The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold

Ten years ago Alexandra Sterling and Michael Kingsley joined the CIA and immediately became competitors. Michael from an established family grew up in the spy life and thought the brash and impulsive Alex would never make a great spy.

Flash forward and Alex wakes up in an unknown room tied to a chair with none other than King. Together, they'll have to reckon with their past jobs as well as their feelings toward one another if they want to figure out who wants them out of the way and why.

I did not read the first book. Yes, a great mistake on my part and one I will happily fix soon, but the premise just interested me from the moment I read about it. Luckily, the book stands very nicely on its own. Yes, there are ties to the first book show more and those characters, but it doesn't limit the enjoyment I had in reading this book.

With that said, I should totally have not been sleeping on that first book because if it's anywhere near as fun, action-packed, and fast-paced as much as this one was, I really have missed out (again, I'm going to fix this ASAP).

I'm a sucker when characters have a history between them especially an unresolved history between them. And none moreso than Alex and King. Dropping readers kind of in the middle of their dilemma and having to build up the story around them was perfection.

The story alternates between the past and the present. At first, the past sections seemed to slow down the more pulse-pounding present-day narrative. But I quickly grew to appreciate what they were building. Which was the foundation of the relationship between Alex and King as well as potential leads on what is happening in the present.

This book had such wonderfully bittersweet moments between Alex and King as their careers become a roadblock to their potential happiness and feelings for one another. It became this beautiful story about two people who care deeply for one another but can never seem to make it work. And oh yeah, there's spies.

Ally Carter balanced so well these two characters hashing out their relationship all through these thrilling action scenes and the twisting mystery encased within. It's everything all the good spy movies are made of.

I was not prepared for how perfect this book turned out, but it deserves to be on all the best of lists right now. show less

The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold by Ally Carter is the second installment in the Blonde Identity series, and it’s just as fast-paced, funny, and romantic as you’d expect. This time, we follow secret agents Alex and Michael, who share a complicated history—both professionally and personally. When circumstances bring them back together for another mission, sparks fly, danger follows, and their chemistry is impossible to ignore.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Andrew Eiden and Emily Ellet, and both narrators were fantastic. Their voices suited the characters perfectly, and their comedic timing and interpretations of the dialogue had me laughing out loud more than once. I would happily listen to other audiobooks read by show more either of them.

That said, the audio format did make things a bit tricky. The story jumps between multiple timelines, and I sometimes found it difficult to keep everything straight just by listening. I suspect this might have been easier to follow in print.

Still, the story itself was engaging, witty, and full of entertaining banter. It kept my attention throughout, and I’d definitely pick up the next book in the series—likely in print next time.

Thank you to HarperAudio and NetGalley for this ARC. show less

This is a sequel to The Blonde Identity. It’s a rivals-to-lovers story about two spies who first met at the start of their training. The story alternates between the present – which begins when Alex and King wake up handcuffed together, with no memory of the preceding days – and flashbacks to their previous missions together.

It’s fast-paced, fun and twisty. I really enjoyed reading it… and then haven’t really thought about it since. But I could definitely see myself reading this one again! It’d be fun to reread this and The Blonde Identity back to back.

The only quote I bookmarked was:

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so rested. Like the part of her brain that was always worrying had finally turned off.

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Rebooted. There were no memory-hogging apps running in the background of her mind, and as she pushed herself upright and stretched she felt almost … afraid. Like feeling good because none of your alarms have been triggered and then realising that’s because the alarms are down.

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I love Ally Carter--she writes fun, enjoyable, clean novels!

This novel follows the novel "The Blonde Identity." In the first novel, you meet Zoey, Alex's sister. In this novel, you learn about Alex--the mysterious spy from book one. The novel opens with Alex waking up tied to someone else--the worst person she wants to see: King. The novel goes back in forth in time. They met ten years ago in "spy school" with the CIA. He told her to not get on the bus. She does. They compete and one could discuss who the best student is and who the best spy becomes.

They are paired up over the years--competing and "hating" each other. They technically fall in love five years previously. One year previously happens during books one. King hasn't seen her show more in a year. Alex disappears--even her sister doesn't know where she is. Now, it's the present and they are handcuffed together and need to figure out who would kidnap them and what they want from them.

They have great chemistry and it's a fun story. I love escaping into Ally Carter books. The characters are interesting, the plot is breakneck speed with adventure and danger, and they have romance. Enjoy! show less

Two spies who have both been out of the game for awhile, wake up tied to one another in a shack. The past 48 hours erased from their minds. However, these aren’t your run of the mill spies, this is the successful team of Michael & Alex. Sure they had a tumultuous relationship from the start, and they had an explosive ending to their partnership, but they still know how to kick ass when the time comes. As they spend the next few days trying to figure out who’s trying to kill them and why, the story weaves back and forth from past to present day, all the missions and mistakes laid bare as they try to survive whoever is out to get them and each other.
**Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of the audiobook.**

I'd read the first book in the series so I thought I'd try this one, too. Maybe it was my mood, maybe I'm just cranky and tired. Amyve I'm a couple of years older and my tastes have changed. Got far enough in, that I could easily finish the book, but didn't.
"They're writing (books of spies) and love but not for me" Been humming that tune ever since I put the book down.📚

Another exciting adventure in the Blonde Identity series. I loved learning this story through the various timelines.

I hope there will be more books in this series. These spy novels are too fun and entertaining for this to be the end.