Thank you Net Galley for this early audio ARC. This book was so fun. I was extremely excited to be approved for this. I couldn't stop listening to this audio book and finished it within two days. I can't wait to find more from this author.

(4.5 Stars) Thank you, @avonbooks and @harperaudio for the #gifted advanced digital and audio copies!

A decade ago, on the night before she joined the CIA, Alex had an interesting interaction with a guy at the Ramada bar while waiting on her chicken fingers. Michael Kingsley, aka "King," who would go on to become her rival, partner, thorn-in-her-side…and something much more complicated. So, when she wakes up tied to a chair and Kingsley - with no memory of how she got there - she’s got some questions. Thus starts a globe-trotting, death-defying epic adventure where these two CIA agents might have to finally address the biggest danger - feelings.

How early in this book did I know I was going to love it? The epigraph. It is my favorite quote from my favorite episode of my favorite TV show (I’ll drop it in the comments). Like The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year, this is a pitch-perfect match up of a thrill-ride of a suspense novel and a swoon-worthy romance with tons and tons of charming banter. Everything about it just works - the dual POV, the timeline, the stunning locations, and the electric connection Alex and Kingsley. Carter is rapidly becoming a must-read auto-buy author for me.

🎧 Audiobook Thoughts: Andrew Eiden (an absolute favorite) and Emily Ellet (new to me) do a POWERHOUSE job with their dual narration of this stunner! All of the humor and steam just pulses off of their performance! (10h 14m)

4.5 stars—

Both of the voice actors did a great job with this book my literal only issue was with how Cartagena was pronounced— g has a different sound for the Colombia city.

really enjoyed this book! It was fun and it wasn’t like traditional second chance style books— with the way this was set up in the timeline I loved how I experienced the love blossoming. As someone who grew up playing the Barbie spy games, I thought this was such a fun read— I did not expect the ending and I was so sure in my guess the whole time.

Both the physical read and the audiobook were great. Thank you to Avon Books, Harper Collins, and Harper Audio for the ARC & ALC.

I am very excited to check out more Ally Carter books.

Note: make sure you are paying attention to what time you are set in at the beginning of the chapter to not lose where you are in the story— it does jump back and forth between past and present.

Looking for a fun, bingeable read or audio that doesn’t take itself too seriously? Here’s a great one.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝑪𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝑰𝒏 𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒅 was a perfect detour from my typical cozy fantasy palate cleanser. Part romcom, part Bourne Identity–style thriller, it’s fast-paced, fun, and loaded with allies-to-lovers tension, bickering, and juuust the right dash of pop culture. Ally Carter deftly weaves past and present as Alex and King’s complicated history unfolds, keeping you locked in and guessing in both timelines.

I loved the leads. The plot was straightforward yet entertaining. And the tropes here—including forced proximity, second chance romance, and an epically clear He Falls First—all deliver. Some things felt a bit silly or unrealistic, but on the whole, nothing really bothered me enough to take away from my enjoyment.

🎧 And the narration? These two nailed it. Distinct voices, perfect pacing, great emotional build. Didn’t need to rewind once despite my multitasking. I’ve been a fan of Emily Ellet since Nightshade God, but I apparently only think I’ve listened to Andrew Eiden after digging through his catalog in an attempt to figure out why he sounds so familiar. Will for sure seek both out in the future.

Also—did I know this was a sequel before grabbing it? Of course not—NetGalley!Jen doesn’t plan for those things. Thankfully, Alex and King’s story stands on its own, and now I’ve got Zoe and Sawyer’s queued up to feed my ears.

Thank you Avon for the ALC & eARC on NetGalley! Views my own, obviously.

In this sequel to The Blonde Identity, Alex (Zoe’s twin, and the actual spy) is training and in the field when she’s thrown together with King, a brilliant CIA prodigy from her past. Think second-chance + rivals-to-lovers slow burn, layered with covert ops, banter, and high-stakes chaos—told through a timeline that bounces between then and now. It kept me guessing until the very end…

✅ I actually liked this second book even more than the first
🎧 I listened while multitasking - it’s perfect for that!
🌀 The timeline jumps made it a little tricky to follow on audio (maybe just me?)
🎙️ Same narrators as book one - took a sec to adjust since I listened back to back, but they’re solid! I loved their narration on both books.

Last December I read The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter and knew I’d want to read more from her — this spy rom-com series absolutely delivered.

What a fun audiobook!

If you LOVE timeline jumps and POV switches this book will be right up your alley. The story never slowed and I was never bored, during the whole book! With several different time frames our characters meet-grow together & apart several times, and I was here for it!!

This book is full of sweet supportive spies who will always get to the bottom of a mystery! If you love rivals to lovers, second chances, and SPIES IN LOVE, this is the perfect book.

Andrew Eiden and Emily Ellet were the perfect voice actors for this book. I was able to sit back and enjoy the story thanks to their inflection and emotion in the audio.

The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold is another fun, entertaining, contemporary, spy romcom from Ally Carter. It felt the romantic tension was good but felt a little lost sometimes, with the dueling timeliness. Then by he ending my jaw dropped.
Thank you @NetGalley for the ARC audio read.

I really enjoyed this fast paced action packed romance across time. Alex and Michel have such amazing chemistry and work so well together. Their banter is off the charts. They wake up handcuffed together with no memory of the previous 48 hours. People are chasing them and trying to kill them. I enjoyed how we jumped back and forth between previous missions adding a little bit to the story getting more clues as we go. Delightfully funny and charming, A swoony spy romance this is the perfect romance to get you out of a slump. I had the privilege of getting both the audiobook and ebook so I followed along and did a full immersion read. The narrator’s did an amazing job for these characters. Loved the mail narrator for this one. One of my favourites.

second chance but make it between rival spies??? the mortal peril and the “you came, you called” moment was soooooo good ugh.

Alex and King had explosive chemistry even when they were busy hating each other. The plot in this one was so twisty I didn’t see anything coming. I also loved the dual timeline (even if I got a lil confused, it’s fine) and watched them meet, realize they hated each other, and fought against falling for each other every step of the way.

This series is so incredibly fun and I love that both sisters wake up with amnesia and need to figure out what’s going on.

🎧 the audio was so good!! Andrew Eiden (aka Teddy Hamilton) and Emily Ellet did a great job portraying their characters. King was so grumpy and I loved him so much.

Thank you so much Avon and Harper Collins and Harper audio for the gifted copies! AND THE ART. I love!!!

I was so happy to get this ARC as an audiobook because I loved the narrators in the first one, and this was no exception! So fun and fast-paced, I loved the flashbacks (though it was kind of hard to follow sometimes what was then vs now, maybe bc it was on audio) and working our way up to the scene from the end of the first book. Definitely would recommend!

I am a huge Ally Carter fan, and this is another winner from her! Part romcom, part spy thriller, and all fun, I ate this up! Rival spies, with a decade of complicated history between them, wake up bloody, bruised, and handcuffed to each other with no idea where they are or how they got there. Witty and fast-paced, with action, intrigue, globetrotting, and loads of romantic tension.

Flashbacks that show how rivals Alex Sterling and Michael "King" Kingsley crossed paths and how, over a decade, they wove in and out of each other's orbit. The various timelines were well done, adding to the mystery and character development. Both MCs came alive as they flirted with danger, and each other. Their banter was delicious, as was their angsty will-they / won't-they dynamic. They also share some tender moments. I also enjoyed the character of Merritt, an older woman who has been in the spy game for decades and is still a force.

The plot is thrilling, and the writing is excellent. Carter truly immerses you in this world, and I found myself smiling so much that my cheeks ached while reading. This is the second book in the series, but works as a standalone, so you can easily jump in here. It's escapist with a puzzling mystery and swoon-worthy romance, which I absolutely adored!

Andrew Eiden and Emily Ellet narrate the audiobook and were incredible at bringing Alex and King to life! The emotion, angst and humor were on point. The books in this series would make great TV adaptations, and I thought so even more as I listened. The audio is immersive and entertaining!

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager, Harper Audio and Netgalley for the gifted audiobook

This was a fun, action packed read! Even though this is book 2 in the series, I jumped in and didn’t have any issues reading this as a standalone (though I feel it would be best enjoyed if read in order).

I really enjoyed the rivalry and push and pull between King and Alex. They’re both incredibly intelligent and total bad a$$es. The story is told through a mix of past and present chapters and though this got a little confusing at times, it also helped reveal their history piece by piece. The set up for the book was intriguing, but the plot didn’t flow as smoothly as it could have. The romance had a lot of build up, but the switch to more still felt abrupt and awkward. I wish King and Alex would have just talked more and been honest with their feelings instead of always hiding behind barbs and insults. It was fun at first, but by the end I wanted more. Things wrap up quickly at the end, but I liked how it brought in characters from book 1. The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold does end on a sweet cliffhanger and I’m excited to see what’s next.

I both read and listened to this one and the narration by Emily Ellet and Andrew Eiden was wonderful. Their voices complemented each other very well and it was a really enjoyable listening experience.

Audiobook Review
Overall 4.5 stars
Performance 5 stars
Story 4 stars

*I voluntarily read and listened to a review copy of this book*

You know the meme, “some men will literally (fill in the blank) instead of going to therapy”? That’s Alex. Alex would rather cut herself off from everyone and everything to become a spy and spend years in deep cover than go to therapy. And you know I love her for it. She is competent and a mess.

If you read The Blonde Identity (and you should read it if you haven’t), you know that Alex’s identical twin sister, Zoe, had no idea Alex was an operative until she had to run for her life with Sawyer when she was used as bait to draw Alex out of hiding. We get little flashes of Alex through Zoe and Sawyer, who was her partner (non romantic). We know she has a nemesis, and then she bursts into Zoe and Sawyer’s happily ever after and declares that she’s in an “enemies to lovers situation” and needs help. The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold gives us Alex’s slow burn, enemies to lovers romance with King, which starts the night before they go to The Farm to train to be Agency operatives. The time line ping pongs between the present and the past as their past missions merge with their current crisis. The past haunts both of them, but Alex’s past is being the healthy twin, and King’s past is being a third generation spy.

I also got an advance listener copy, and here is where I ran into an issue. I mostly enjoyed the audiobook. The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold is an excellent story to experience through your ears. Alex and King’s spy adventures are, as they should be, secondary to their love story and having the emotions conveyed by narrators works well. Emily Ellet is great, as she was in The Blonde Identity. Andrew Eiden didn’t work as well for me here as he did in the previous book. The problem was not the way he read King, but the way he voiced Alex. It bothered me that he voiced the bad ass woman like an airhead teenager, and the contrast between his characterization of Alex and Emily Ellet’s is jarring. It’s something a lot of men do when narrating romance and I don’t love it. Ellet and Eiden are at their best when Alex and King are figuring out how to achieve a goal, which is most of the book. Other than that, I enjoyed the audiobook a lot, and started relistening to The Blonde Identity.

It’s a fun series. Carter keeps the world of the spies divorced enough from the real world that I didn’t get bogged down in anxiety about the current geo-political landscape. Alex and King are fun characters who are so clearly in love with each other that one wonders why they didn’t get smacked by their elders more often.

I received an advance reader copy from Avon and Harper Voyager and an advance listener copy from Harper Audio. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.

The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold is the second book in the Blonde Identity series of inter-connected standalone novels. It is a fun, romantic spy comedy, with reluctant allies to lovers and a lot of excellent banter. The book is written in duel POV between the main love interests, and there are timeline changes throughout. The writing itself is lighthearted and dialogue based. There is a lot of emphasis on character development and romance, and less on the espionage based plot, but it was fun to follow along.

The romance is a slow burn, with high tension and lots of bickering. The dialogue between them had me laughing out loud on several occasions. I loved that they could keep up with each other, and were very clearly fighting their feelings. When they finally do get together, I appreciated that it was realistic and it didn’t feel cheesy. I honestly would have enjoyed more time with them together, and I think there was space for that within the pacing of the second half.

Lastly, I was pleased to have listened to this book via audiobook, narrated by Andrew Eiden and Emily Ellet. This audiobook features dual narration within the chapters associated with each character. Each vocal artist does a fantastic job hitting the humorous undertones throughout this book, and I loved their emotional range. Unfortunately one drawback with the audio format is I feel like it made the timeline shifts difficult to keep up with. Although I do recommend the audio, I recommend following along with an e-reader copy or a physical book in tandem.

Overall I had a lot of fun with this one. If you’re looking for an adventurous rom-com between heavier subjects, I highly recommend checking this one out!

Thank you HarperAudio, Avon and Netgalley for the ALC!

The Blonde Who Came In from the Cold is even better than the first book in the series (The Blonde Identity). Sass and snark and spy shenanigans. The chemistry between Sterling and King is electric. Highly recommend this one! It's probably somewhere between a 4 and 4.5 for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio Adult for the access to the ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

Michael Kingsley (also known as King) grew up in the spy business, being the third in line after well-known and respected CIA agents. Alex is running away from her family, feeling unwanted, and blames herself for her twin sister's ongoing health issues, so she constantly berates herself and puts herself in danger as punishment. Her first interaction with Kingsley was hot, until it was not.

"Are you asking if I want to see your room? No, I'm asking if you want to see stars."

Both are a bit broken; neither feels they can trust each other with their hearts, and when they finally give in to a decade of want and need, it all blows up in their face. When they met again, it wasn't by choice. Neither can remember what happened or how they ended up tied together in a dark warehouse, but they are racing to get answers.

- Enemies to Lovers
- Forced proximity
- Reluctant Partners
- He Fell First
- She drives him crazy
- Second chance
- Ex-CIA & one on the run
- Rom-Com-ish
- Family Tragities (both sides)
- Trust No One
- Mole
- Constant Danger
- Photographic Memory (except for a few days)
- Running from the Past

Lots of action, banter, and unspoken want, until it is, and it ends as quickly as it started. Hurtful things said, regret, and the need to face what they know in their hearts. If the job doesn't take them out first. This is a bit of Austin Powers banter, with James Bond missions. It has a balance of serious, with a bit of banter mixed in. It was more serious than a rom-com, which I didn't expect. They flip back and forth from the past to the present to piece together what their strained relationship (work and other) and ongoing missions seem to fit together.

It was interesting and funny at times, so it was enjoyable. I do love a girl who puts people in their place with snarky comments. Apparently, this is book two, but it can be read as a standalone. Now I need to read book one to see where Alex was then and how she ended up with her own story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher HarperAudio Adult | Avon for an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5

Ok this was FUN! I did a hybrid audio/ebook for this one and I ended up switching to ebook for the last 30% because I just haven’t had time to listen and I needed to finish — I was enjoying it way too much to wait. I did find the audio a little hard to follow with the back and forth timelines so you need to be dialled in if you’re going to listen to it! I haven’t read The Blonde Identity but will absolutely be going back to read it. Ally Carter I love you.

My Thoughts:

Sweet Mercy, there are two books in this series now…Get this book! 📕 I listened to the audiobook and I want more. Flirty, sassy, strong meets calm, prepared, and pessimistic …secrets, lies…the plot thickens.

The plot was engaging from the start, and the pacing was perfect and kept me interested. The action was there without being gory and the spice was medium. There was a time travel back to the past and to the present and I thought it was well done and helped keep the mystery.

I appreciated the emotional depth woven throughout the story. The character development was there especially with the sisters and main characters. There were moments that genuinely moved me to almost tears, moments I laughed out loud, and a few twists I definitely didn’t see coming. My mouth was agape a few times in silent shock and awe..
The audiobook had great flow and amazing narrators. Their voices brought the story a new depth and I felt like I was in the world the story created.

Synopsis:
They woke up handcuffed together, they cannot remember the last 48 hours or how they ended up in a warehouse in Las Vegas. They haven't seen each other in a year, and the mystery is on.

Alex Sterling is sassy, and bold while Michael (King) Kingsley is calculating, and hard. They met in a hotel bar they night before the bus to "Spy School" and it was hate at first sight.

Mission after mission, forced together over and over until he left the CIA, but he couldn't leave Alex. He could never get too far from the fray as long as she was still in it. Their hearts were involved now until that one day she “vanished like smoke in the wind”. Gone… until that day when they woke up in a warehouse…whose warehouse? Has her past caught up with her? Who is after them? Who can they trust in this world of secrets and lies?

Who will wins and who will lose in this game.
Who will call Mercy.

The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold is a fast, flirty blend of spy thriller and second‑chance romance that delivers both adrenaline and heart. Alex Sterling and Michael “King” Kingsley wake up bruised, handcuffed, and without their memories, setting off a whirlwind chase filled with double‑crosses, sharp banter, and unexpected tenderness. Ally Carter balances the high‑stakes espionage with just the right amount of humor, making the danger feel thrilling rather than grim. The dual timelines add depth to their relationship, though at times they slow the momentum. Overall, it’s a clever, high‑energy read that proves love and loyalty can survive even the coldest missions.

I really enjoyed this adventurous, fast paced, and twisty novel full of shenanigans, badasses, and deep anticipation of connecting the dots that bring everything together.
Ally Carter does a great job of weaving a compelling tale and keeping so many things up in the air that just leave you wanting more.
I loved the connections to the first novel and it made the conclusion that much sweeter!!

The audio production of this book was phenomenal. I really love Andrew Eiden and Emily Ellet — they are two of my favorites to listen to and this is another production to add to the list of bangers. The performance was phenomenal and added a beautiful depth to the story.