Review: I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter

Publisher: Orchard
Where did you get this book: Purchased
Release date: Out now

Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school-that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it’s really a school for spies. Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she’s an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real “pavement artist”-but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her? Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she’s on her most dangerous mission-falling in love.

*blurb taken from Goodreads*

I’ve been meaning for quite some time to check out Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls’ series. I was in a independent bookshop (yes, I shocked myself) and I was so surprised to see a quite a good collection of titles available. I ended up buying the paperback (sorry, my precious Kindle) as an impulse.

Whilst I liked the story, it also happens to be one of the rare times where in likelihood I won’t be picking up the series again, mainly because I found the story and actions too YA for me. Cammie is a 15 year old spy in training at the Gallagher Academy, and her mother is the Headmistress, who also happens to be an ex CIA agent. The academy only takes the smartest and brightest pupils, and most of the pupils at the academy are the daughters of spies. Cammie is used to the way of life in the academy, but things change when she meets a boy, Josh. Josh is a normal boy that goes to a normal school and has a normal life. Cammie can’t tell Josh who she is, and what school she goes to and what she actually is. So Cammie embarks on a mission herself where she has no choice but to lie to Josh, and to her mother about their relationship. Soon though, Cammie is caught between what she wants with Josh, and her life as a spy as a Gallagher Girl.

The setup did remind me of the St Trinian films, but instead of misbehaving school kids, you have spies. Whilst I think it has a entertaining storyline, I found that everything was just too simple and there wasn’t a lot of depth or excitement to the story. It’s very much a light read, and at times it comes off as quite fluffy where there is not a lot of substance to the characters and the situations they are in. Cammie’s issues are that of a teenager where the main focus of the story is Josh, and how she uses her skills as a spy to get closer to him, and where Cammie and her friends, Bex and Liz, hack computers to read his emails.

Cammie is a likeable heroine along with her best friends, but overall I just found everything too easy and simple. There’s not a lot of issues that Cammie has to deal with, except for her mum finding out about Josh. I think the classes of learning how to be a spy were the strongest points of the book. This book had promise though with the whole set up of a girl spy school, and the relationship between Cammie and her mum was very sweet.

Depending on the development in the next books, I may pick up this series to see where it leads. All in all, the first Gallagher book is fun, but don’t expect a lot depth and emotions from the characters.

I give it a C.