Review – Jessica Cole Model Spy Fashion Assassin by Sarah Sky

The 1st January 2015 marked the release day of the second book in the Jessica Cole Model Spy Series – Fashion Assassin by author Sarah Sky published by Scholastic. I am very excited to have been sent a copy of both this book and the first in the series Code Red Lipstick (find my review here) by the lovely Sarah Sky.

I am over the moon to be part of the wonderful review only blog tour for this series and for my stop on the tour I will be reviewing Fashion Assassin!

Thank you to both Scholastic and Faye Rogers for having me on this wonderful tour.

Ps – Jessica Cole has officially taken over my blog for the day!

Models, spies and lipstick gadgets in this fast-paced teen series. Supermodel Jessica Cole has no intention of ever spying again after she was nearly killed by an embittered ex-model and a rogue MI6 agent. That is until she’s blackmailed into posing undercover as bodyguard to a very rich fellow model. What seems like a simple job aboard a luxurious yacht in Monaco soon turns into a deadly mission to stop the most dangerous weapon in the world falling into the wrong hands. Jessica will need every gadget in her make-up bag if she wants to get out of this one alive.

Publisher – Scholastic

Date Published – 1st January 2015

Pages – 352 pages

Format – Paperback

Category – UK YA, Contemporary / Crime YA 

Source –

I was sent a copy of this book by the wonderful author Sarah Sky as a gift.  This does not affect my review or my opinions in any way and am delighted to write an honest review.  Thank you Sarah for sending this to me to read!

** Please note Tales Of Yesterday Reviews are written as spoiler free as possible**

Again, like Code Red Lipstick (the first in the Jessica Cole Series) I will be starting this review off with a huge wow!

Wow!  What a sequel to Code Red Lipstick!  Again this 2nd book in this series had everything!  Jessica remained a strong, cool main character with super cool gadgets, super gorgeous dresses, a trip to Monaco and a super luxury yacht!  What more could I ask for!  I loved every second of reading this book and Sarah Sky pulls you right into the action, danger and suspense with twisty turns, a rich Russian family, some new and old familiar faces and a ghost!

Fashion Assassin moves us six months on from the ending of Code Red Lipstick where we find Jessica has been struggling for modelling work due to her name being tarnished by an MI6 agent with a grudge! With her Dad unwell in hospital and her godfather in a coma Jessica is taking all the modelling jobs she can to help out back home.  She is then blackmailed and forced into a mission that will test her skills and patience!  On the plus side she gets to stay on a luxury Yacht in Monaco !  On the downside she cannot tell her family, boyfriend or best friend that she has accepted this mission to protect them as well as a spoilt brat called Kat who’s gold teethed dad pampers her every need and tells Jessica that some one is threatening to kill Kat! As a matter of national and international security Jessica may be facing her hardest mission yet!  It’s lucky Jessica does not believe in ghosts as she is about to receive a ghostly message!

Jessica must remember her Dad’s rules – Notice everything.  Question everything.  When in trouble, do absolutely anything to get away!

Phew…..what an action packed summary!

Straight from the offset this book pulled me in and got me fully intrigued with a brilliant prologue!  The prologue tells the story of pop star Madison who whilst attending the Grammy’s wears a million dollar diamond necklace and this is when we first encounter the mysterious ghost!  This sets up the book brilliantly and made me immediately want to read more!

This book had some great characters!  Old and new!  One of my favourite characters was Kat who’s love for Kesha (the popstar) knows no bounds!  Yes she was annoying and very frustrating and that is exactly how she is meant to come across – that’s her character but I loved her strops and tantrums as they gave me as a reader a bit of a giggle amongst all of the action and goings on.  Jessica aptly names her Kat the Brat and Kat is her Dad’s little kotik – little cat!

Fashion Assassin does not fail on gadgets for Jessica either!  At one point I almost cried when Jessica was told she was not allowed any gadgets on this mission!  WHAT!  I shrieked at my book and then felt Sarah Sky had done exactly what she set out to do in her writing as when the gadgets were given to Jessica they were AMAZING!  Some gadget highlights for me were a Chanel lipstick movement sensor with diamond earrings that will alert Jessica if the sensor is triggered!  I was highly disappointed I did not get these for valentines day yesterday! 🙂  There was also a charm bracelet with explosives, a pendant necklace which would provide oxygen for seven minutes if deprived of oxygen or underwater and a gold Rolex watch with wire stronger than steel and a laser to cut through steel also!  These are simply must have’s for any model spy….and I simply want them in my life too!  I loved seeing one of my old favourites from Code Red Lipstick making an appearance again too…the loose powder compact where you blow the powder at a suspect to knock them out, but this time with extra modifications including a photograph scanner and fingerprint storage facility!  Wow!  Love!  Love! Love!

I think the reason I loved this book so much was that with every page turn there was tension and mystery or even a twist which turned all my theory’s upside down even when I thought I had it sussed!  The ending was full on action packed and I could not turn the pages fast enough!  With the pacing being perfect and my heart racing faster I flew through this book and it didn’t disappoint and with a very intriguing last line in the book I can’t wait for the next instalment of the wonderful Jessica Cole series!

I would recommend this book to any one looking for an action packed adventure with a hint of mystery, humour and a kick ass heroine!

If ever I were in trouble I would call Jessica Cole….or if she’s not available definitely Sarah Sky who is a master of Karate and could do some serious damage! *gulps*

PS – if my husband is reading this I will now also like a trip to Monaco as well as Paris!  Hint Hint Hint!  Don’t give me that look…you can blame Sarah Sky for introducing me to these wonderful places in her books and taking me on a fictional adventure that I want to see for myself as they sound so beautiful!

And a million dollar yacht wouldn’t go a miss either 😉

I award this book 5 out of 5 Tales Of Yesterday Books!

You can buy this book, Jessica Cole Model Spy Fashion Assassin, book two in the series here

Or why not add it to your to read list on good reads here

For a previous tour following the release of Fashion Assassin I did a spotlight feature which included some super facts about Jessica Cole!  You can check this out here.

I also did a feature asking Sarah if music influenced Jessica Cole – here

I also caught up with Sarah at #UKYAExtravaganza in Feb 2015 where I asked her some quick fire questions – here

With Fashion Assassin being the 2nd book in this series I read and loved the first in the series also, Code Red Lipstick.  Check out my spoiler free review here

You can buy Code Red Lipstick here

Or add it on your to be read list on Goodreads here

I can’t wait to read book three – Catwalk Criminal which is out June 2015 and was recently talked about at the Scholastic Blogger Book Brunch that I attended and sounds awesome!  You can pre-order this book here.

In June 2015 I read and review this book – check out my review here

About The Author –  Sarah Sky

Sarah Sky is the author of Scholastic’s Jessica Cole: Model Spy series with Code Red Lipstick and Fashion Assassin. Catwalk Criminal is published in June 2015.

Sarah is a freelance education journalist and lives in West London with her husband and two young children.

She grew up in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, and studied English at Nottingham University before gaining a post-graduate diploma in journalism at Cardiff University. 

She trained as a journalist at the Western Daily Press in Bristol. Her highlight was interviewing screen legend Charlton Heston and lowest point was being sneezed on by a cow at a fatstock competition.

Sarah worked as an education correspondent for a national newspaper before going freelance. She now divides her time between journalism and writing.

She loves reading, baking, table tennis and martial arts. She’s a green belt in kick-boxing and a brown with two white stripes at karate, currently training for black.

You can find out more about Sarah Sky and Jessica Cole by visiting her website – www.sarahsky.co.uk and on Goodreads here.

Or you can follow Sarah on twitter – @sarahsky23

Fashion Assassin Review Only Blog Tour

Want to checkout some more reviews of this fab book?  Visit the rest of the tour stops to see what everyone thought!

Have you read Fashion Assassin or any of the Jessica Cole series?  What did you think?  Has this review made you want to go grab a copy?  Do you have any super cool gadgets I should know about?  I would love to here from you!  Why not leave a comment using the reply button at the top of this review or tweet me on twitter using @chelleytoy!

Happy Reading….or maybe spying and you might be undercover!