The Most Badass of Them All

“Get away from my daughter before I shoot you.” – Steve Owens

A Secret Service

Joy Jenkins

Amazon Kindle (Published ver.)

Wattpad

15 December 2020

407 pages

Synopsis:

Carter Owens, daughter of a Secret Service agent, is trained to disassemble any weapon, any situation, and anyone. Her biting sarcasm and razor-sharp mind make her impossible to beat in a word fight and when talking doesn’t work, she uses her fists. She attends Hamilton Prep, Washington D.C.’s most prestigious high school, where everyone is related to someone in power, except her.

When Hamilton Prep receives a flood of new students, Carter’s role as social outcast changes when she makes two unexpected friends. Friends who are hiding a secret. As Carter uncovers the truth, she confronts challenges she is unequipped to handle and finds herself in a dangerous situation.

For a girl trained to see everything, Carter never saw this coming.

Ria: OKAY! Before we start. This review is based on the published version NOT the Wattpad version of A Secret Service. I highly recommend buying a copy of the published version but you can also read the story on Wattpad for free. Take note that there are changes in the published version compared to the original version.

A Secret Service showcases Carter Owens as the hero in this story. She is the (absolute) badass character with great skills, cutting-edge comebacks, and a personality to match. Simply put, I absolutely love her (who doesn’t tbh). A Secret Service follows Carter and how she made friends (for the first time!) with two of the new transferees – Link and Donovan (#1 bae). From there, she learns more about her new friends, the oddities of their relationship, and maybe fight a few bad guys along the way.

At the start, we learn about Carter immediately – her relationship with her father (Steve is a god-tier fiction dad xD), her personality, and the fact she has combat skills. Her sense of humor and observant nature were also seen immediately in the first two chapters, and her ability to deduce many things from what she sees is on another level. She also has a sense of protectiveness when she meets Link and forms a friendship with him, and annoyance at Donovan (Tsunderes must-read) when they first met. We also see how she is seen as an outcast in school, with no friends and only comebacks to those around her.

Ria: Okay, so there is a lot to talk about in this book. First off, the very first plot of the story – Carter finding out about Link’s secret. This whole fiasco really happened due to Carter’s observant nature and accidentally tackling Link. We see how Carter’s attitude of wanting to be correct comes out. She pushes Link to confess to her despite knowing how much Link hates this truth about himself. I like how Carter’s stubbornness is shown and how it has become a toxic kind – pushing for what is right even though she will be hitting Link’s deep wound. Her not knowing how to work friendship is also seen. Having been an outcast for four years in the prestigious school shows well and we see how she grows to be a better friend to Link and Donovan throughout.

Jhanya: First and foremost, I would just like to warn you all that I have read this book twice, and its Wattpad version at least 4 times. Just so that everyone has an idea of how much I adore this book.

Moving on, Link’s Identity arc in the book was very well written. From the puzzle pieces of who Link is, to the way Carter reacted when she found out about his father and how it was a turning point for Carter’s personality. As someone who never had actual friends her age and had a habit of telling people off, Carter never really knew much about boundaries and how to “be a friend” to someone. After forcing Link to tell her she was right, Carter had to face the consequences of being “too smart” for the first time in her life. She realized that just because Link was her friend, doesn’t mean that she can do whatever she wants to prove her point about something personal to him. This really changes how Carter acts as a friend to both the guys throughout the rest of the book. In this part, we also see how much Donovan really cares about Link, and how he would stand up for and with him, job or not.

Ria: The second problem actually comes during Carter and Link’s fight. With Carter’s father being a Secret Service agent, he is essentially a human shield to the President and because of this, he got shot. Carter and her father are undeniably close. From the first scene, Carter’s relationship with her father is already seen – how she fiercely loves her father, how they even have nicknames for each other, Captain and Sarge, and how close they are, always spending time together in the shooting range or doing one of the training courses with other agents. She and her father have a relationship, which to be honest, I am quite envious of. So naturally, Carter is absolutely and utterly crushed when she hears that her father has been shot. Fortunately, her father’s shot went through and only a minor surgery was done. Even so, Carter prioritizes her father over herself. She stayed beside him the whole first night leading her to be exhausted the next day in school. We see Carter’s loving and caring side. We see how much she prioritizes her father and how much he means to her. In contrast to Carter being blunt, loud, and insulting, we see her gentleness, love, and worry for her father. Their relationship is tested later on in a crucial point of the story, however.

Jhanya: Captain (one of the best fiction dads, imho) is the person that Carter values the most. From the very beginning, the Captain and Sarge dynamic has been a huge highlight (it’s literally in the first chapter). So when Carter saw a secret service agent outside their apartment upon getting home, you can really see how much she panicked and also feel how much pain she is in, especially since she still had the fight with Link.

Ria: Another major plot point is Carter’s relationship with her mom. Ever since Carter’s mom ran off, she’s had major trust issues. Throughout this event, we see how conflicted Carter is. She still blames herself for her mother leaving their family and with that, she’s painted her to be a monster since she cannot rationally comprehend the reason behind the departure. Here we see Carter start to open up to Link and Donovan on her problems. I think it was at this pivotal point where Carter truly starts to trust Link and Donovan more. She is sharing something only her father and Maggie know. She becomes emotionally vulnerable and open to both Link and Donovan, something she hasn’t done before.

Jhanya: In this part, we see how much Carter has changed. If the Carter that dealt with her mother was the closed-off hermit that she was, it would’ve been a totally different situation to what had happened in the book, maybe there wouldn’t even be a meeting in the first place. Yes, she didn’t really deal with it in the best way possible, but at least, this time she had people, other than Steve, to open up to, and help her deal with it. Donovan and Link were also the absolute best friends in this part, being there for Carter and trying to distract her at times.

Ria: This is also, what I’d like to think of, as the start of a change in Carter and Donovan’s relationship. Their relationship started off rocky. With Donovan acting like an actual statue, Carter was annoyed at the difficulty she had figuring him out. With the friendship Link and Carter formed, a friendship also sort of formed between Carter and Donovan. And with Donovan being the only one (other than her father) able to read Carter, Donovan and Carter formed a closer relationship of consoling and helping each other when one of them is going through something. Throughout the story, you can see how their dynamic also changes. And when her father starts acting very distant from Carter, it was Donovan who helped her get out of the slump and helped her understand the possible reasons why her father is doing this.

And! I just have to say, Carter and Donovan are one of my favorite couples ever! Legit, I love them so so so much. I love how they click so much, how they easily understand each other without even having to speak, how protective they both are of Link, and of course, their combat scenes together are really iconic.

Jhanya: Carter and Donovan… hmmm…. Where do I start with this? I guess you could say they are one of the best fiction couples to ever exist xD No exaggeration, they really are. Donovan is, in the simplest terms possible, the best match for Carter. He’s mature, level-headed, knows what he’s doing, smart, can deal with Captain Carter, hot af, and is a marine (read the book to get that reference lmao). I cannot even imagine Carter ending up with another person, especially someone her age because no one could ever keep up, both physically and mentally.

Ria: One of the biggest plot points in the book is the bombshell dropped by Carter’s father. This placed their relationship in a very rocky place but catapulted Carter and Donovan’s relationship. I don’t want to say too much as this is one of the few things I don’t want to spoil, but Carter was at her most vulnerable in front of Donovan. I loved the way Donovan comforted her. It’s the point where you can that they really know each other already.

Jhanya: To be honest, I expected Captain’s announcement. I understand why he did it, and it’s mainly because he wanted to do it, it’s his passion and he loves what he is doing which is very heroic of him. Sure, Carter is still a major factor in his decision, and I feel that, in a sense, he changed his mind because he saw that Carter wasn’t alone anymore, she has Link and Donovan with her for support too. With Carter and Donovan’s relationship, yes it grew, but after rereading it, I also saw that it’s always been there since Carter figured out who Link really is, a flirtationship one could say it was (I know all about that, of course, lmao). And the fact that they didn’t really have to verbally and physically acknowledge their feelings until the last few chapters were great. In a way, they always knew there was something, but they didn’t say anything because they were BOTH tsundere hesitant of what it would do to their relationship with Link and all that. They just really needed that push near the end to finally do something about it xD

Ria: Just before we end, I’d like to state my favorite chapters, chapters 48 to 53. Carter and Donovan in action! Okay, this is the part I don’t want to spoil. So I’ll just be saying that badass Carter and Donovan came out here. 😉🤩

We see throughout the book how the main protagonist and antagonist in the story is Carter on herself. Her difficulties with letting people in, her relationship with her mother, her being an outcast in school, and her sometimes difficult relationship with her father. We see her grow into a person who learns to let more people in, aside from her father and Maggie, and stops blaming herself for her mother’s departure. She becomes an even stronger powerhouse and powerful female character that I believe many would come to really love. She’s that badass person everyone wants to be.

Overall, A Secret Service is a read really worth it. This book had it all, a great plot, a badass female main character and two awesome male characters, different relationships, and the different relevant problems one may go through. We see the different character developments and how their experiences strengthened their relationship. This book was such a worth-it-read and I know I will never get over Carter, Link, Donovan, and their journey together. And, you can always get your daily badassery here!

Jhanya: I’d have to agree with Ria and say that the main antagonist of this story is also Carter herself. Her strengths have also been her weaknesses to a point that it changed the course of the story which is also what I love about this book. Romance isn’t really the main point of this story. It’s more about Carter’s growth as a person and how she started being more comfortable with the people around her, letting others in, after blaming herself for her mother’s departure even years after she left them in her own accord. How she also grew into even more of a badass is refreshing, In most books, the protagonists grow into badasses, but here, Carter has been from the start, and she only got stronger in the end. SEE @/other books that always have weak af MCs. You don’t need to make your characters stupid at the start just so the readers can see their “growth” at the end.

ANYWAY, before I also finish my review, I’d just like to say that some of my favorite chapters are 9, 21, 43, and 50. All in all, I love this book. Sure it has a few flaws here and there with its level of realism, but it is fiction for a reason. For the pros of this book, it showed how actions have consequences, that things never just happens for some random reason, like in other books. And that sometimes, you have to stop overthinking about things, forgive what’s already been done, and just live in the present, with the people who actually care about you. If you’re looking to read teen fiction that is different and pretty chill, I definitely recommend this book. I promise you’ll enjoy it! Fight me if you didn’t because this book has always been one of my favorites, even the MCs xD