Kelly McFarland
Maddie thought she and Logan would be friends forever. But when your dad is a Secret Service agent and your best friend is the president’s son, sometimes life has other plans.
Before she knows it, Maddie’s dad is dragging her to a cabin in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness and into a totally different life.
No phone.
No Internet.
And not a single word from Logan.
Maddie tells herself it’s okay. After all, she’s the most popular girl for twentymiles in any direction. (She’s also the only girl for twenty miles in any direction.) She has wood to cut and weapons to bedazzle. Her life is full.
Until Logan shows up six years later . . .
And Maddie wants to kill him.
But before that can happen, an assailant appears out of nowhere, knockingMaddie down a cliff and dragging Logan to some unknown fate. Maddie knows she could turn back and get help. But the weather is turning and the terrain will only get more treacherous, the animals more deadly.
Not If I Save You First is the first standalone book from hugely popular Gallagher Girls and Heist Society author Ally Carter.
It tells the story of Maddie Manchester whose Dad just happens to be in charge of protecting the president of the United States of America. Maddie has grown up in the white house and the president’s son Logan is her best friend. Between them if they don’t all the secret passages in the White House or how to get in somewhere they aren’t supposed to, then it’s probably not worth knowing!
Fast forward six years and Maddie has been forced to move to Alaska when her Dad gets injured in the line of duty. To keep herself sane living in the middle of nowhere with no internet, no phone or TV she writes letters to Logan for the first couple of years but he never replies to her letters. So now she hates him. Like really hates him.
Then Logan shows up in Alaska as he’s been a bit naughty at home and his parents decided Alaska might be a good punishment. Maddie is just the teeny tiniest bit mad. Logan has grown up and is even hotter than she remembers. But there is the small matter of the fact he didn’t reply to her letters.
From Logan’s point of view, Maddie has changed to, she’s become this self-reliant woman, totally different yet still as he remembers.
Before they get chance to sort their issues out Logan gets kidnapped and Maddie gets thrown off a cliff (literally). What happens next is a crazy chase across the deadly Alaskan wilderness with lots of sass from Maddie and lots of unresolved feelings.
We won’t give away the plot. But it does sort of end with a happy-ever-after for Maddie and Logan.
We loved Maddie as a character, just as much as we love Kat Bishop from the Heist Society series if there is one thing Ally Carter knows how to write is a strong female protagonist.
Admittedly we didn’t really gel with Logan’s character, to us he was a bit wishy-washy. His reasons for not replying to Maddie’s letters weren’t the best and he continuously refused to see or acknowledge that Maddie was fully capable of looking after them both and knew the terrain and how to survive in Alaska far better than he did. Logan is no Hale!( read Ally’s Heist Society series and you will totally get what we mean.)
This book was a great read (Logan’s character flaws aside, because hey nobody is perfect right? We loved how strong and resourceful Maddie was as a character and how she adapted to life in Alaska. You could tell from the vivid description that Ally had done lots of research on Alaska and what it’s like to live there.
We adore Ally Carter and her books. If you want a quick read with a strong sassy female protagonist with a bit of romance thrown in then this is your book!
You can order the book from the following sites or pick it up in all good bookstores.
Have you read Not If I Save You First, or is it on your to-read list? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or over on @Fuzzable!
