The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter

This is another, I put this off for way too long posts. This is me coming to tell you that Ally Carter means the world to me. This book was everything that I could have wanted. It was Ally to the tee. I grew up on Gallagher Girls and Heist Society. I as I know many teenagers do, felt like Cammie—the chameleon who could fade into the background—and now seeing this that the girl who was never the main character, but had mettle and reserve and who loved, even my mistake she ends up getting involved in—or at least running from—the spy community? It was like a perfect balm. 

Ally Carter was the last author, the last bit of normal, that I got to see on tour before the pandemic. She wrote brave girls who used their brains, were underestimated, and it meant the world to get to meet her. To have a library full of Gallagher Girls who followed her vision and went out to change the world in different ways. This book was dedicated to us and I continue to be grateful to the woman who brings us what we need, and has for me for two decades.  

As an adult I often read books and go “I could do that” and well our main character, not Alex is all I’ll call her for now… she did not but somehow ends up in the middle of it all and is a delight. Sassy and full of internal strength. I adored that she was a mixture of funny, trusting, and bubbly while trying to figure out the biggest question of all, who is she and where is her sister? Seeing how little things slotted together over the plot was a delight. I did very much enjoy getting to be in both her and Sawyers points of view, both unreliable narrators in different ways. And dear lord did I enjoy getting to watch this big bad spy, be surprised and then turn into a simp and be awestruck by the klutz that literally fell into his life. 

The action never stops, but neither is it breakneck. Every moment is intentional and propels you forward in this story, and I never felt like I had missed something along the way. Also, if I had not cracked this open to read on a plane I would have been outright guffawing at the comedy in the book. It is very obvious that this is an adult novel, it was never uncouth but the delight I got from certain scenes was immaculate and I thank Ally for every single word. 

If you want fun, if you want emotions, and growth, and mystery. If you want to laugh and are also okay with wanting to stab someone (perhaps with knitting needles) and feeling that you’d never be able to walk around in leather leggings and high heels to pull off a heist but might want to read about it, then The Blonde Identity is the book for you. And once you’re done, her next book set in this world is coming out very very soon, like August 5th soon.

Thank you to my favorite teenage author idol. You saw me as a teen, and you saw me as an adult, and you wrote books that everyone will be able to identify a part of themselves in or fall in love with. I am so glad to get to continue to read and gush about your stories. 

Looking to find The Blonde Identity? Here you go:

Bookshop.org ~ Libro.fm ~ Goodreads ~ Storygraph

Also if you want to go ahead and preorder book two so you can read them back to back you can do that here.

As a side note, this was originally given to my as an ARC by Netgalley for my honest review. It did not impact my thoughts on the book, which I have since gone and bought myself. Also, some of the links to Bookshop.org or Libro.fm will either provide me or an indie bookshop I support a portion of the affiliate sales if you use them to buy a book I recommend!