The blonde identity : a novel /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

USA TODAY BESTSELLER

"A unique, delightful, hilarious, unputdownable romance... I'm wonderstruck by The Blonde Identity!" -- Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis

The New York Times bestselling YA author of the beloved Gallagher Girls series bursts onto the adult scene with a fast-paced, hilarious road trip rom-com about a woman with amnesia who discovers she's the identical twin sister of a rogue spy... and must team up with a rugged, grumpy operative to stay alive.

It's the middle of the night in the middle of Paris and a woman just woke up with no memory.

She only knows three things for certain:

1. She has a splitting headache.

2. The hottest guy she has (probably) ever seen is standing over her, telling her to run.

And oh yeah...

3. People keep trying to kill her.

She doesn't know who. Or why. But when she sees footage of herself fighting off a dozen men there's only one explanation: obviously. . . she's a spy!

Except, according to Mr. Hot Guy, she's not. She's a spy's identical twin sister.

Too bad the only person who knows she's not the woman they're looking for is this very grouchy, very sexy, very secret agent who (reluctantly) agrees to help her disappear. Which is easier said than done when a criminal organization wants you dead and every intelligence service in the world wants you caught.

Luckily, no one is looking for a pair of lovesick newlyweds on their honeymoon. And soon they're lying their way across Europe--dodging bullets and faking kisses as they race to unravel a deadly conspiracy and clear her sister's name.

But with every secret they uncover, the truth shifts, until she no longer knows who to trust: the twin she can't remember or the mysterious man she can't let herself forget...

"Spies! Amnesia! And banter that'll make you chant "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" No one writes an action rom-com quite like Ally Carter." - Rachel Hawkins, New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Bestselling YA author Carter (the Gallagher Girls series) serves up an irresistible cocktail of danger and passion in her un-put-downable adult debut. A woman wakes up on an icy Paris sidewalk with no memory of who she is and bad guys closing in. According to her enemies, she's a rogue CIA operative named Alex who stole a critical flash drive from a Russian mobster and now she's on the run for her life. Run she does--right into the arms of sexy spy Jake Sawyer, who rescues her from her myriad pursuers and informs her that she's really Alex's innocent identical twin sister, Zoe. With a Russian gangster and a shady CIA agent hot on their heels, Sawyer and Zoe must jump on and off trains, boats, and bridges to stay alive--and locate the real Alex. Carter ratchets up the danger--and the sexual tension--at every turn, throwing plenty of red herrings across the trail and keeping readers guessing who to trust. Zoe's sense of humor in the face of danger adds levity, and readers will fall hard for gallant Sawyer. Carter also expertly teases a sequel about Alex, whetting appetites for the next installment. This snappy and suspenseful romance fires on all cylinders. Agent: Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary. (Aug.)

Booklist Review

One snowy midnight in Paris, a young woman who has lost her memory is rescued by a surly spy in this thrilling romantic adventure set against a wintry European backdrop. She woke up in the street, bruised and with a concussion when Jake Sawyer mistook her for her twin sister, Alex, the spy he's been hunting all over the world. Alex took something and never reported back to CIA headquarters, and Jake is tasked with getting that something back. Now he's got even bigger problems, like keeping this beautiful, clumsy blonde safe from the Russian mob chasing them through the streets of Paris. Traveling through Europe undercover, posing as a married couple on their honeymoon, they stumble into one comical situation after another while dodging their growing feelings for each other. Their banter is both alluring and suggestive without being overtly sexy. Adult fans who grew up reading Carter's beloved YA series, Gallagher Girls, about a private girls' school that trains spies, will be delighted by her first adult novel of romantic suspense.

Kirkus Book Review

A woman with amnesia gets tangled up in the world of international espionage. On a cold, snowy night in Paris, a woman (eventually she'll discover her name is Zoe) finds herself on the street with no idea of who she is or how she got there. She's rescued from a team of menacing strangers by a spy named Jake Sawyer. He explains that his partner, Alex, who's Zoe's identical twin, has gone missing. Alex infiltrated the organization of a dangerous Russian oligarch named Kozlov. Before going on the run, she copied and then destroyed the originals of Kozlov's personal encrypted files--including everything from his bank accounts to his personal contacts. Kozlov and his henchmen will do anything to find Alex, but every international spy agency in the world is also on the hunt for the flash drive, hoping to use the data to cripple Kozlov's criminal empire. Sawyer and Zoe spend most of the book on the run from Kozlov and eventually go undercover as newlyweds on a river cruise. Finally able to pause and strategize, they hatch a plan to infiltrate Alex's Swiss bank account in Zurich. Zoe can access the bank disguised as her sister, looking for clues that will help them find her twin and the flash drive. The novel is a clichéd mishmash of plots, tropes, and archetypes from espionage thrillers. There is little depth or nuance to either Zoe or Sawyer as characters, and their romance is shallow and underdeveloped. Long action sequences and chase scenes drive most of the book, but the plot is so blandly predictable that the result is more frantic than fulfilling. Flimsy and insubstantial. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Ally Carter, bestselling author, was born Sarah Leigh Fogleman on January 1, 1974. She graduated from the Oklahoma State University and Cornell University.

Ally's first book, Cheating at Solitaire, was released in 2005 and tells the story of a famously single self-help guru who becomes very publicly linked to one of Hollywood's hottest up-and-coming male stars. Carter's first young-adult novel was I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You (the first book in her Gallagher Girls Series). It is the story of a girl who goes to a prestigious spy school and what happens when she falls for a normal boy who has no idea who she really is. It was selected as a Texas Lone Star reading list book for 2007-2008. Other books in the Gallagher Girl Series are Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover, Only the Good Spy Young, Out of Sight, Out of Time, and United We Spy.

Ally's other novels include Heist Society and Uncommon Criminals.

(Publisher Provided)