#Thursday Review - CITY OF SPIES by Nina Berry (YA, Historical Fiction) @Ninaberry @HarlequinTEEN

Series: Pagan Jones # 2
Format: Hardcover, 448 pages
Release Date: May 31, 2016
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Source: Library
Recommended By: 
Genre: YA, Historical Fiction

Celebrating her escape from East Germany and the success of her new film, teen starlet Pagan Jones returns to Hollywood to reclaim her place among the rich and the famous. She's thrilled to be back, but memories of her time in Berlin—and elusively handsome secret agent Devin Black—continue to haunt her daydreams. The whirlwind of parties and celebrities just isn't enough to distract Pagan from the excitement of being a spy or dampen her curiosity about her late mother's mysterious past. 

When Devin reappears with an opportunity for Pagan to get back into the spy game, she is eager to embrace the role once again—all she has to do is identify a potential Nazi war criminal. A man who has ties to her mother. Taking the mission means that she'll have to star in a cheesy film and dance the tango with an incredibly awful costar, but Pagan knows all the real action will happen off-set, in the streets of Buenos Aires. 

But as Pagan learns more about the man they're investigating, she realizes that the stakes are much higher than they could have ever imagined, and that some secrets are best left undiscovered.

City of Spies is the second installment in author Nina Berry's

Pagan Jones series. City of Spies takes place four months after the ending of The Notorious Pagan Jones. 17-year old Pagan Jones is enjoying her time back not only in the States, but in the spotlight after previously finding her self in a Reformatory for Wayward Girls and a rough and humbling experience in Berlin. She's stopped drinking, she's found a roommate, and she's actually made a movie that was been critically acclaimed which could net her a major award.

"See the world and spy on it." she said. "That's my plan."

But, that doesn't get her out of yet another undercover operation where she has to play actress by day, while being a spy at night in yet another dangerous city that is on the brink of chaos. Not when her handler Devon Black, from MI6, asks her to travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina where she is to find and expose a German Scientist who is living there. This is no ordinary German scientist.

This is someone that Pagan knew when she was a child and was friends with her mother Eva Jones who we are slowly learning a great deal about years after her death. The good thing about this mission: she gets to take along her best friend/roommate Mercedes who knows her way in and out of trouble. The worst part? She once again finds herself up against a familiar adversary and having to make a choice whether to follow orders or making her own way.

If you like Cold War Era novels that have action, suspense, mystery, and a bit of romance thrown in, then you should definitely be reading not only this book, but this series as well. This series hits on some really interesting historical aspects that the world of the

millennials may never know about because schools today are so worried about political correctness and offending the sensibilities of prima donna's, that they continue to ignore history at their own expenses. 

Trust me kids, I lived through the Cold War, and it was nothing to sneeze or laugh at. City of Spies takes place between December 15, 1961 and April 5, 1962. In Berry's Buenos Aires, Pagan not only has to identify Rolf Von Albrecht, but she also has to stay alive after finding herself in the middle of a Jewish/Nazi powder keg that threatens to take Mercedes along with it. She has to navigate treacherous waters of intrigue and high stakes life or death situations that would leave the Mary Sue among us weeping and falling to pieces.

"Any Government, maybe any large institution, was capable of horrible things, justifying anything and everything in the name of their security." 

You should definitely read this book, and then, read the article below about how the CIA used ex-Nazi's in the Cold War. You should also research about how our own (US) government used soldiers as test subjects, up to and including force marching them into areas that had just been irradiated with nuclear fallout, and injecting them with LSD to see how they reacted.

AT LEAST 1,000 ex-Nazis were hired by the U.S. as spies during the Cold War... and the CIA even helped them move to America.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/artic...

Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble |  Kobo

#Historical Fiction Review - The Notorious Pagan Jones by Nina Berry (Pagan Jones # 1)

Series: Pagan Jones # 1
Format: Hardcover, 400 pages
Release Date: May 26, 2015
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Source: Library
Genre: YA, Historical Fiction

Pagan Jones went from America’s sweetheart to fallen angel in one fateful night in 1960: the night a car accident killed her whole family. Pagan was behind the wheel and driving drunk. Nine months later, she’s stuck in the Lighthouse Reformatory for Wayward Girls and tortured by her guilt—not to mention the sadistic Miss Edwards, who takes special delight in humiliating the once-great Pagan Jones. 

But all of that is about to change. Pagan’s old agent shows up with a mysterious studio executive, Devin Black, and an offer. Pagan will be released from juvenile detention if she accepts a juicy role in a comedy directed by award-winning director Bennie Wexler. The shoot starts in West Berlin in just three days. If Pagan’s going to do it, she has to decide fast—and she has to agree to a court-appointed “guardian,” the handsome yet infuriating Devin, who’s too young, too smooth, too sophisticated to be some studio flack. 

The offer’s too good to be true, Berlin’s in turmoil and Devin Black knows way too much about her—there’s definitely something fishy going on. But if anyone can take on a divided city, a scheming guardian and the criticism of a world that once adored her, it’s the notorious Pagan Jones. What could go wrong?

*Key Characters* Pagan Jones, Devin Black, Thomas Kruger

The Notorious Pagan Jones is the first chapter in Nina Berry's Pagan Jones series. 16-year old Pagan Jones was once an up and coming actress who had a bright future ahead of her. She won a Golden Globe award and a British Academy Film Award (BAFA). She could have been the next Marilyn Monroe if she had kept her head on straight. But, that was before her mother Eva died, which led her to become a major alcoholic, which lead her to driving her car that killed her remaining family; her father and younger sister Ava. 

Sentenced to TWO years at the Lighthouse Reformatory for Wayward Girls and tortured by the sadistic Miss Edwards, Pagan is offered a second chance at redemption, and perhaps more by her studio heads. Pagan is offered the part in a comedic movie called "Neither Here Nor There" directed by the famous Bennie Wexler who she knows very well. But, of course there are catches. First, she has to travel to Berlin immediately where the show is being filmed. Second, she has to travel under the "guardianship" of Devin Black who isn't much older than she is and has his own agenda. 

Finally, she can't have one drop of alcohol under any circumstances or she loses her opportunity to prove that she's worth taking a chance on. Easy Peasy, Right? Yeah, not so much. Especially after she has to confront her ex who has moved on without her. Especially when she finds herself as a reluctant yet capable spy. Pagan also gets the rare opportunity to look into her own family's background, especially her mother and grandmother while in Berlin. There is so much secrecy surrounding Eva Pagan that I dare say that I am looking forward to the next installment to see if Berry enlightens readers into what actually happened to her, and why.

Let me gush about the realism of this story. I adore that Berry took this story to Berlin where my own father served during the Korean War. I grew up with my dad's stories, as well as my own love for history, and my time in the military. Berry puts her characters in the middle of realistic events and doesn't hold back the danger that faces them at each turn. Living in Berlin wasn't at all easy for anyone outside of the Communist Party. Thousands of East Germans flooded into West Berlin to get away from the communist regime of Walter Ulbricht that was nearly as oppressive as Stalin's.

Berlin was a city divided into sections by former allies the USA, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. It was Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev against US President John F. Kennedy. It was a time when school children everywhere drilled daily in hopes that we could survive a nuclear war. If you want to do your own research to test out my statements, please do. If you are younger than 30, thank the Lord and your parents that we didn't blow the world up!

This story takes place 8 months before baby Shelley came into the world. Shocking as that may be, but it's true! I lived through the Cold War, I even served in the military during this period. For Berry to take Pagan and put her into a role of being a down and out actress trying to regain her swag and her self-esteem and then tossing her into the middle of one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century, the building of the Berlin War that took everyone for surprise was amazing. I will absolutely recommend this book to everyone even with Pagan's weaknesses, and her past actions. There is such as thing as forgiveness, even if it means forgiving yourself for past mistakes.

The second installment in this series is called City of Spies. The book will release last this year. I look forward to closing certain aspects of THIS story. I want to find out more about Pagan's own mother and why she died. 

Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble | Kobo