***Review*** I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You (Gallagher Girls #1) by Ally Carter

On the Back of the Book


"Do you ever feel like you're invisible? I know I do - just call me Cammie the Chameleon. But at my school, that's seen as cool. Why? Because the Gallagher Academy might say it's for geniuses, but it's really a school for spies."

Cammie Morgan might be capable of killing a man in seven different ways, but she's about to begin her most dangerous mission yet: falling in love.


Pre Read Thoughts


I never intended to read this series but then I got this book in a five piece boxset that cost me £5. I figured now would be a good time to read it as I'd just finished a heavy novel. The cover's quite boring if I'm entirely truthful, it's not eyecatching enough for my taste. The title is pretty amazing, if a little on the wordy side. It was enough to make me pick up the book and glance at the synopsis... which I liked until the final three words. I hate it when something cool is sacrificed for romance. So it's not going well for the book so far. Let's hope that the actual story makes up for some of this.


Post Read Thoughts


This was a nice, light read. I found that not much effort was required from me while I read it. The writing was simple, nothing was over complicated and I liked that. The first 50 - 100 pages were a little slow for me and I found myself clock watching instead of reading. Once the book had found its stride though it was pretty easy to just read the story. I found the book to be a little boring though as there were no major plot twists or turns. It just followed a plan. The spy stuff could've been cool but it felt like it was pushed aside in favour of Cammie and Josh.

Speaking of, the characters are nice. Even the bad girl is nice and that's rubbish. None of them really stood out for me. Cammie was an okay MC but she got very repetitive and by the end of the book I was a bit annoyed with her and wnated to throw the book against something. Another thing that frustrated me is that she was always going on about how pretty everyone else is and she just isn't. I didn't want or need to know that in every chapter. I couldn't really tell you much about the others as she's all about Josh (who I thought was a bit dull) and doesn't really say much about her friends (apart from how pretty they all are).

Overall I liked the story even though it brought nothing new to the YA genre and is probably more suited to a younger audience. It was cute and easy to read, I had it finished in a few hours. There's no swearing or sex and only a bit of violence (which is self defence) so there aren't really any issues with content. I'd heard so many good things about this series and the author but I feel like I'm missing something. Maybe I'm a little too old for books about spy school now.


My Rating

3 stars - While there's nothing particularly bad about this book, there's nothing particularly good either. I definitely think this is aimed at the younger end of YA audience if not even younger. There isn't a great amount of depth to this so it's definitely good if you just want to read something without thinking about it afterwards.