I'd tell you I love you, but then I'd have to kill you (Gallagher Girls) by Ally Carter

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Carter, Ally. 2006. I’D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU, BUT THEN I’D HAVE TO KILL YOU. New York: Hyperion/Disney Publishing Group.  ISBN: 9781484785058

PLOT SUMMARY

This teenage drama is focused on Cammie Morgan. She is a student at the secret and highly classified, Gallager Academy for Exceptional Young Women. One would think it was a typical all-girls school; however, they are trained in the latest technology and everything needed to become a spy. Cammie herself is fluent in fourteen languages, yet struggles to talk to a cute boy when she meets him. Using her spy knowledge, she secretly finds out more about this guy and then a budding romance begins. In the end, she must decide if spy life is for her or if she wants a normal life with a cute boy.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Realistic life for a teenage girl who just happens to be in a spy school, but goes through the same emotions as a normal girl. This book has a theme that falls in line with the coming of age and trying to figure out who you are meant to be. She worries about what people will think of her, and she wants to stay hidden as she is shy. However, she notices a cute boy and wonders if he likes her. The author uses humor and what normal teens experience to make this even more realistic by adding items such as when she mentioned the boy looks at her chest and there is nothing there noting she hasn’t developed breasts yet (chapter 5); something that most average 7th/8th grade girls go through or think about. It is full of really relatable characters and experiences that I think most readers could relate to.

Carter tells the story in first-person point of view from the main character Cammie, so you really get an idea of what she goes through daily. She does a good job of making the reader feel like they are part of the Gallagher family and part of that girl gang that includes Cammie, Bex, Liz, and Macey. While I do feel like the character development was lacking for the three girls, Cammie’s story is upfront and developed.

I will admit, that this book has a very slow start and took quite some time for the plot to really develop. This did make it a tad difficult to get into right away; however, once the plot started on the rising action, I quickly became hooked and needed to know what would happen with the romance between Cammie and Josh.

After finishing the book, Carter includes not one, but two of the other books she has written. She provides the first chapter of the sequel to this book called “Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy,” which hooks the reader into wanting to continue the series. This allows the reader to continue with Cammie’s budding romance and her next semester in spy school. Carter also includes the first chapter of another series called “Heist Society” which is more a mystery and spy type book.

REVIEW EXCERPTS / AWARDS

Publishers Weekly (May 15, 2006) Set in a spy school for girls, this entertaining novel centers on 15-year-old Cammie, the headmistress's daughter, who must decide if she is cut out for a life of secrets. Though the plot takes a while to unfold, fun details and characters will keep readers engaged (Cammie and her friends speak 14 languages, take classes in Covert Operations, can rappel down buildings and plant tracking devices). But when Cammie, known as the Chameleon for her ability to disappear in public places, is spotted by a cute boy named Josh in the middle of the town fair, she begins a new mission: learning to be an ordinary girlfriend ("All these years I'd thought being a spy was challenging. Turns out, being a girl is the tricky part"). Cammie soon leads a double life, and must decide which one is right for her. Readers may find some details familiar (Cammie lost her spy father during a mission; her CoveOps teacher is a handsome, intense man who seems to get along too well with her mother) and wish that rich, bratty Macey, a new recruit who is "capable of cracking the Y chromosome code," had been developed more fully. But the author escalates the tension well, leading to the night of the final exam, where Cammie finds herself blindfolded, kidnapped and facing off against the retired spies of the faculty and also confronting Josh. Readers will eagerly anticipate the next installment.

School Library Journal (July 1, 2006)
Cammie Morgan, 15, is a student at Gallagher Academy, a top-secret boarding school for girls who are spies-in-training. She studies covert operations, culture and assimilation, and advanced encryption, and has learned to speak 14 languages. Her troubles begin when she falls for Josh, a local boy who has no clue about her real identity. Keeping her training secret forces her to lie to her new love, which leads to comic complications. Subplots include Cammie's relationship with her mother-the headmistress at Gallagher-and her grief over the loss of her father, who died while on a spying assignment. The teen's double life leads to some amusing one-liners, and the invented history of the Gallagher Girls is also entertaining, but the story is short on suspense. The stakes never seem very high since there are no real villains, and the cutesy dialogue quickly becomes grating. However, the novel has been optioned for a film and will likely attract readers who enjoy lighthearted, frothy tales and squeaky-clean romances. Unfortunately, it lacks the warmth and appeal of other teen books turned into movies, such as Meg Cabot's The Princess Diaries (HarperCollins, 2000) and Ann Brashares's The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Delacorte, 2001).

CONNECTIONS

Other books by Ally Carter:

• Carter, A. ALL FALL DOWN (EMBASSY ROW, BOOK 1). ISBN 9780545654746

• Carter, A. WINTERBORNE HOME FOR VENGENANCE AND VALOR (WINTERBORNE, BOOK 1). ISBN 9780358003199

• Carter, A. HEIST SOCIETY (HEIST SOCIETY, BOOK 1). ISBN 9780329851767