ARC Review: Blonde Identity #2

The Blonde Who Came In From The Cold by Ally Carter

Publication Date: August 5, 2025

Summary from NetGalley:

An action-packed, second-chance rom-com about two rival spies who must join forces in order to stay alive, from New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter.

Ten years ago, they joined the CIA.

Six years ago, he left the game.

Five years ago, they fell in love.

One year ago, she ran out into the cold with absolutely no intention of ever coming back.

And two minutes ago, they woke up, bloody and bruised and handcuffed together in the dark.

They don’t know where they are. They don’t know how they got there. And they have absolutely no idea who is after them or what this nameless, faceless villain wants.

The only thing that’s clear is that, after ten years of covers and chemistry, secrets and lies, these two rival spies have been sucked into their greatest mission yet, and now they’re going to have to team up to stay alive. (If they don’t kill each other first.)

ARC Provided by Avon and Harper Voyager via Netgalley for an honest review.

Confession:

This second book in the Blonde Identity spy romance series was a lot of fun. I did struggle a little bit with the dual timeline, but I loved the action and the romance was pretty good too.

Alex has always wanted to be a spy, but she got more than she bargained for. I really liked her. She is smart, sassy and pretty brash for a spy. She is the opposite of her sister Zoe, who we met in the first book. Alex has a tendency to act first and think afterwards, which sometimes gets her into trouble. I really liked King as well. He is also smart, and comes from a long line of famous spies. I loved getting his thoughts and feelings about Alex and how infuriating she was, but he still falls for her hard.

I liked the romance between these two for the most part. I think things could have maybe been a bit clearer as to why they broke up the first time, and the build up to them finally admitting their feelings to each other could have been a bit better too. But the banter, especially at the start of the book, was great. It would have been nice if there was a little bit more in the way of steamy scenes than what we got as well.

The present day plot was interesting and pretty easy to follow. They spend a lot of time going over old missions they did together to help them figure out who wants them dead now and why. I really enjoyed watching them work together. We also got a second timeline that went back to when they first met, and then the missions that they did together. I found the other timelines a little bit confusing at times as they often mirrored what was going on in the present. I often had to check back to the beginning of the chapter to see where and when they were. This confusion made the story on the whole a little harder to follow, but I still enjoyed it. The ending was perfect and hopefully a set up for a third book.

If you read the first book in the series, you will probably enjoy this one too. If you like the author’s YA books, this adult novel will certainly entertain you. I do recommend that you read the first book before this one, as there is overlap of the two stories which could cause some confusion.