#niisyf

[electricgalaxy]

maddie "mad dog" manchester

ally carter: *traumatizes her ten year old characters and then separates best friends right when they need each other most, leading the girl to become bitter yet badass*

ally carter: i have made a Protagonist

readers: you fucked up a perfectly good teenager is what you did. look at it. it's got anxiety.

[maceymchenrys]

Not If I Save You First, March 2018! Find out more here.

[mmreadsbooks]

Not If I Save You First, Ally Carter

4/5 stars

I blazed through this book in about two hours... I couldn't put it down. I don't think it's possible for Ally Carter to write a bad book. Her writing is always funny, creative and even though she employs some classic tropes in her work, she always has a few surprises up her sleeve. So not only is this book wonderfully titled, when you see the titular words used on the page, you will totally smile and wish you could start reading again with a fresh set of eyes. Ally knows how to start a book with a bang, let me tell you. She knows how to write exposition and not dump a bunch of information on you, but to smoothly let you know what's going on. This is written in third person, but you follow both Maddie and Logan's POV. (Logan had an amazing reference to Blackthorne Institute aka the Gallagher Girls series and I just about lost it.) One of the things I adore about all of Ally's books is that you can read them no matter your age. I LOVE Ally's books. I read LYKY when I was 14 and 8 years later, I'm still a huge fan. She always surprises and never lets me down. Ally's also very good at saying something without actually saying it. What I mean is, you can totally tell what the characters' emotions are, how they're feeling all through their actions. Ally doesn't spell everything out for you, she lets you feel it. I absolutely LOVEEEEDDD Maddie's character. She is AMAZING. It made me sad to know this wasn't going to be a series, but these are characters you want to ride or die with. I also liked Logan, and I know Ally's said he's her favorite guy character of the ones she written, but my favorite will always be Zach. There was one character that gave me Solomon/Townsend/Bobby Bishop vibes, but all of Ally's characters are always multi-faceted and different, across all her series. That's another thing I love. She writes strong, independent, compassionate characters who learn from their mistakes, love their families and friends and make sacrifices (truly great character arcs), but they're all totally their own people. I don't feel like I'm re-reading the same characters over and over again. I wish this was a series, but I am totally satisfied. I really need my own bedazzled hatchet. As always, I'm very excited for what Ally's next super secret project is. If you're a fan of Ally's, or if you've never picked up a book of hers before, have no fear. You will be on the edge of your seat, totally in love with her writing style. I always whip right through Ally's books. They're not too heavy, but they deliver all the right emotions. Some spoilery thoughts, beware!! I do wish Logan had gotten a resolution with his dad considering he was just as much a main character as Maddie. I also thought the story's villains could have been stronger—I've seen what Ally can do. I just didn't think these villains, the "Wolf" avenging his son whose stupidness got him killed (also he attacked the first lady first??) was a good enough reason for all of these shenanigans. I did like Stefan kind of turncoating at the end, but I didn't think the big "wow" surprise reasoning of why he was kidnapping Logan justified his actions throughout. I just thought there was a lot missing, and though I do understand the focus was on Maddie and Logan, you have to have a strong antagonist and backstory for a strong, ferocious read. I won't change my rating because I did have a great, thrilling time reading this, but I've seen Ally Carter's villains. I also thought the ending was super quick, like there were still a few things that could've been explained more, especially since this is a standalone. But I guess it's all up to the reader, which isn't so bad.

[whenifallinlove-itwillbeforever]

Not If I Save You First - Ally Carter

Oh, my heart is bruised. I’m not going to say it’s broken or destroyed or anything dramatic like that, my heart just fell off the back while standing still. So it’s minor. I was a HUGE FAN of Ally Carter. She is such a phenomenal writer. I read her in high school and the early years of college, but I loved her. She was good. When I found out she had a stand-alone book I was quick to jump on it. I was curious because she wrote the only spy series I ever read (and I loved it) and she wrote the only heist series I ever read (and I loved it). Seriously if you know any books like that please leave it in the comments because I love those themes.

Anyway, Not If I Save You First was sort of a letdown. It was interesting and I read it quickly so that was a bonus. But I found myself having to push myself to finish those last few pages. Everything came to a head rather quickly and simply and I was disappointed. The writing was still great but the story had sounded more interesting from the outside.

The relationship between Maddie, the head of the secret services daughter, and Logan, the president’s son was a different one. 6 years with no contact could change any relationship. But despite the fact that they were only 11 when Maddie left Washington for Alaska, they really held on to the idea of each other. I expected a little more fluff for what changed in that time. I wanted to know more about why Logan did the things he did in order to be sent to Alaska. In general I just expected more filler than what I got.

However, this was classic Ally Carter. She has a way of writing so well that you can almost imagine yourself there in that situation. However, this was the first heroine of hers that I did not like. (I did not read the Embassy Row series). Like I said though, it’s been some time since I read anything from Ally Carter and maybe I’ve just outgrown it. But, I’ve been reading Cassandra Clare since I was Fifteen and I’m now Twenty Six. Her writing style adapted with her early readers. I wanted NIISYF to be more dark and it wasn’t.

I’m not going to say I hated it because I didn’t, I just didn’t have the same amount of interest as I’ve usually had in Ally Carter books. I hyped myself up too much and I’m a little disappointed. Still, she is a great author. I re-read the Gallagher Series literally like a week before I read this book and I still loved it. Maybe stand-alone books just aren’t for her. Or more likely, they just aren’t always for me.

Still, I would recommend it for a younger audience.

3/5 ⭐️ because it wasn’t terrible it just wasn’t for me!

Favorite line: “I never leave the house with just one knife. Seriously. Do I look like a one-knife kind of girl?”

[pageturnersblog]

#regram @theallycarter ・・・ Announcing first Ally’s Quarantine Book Club pick!!⠀ ⠀ Come join my Instagram live on⠀ ⠀ MONDAY⠀ March, 30⠀ 2:00 CST⠀ ⠀ We’ll be talking all things NOT IF I SAVE YOU FIRST! ⠀ Teachers & Librarians, feel free to share and use this as you see fit—especially if NIISYF is on your state’s reading list. I hope to make it as fun (and educational) as possible!⠀ ⠀ See you on Monday! — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2Jaiuee

[thefullbullpen99]

not if i save you first

ally carter

logan was going to kill maddie. as soon as he was certain she was safe, that was.

[maceymchenrys]

EXCLUSIVE COVER REVEAL AND EXCERPT: ALLY CARTER'S NOT IF I SAVE YOU FIRST