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

Title: I'd Tell You I Love You,
But Then I'd Have to Kill You
Author: Ally Carter
Series: Gallagher Girls, #1
Format: Paperback, owned
My rating: 3 / 5
Pages: 309

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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.

-- As seen on Goodreads

My Thoughts

I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You turned out to be one of those 'I really liked it, but I didn’t love it' reads. It’s an excellent young adult book and I didn’t really have any major issues with it at all. My lack of love is not the books fault, it’s me: I think I’m a little too old to fully love and appreciate it. If I had read this back when it was first released, I know I would have LOVED it!

Gallagher Academy is seen by the local population as a private school for spoilt, privileged rich girls, but under the posh exterior lies something much more interesting: Gallagher Academy is a spy school. I liked the way academy life was portrayed, and everything I would associate with the words ‘spy school’ showed up in the book. While this level of familiarity is nice, I was hoping for something to make me think oh wow, that was amazing, and I didn’t feel that happened.

I really liked the friendships between the characters. It felt genuine, and I could easily believe they had a strong bond between them. Cammie is our main character and narrator and while I liked her well enough, I feel she was a little too subtle. Her nickname is the Chameleon, as she can blend into any situation seamlessly, but I feel her character blended in a little too much at times. I don’t feel she was distinct enough, and some of the other character overshadowed her quite a bit. Liz and Bex are both great characters, but I feel like I’ve seen them before. Yet again, this familiarity can be a good thing… but I was hoping for that extra unique oomph that didn’t occur.

The story itself was enjoyable, but I was expecting a bit more on the spy front, and a little less on the romance plot. While I thought the romance between Cammie and Josh was cute and adorable, I felt it took over a bit too much. I preferred the ending when the majority of the action started! I was expecting a fast pace, learning on the seat of your pants kind of spy novel, but it ended up being slower paced with a lot more romance thrown in.

There is a lot of hype around the Gallagher Girls series, and I think it’s completely deserved. This is one of those occasions where I have to hold my hands up and say I think it’s me, not the book. I was looking for more… looking for that next step that would make me love the story, but it didn’t appear. Overall, I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You was a really enjoyable book, but it didn’t captivate me as much as I was hoping.