Review: You Don't Know My Name (The Black Angel Chronicles #1) by Kristen Orlando

You Don't Know My Name (The Black Angel Chronicles #1) by Kristen Orlando
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Release Date: January 10th, 2017
Purchase: Amazon

Fighter, Faker, Student, Spy.
Seventeen-year-old Reagan Elizabeth Hillis is used to changing identities overnight, lying to every friend she’s ever had, and pushing away anyone who gets too close. Trained in mortal combat and weaponry her entire life, Reagan is expected to follow in her parents’ footsteps and join the ranks of the most powerful top-secret agency in the world, the Black Angels. Falling in love with the boy next door was never part of the plan.
Now Reagan has to decide: Will she use her incredible talents and lead the dangerous life she was born into, or throw it all away to follow her heart and embrace the normal life she's always wanted? And does she even have a choice at all?
Find out if you are ready to join the Black Angels in the captivating and emotional page-turner, You Don't Know My Name, from debut novelist Kristen Orlando!

My Thoughts:
Imagine if your parents were the couple from the Mr. & Mrs. Smith movie.  You know the one with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie??  That's who Reagan has as parents and she is expected to follow in their secret agency footsteps.  Only Reagan isn't so sure she wants to live that kind of life after falling for the boy next door.

I've seen this premise in quite a few books lately and I won't lie I am intrigued by them all and have liked most of them that I have read.  This one however just missed the mark for me.  From the get go Reagan wasn't tough enough.  She states several times throughout the story that she has all this training, but we really don't get to see her stone cold side. Yes she fights a few fights, but in the end she failed to show that she was capable enough to handle dangerous situations.  That was one part that bugged me immensely.  I didn't mind that she questioned her future, in fact I liked it, but I didn't buy she was this child prodigy and that the agency couldn't wait for her to come of age.  Her decisions weren't great and she disregarded orders multiple times and put others in danger including someone who had to right to be there.  I was frustrated to say the least.

I actually liked the romance in this one.  I am a sucker for the boy next door/best friend line.  What I didn't like was what Reagan did after her and Luke's big moment.  I understood what she was trying to do, but what she did was unforgivable in my opinion and I almost threw the book out the window when that chapter hit. Communication is huge and I just wish she would have trusted her gut to at least tell him a bit about her life.  I know it was all hush hush, but come on.  That whole scene wasn't needed after chapters and chapters of her pinning for him and all the talk about her goosebumps when he was around.  If she could put a stop to things so fast, why even go down that road to begin with.  I would have rather watched her avoid anything personal from the get go then read what she did.

Those were my major gripes.  I still have a few minor ones, but I can live with the others.  Those two not so much.  This story ends not really in a cliff hanger, but you know there is more to come and I will read the next installment.  I am hoping to see Reagan gain some fierceness and I think she did by the end after the devastation that happened.  I am also hoping the agency either kicks her out or lets her take part because this whole on the outskirts thing is a bit annoying. They said she was the best, but yet they won't listen to her.  Frustrating!!  So much of this book was frustrating!!  Compared to other books I have read with this same plotline this one doesn't stand out which is a shame because it had great potential.

2 snowflakes