Covert Youth Agency: The Case of Tangled Love by Jason Ancona

Who: Jason Ancona
What: Cover Youth Agency: The Case of Tangled Love
When: August 2nd, 2010
Why: Blog Tour
How: For review

An elite group of nerds fight injustices by running a
clandestine operation in high school. The C.Y.A., a.k.a. Covert Youth Agency,
hacked into the digital school sign and posted their message: - - - If ever
you're in need of help and you have nowhere else to go, seek out the C.Y.A.
We're always watching and we're here for you - - - Peter "Pi" Samuels, a
fourteen-year-old sophomore, runs the shadow operation. Pi's obsessed with the
high school band's lead violinist, who's as beautiful as the music she plays.
When she contacts the C.Y.A. to find out if her boyfriend cheated on her at a
party, Pi's objective becomes clear. Prove that her beau was unfaithful. Then
maybe Pi will be the perfect shoulder to cry on. Pi schemes to destroy his
love's boy-toy, all while avoiding a deranged coach bent on exposing an
untraceable geek squad for hire. The Covert Youth Agency.

Covert Youth Agency was a fun, quick read that included two awesome things: The CIA and love.

The plot was pretty awesome! I mean, who wouldn't want to be a part of a secret school CIA that rights the wrongs of students and teachers? The CYA, Covert Youth Agency, is a group of "nerds" who band together to solve the problems of students who need their help!

Peter, better known as Pi, is pretty much the main dude behind this ingenious system of the CYA. Along with Tollhouse, his best friend, and Lightman, a chick with awesome brains and not-so-awesome social skills, they take up their next case. Which so happens to be the case of his friend and major crush, Vera. Pi was so awkwardly adorable, that it was hard not to like his character. Tollhouse reminded me of a giant teddybear and Lightman seemed like the kind of girl i'd get alone with pretty well!

The writing is very simple, not heavy on description and lots of dialogue between the characters. I'd recommend this for younger readers, Middle Grade and up. I also loved how readers could actually interact with the story and especially the ladybug code at the end of the book that Jason leaves for you to decipher (i'm still working on that!) Also, he's set up a CYA website to help out teens and you can apply certain things from the book into it!

All in all, cute and light read for all ages!
My rating: AHHH-Great

Happy Reading!
-Harmony