Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter

Can you list your top five authors? I’m not sure if I can, especially because over the years they’ve changed. However, I discovered Ally years ago when her I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You came out. My middle and high school years were changed. Over the years my mom and I would rush to the store when her next novel came out. I grew up surrounded by funny, realistic, kick-butt young women.

So when Ally started teasing for Not If I Save You First (NIISYF), I may have died a little on the inside. Two summers ago my family did a big trip out to Alaska. And man did it steal my heart. Hard. Later that summer I moved out to DC, leaving behind the wilderness of Wyoming for the city streets filled with politics and policy wonks. So I know that Maddie and I would completely get one another.

Ally has such a fresh style of writing. Her characters are quick and sharp, and somehow all of them are incredibly multi-faceted. Beyond addictive characters that you would love to verbally spar with, Maddie and Logan explore the depths of what it means to lose touch with former friends, and how those deep those bonds can go. I’ve always loved Ally’s characters, but I was enchanted with the challenges of loss, hurt, and the reality of relationships that she tackled in NIISYF.

Have I mentioned that somehow Ally is also the queen of plot twists? My mom (lives 2,000 miles away, and yes we still talk about Ally’s books together) finished before I did–grad school may be breaking into my reading time–and told me that once again she’d been blindsided. Even with the knowledge that I should be paying attention for it, I was so swept up in the moment that her twists hit like I’d had the wind knocked out of me.

So here are my accolades to one of the ladies that has enraptured me in tales since middle school. NIISYF may even take home my favorite Ally book yet, and I know that I will be using this as one of my favorite books to reread when I need to run away. If you want to run away to Alaska, without having to throw on a coat, I highly recommend joining Maddie and Logan on their adventure.

You can get Not If I Save You First here through Bookshop.org, which supports local independent bookstores!

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