They Call Me Alexandra Gastone | T.A. Maclagan | Review

They Call Me Alexandra Gastone | T.A. Maclagan | Review

• Wednesday, 23 September 2015

Alexandra Gastone is an average teenager, she wants to get through high-school, get into Princeton and work for the CIA in order to serve her country. However, Alexandra isn't an average teenager because Alexandra is already dead, along with her parents in a car crash caused by a secret organisation called Perun. 

Perun trained and placed Milena in Alexandra's life, caused the real girls death and sent Milena to Alexandra's estranged grandfather's house to live a "normal" life. Whilst undercover as Alexandra, Milena must uncover secrets about her peers, use her "grandfather's" connections to get into the CIA and send private information back to Perun for them to use against the United States. 

For seven years, Milena has lived as Alexandra without a problem and her sleeper agent status hasn't been stirred. However, she has been asked to carry out a job that will end her life as she knows it. With the struggles of being a teenage girl and having to deal with friendships, boyfriends, school as well as her spy work and her allegiance to Perun - What will she do?!

They Call Me Alexandra Gastone was an interesting book to read. It was a cross between a spy thriller and a contemporary YA romance, with dystopian and politic aspects thrown in for good measure. I really liked the concept of this book and have found myself enjoying spy/undercover books a lot more lately - this one was quick to read and the plot wasn't too predictable. There were times when I knew what was coming and predicted the main "twist" from near the beginning, but in general it was just a fun book to read. 

The main character was slightly annoying, and I didn't feel connected to her at all. I liked the loyalty she felt towards her "grandfather", but other than that, I didn't feel any connection to her or the other characters. I would like to have felt more of a bond with the main character, especially since there was so much riding on what was going to happen within the story. 

The book did end on a slight cliffhanger, so I hope there will be a sequel as this would make a good first book in a spy-series. In general, I probably wouldn't recommend this book as it didn't blow me away or have anything special about it. It had a lot more potential that I just didn't feel it lived up to, but nonetheless it was a fun read and I whizzed through it quickly enough.