassins. Run by the CIA. Our MC Emma is one of the school's deadly students. Her newest assignment is: Pretending to be a "normal" girl and going to school... While being on a top-secret mission. This means she needs to blend in and master normal school life or her whole mission is bust and she's thrown out of school.
I really adored the concept of this book and I enjoyed reading it. It's a fun and fast read (I read it in about a day) with lots of humour. I was laughing a lot.

I really enjoyed this book it was a great quick read and I’m hoping there will be a second book in the future.

Confessions of a Dangerous Girl by Dan Birk.
Sixteen-year-old Emma has spent most of her life at the remote Early Institute, a boarding school operating under the guise of helping children like Emma become better people. But the Early Institute's altruistic façade hides a darker motive—to turn its students into the deadliest teenage assassins the world has ever seen. Taught to kill without question, Emma is tasked by her demanding headmaster with going undercover at Grover Cleveland High School. There, she must do the seemingly impossible—truly become a better person in order to win the trust of Grover Cleveland's most virtuous student, Susie Robinson, and help Susie gain the affections of her crush, Brayden. Susie is a straight-A teacher's pet, naturally suspicious of the manipulative and deceitful Emma, and the one person standing between the success or failure of Emma's mission to assassinate an international political figure. But is Emma really capable of changing? And why does it seem like Brayden is more interested in her than in Susie? As the deadly teen's newfound freedom and friendships start to get in the way of her mission, and the sinister truth behind the Early Institute begins to come to light, can Emma use her wits and lethal skills to save her friendship with Susie while keeping them both alive?
I really did enjoy this book. Different. I did like Emma. 5*.

(This review is based off of an uncorrected proof from NetGalley)

Are you a fan of Black Widow? More specifically, are you a fan of the first couple scenes in the Black Widow movie that really should have been its own movie or show entirely? Are you a fan of X-Men? Nancy Drew? Yeah, me too.

If you said yes to any of the above questions, you NEED to pick up this novel. Emma, a diagnosed psychopath, attends a boarding school where psychopaths are trained as assassins. Her next mission: high school. That's all I'm going to say about that because I don't want to spoil the plot.

I thought this was an incredibly interesting and entertaining YA novel. I was hooked from page 1 and didn't want to put it down (I may have stayed up way too late to finish it). The only thing I wanted was more. I'm really hoping there's a sequel because I need to know more about what happens to Emma!

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an e-ARC of this novel. Review will be posted on Instagram by or before publication date (@ellie.reads.a.lot)

3/5
The book was a fast read with some original ideas. I wished there was more depth to the story, it felt like there were a couple of missed chances (more background about the spy school for example) The ending could have been more worked out, it felt kind of fast and ‘easy’.

If you need a book that you can immediately launch into, then this is it. There was no adjustment period with this one, it just got going straight away and was exactly what I was looking for!

You’re dropped straight into the story so right from the beginning, it becomes very hard to put down. That coupled with the fact that it’s so easy to read and has enough ‘intrigue drops’ to keep you flicking pages, I think I pretty much read in one sitting.

Considering the main character, Emma, is a certifiable and diagnosed psychopath, she was actually really easy to get to like. I loved following her and how she thought, honestly being in her brain space and how she navigated situations made for very entertaining reading.

And I loved the whole set up too. CIA young training facility, said young assassin thrown out into the world on a mission to ingratiate herself into a ‘real’ people’s high school and try not to get ousted as the psychopath assassin that she really is? With of course, some curveballs and side missions along the away. I absolutely loved it.

I don’t think I could give it less than 5 for the simple enjoyment factor I got out of it and the ease that it had me hooked. I hope there will be more to follow, it would make a great series!

I was very intrigued by the premise of this book, because while the idea of the trained psychopath assassin is not a new one, Emma's profile is a little unusual.

For one thing, a school for child assassins to be moulded from a young age for seriously murderous assignments isn't that common a theme. And Emma's youth - while it enables her to go undercover at a High School - also probably makes her capable of greater change/development than an adult might be.

So, even as we suspect that there is something dirty about The Early Institute, we can already hope that Emma may be able to do something different, or at least have a life of her own, if she manages to escape their clutches. But before that, there are of course lots of things that are going to go down...

It's hard enough for an ordinary 16 year old to make friends when starting at a new school, but for someone who has been institutionalized from a young age in a place where dangerous children are trained to be assassins, it's likely to be even harder.

Mind you, the average American high school is a pretty dangerous environment in itself, as any number of bullied or traumatized students can attest!

What makes Emma's assignment very hard indeed is the fact that she not only has to act like a normal student, she also has to establish a bond with the biggest "good girl" in the school as a precondition to fulfilling her next assassination assignment. Talk about tough challenges.

This book was such an enjoyable read. I particularly liked the fact that unlike many YA stories, this story does not centre around a romance.

Seeing things from Emma's point of view was especially interesting, given what a smart and funny character she is. And contrary to what we are told about psychopaths, Emma has a clear growth arc through the story, which raises the question of what kind of person she actually is... 3.5 stars for this one!

so as soon as i saw the description for this book i knew i needed to read it, and as soon as i was approved i started it right away even if it was literally 3am! i finished the entire book in a single day (don't worry i did sleep in between lolz) i just couldn't put the book down and stop reading! i have been looking for something to fill the void of "teenager going to a school for assasins/spies" that the killing november duology and gallagher girls series left in me and this definitely fulfilled it!! especially because this book was a fun twist of instead of the ordinary girl being whisked away to said school suddenly (killing november) or non-ordinary girl sneaking out of school to go on missions she wasn't supposed to (gallagher girls) this book felt like the perfect mix of both! being sent away from the school, on a mission, the pretend to be an ordinary girl!

i really enjoyed the writing style of being inside emma's head and slowly getting to see her realize she actually does feel things and cares about people. there were so many plot twists i didn't see coming that i just couldn't put the book down i had to keep going to know how it was going to end! if there was ever a sequel i'd for sure pick it up!

my rating is 4.75 stars rounded up, it only loses .25 stars because i was hoping there would be a romance side plot and there wasn't ahaha but that's okay!