Blog Tour: Orphan Monster Spy

I’m so excited to be participating in the blog tour for Orphan Monster Spy today! Thank you so much to Viking Books and Penguin Young Readers for sending me a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Title: Orphan Monster Spy

Author: Matt Killeen

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers

Rating: 5 Stars

Synopsis: Her name is Sarah. She’s blonde, blue-eyed, and Jewish in 1939 Germany. And her act of resistance is about to change the world.

After her mother is shot at a checkpoint, fifteen-year-old Sarah meets a mysterious man with an ambiguous accent, a suspiciously bare apartment, and a lockbox full of weapons. He’s part of the secret resistance against the Third Reich, and he needs Sarah to hide in plain sight at a school for the daughters of top Nazi brass, posing as one of them. If she can befriend the daughter of a key scientist and get invited to her house, she might be able to steal the blueprints to a bomb that could destroy the cities of Western Europe. Nothing could prepare Sarah for her cutthroat schoolmates, and soon she finds herself in a battle for survival unlike any she’d ever imagined. But anyone who underestimates this innocent-seeming girl does so at their peril. She may look sweet, but she’s the Nazis’ worst nightmare.

Review: Holy cow. This story was intense. It constantly had me on the edge of my seat. Most of the YA books I’ve read recently are fantasy or contemporary. So while they’re all fantastic in their own right, Orphan Monster Spy brought something completely different to the table. It explores the atrocities of WWII and Nazi Germany from the perspective of a young girl who has just lost everything and must fight to survive.

The research was very thoroughly done and Matt Killeen really brings Sarah’s world to life for the reader. This of course means that there are a lot of very uncomfortable things that happen throughout the story. So if you are sensitive to violence, tread with caution.

All that aside, Sarah is such a fantastic character. We see her struggle with not only everything going on in the country around her, but on a smaller scale, the horrifying things that are allowed to go on at her school. I was constantly amazed at her bravery in situations and her kindness despite her past.

This entire book was a true nail bitter and even terrifying at times. It was a fantastic dive into YA historical fiction and I definitely look forward to reading more of Matt Killeen’s work in the future.

Author Bio: Matt Killeen was born in Birmingham, in the UK, back when trousers were wide and everything was brown. Early instruction in his craft included being told that a drawing of a Cylon exploding isn’t writing and copying-out your mother’s payslip isn’t an essay “about my family.” Several alternative careers beckoned, some involving laser guns and guitars, before he finally returned to words and attempted to make a living as an advertising copywriter and largely ignored music and sports journalist. He now writes for the world’s best loved toy company, as it wasn’t possible to be an X-wing pilot. Married to his Nuyorican soul mate, he is parent to both an unfeasibly clever teenager and a toddler who is challenging his father’s anti-establishment credentials by repeatedly writing on the walls. He accidently moved to the countryside in 2016.

Follow the rest of the tour!

WEEK ONE

3/12 – Crossroad Reviews – Review

3/13 – Twinning for Books – Q&A

3/14 – Live To Read – Review

3/15 – Spinatale Reviews – Review + Creative Picture

3/16 – Bookworm Banter – Review

WEEK TWO

3/19 – The Young Folks – Playlist

3/20 – Cracking the Cover – Review

3/21 – Bookish Connoisseur – Review

3/22 – Bookfoolery – Review