3.75 stars. Thank you NetGalley for giving me access to this book early. I enjoyed hearing Alex’s story and getting context on the characters’ background. I felt the story dragged a bit but it picked up the pace closer to the end. Fun book to read if you’re a fan of spy adventures.

A dream come true for 12 year old me who could not possibly get enough of the Gallagher girls series!!!

At times the time jumps could be a bit confusing but overall I loved the dual timeline and the insight it offered to all the characters relationships. Alex and Michael were so fun to read about and fall in love with, their banter had me giggling and blushing and their chemistry was so palpable from the first second they were on the page together.

I flew through this and loved every second, it was such a fun read!

5 Stars

OMGSH this series..... It continues to be one of my favorite of all time. I will be so sad if there isn't more in this genre for Ally Carter. I never read any of Ally's back list books but I did read the first of this series. I adored it so much. It was over the top, cute, spy romance. This one is the same.

Ally kills it with the humor and characters. Both characters are so enjoyable and loveable. I really appreciate that Alex, is almost this legally blonde type character that 100% kicks so much butt. She is witty, charming and incredibly dangerous. While King broody, protective, but has moments of sillyness. Both characters complement each other so well.

This story is told is dual pov and dual timeline. We get flash back chapters of Alex and King, meeting each other and begrudgingly going on missions together where they have to be fake couples. Over that time we see their friendship grow. In present day, we start off of them now hating each other again but find themselves kidnapped and handcuffed together. Just like the first book, its self aware and understands its silly, fun and intense at a times. It doesn't itself too seriously and does a great job sneaking in snarky/funny dialogue. I love this about this book.

If this is Ally's writing style, I am going to have to go back in time and read all her back list titles. These books are fantastic and some of my favorites. She is now an autobuy author for me :).

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this advanced reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

Ally Carter has written spy novels for every season of my life and I am SO THANKFUL. This one is so much fun, a true enemies to lovers but they’re SPIES. Fast paced, lots of mystery and intrigue, and so romantic!

This book picks up from where The Blonde Identity left off and follows the other twin who is actually a spy - Alex Sterling. For the past ten years, she has been kicking butt around the world, proving everyone, but ESPECIALLY Michael Kingsley, wrong - she can be the best spy there ever was. After a year of completely disappearing, she wakes up to find herself handcuffed to none other than Kingsley, with both of them missing memories. Why are they there, who is trying to kill them, and how can they get out? They’ll have to dig back in their very complex past 10 years to figure out a way forward.

I loved this book! It was so much fun to explore the dynamics of Alex and Michael’s relationship from the past and the present. With the flashbacks, I will say it did make it difficult to put the book down and pick it back up - I would often lose my place or have a hard time keeping the timeline straight. However, it made the present-day interactions even more rich.

I simply love sassy Alex, and reserved, perfectionist Kingsley. They are such a great team, the banter is on point, and they make the perfect rivals to lovers. I LOVED the crossover with book 1… and does the ending mean we get a book 3? Because I’m here for that… Overall, this book is a thrilling, hilarious, fast-paced adventure!

Fast paced, slow burn, enemies to lovers, slow burn spy thriller rom com that takes you from the Vegas desert to an island paradise to a dusty seaside shack in Portugal and I loved it.

Alexandra Sterling and Michael Kingsley are A+ spies in training when they meet at the Farm and the story leaps from the present to the past over a 10 year span showing us the history of their relationship and the background of their mission.

Loved the writing and the chemistry between the characters was amazing. There is no spice at all, but the tension and yearning between Alex and King is so well portrayed. While it was easy to guess who the Big Bad is, I did not foresee the “why”. Side characters were well done, notably Merritt and the island-owning sibling duo.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you to HarperCollins and Netgalley for a digital ARC!

My pre-teen self who ate up Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls series is screaming right now (let's be real my adult self is also screaming too)!

I was living for Alex and King's interactions and loved how the story was flashing from current time to moments over the last decade that Alex and King interacted on different missions. Their banter had me kicking and giggling even when they were fully in the I hate you era. I will admit I wasn't a full Alex supporter after reading the first book because my girl Zoe goes through it for just looking like her sister and I judged Alex a little harshly in that book. But I am a full Alex stan (she may be my favorite sister now).

I loved this book! I finished it in about 24 hours, it was so bingeable and with the short chapters you are definitely going to find yourself saying one more chapter.

This was a 4.5/5 stars for me, would highly recommend even if you felt book 1 fell a little short.

This was a cute spy rom-com that was heavier on the rom-com than the spy stuff. If you don't buy the relationship you won't enjoy the book, but I enjoyed it and thought it was cute.

I was looking forward to this sequel-Sterling & King's backstory was fun. The dual POV made it interesting. The time jumps were a little confusing at times. But it was good to hear Alex's story and read her happy ending.... Ready for the next one in the series!
This was an ARC from NetGalley.

Ally Carter books never fail to be a delight. Alex’s story was so much fun! I would read 20 books in this series and still want more! And that cliffhanger!!!!!!

This book has a catchy title with a main heroine with mad love for all things "classic spy". Alex becomes frienemies with another recruit who has a lofty family history of spycraft - what's worse is that he keeps telling her to go home. The book opens with our two main characters waking up tied to each other, having been drugged and kidnapped. This dual POV closed door romance flips between timelines and perspectives as their enemies-to-lovers story plays out. It's an easy read, and it's easy to imagine this book plays into a lighthearted rom-com movie. I'd recommend this for beach reading and light-hearted romance with closed doors.

Many thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager for providing me with an ARC of this novel in return for a honest review. All words and opinions are my own.

The Blonde Who Came In from the Cold is a delightful spy novel/enemies to lovers romance. Ally Carter is at the top of her game in this story of two brilliant operatives who make a great team despite, or maybe because of, an abrasive relationship that thinly disguises an intense mutual attraction. It's all here: fraught back stories, banter, mystery, suspense, character development, and a satisfying slow-burn romance between very savvy spies who are predictably dim at navigating their own hearts.. The timeline see-saws, so you do need to pay attention to chapter headings.
A fast, fun sequel that easily stands alone.

Thank you to Avon, Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book early.

The Blonde Who Came In from the Cold follows Alex and King, two spies with a history who must work together to figure out what happened to them and why they’re being chased across the world.

This book is a sequel to The Blonde Identity and much of it takes place after the events of that book. I really enjoyed Alex and King’s relationship and how we got to see all different aspects of it, from when they met up until the present and despite how it sometimes seemed like they hated each other, there were always little clues about how that wasn’t exactly true. I also loved seeing more characters from The Blonde Identity and understanding how these characters worked with Alex and why the events from that book happened the way that they did.

My main issue with the book was it jumped around between the present and flashbacks a lot. It would have been helpful to have just a little more distinction between them as the present narrative got lost a few times. But overall, this was a great sequel to The Blonde Identity and a very enjoyable read.

Thank you Avon, Harper Voyager, and NetGalley again for the chance to read this early.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

This was such a cute story! I hadn't read the first in this series, but it wasn't a problem reading this one. I enjoyed the characters, the banter, the different timelines to help piece the story together. It was an easy and interesting read that I will recommend!

I read Ally Carter back in middle school/high school with her other spy series and had no idea she wrote one for adults. This is a second book in a series but I was able to jump right into this one without reading book one (haven't had the chance to read yet).

This was a perfectly executed enemies to lovers romance. Alex and Michael have quite the history which is shown through a dual timeline. I found this helpful since we get plenty of backstory of what happened between them which is always helpful in a second chance romance. I thought these two had the best banter and chemistry. The way Michael yearned for Alex was unmatched! I loved him for being so down bad for her haha.

I thought Carter wrote the dual timeline really well. The timelines flowed nicely with each other, plus the transitions were very smooth.

I really enjoyed this one and will have to go back and read book one. Would recommend if you like second chance romance, enemies to lovers, and spy adventures.

Fun rom-com with a twist. A great sequel to the the Blonde Identity. Fun characters that you care about and want to see succeed.

This was just so much fun - I loved the banter between the two characters and the slow burn!

I loved the spy plotline, this was kind of giving James Bond vibes with a dash of feminine rage 🤭

Alex was such a strong and fierce character and I loved how sassy she was. King started off so gruff but he was very much “I will burn the world for her” and I LOVED IT!!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I am a huge Ally Carter fan. Her latest, The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold is a book her loyal fans will love.

Alex’s story is a tightly planned masterpiece. readers get the full story, from when she entered “Spy School” to post Koslov. Zoe makes an appearance, naturally, as her story kicked off this whole plot. Alex and King have a romance lasting years, with King falling for this clever, defiant, and determined woman.

I’m not normally a fan of a lot of flashback, but this time it worked. I only had to go back to reread once to eliminate confusion.

I can’t wait for the next book from this author. I am a fan, now!

I always loved ally carters YA spy books so was excited to receive this ARC. I had a fun time with this and enjoyed the chemistry between the couple. I love forced proximity and fake marriage so was cool to have it repeated several times in the spy scenarios. It did get a little confusing when there was multiple chapters in a single flashback to remember what setting we were in.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The perfect blend of mystery and romance; I couldn't put this book down! Both Alex and King are so well-written and have fantastic banter throughout the book. The dual timelines keep the pacing of the book moving quickly from start to finish.