Once again, thank you NetGalley and Avon Books for giving me early access to this sequel story.

Spies, strong women and an enemies to lovers plot.. recipe for an enjoyable read. Alex and King met in spy school (which wasn’t actually called that) and from day one knew exactly how to push each others buttons. Years down the line they find themselves handcuffed together in an unknown location with no memory of how they got there. What follows is a fast paced race to find out who kidnapped them and what they want. As they jump back into their spy ways to try and solve this mystery, the pair also recall their tension filled history and the missions that came before.

This was a quick and fun read much like the first book in this series The Blonde Identity. While the story was fast paced and the tension high, the actual plot fell a little short for me. The story jumps both in timeline and in perspective which requires the reader to pay a little more attention and if you miss something, you may be confused. It also felt there were a number of loose ends throughout the book, including the ending which is why I gave it a solid 3 stars.

"An action-packed, second-chance rom-com about two rival spies who must join forces in order to stay alive, from New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter.

Ten years ago, they joined the CIA.

Six years ago, he left the game.

Five years ago, they fell in love.

One year ago, she ran out into the cold with absolutely no intention of ever coming back.

And two minutes ago, they woke up, bloody and bruised and handcuffed together in the dark.

They don't know where they are. They don't know how they got there. And they have absolutely no idea who is after them or what this nameless, faceless villain wants.

The only thing that's clear is that, after ten years of covers and chemistry, secrets and lies, these two rival spies have been sucked into their greatest mission yet, and now they're going to have to team up to stay alive. (If they don't kill each other first.)"

But not killing your partner despite the desire to is the spice of life!

3.75 Stars, rounded up to 4

This is a contemporary romance mystery/thriller rom-com.

Here’s some of the highlights you can expect:

Get in Gallagher Girls, Ally Carter’s back with a new spy book that’s grown up with us!
-Dual POV
-Second Chance Romance
-Yearning/Pining
-Closed Door Romance
-Sequel to The Blonde Identity but works as its own self contained stand alone story

About our protagonists:

Alex Sterling is the titular Blonde in the story. She’s witty, brave and incredibly likeable as a main female protagonist. She holds her heart behind a sealed safe, guarded by lasers but she can’t seem to shake the man that constantly seems to want to shake her.

King is CIA royalty and has been practically trained since the womb to be the perfect spy. He’s dependable, by the book, intelligent and controlled. That is until he meets a blonde he can’t help but feel shaken by.

Overall:

Full disclosure, I am a huge Ally Carter fan and have read every single book she’s published. I loved the Blonde Identity and I loved this new addition to the series just as much. I found myself losing track of time while I kept reading chapter after chapter. I giggled and kicked my feet to all the banter and situations these two would be in, and I was on the edge of my seat when the action picked up. I would recommend it to those who enjoy some solid romance with a satisfying mystery.

This book’s biggest strength was in its romance storyline between our two main protagonists. They’re fully developed characters and their motivations and reservations all make sense within the context of the story. There was only one plot line I felt like could have been developed or explained more to have a full closed story, but I’m satisfied where we ended up.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book and series to anyone who wants a fun and fulfilling mystery romance. I really do hope we get more installments, the cliffhanger at the end has me so excited for more!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an eARC for this review! :)

I love this book and I truly love all of Ally Carters adult books. I love every single thing about this book. The characters are so real and so lovable. The pacing is perfection. The plot is interesting and unpredictable.

This was an excellent sequel to Blonde Identity. It was witty, cute, and exciting all the way through. In many ways I found myself liking this a bit more than the first installment. If you liked the first one or even kind of enjoyed it this is a definite must read. Honestly you may even be able to read it without having read the first.

Ally Carter's spy novels are a must-read for me, and will continue to be a must-read if she chooses to bless us with more (hint, hint). This novel is a follow-up to The Blonde Identity, and reads best in that order.

The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold focuses on the other twin, Alex, and her former flame, King. It is told in two timelines- the first beginning when Alex and King wake up in Vegas tied to each other and with no memory of how they got there or who captured them, the second beginning with Alex's start at the CIA and moving to the present. In the former, we see Alex and King awkwardly working around what is evidently some sort of heartbreak. In the latter we see Alex and King's relationship evolve from work rivals to something deeper, and eventually what led to their separation and heartbreak.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although it took me a little longer to get into than most of Ally Carter's novels. I think it was because of the two timelines. They often feel repetitive- Alex and King travel all over the world in an effort to figure out what happened to them, and they end up in the same locale for both timelines, making it confusing to parse out what is happening when in the story. After I got used to it, however, I found the story great and loved Alex and King together.

I really, really, hope that we see more of these from Ally Carter!

The Blonde Who Came In From The Cold is the second in Ally Carter’s adult spy series. It’s not imperative that you read the first but there’s definitely a lot of details that are helpful for the second. After I started this one, I actually went back and skimmed the first trying to remember some things so definitely recommend reading in order.

Alex is a spy who has been pushing herself away from childhood trauma her entire life. When she joins the CIA, her immediate nemesis is King, or the baby duke as she calls him because of his family CIA heritage. They’re thrown together constantly over the course of their careers and eventually fall in love until she disappears from his life for a year. Intertwined is a group of bad guys whose organization she was in deep cover with and now they’re being chased and they don’t really know why. It’s hard to explain without giving anything away but I really loved this duo from Ally Carter — it’s fun, sassy, not the least bit scary or suspenseful (a major requirement for me) and I had such fun time reading this one.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon for the ARC.

I had picked up book one in the Blonde Identity series at the end of last year randomly when I was in the library and loved it. It left me wanting more, especially surrounding Alex, so I was thrilled when I saw this one was coming out.

This is an interconnected standalone. While technically you can read it without having read book 1, if you had read it, you’d get some key details about the FMC, Alexandra Sterling.

Book 2 follows Zoe’s twin sister, Alex, and Michael Kingsley aka King. The book alternates between past (starting from ten years prior) and present. In current day, we find that Alex has left her spying days with the CIA behind her since the events of book 1 and has been “out in the cold” for the last year. Unfortunately for her, someone has tracked her down and she finds herself handcuffed to King in a shack with no memory of how she ended up there. This is made even more devastating for her because of how they left things when they last saw one another. Their relationship has ranged from rivals at odds to partners, faking a marriage on missions, to lovers to strangers.

This story is told in dual POV (in addition to the dual timeline) and I adored being inside King’s head especially. As much as he didn’t want to fall for Alex, he couldn’t help it, even when he fought it tooth and nail. Watching him yearn for her was such a joy.

Alex isn’t used to people taking care of her. That was what people did for her twin Zoe, the one with the bad heart. Thus she couldn’t see all the little ways that King was trying to do just that. It takes some getting used to on her part to let him do that, to show her she doesn’t have to be hard and put up a front all the time, that she can be vulnerable.

This book is perfect for fans of second chances (the romance is there but to me it was more of a undercurrent to the mystery they were unraveling), action, adventure, and mystery. This one is action-packed with great tension, banter, and longing.

If you’re looking for spice, you won’t find it here since like book 1, this one is fade to black.

All-in-all, an enjoyable quick read that had me hoping the series isn’t quite over yet.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the eARC.

THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN!

I loved the spy aspect... and the tension and the angst and the yearning OF COURSE

This is told in dual POV and alternating time-lines, it is a second chance romance enemies/rivals to lovers so I ate this up in less than 24 hours obviously.

The ending was crazy but also SO fun

I recommend both of the books in this series if you are looking for something fun and fresh and addictive

I was hooked on this book from the epigraph! I really enjoyed the previous book, The Blonde Identity, but Alex and King's story surpassed all of my expectations. I read it in one sitting, and it was the most fun I've had reading a book in a long time. I am a sucker for a spy romance, and Ally Carter delivered with a couple whose story spans a decade of espionage and fighting and "covering" and secret longing. The book is dual POV and dual timeline, which I know can sometimes be confusing, but I thought it was a great way to cover a story that was told over such a long period of time. I could go on, but in short, the spy stuff is surprsingly well done, the romance is a great slow burn, and the book is funny and action packed. After I finished it, I immediately read it again! Big thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the ARC!

I could not wait to devour this sequel to The Blonde Identity. Alex and King's backstory was great. Their back and forth banter is top tier. I love the humor and cannot wait to buy this one to go into my collection. Ally Carter is an amazing writer.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I immediately fell into the fast paced spy story and loved all the action. However, the timelines jumped around so much that I found it confusing at times. I also felt that the romance was a little flat. I just didn’t feel the build up or tension. Although it’s a stand alone in a series, I do wish I had read the first one prior to starting this one.

Oh my! I loved this book. It was such a fun read. All the right tones. A spy tries to walk away but can she. Enemies-to-lovers. Does she need the hero? Yes even though she has all the skills she needs to survive on her own. But such a good book — loved it in the best Gallagher Girl way.

I loved the Blonde Identity, so when I was given a chance by Avon and Harper Voyager to read an ARC of the second book in the series I jumped on it. I throughly loved the book. At the end of the first book Carter teases about Alex and that she will have romance in her life, in an enemies to lovers situation.

This book takes you through the relationship that developed over years between Alex (Zoe's twin sister) and King (Michael Kingsley). The story hops between the present in the past in an intricate woven tale, that has many surprising twists and turns. The focus is the development of the relationship between the two main characters and how their lives as spies impacts this. The characters are fully developed and make you want to site down and talk with them. I love that Zoe and Sterling from book 1 make an appearance, and you start to see the bond between the two sisters take hold. I can't wait for another book (I HOPE there is another book) in this series!

The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold is the prefect light summer beach read, full of mystery, spies and of course a little bit of romance.

The vibes of this book were so fun! I loved the combination of action and romance that is a Hallmark of Ally Carter’s spy novels. The flashbacks were a lot for me at times, but overall I loved this book and will likely reread the series in the near future.

Ally Carter is definitely an auto buy author for me and this book really solidified that stance. For fans of her early series Gallagher Girls, this book is the adult version everyone has been looking for. I absolutely loved this so much and had the best time reading it.

From the moment I cracked open this book, I knew my weekend plans were officially canceled. What started as a casual evening read quickly spiraled into a full-blown, sleep-depriving binge session. This isn't just another romance novel or spy thriller; it's a masterclass in how to weave two seemingly disparate genres into something utterly addictive. This was my first Ally Carter book but she has rocketed to the top of my TBR list!

This is the perfect example of the enemies to lovers with a healthy dose of espionage and secrecy. Generational secrets are unfolding in the midst of this love story. The spy elements never feel like window dressing for the romance, nor does the love story overshadow the legitimate thriller plot. Double agents, shifting allegiances, and deadly conspiracies provide a backdrop that genuinely matters to both the characters' development and the romantic arc. When trust becomes a luxury neither can afford, watching them slowly let their guards down becomes infinitely more meaningful. The author understands that the best enemies-to-lovers stories aren't about inexplicable attraction—they're about two people discovering that their assumptions about each other were fundamentally wrong.

Perhaps most impressively, the book sticks the landing. The resolution feels both surprising and inevitable, with emotional payoffs that justify every moment of tension that came before. This is the kind of book that reminds you why you fell in love with reading in the first place. It's smart, sexy, suspenseful, and utterly consuming.

So, immediately I was going to refer to you to last year’s review of The Blonde Identity, the first book in the series, which I’ve subsequently realized will be impossible. It never happened (the review that is, the book did happen). I did, however, love it and its funny main character, Zoe, who is the twin sister of the main character in The Blonde Who Came In from the Cold. Any character who says things like, are we going to start coverting now, wins a prize in my mind. Her sister, Alex, on the other hand, would not be caught dead saying “coverting” but she is a most excellent character in so many other ways.

The Blonde Who Came In from the Cold begins in the present with Alex and fellow spy King in a difficult situation. From there, the narrative bounces back and forth from Alex and King’s meet-cute (I think it was a meet-cute) to different interactions during the subsequent ten years. All of the interactions show a growing chemistry between Alex and King as well as being finely doused with humor and cozy danger. (Can I use that term cozy danger? Perhaps that will be my gift to book blogging: the term cozy danger. Note to self to google if the term is in use before I claim to be the inventor.)

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I happily sped through The Blonde Who Came In from the Cold. It was just the right mix of romance, adventure, and humor with the romance between Alex and King feeling like a real love story. Both characters were layered and likeable.

If you enjoy humorous spy books with some romance tossed in, put this one on your list. It’s definitely prescribed for summer escapism! I also recommend reading The Blonde Identity but you don’t have to enjoy reading The Blonde Who Came In from the Cold. And, if you’ve never read any Ally Carter, do so. Her YA spy novels are delightful.

Many thanks to Avon Books for sending me a copy!

Oh my goodness so good! To be fair it was a little challenging to keep up with the timeline jumping but it was what it was to explain the situation. But enemies to lovers, spies, twins, Cold War secrets and double agents! It even took me a bit to figure it all out and usually I’m quick to catch on. Loved the FMC Alex and her tough girl ways and the MMC King and his a bit stuffy proper way to do things attitude. Would definitely recommend this book!

As much as I loved the first book, I loved this one more. I loved finally seeing the other side of the story and the enemies to lovers kept me hooked.