I'd Tell You That I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter--Book review
Last night I finished I'D TELL YOU THAT I LOVE YOU BUT THEN I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU. I picked up the book as market research--my Shiny New Project is a potential series set in a high school for world domination--and I wanted to see what sort of books were out there. I'D TELL YOU ... is a fun read narrated by Cammie Morgan, who attends the all-girls Gallagher Academy (a.k.a. spy school) where the students study Covert Operations and crack codes for the NSA for extra credit. Her mother is the Headmistress and her father was killed on a mission. She's a girl with a history who is destined to join the family business. That fact that she's good at it is a secondary consideration. In this book, Cammie meets a regular, average, nothing-special-about-him-except-he's-her-soulmate-boy while on a school assignment. She's undercover, so she tells him lies about her life. At the end of the semester her cover gets blown and she has to decide if she wants to be a normal girl or a spy.
Since there are several more books in the series, it goes without saying which life she chooses. While I enjoyed reading this--Cammie's voice is fun and believable, as is the setting--my adult self had a problem with the falling-in-love part of the book. While I understand Cammie's lies about herself are a part of being undercover, the underlying message of them was "like what he likes, don't be yourself, do whatever it takes to get him to like you." This message is complicated by the spy angle. All of those actions are acceptable (and dare I say necessary) to a spy winning over a subject. However, I had a problem with a strong teenage girl who knows fourteen languages and can kill a man with uncooked spaghetti picking a favorite ice cream flavor, not because it's her favorite, but because she knows it's his. In the end, Cammie stays true to herself by revealing her lies to her boyfriend (ultimately sacrificing the relationship), which I felt redeemed the story.
I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun, quick read.
Since there are several more books in the series, it goes without saying which life she chooses. While I enjoyed reading this--Cammie's voice is fun and believable, as is the setting--my adult self had a problem with the falling-in-love part of the book. While I understand Cammie's lies about herself are a part of being undercover, the underlying message of them was "like what he likes, don't be yourself, do whatever it takes to get him to like you." This message is complicated by the spy angle. All of those actions are acceptable (and dare I say necessary) to a spy winning over a subject. However, I had a problem with a strong teenage girl who knows fourteen languages and can kill a man with uncooked spaghetti picking a favorite ice cream flavor, not because it's her favorite, but because she knows it's his. In the end, Cammie stays true to herself by revealing her lies to her boyfriend (ultimately sacrificing the relationship), which I felt redeemed the story.
I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun, quick read.