Nose Jobs, Hair Dye, and Other Ways to Fake Your Death

by Natalie Tay

Death changes a person... Especially when their death is faked.

When your father happens to be the next Presidential hopeful, flying under the radar is about as easy as scaling a twenty-story glass building in broad daylight. Even if I was mostly in the background, staying in Dad’s spotlight would make my ambition of becoming a spy difficult at best. And he didn’t want to be the one to take away my dreams.

The plan was to fake my death a month after he announced his candidacy, but everything changed when I didn't make it home for winter break.

They insisted it was a car crash, but that didn't explain the gunshot wounds in my chest. Or why Dad said it was best to let people think that I was dead.

Six weeks and eight surgeries later, I was back at school. New name, new face, and a couple hundred classmates still mourning my death. I thought it would be easy to adopt the new identity, especially since I’d spent the last three and a half years at a special high school run by the Department of Defense.

But no amount of training could have prepared me for this.

After all, I still had to figure out who killed me.

Genres: Ebooks, Young Adult, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Mystery

262 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 11, 2021

Reviews

[Rebecca]

I accidentally stayed up till 3:00 reading this in one sitting. It's a fluffy romance written by someone who watches too many crime dramas, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book deals respectfully with serious trauma (flashbacks in nightmare format), but it never stops being fun. I really appreciated the diversity of the characters and the portrayal of healthy sexuality and consent.

[Gracie]

This made me feel the way I felt when I read books in elementary school. It was just so fun and fast, and it didn’t spend 200 pages trying to make me care about the characters, it just got straight into it. This is a new fave for sure. 5/5 ⭐️

[Lord Voldemort]

I still dont have a nose and im not blond like my homeboy Lucious

[Abigail]

I could not put this book down! It was so fabulous! It is a YA spy school romance book and totally lives up to any expectations you might have. I loved it and the representation that was in it. It has queer representation, disability representation, and people of color.

I truly loved all the characters and was shocked at the plot twist. I highly recommend this book it is my favorite read of the year so far! (First book I read in 2024).

Content Warnings:
Graphic: Medical content, Death of parent, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Blood, Murder, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence

Moderate: Body horror, Racism, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Body shaming, Sexual content, Terrorism, and White supremacy

[Kris McKenzie]

Cute slow burn romance mixed with Criminal Minds/NCIS vibes all bundled up in an action-packed YA that has diverse characters, queer rep, and handles trauma in a really interesting way.

[Lara Mcmullin]

Action packed

I love the plot for this book. It is the perfect mix of action and romance. This book sucked me in from the moment I started reading and I couldn't put it down. Well done!

[Rachel]

A fun, quick read.

[Kassea]

A spy thriller, fun YA
-Perfect mix of action and romance.
- the book deals with some serious trauma through nightmares.
-you follow Kat/Jennie while they try to figure herself out.
-Quick easy read.

[peyton]

sometimes poorly written books are good for the soul

[Tonja Drecker]

High-stakes, deadly secrets, and an internship at the FBI spike the tension and keep this read grabbing all the way to the unexpected twist at the end.

Kat's the new girl and three weeks late into the Semester...but not really. As the daughter of the next Presidential hopeful, she's spent her life in the lime light, which also makes her dream career in the CIA as a spy difficult. Her death changed everything. An attack she can't remember lead to massive plastic surgery, and now, she's born again, safe but having to start a new life while being reminded of her old one. Except her killers were never caught, and while they might not know who she is, their goals haven't changed. Plus, she really wants revenge.

With the whispers of an academy read, it remains so much more and doesn't slip into the cliches of that trope. Instead, it offers the backdrop to root her teen life as she already spreads her wings toward what awaits after graduation. Although this is an action novel, Kat's character carries more depth than first appears. She not only struggles with the slow recovery of the memories of the attack (a very brutal one) and constantly faces who she was before but recognizes the shift in her own perception of the world around her. Plus, there's an interesting play of redefining who she is. While none of this propels into deep moments chucked full with wisdom, it gives Kat more substance with problems and scars.

Then, there's the mystery and action. It grabs on every page and makes sure there's never the blink of a boring moment. Some clues are a bit easy, but that doesn't bother as the read smoothly flows from one sticky situation to the next. It's light, doesn't take tons of need for thought, and entertaining. I did read it in one go and couldn't put it down.

There is romance, which worked fine, but I wished it didn't get quite as much page time as it did, since the story didn't really need it. Plus, some of the other characters missed a little depth. But none of this bothered, either, as the book flows very well for a light, exciting read.

For readers wanting a fun read with action, tension, danger, some girl power, a bit of romance, and criminal chasing atmosphere, this is one worth taking a look at.

[Emily M]

Meh. My girls are always up for teenagers attending super secret spy schools, but this one required too much suspension of disbelief. Listen, for this genre, I am willing to suspend disbelief and accept that a teenage girl can be a polyglot and beat polygraphs and know all about weapons, okay? Internally, though, this premise doesn't make sense. The heroine was kidnapped and presumed dead, gets plastic surgery, and returns as a "new student" six weeks later to her spy school where she had been for 3.5 years, stays with her best friend roomie, and gets extra attention from all the teachers because of herher purple hair and leather jacket, and no one recognizes her. None of the super-spies-in-training notice her vocal patterns, gait, mannerisms, or body shape are the exact same as the friend who was just suspiciously murdered. She's also suddenly able to beat up the best fighter in the school, has suddenly improved with weapons, and has had a total personality shift so that she doesn't care about fashion or frivolous things anymore.

The teen interns at the FBI are allowed to participate in real cases, where they have insights that the agents missed; when terrorists attack the school of highly trained teen operatives during a Valentine's dance, only the heroine jumps in to fight them; and the heroine and her new boyfriend sneak around the school at night undetected by their secret agent teachers and end up topless in bed together, but it's okay because they're taking it slow. I could go on, but you get the gist. I really only finished it so that I could give a fair review of the entire book.

[funkelbunt.liest]

Hmm, this was a strange book. It took me a LONG while to get into the story because of a really confusing start and I nearly DNFed. But even though I probably never really got into the story I at least pulled through and while it definitely had its moments, it seemed to me like it randomly switched genres. It just wasn’t as fleshed out as it could have been. It’s a strange mix between an extremely fluffy romance and a spy story so far-fetched and over the top, it was really hard for me to take it seriously. I mean I get that the book doesn’t try to be realistic, but this was too much.

[Caitlin]

One star for the title, and one for the basic premise of the book.
Lost stars for the execution, pacing, and the main character saying multiple times that she had to conjugate verbs for her Mandarin homework when there are no verb conjugations in Mandarin 😀 Not the worst free kindle book I’ve read, but be warned that a Herculean effort was required for the suspension of disbelief.

[Ashleigh Dykes]

This book really surprised me with how good it was! When I first decided to read it, I honestly thought it would be a book that I would read a few chapters then not finish it. But overall it was a very fun and cute read! If there ends up being additional book in this series, I would for sure read them!

[maddie lewis]

had kind of low expectations PLEASANTLY SURPRISED

good little twist. definitely a fast read you could binge this one and you definitely will want to. theres so many questions you want answered so you just cant stop. i really like the writing style and will be diving into more natalie tay

[Hope]

⭐4.25/5

This was an excellent book! The perfect high-stakes, yet cozy, YA book. Loved the characters and their dynamics with one another. The plot was interesting and made me want to keep reading. Fell in love with the boarding school setting! So found-family feeling. I loved it!

[Zeeb]

ehh

i really wanted to like this; when i decided to get it off the summary, i really thought i would. but i don’t know. something just didn’t hit in the right places. it’s a good quick read tho; if you’re in the mood for a pallet cleanser. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Suzanne]

Sometimes it’s fun to read a cheesy spy-school-mystery-teenage-romance. And while almost none of the contents of this book could actually happen in real life, a little exercise in suspension of disbelief is good for some warm and fuzzies every once in a while.

[Sophie Marlow]

I did enjoy this book and I did read it very quickly. It was fairly easy read, but I thought the beginning was a little bit slow. All the main action seemed to happen in the last few chapters and I feel this could have been extended.

[Emily Louise]

3.5 stars, interesting enough to keep me hooked, I liked the characters but I want more info about Owen, more of jennys backstory and I wasn’t happy with the ending and how easily they rescued Hayley. Love the idea of the book but I need a more resolute ending if there is another book

[Shawna]

Unexpectedly

good YA thriller / romance. The FMC is a refreshingly strong person showing a lot of the confidence many FMC's lack.

[Ashlyn]

Highly underrated book, I love the amount of consent there was between the characters! Good for crime nerds :)

[Taylor]

This was such a cute read haha! It was very entertaining and not graphic on the relationship end of things. I loved it! Would totally read the sequel!

[Maddie Geller]

Fluffy romance, in a good way. I did not care for the ending…too many side plots were tied up in a messy way. Overall, a fun, quick read! 3.5 stars.

[Kelly Younghorn]

A quick fun YA read; I enjoyed the backdrop of spy school and the mix of everyday teen issues alongside training to be special agents. Looking forward to the next installment.

[April Golombek]

A bit confusing to start, decent moments but I wish it was a bit more fleshed out. Maybe the rest of the series helps with that.

[Kate Lorentzen]

Great YA Read

Unique storyline, diverse characters, and a splash of nitty gritty made this book a quick and enjoyable read . Looking forward to more from Natalie Tay.

[Once Upon a Page]

Dnf 36% even more far fetched than I’d anticipated, and I struggled to get into it

[Justine]

actual rating ⭐️ a lil over 3.5
this was actually so good?? not gonna lie at first i was leaning towards 2.5 or 3 stars , but it picked up pretty quickly and is very interesting! it’s a lot different then my other spy books but i actually really like that about it!
i like Kat, the fight scenes were so good and the romance was perfect! i love their friendship and absolutely love Owen <3 this book covers a lot of important issues and i think the author did a very good job of that while also keeping it fun and not too heavy feeling 👏🏼

only thing is the end felt a bit rushed. should have been a slightly bigger deal when her identity was revealed and we don’t know much about how she got into the spy business or the backstory of either of her parents but especially her mom. that part at the end was tossed in out of nowhere so i wish we got more of an explanation. but other then that i loved it! another spy book for the win and i will definitely be checking out more of her books 🫶🏼

- ya
- romance: closed door
- tw: kidnapping, terrorists and mentions of torture

[HannahsHardcovers]

I had hit a reading slump when I picked this up. It was one of those books you grab on stuff your kindle day, and kind of forget about until your TBR is dwindling. Ya know?

This was exactly what I needed when I began reading. I needed something goofy, YA, and just an easy read which is exactly what you get. I will say I am intrigued to read the rest of the books in this world, but I don't know when that will happen as it isn't a top priority for me right now.

Stars: 4/5