T.A. Maclagan

A terrific YA spy thriller. Alexandra is a strong character who has to suppress her own identity in order to serve her country. An adult gets to choose this occupation but Alexandra was forced into it at a very young age. Feeling abandoned by her father, and missing her murdered mother, she longs for family. She denies this need for years as she lets her training govern her emotions. A teenager spends those years learning about themselves and she has to pretend to be someone else. Love is a powerful force and it is love for her grandfather that changes her loyalties. Her relationship to Grant, friendship with Martine and a growing dislike for the need to lie become the triggers for change. I was invested in Alexandra and her story from the start. Spy genre is not my first choice but I enjoyed this one and fully recommend it.… (mais)

I got this book through NetGalley.


When I requested this book, I knew that I was going to enjoy it, because I love espionage thrillers. What I didn't know is that I was going to enjoy it so much. I definitely recommend this book to all the people who like YA espionage books.

While not an adult book, it's more mature than I expected. I don't mean it in the sense of graphic, because while death and murder are mentioned, they're not very detailed in their description.

I didn't know that this book was likely to be a first book in a series until I reached the end, because it's not as slow as first books usually are. It helps that the premise is very straightforward and simple for an espionage story, until things get more complicated. Alexandra is not actually Alexandra but Milena, a girl who takes Alexandra's place after her parents and her are killed in a car crash. As the real Alexandra didn't have a close relationship with her grandfather and children change so fast, nobody is supposed to notice anything odd. Milena is part of a secret organisation of Olissa, an imaginary ex-Soviet country.

What I didn't like was the ending. When I say that I didn't like it, I mean it in a good way, because that cliffhanger is evil. Ever since a certain piece of information was revealed (saying what would be a huge spoiler though), I was looking forward to seeing a certain character's reaction to it. However, the book ends right after this character is told that bit of information. I don't know whether there's going to be a second book or not, but this book ends in a way that made me think that there's going to be at least one more.

The one thing that I found a bit odd, considering that the girl has been trained and is not someone who suddenly finds herself in the middle of an international espionage situation, is that she gets a tattoo. Sure, the place is usually covered by average clothes, but it's very visible with certain kind of dresses and t-shirts. I would have thought that she would be more careful with anything that might make identification easier, especially as it's not something that she does to make her cover more believable.… (mais)

Actual Rating: 3.5 Stars

Although I thought They Call Me Alexandra Gastone started off a little slow, I soon appreciated the back story and character interaction once Lex became faced with difficult decisions and the impact of spying.

At first, I felt a comparison to [b:Also Known As|13132661|Also Known As (Also Known As, #1)|Robin Benway|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1354665105s/13132661.jpg|18309079] was warranted, but Lex is older, her situation more serious, and her thought process deeper. I enjoyed the dilemmas Lex encountered. I like that she struggled with where her loyalties lied, who she was, and what the truth really was.

The spy games really picked up near the end and with it added excitement and twists. It ends on a bit of a cliffhanger and I cannot wait to see what happens next.… (mais)