I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You
by Ally Carter

Bibliography

Carter, A. (2006). I'd tell you I love you, but then I'd have to kill you. New York, NY: Hperion Books for Children. ISBN 1423100034

Summary

Gallagher Academy is not a typical girls' boarding school; and Cammie is not a typical girl!  I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You is written as Cammie's first Covert Operations Report and details her adventures of spying and flirting during her sophomore year at Gallagher, a school for genius future spies.

Critical Analysis

Ally Carter makes a good effort with I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You and there are lots of good things about it.  The idea behind the plot of the story feels fresh and original.  The characters are likable and very well crafted - not too perfect and accurately complex. Several themes of the story - love may be worth it, be true to yourself, smart girls are great, bad things happen to good people - come through loud and clear, but without leaving the reader feeling like they sat through a lecture.  The setting is fun.  An all-girl spy school with secret passages, cute teachers, great friends is a combination that just sings of adventurous things to come.  All of these are good things.

Unfortunately, Carter's style in this books leaves something to be desired. The constant attempts and speaking in the teen voice left me disappointed and tired.  Her repetitive reminders of the spy nature of the book seemed to take the place of any real adventure, other than sneaking out of school and into a boy's home. Overall, I say the book is worth reading, because Carter seems to find her voice later in the series, and I like to start at the beginning!



Review Excerpts

* Despite any shortcomings, aficionados of this burgeoning fiction genre will be tempted to give this title a go. -- Publisher's Weekly

* 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. --School Library Journal

Connections

* There are many Gallagher Girls books to enjoy!  Look for Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, Don't Judge a Girl by her Cover, and Only the Good Spy Young

* Here is the official Ally Carter website where you can buy a T-shirt, read Ally's blog, and get all the news!

* Excerpt from I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You.

17:55 hours (that's 5:35 P.M.): The Operative moved into position.
18:00 hours:  The Operative was wishing she'd brought something to eat because she couldn't leave her post to go buy a candy bar, much less use the bathroom.
18:30 hours:  The Operative realized it's almost impossible to look pretty and/or seductive if you SERIOUSLY have to go pee.


     Back in my room, I had fifty pages of The Art of War left to translate into Arabic, a credit-card-slash-fingerprint modifier to perfect for Dr. Fibs, and Madame Dabney had been dropping big pop-quiz hints at the end of C&A.  Yet there I was, rubbing my swelling ankle and thinking that I really should be getting CoveOps extra credit for this.
     I looked at my watch again: seven forty-five.  Okay, I though, I'll give him until eight and then...
     "Hi," I heard from behind me...
     I could have said hi back in fourteen different languages (and that's not including pig Latin). And yet  I was speechless as he came to stand in front of me.