The Blonde Identity

June 15, 2023
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 clich�d 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.

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Starred review from June 12, 2023
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.

July 1, 2023
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.

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