The Specialists: The Complete Teen Spy Thriller Series

The Specialists #1-5

by Shannon Greenland

This box set includes all five books in the bestselling, award winning teen spy series, The Specialists. It's 1500+ pages full of intrigue, adventure, bad guys, fun gadgets, and romance.

Teen genius Kelly James is in a lot of hot water. A whiz with computers, she agrees to help her college RA, David, uncover some top-secret information. After all, she doesn't have many friends and David has always been nice to her. It doesn't hurt that he's super cute and irresistible, too. All she has to do is hack into the government's main computer system.

But a few hours later, her whole life changes. She is caught and taken in for questioning, only this isn't your run-of-the-mill arrest. Rather than serve a juvenile detention sentence, she accepts the option to change her name and enlist in a secret government spy agency that trains teen agents to go undercover.

As if that wasn't overwhelming enough, she discovers that David works for this agency as well! And before she even begins to understand what is going on, she's sent on her first mission as an undercover model. And who better to partner with than David himself!

Genres: Young Adult, Romance

776 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 16, 2017

About the author

Shannon Greenland is the award-winning and best-selling author of Middle Grade, Young Adult, and Adult books. She grew up in Tennessee where she dreaded all things reading and writing. She didn’t even read her first book for enjoyment until she was twenty-five. After that, she was hooked! When she’s not writing, she's usually traveling or hanging out with a rogue armadillo that frequents her backyard.

Reviews

[Rebecca Reddell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where to begin? I LOVED this series by Author Shannon Greenland. Once I received the boxed set, I don't think I stopped reading until forced. I spent a handful of days tearing through the pages, laughing, sniffing, and absolutely LOVING this series!!!

It had a wonderful plot, great research, and believable characters. The worlds this author built in every single one of her five books are AMAZING!!! I felt as if I was along on every adventure. I could see what they saw and hear what they heard. The scenery was different for every book and allowed me to mentally take a short vacation with The Specialists. However, it was always nice to get home to their base, where I could picture them all making fitting in and creating a family unit there.

Did I mention that I LOVE this series?!

I LOVED the main character Kelly, aka GiGi. She is funny, intelligent, and easy to like. Her flaws make her personable and loveable. The fact that she is a computer whiz is icing on the cake. She can crack any code, and even though I haven't a clue what she's talking about, I enjoy her recitations whenever she gets nervous or is trying to create something new. GiGi is brilliant, fun, and caring. I love her interaction with all of the characters and how their stories develop together.

All of the characters are brilliant! They work well together, and their personalities and backgrounds are so diverse. It is fabulous how the author describes them, shows their strengths and weaknesses throughout the books, and brings them together as top-notch spies who ultimately end up a family. Each one makes every story even better. They all get their turn in the spotlight, and it's magical.

I'm addicted to this series now, and I wish there were more than five books!!! This story has everything you need if you love: YA, spies, secret organizations, were a fan of Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys or any other crime-fighting books, journies to foreign places, bad guys getting taken down, humor, romance, and the truth that family is more than just blood.

Although I would have loved a little more to the ending, I felt it was wrapped up a little quickly in book five, this is a series I will happily reread in the future!!!

If you couldn't tell, I love this series. It's been a while since I've been this obsessed with a series, and I'm not ashamed, lol. I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone for a fresh, entertaining, comedic, thoroughly enjoyable read!!!

*In all fairness, I had the cool opportunity to get a free copy of The Specialists: The Complete Series boxed set to do a review. This in no way persuaded my review. This series is really just freakin' awesome. Thanks, Author Shannon Greenland for giving me the chance to read your complete series!!!

Wait. Did I mention I LOVE this series?! ;)

[Geo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thank the author for the free copy I received for an honest review. This was my first time reading this series. I found the premise of the story intriguing and dived right in. Admittedly, at the beginning, I didn't like GiGi that much. I found her to be too nice if anything and she let people run all over her. The other Specialists on her team, I quite liked from the beginning. I was disheartened by that fact and almost stopped reading it, but nevertheless, I trudged on. As GiGi settled more into her role as a Specialist and completed the various tasks and missions assigned to her, I began to see her in a new light. She grew into herself and I became quite proud of her. I loved the fact that she didn't change over-night and you get to witness her progress. Even when she had been on multiple missions and witnessed various scenarios, her characteristics and mannerisms didn't really change much and what I initially found mildly annoying became quite endearing. I loved how the prologues of the sequels described how the other kids on her team got to be there and I found myself growing closer to them, both individually and as a team. As for the relationship between GiGi and David, I found it to be quite sweet and was moved by how they came to admit their feelings for each other and how it blossomed into a new kind of relationship. All in all, I would not be disappointed if there was more stories regarding them or even Specialist Team One, TL and Nalani, and even Chapling who became my favorite character in the whole series.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay I didn't really know if I would like these book because I like romance of some kind and I figured there would be none. Low and behold there is some juicy stuff in this box set. I loved every book. Gigi and David and fantastic together. All the team are strong. I loved the bond that they all had together. Loved every aspect of the missions and how each one seemed to be of importance to a team member. Cannot believe TL decided to leave but I completely understand why he did and I think it was the right thing. Loved Gigi's characters she cracked me up. This book is all about the missions but does have a hint of romance. Each character is so complex and individual in there own way and blended to make the perfect disfunctional family and team. Shocked by all the smarts in this book. The author really knew what she was writing about. I hope she writes some more books about the characters and Sandy the new end character.

" I recieved an ARC Copy of this book."

[Gea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve not yet emerged from these books. Just read one after another and couldn’t stop.
It feels like I have just returned from a mission and I have to go into debriefing. But so much has happened and I don’t know where to start.
Yes it was great, heartwarming and also gruesome at times!
The characters were believable, sometimes I forgot most of them were so young. It was awesome to see and feel them maturing through their experiences and choices.

NL:
Ik ben nog niet echt los van de boeken. Heb gewoon de een na de ander gelezen en kon niet stoppen.
Het voelt of ik net terug ben van een missie en in debriefing moet. Er is zoveel gebeurd en ik weet niet waar ik moet beginnen.
Ja het was geweldig, hartverwarmend en soms ook hartverscheurend.
De hoofdpersonen waren geloofwaardig, soms vergat ik wel dat ze zo jong waren.
Het was byzonder mooi ze volwassen te zien worden door hun keuzes en ervaringen.

[Cherokee - Books With A Chance · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I recieved this series for free in exchange for an honest review*

When I first started reading this series. I didn't like Kelly (Gigi) very much. She seemed too whiny, I supposed. But I enjoyed watching her grow into her final character, even if sometimes her hormonal teenage girl came out.
I loved that the author packed adventure, humor, love, loss, and romance into these five books so there is a little bit of everything for everyone.
I was also thrilled that she gave background stories on pretty much all the characters, this enable me to connect with the other teammates.
It's an amazing series that I will pass on to my nieces, they love books with strong female leads/characters!
The author left the ending open for more potential books, and I certainly hope she does.

[Jennifer Olivas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hey, I'm in my forties, and I loved this series! I loved how each book explored a specific character more in depth, with the last book in the series focusing on the back story of two characters. I absolutely adored the sweet romance between Gigi and David. I thought the the missions that all of the characters were sent on were very interesting, and always kept me on the edge of my seat. Being teen spies, there were plenty of secrets to unearth and mysteries to solve. Their missions take you to many different exotic locales, which is fun. Overall, great characters, and really interesting and fun adventures. My only complaint is that I want more stories about The Specialists. Please, Shannon Greenland?

[The Mysterious Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I downloaded Shannon Greenland’s The Specialists: The Complete Teen Spy Thriller Series on something of a whim. The “teen spy” part was not something that would typically excite me but the blurb looked like fun so I figured “why not”. I am glad that I took the chance. Kelly James, aka Genius Girl, aka GiGi and the gang have an amazing set of adventures (and a bit of romance) in these volumes as the Specialists become as much a family as an elite unit. Truly well written and just plain fun. Wonderful stuff. But for the fact that I’m literally dictating this review to my husband from my hospital bed I could go on and on with praises - the boxset definitely deserves it. Since I can’t do that I will simply note that the boxset is most definitely one to read, it is easy to highly recommend.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this series from the author via Voracious Readers Only. I actually read the first two books in this series a couple of years ago but never finished the rest of them. When I reread them, I remembered how much I had enjoyed them the first time around and was happy to continue the rest of the series. These books had a perfect combination of relationship and character development mixed with espionage and a bit of humor added to keep it all entertaining. I would love to see a spin-off series for some of the characters, or even another book from Gigi’s perspective years down the road.

[Home School Mum 3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic

Wow, I have so loved reading this series, it was the best from beginning to end. I wanted to read it and read it. I would love to see more from them in the future. Would also make a great series on netflix

[Marlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thrilling

Each story was filled with drama, suspense, some romance, and so much more. Can be read individually, but I was delighted in reading the series. Will be looking for more books by this author

[Scott Wall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun stories

Fun stories but a little to mushy. But if you like that you will like these stories. I got this set from bookbub.com

[psvansc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

Great characters, great storyline and great ending. And she left it open for the potential for more, which I would love to read!

[Hel Ellison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good