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

I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have To Kill You (Gallagher Girls #1) by Ally Carter
Published by Orchard 2006

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.

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Ever since reading Heist Society by Ally Carter, I've been dying to read her other books because Heist Society was so amazing. This series has also been going on for a while and it has a huge fan base, so I have no idea how I didn't come across it until now.

Cammie Morgan may seem like a regular girl who goes to an elite boarding school, but she's so much more than that. For one thing, she just doesn't just go to a regular boarding school; it's a school for spies. She can speak to you in 14 different languages, and can kill a man seven different ways. Her year has already started out rough now that she's taking Covert Operations with harsh new teacher, Joe Solomon, but she's about to face her most dangerous mission yet: falling in love.

This was full of laughs and lots of spy knowledge that made for some pretty interesting reading. Cammie was a great character - she was bubbly, smart and very girly. I laughed quite a lot while reading this book because Cammie had had practically no contact with boys until now and seeing trying to make sense of what everything meant when it came to boys was very hilarious. I also loved Cammie's best friends, Bex and Liz. They were funny in their own ways and supported Cammie every step of the way. Also, although Cammie was fascinated with the prospect of actually dating a boy, she still mostly managed to think of her spy training first and that not exposing what the school really taught was the main thing. She was also very real in a sense because even though she was a spy, she made mistakes and had a lot to learn, both in her studies and in life.


Things that I didn't really like: Cammie's over-enthusiastic persona. I understood that she was new to dating and boys in general, but sometimes it came to the point where that's all she thought about most of the time. It was funny and charming at first but then it started to get a bit annoying when she started exclaiming at everything boy-related. There were also some parts of the book that were a bit dull.


This was a fun read with lots of laughs but I kind of felt a little disappointed at the end. I felt like I didn't fully connect with it at times. I feel that Heist Society was the better book, but I enjoyed this one nonetheless :)


3.5 stars