My Review

Alexandra Gastone has a seemingly great life to all those on the outside. She has a boyfriend, she does well in school, and she lives with and is close to her grandfather, who works in the CIA. She is on track for college (Princeton is the plan), and she herself wants to work for the CIA.

However, everything is not quite what it seems.

Who is Alexandra, really?

It turns out, “Alexandra Gastone” is really a spy from Olissa, where she was born and raised. Her true name isn’t Alexandra Gastone at all, but Milena Rokva, who is a sleeper agent and has been sent to America to infiltrate the CIA within five years. Only that plan doesn’t seem to hold anymore, because she is told that she will need to begin now, not in five years.

So how does this go for “Alexandra”? Does she betray the “grandfather” she has come to love as her own family? What about the amazing relationship she has with her boyfriend? Will she allow the people she cares about most to get hurt, or does she decide to take matters into her own hands and come up with a different solution?

This book is truly unlike anything I’ve read. While I don’t particularly read a lot of thrillers or “spy” books, I found They Call Me Alexandra Gastone to be a real treat. It is full of action, suspense, and yes, even a little romance (the relationship between “Alexandra” and her boyfriend, Grant, is adorable and I loved them as a couple). I had grown to care about the characters in the book a lot, especially Grandpa Albert, who was such a sweet, caring man who would do anything to make his granddaughter happy. You could tell they had a great relationship, even though Alexandra wasn’t who he thought she was.

The entire plot of this book was so well written, and you could tell that the author T.A. Maclagan definitely put a lot of time and research into the subject matter of the book. While the book does end on a cliffhanger, it seemed fitting for it to end that way, because it leaves room for a sequel and for the storyline to continue. It was definitely a surprising book, and one that I have to recommend to anyone who loves YA fiction, even if the genre itself isn’t something you’d normally reach for!

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

13 Jul 2015

They Call Me Alexandra Gastone by T.A. Maclagan

Posted in Reviews, Thrillers, Young Adult |

Book Title:

They Call Me Alexandra Gastone

Book Author:

T.A. Maclagan

Publishing Date:

May 20th, 2015

Publisher:

Full Fathom Five Digital

Date Read:

April 9, 2015

Synopsis

When your life is a lie, how do you know what’s real? Alexandra Gastone has a simple plan: graduate high school, get into Princeton, work for the CIA, and serve her great nation. She was told the plan back when her name was Milena Rokva, back before the real Alexandra and her family were killed in a car crash. Milena was trained to be a sleeper agent by Perun, a clandestine organization from her true homeland of Olissa. There, Milena learned everything she needed to infiltrate the life of CIA analyst Albert Gastone, Alexandra’s grandfather, and the ranks of America’s top intelligence agency. For seven years, “Alexandra” has been on standby and life’s been good. Grandpa Albert loves her, and her strategically chosen boyfriend, Grant, is amazing. But things are about to change. Perun no longer needs her at the CIA in five years’ time. They need her active now. Between her cover as a high school girl—juggling a homecoming dance, history reports, and an increasingly suspicious boyfriend—and her mission in this high-stakes spy game, the boundaries of her two lives are beginning to blur. Will she stay true to the country she barely remembers, or has her loyalty shattered along with her identity?