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
Publisher: Hyperion
Release date: May 2006 (original US hardback)
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads description:

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.

My thoughts:

Ally Carter writes scarily accurately as a teenage girl. I felt immediately like Cammie was 15, and real, and would compare her narration to that of Georgia Nicholson in the Louise Rennison books, both in terms of age-authenticity and in that level of quirky humourous narration. Unfortunately, this made me feel a *bit* old. It's fairly rare for YA to do that to me, but when I first started reading this I felt every bit of the 7 years I have on Cammie age wise. Fortunately, that feeling disappated after several chapters, but it did leave me feeling this was more of a series for teenagers than it was YA...if that makes sense.  

I felt the same way about the other book characters, they all had awesome personality traits and quirks  and all acted/spoke like typical teenage girls which I liked. The idea of a spy school was pretty awesome, and I liked hearing about all their classes. I think Bex was my favourite, and not just cause she was British ;) her humour and acting skills were pretty damn awesome.

The plot was excellent, with plenty of action and cute moments and hilarity. My only issue (aside from the one above) was that I got fed up with all the Gallagher Girls references and how they invented like, EVERYTHING. It reminded me of another book that does something similar, but I can't rememeber what it was. I caught myself rolling my eyes and thinking "yeah, yeah" whenever it happened.I loved the level of drama in this book, all the near misses and frantic action, it was pretty cool. I loved how normal Joshua was, and that that was his main appeal, and his and Cammie's relationship was pretty cute. I love how they all had a crush on their teacher...that's pretty much how it was at my school too ;) I loved how it was told in hindight and in the form of a report, that was pretty cool.



This was a thoroughly enjoyable read, and one I never would have read if it weren't on Netgalley. I will definitely be continuing with this newfound and super-fun series. 

I reviewed this for netgalley, so the cover image is the american one. The UK release is published by Orchard books, and the cover is:

 

Review: Blood Rights by Kristen Painter

Blood Rights (House of Comarre #1) by Kristen Painter
Published: 1st October 2011
Publisher: Orbit
Rating: 3.5/5


Goodreads description:


The lacy gold mapped her entire body. A finely-wrought filigree of stars, vines, flowers, butterflies, ancient symbols and words ran from her feet, up her legs, over her narrow waist, spanned her chest and finished down her arms to the tips of her fingers.

Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle’s body bears the telltale marks of a comarré—a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world…and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks.

Now Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds. If they fail, a chaos unlike anything anyone has ever seen will threaten to reign.


My thoughts:


I love the description. I love the cover. I had high hopes for this book. Sadly, it didn't quite live up to my expectations. The worldbuilding was as fascinating as I imagined it would be, but led to alot of exposition that pulled me out of the story a bit. I didn't really see why it needed to be at all futuristic and dystopian as this does not feature at all, and it seemed like more of a set up for the later novels when the humans would eventually feature. I loved the mythology, it was so well developed, so rich and thought out that I do wish I could have enjoyed this book more than I did. Plotwise, it was an interesting mix of mystery and paranormal and whilst I felt the story drag at times, ultimately the plot was a good one. 


I really liked the writing style, it was creative and enjoyable but I wasn't at all a fan of the narration. I felt it switched POV's too often, sometimes in the middle of chapters which I found irritating. It's hard to really bond with a character when you're constantly being shoved out of their head and into someone elses. I'm all for mixed POV's, but less is definitely more in this case. Sometimes I feel it's used for lazy writing, to avoid having to find other ways to explain events/emotions and that bugs me. 


Characterisation was actually my biggest bugbear with this book. The characters were all well developed, with their own stories and voices, but the problem was none of them were really likeable. I didn't bond with or care much about any of the characters which meant I had no vested interest in their welfare or the outcome of the plot. I really like it when I can associate with a character, or at the very least care about them, and this just didn't happen here. I especially didn't like Tatiana at all, I couldn't even like her as a villain, she just sorta bugged me. Mal bugged me a bit too, I kept wanting to tell him to get over himself, and the hints at his past annoyed me. I hate those constant, mysterious references to traumatic pasts, they absolutely do my head in. Then, when his story was eventually revealed, I was just confused by it. That part of the novel wasn't at all well written for me. 


The main thing I did enjoy about this book was the relationship between Mal and Chrysabelle. It was realistic and tension-filled and left plenty of room for development. It wasn't toooo Edward-like, in terms of his reaction to her, and there was absolutely no insta-love which is always a plus.


Looking back, this review seems really negative, but I did enjoy reading this, just not an insane amount. It was an okay read; I don't regret it but I'm not clamouring for book two either.