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This is my stop during the blog tour for My Not So Normal Life: Spy Recruit by Liz Laz. This blog tour is organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The blog tour runs from 29 May till 18 June. See the tour schedule here.

My Not So Normal Life: Spy RecruitMy Not So Normal Life: Spy Recruit (My Not So Normal Life #1) by Liz Laz
Genre: Fiction/ Action/ Adventure
Age category: Middle Grade
Release Date: May 23, 2017
Blurb: My name is Lily Anne Gemorski. I am not your normal eleven-year-old. I am a spy. I speak four languages and know how to defend against someone three times my size.
As a new recruit, I have learned a lot about being a spy. What I haven't learned is how to lie to my best friend, Becky; or how to get my team captain to stop hating me.

 You can find My Not So Normal Life: Spy Recruit on Goodreads

You can buy My Not So Normal Life: Spy Recruit on Amazon

Liz Laz’s Top Ten Spy Movies: 

I have been obsessed with anything spy related since birth. I have an eclectic list of my favorite movies with some serious, some satirical and others that would never have made any critic’s top ten list. The list is done in chronological order of when the movies were released. 


  1. Undercover Blues (1993) -- Dennis Quaid and Kathleen Turner are spies on vacation in New Orleans with their baby who help stop an arms traders. This movie is probably objectively awful (Stanley Tucci’s accent is laughable) but I could watch this movie forever. 
  2. True Lies (1994) -- The bathroom shoot-out scene and the chase scene that followed made the movie for me. 
  3. The Bourne Identity (2002) -- I had begun writing My Not So Normal Life: Spy Recruit when I first went to see The Bourne Identity. I love the filming locations and the reality of the fights. It was a little overwhelming when I first watched, as I was used to the PG rated violence in other spy movies, but once I got over the initial shock I really liked all the action. 
  4. Johnny English(2003) -- This is a satirical movie starring Rowan Atkinson aka Mr. Bean. Johnny English is a bumbling idiot who considers himself James Bond. I started laughing during the opening credits and continued laughing until the title credits. 
  5. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005) -- I especially love the husband and wife spy stories and the stories where a spy’s double life catches up to them. This movie has both. The fight scene between the title characters is great to watch as is the end fight scene where the pair are fighting together.
  6. Get Smart (2008) -- I grew up watching re-runs of Get Smart the tv show with my dad. So when Steve Carell starred as Secret Agent Maxwell Smart and Anne Hathaway starred as Agent 99, my whole family was there the opening weekend. It’s not the funniest movie, but did have a lot of references to the original tv show and I liked how Agent 99 was more of an action star. 
  7. Taken (2008) -- This make have one of the most quoted lines in a spy movie (which I still quote). The other two movies aren’t as good as this first one, but the non-stop action and Liam Neeson’s portrayal of a former CIA agent trying to save his daughter make this movie a must see. Just don’t watch if you are a young woman planning to go to Paris alone in the near future, it may make you a little on edge.  
  8. Salt (2010) -- Angelina Jolie is a very good action star. I don’t want to give too much away with the movie, though it’s been out for 7 years, but it had good twists and deceptions that I appreciate in a good spy movie. 
  9. Skyfall (2012) -- I don’t think any spy movie list would be complete without at least one James Bond movie. This one is my favorite of all the James Bond movies, Dame Judy Dench was amazing. And I thought there were some very surprising twists. I like the newer movies because they are less cheesy that older James Bond movies. 
  10. Spy (2016) -- Melissa McCarthy made this movie. While I could have done without some of the crude language and jokes, the physical comedy that Melissa has as spy make the movie worth seeing. 

About the Author: Liz Laz began writing as a child and penned her first novel, My Not So Normal Life: Spy Recruit at the age of 15. Liz continued writing in her spare time while attending college at Dominican University and law school at the John Marshall Law School. Liz works as an insurance attorney and writes in her spare time. Liz loves binge watching Parks and Recreation and 30 Rock on Netflix, traveling, and spending time with her family and friends. Liz lives with her rescue dog, Robin Hood, just outside of Chicago.

You can find and contact Liz Laz here:

- Website
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Goodreads