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

Besides being a mouthful, I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You is the first book in the Gallagher Girls series. Set in Roseville, Virginia, the story is told from the point of view of Cammie Morgan, who goes to school at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. To many people in Roseville and those whose ‘clearance levels’ are not high enough, the Gallagher Academy is an expensive private boarding school for privileged snobs. However, those in the loop know that the Gallagher Academy is actually a school for spies. Gallagher Girls study Phd-level Physics, are trained in martial arts and get awarded extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class.

Following a Covert Operations field study where Cammie, nicknamed The Chameleon, catches the eye of a normal boy, she and her roommates soon find themselves going through his trash and bugging his house, for what they call an extra credit project. Soon, Cammie finds herself living a double-life—one of a spy-in-training and the other of a home-schooled girl with a boyfriend. However, can Cammie really have a normal relationship with a boy who knows nothing about the real her since admitting that she is a spy-in-training will endanger the Gallagher sisterhood that has been kept a secret from the public for over a century?

I really liked the ‘girl power’ element of the book. It was refreshing to read about girls who are not only highly-intelligent but can also kick butt. Another element of the story that I really liked is how the Gallagher Girls are bonded like sisters and even though they may not always like one another, they are still always there for each other.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who’s looking for a light read or who is interested in books about spies. I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You, with the secret passageways of the Gallagher Academy and the mere coolness of things such as EvapoPaper—paper that melts in your mouth—is definitely a book that I think readers of all ages will enjoy.

Samantha Balraja (4G)