Bibliophile Amber's Book Reviews

Title: Such a Fun Age  Author: Kiley Reid Published: December 31, 2019 Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons  Pages: 310  Genre: Fiction/Contemporary  Review:  When a inappropriate statement is made by Peter on his news segment, a crisis comes around when kids throw a rock or egg at the house breaking a window. When this happens the couple need to phone the police but, instead of having their daughter there they call their babysitter Emira to come and take their daughter out for a bit while the police are at the house. When Emira and Briar(the toddler) take a trip to the local grocery store turns ugly when Emira is accused of kidnapping Briar in the middle of the grocery store. One patron of the store recorded the whole incident on his phone, and emailed Emira the whole video. Then, the patron whose name was Kelly said he deleted the whole incident video from his phone and that whatever was going to happen with the video was up to Emira. This is just the ...

Title: Where the Crawdads Sing  Author: Delia Owen's  Published: August 14, 2018 Published by: G.P Putnam's Sone  Pages: 384  Genre: Fiction/Historical Fiction/Mystery  Review:  I kept seeing this book literally everywhere! So, I finally gave it a chance and I devoured it in one night! In the beginning Kya's mother is gone, Kya keeps wishing and thinking she will come back but when she doesn't return soon her brothers and sisters leave her with her father. Between her father and her they had a brief father/daughter relationship but after a point her father disappeared too. Kya is ten years old and she is basically living off the land. Catching and smoking fish and catching mussels, this allowed her to get some people Mabel and Jumpin. Jumpin bought her mussels and fish and then Mabel took donations and gave her some clothes and things to help her along. While this little 10 year old girl is living on her own she soon makes a friend Tate. He does...

Title: Angels & Demons  Author: Dan Brown  Published: This Edition May 23, 2006  originally in 2000  Published by: Washington Square Press  Pages: 496 Genre: Fiction/mystery/thriller  Review:  Our protagonist is woken up by a phone call in the middle of the night, not believing anything he is hearing on the other line Robert hangs up only to receive a fax that will set things in motion. Robert is swept away to Switzerland to try to decipher the meaning of a branding found on a murdered scientist/priest. From there he is swept along with the murdered priest/scientist's daughter to the Vatican because of a stolen item that could be used for mass destruction. Using his knowledge of history, symbolism, theology and science to attempt to help the Vatican find the missing Cardinals and the weapon of mass destruction. This is the first book I have ever read by Dan Brown and it will definitely not be the last! I was left completely stunned by t...

Title: The Queen of Nothing  Author: Holly Black  Published: November 19,2019 Published by: Little Brown  Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy  Pages: 300  Review:  I needed this book after the way The Wicked King left off! Jude is in the mortal world trying to find work as she can come by it, and then one night when she is coming home bleeding and bruised she is met by her twin sister at their apartment. Only to realize that her sister needs her to do the one thing that will get her killed, to go back to Faerie. She needed to go back and face basically a trial on who killed her husband, and she couldn't face them because glamours would work on her and she would reveal how she killed him and why. So, even though Taryn had betrayed her in so many ways before she still couldn't let her sister go back there or maybe her attraction to Faerie is too great! When she gets there all things go up and through a crazy train leading one thing to another! I never saw ...

Title: Anna Dressed in Blood  Author: Kenmare Blake  Published: October 17,2011 Published by: Tor Teen  Genre: YA Horror  Pages: 316 Pages  Review:  This is a different kind of haunting story! I definitely enjoyed it! Cas is a loner, he and his mom travel around to different destinations so he can do the one thing he knows is his destiny to kill ghost so they cannot hurt anyone any more. An occupation his father did until he was killed working on a case. After Cas killed a hitch hiker ghost that was murdering people on a stretch of road he is headed to Canada to take care of a ghost that he keeos hearing about Anna. When Cas Settles in he makes two friends,  something in the past he has made a point not to do and he soon hears of the Legend of Anna. The first time he goes to Anna's house he is with a bunch of jocks and Carmel. When one of the jocks Mike  hit Cas on the head with a board at Anna's house Cas is knocked unconscious. But, ...

Title: The Sacrifice of Darkness  Author: Roxane Gay & Tracy Lynne Oliver  Published: Expected October 27, 2020 Published by: Archaia  Genre: Science Fiction Graphic Novel  Pages: 128 pages  Review:  This story is unique  in a lot of ways. At the beginning it shows a miner Hiram Highwater breaking down from the greed of the company working the miners and he drives his plane into the sun causing the sun to go out for everyone. The town was forced to use lanterns to bring light to the town to bring back some normalcy of night and day and basically to be able to see, with the light going out this also caused the town to be cold. This brought out a lot of resentment towards Hiram's wife Mara and his son Joshua. Then, the story switches between the love story about Hiram and Mara then Joshua and Claire. How they came to be together, how Mara's family did not approve of Mara becoming a wife of a miner and how she went ahead and married him. T...

Title: Do No Harm  Author: Christian Mcdonald  Published: Expected February 16th 2021 Publisher: Gallery Books  Genre: Thriller/Fiction  Review: Emma had a traumatic life when she was a young teenager from being with her parents when they passed away in a car accident, to going into the foster care system to losing her brother to drugs and the life of crime. She learned never to take anything for granted, and to only depend on herself. Now, she is a doctor and she is married to the best man she could have hoped for Nate. Nate is a police officer in the hopes of solving a case to get a promotion to Lieutenant in the local precinct. They are on the up and up until the unthinkable happens Josh, her son, is diagnosed with an aggressive form of Leukemia that without an expensive treatment he is likely not to survive. When faced with the situation of trying to come up with the financial side of paying for the treatment, and to top it off the treatment is not co...

Title: The Hunting Party  Author: Lucy Foley  Published Date: December 3, 2018 Published by: Harper Collins UK  Pages: 406 pages  Genre: Mystery/Thriller  A group of old friends taking a vacation to an isolated location during the new year in a hope to catch up, have fun and still be the same people they were when they were in college. The story begins with a missing person, which soon became a murder. The body was found and had the signs of not being an accident as the body had bruising around the neck. With the snow coming down, there is no way to get in or out except for a helecopter from the police so that they could come help with the murder. The chapters alternate to different people in the group, the two working at the lodge, and the guests that are there to enjoy their holiday. The friends are all trying really hard, they want to put up a front to each other that they are having the time of their lives except they aren't. The old rivalries, s...

Title: The Invited  Author: Jennifer McMahon  Published : April 30, 2019  Published by: Doubleday  Genre: Horror  Pages: 368  Review:  After Helen's father's death Helen and her Husband Nate have desired to live a simpler life. So, they abandon their condo and local teaching jobs to move to the country and build their own home. As if building a home wasn't enough of a challenge, eerie things start happening and its not just paranormal the town they have moved to isn't too welcoming when it comes to messing with the land Helen and Nate have bought. So, when I bought this book I originally thought that it was a thriller! I kept hearing about it and seeing about it everywhere. When going through my kindle when I saw this one I had to read it and I am super glad that I did! This book was phenomenal! I loved it! I loved that the chapters switched between the women of the past and present. That added to the paranormal ghostly aspect. Then, when N...

Title: Eliza and Her Monsters  Author: Francesca Zappia  Published by: Greenwillow Books Publish Date: May 30, 2017  Pages: 400 pages  Genre: Young Adult Fiction  Synopsis:  In the real world Eliza is smart, shy and a big mess! Online she is the one and only Lady Constellation and the author of the biggest web comic Monstrous Sea. This is her baby and she does everything she can to keep her identity secret. One day she meets a boy named Wallace and he is the biggest Monstrous Sea Fanfiction writer. They start dating and then when Eliza's identity is leaked out her world comes crashing down!  Review:  So, I have a tendency to start a book blind. Like I don't read the synopsis or anything like that I just go in blind and what happens happens.  This story is amazing and I enjoyed it! Eliza is a normal teenager fixing to finish High School, going to college in the fall and everything but, she is also the author of one of the biggest w...

Title: The Four Winds Author: Kristen Hannah  Publishing Date: Expected February 9, 2021  Published by: St. Martin's Press  Genre: Historical Fiction  Pages: 464 Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5  Synopsis:  In 1934 Texas brought a drought along with the dust storms. The Great Depression, The Dust Bowl Era.  The crops were failing, people were losing everything, thier land and animals and even family members.  In these times our protagonist Elsa must make the choice on to stay and fight possibly losing her son to the dust or to make the trip to California to search for a better life.  Review:  Elsa starts out as a normal teenage girl, she wants to go out and have fun. Then, when she finally builds up the courage to go out and to finally make friends and everything. She gets into trouble, in the family way and her and Rafe must get married. While Elsa grows to love Rafe, he is still a dreamer and outspoken. Rafe dreams of something more, he wan...

Title: City of Girls  Author: Elizabeth Gilbert  Publishing Date: June 4, 2019 Published by: Riverhead Books Genre: Historical Fiction  This story is told in a letter format to a younger woman and she looks back on her youth, covering hot topics of promiscuity, sexuality, and even just trying to find one's place in the world..  In 1940 Vivian is 19 years old and she has just been kicked out of college her parents are at a loss of what to do with her so, they send her to go stay with her Aunt Peg in New York! Vivian is exposed to a wide variety of characters and while she seems to have found her groove with friends and a place a scandal will be the undoing of her. So, with much remorse and regret she must take a step back to find her happy place once again.  This is a very different kind of book, I've always heard of the great and wonderful things about this book. Well, I don't know how I feel about it. I enjoyed it and there are times that keep you o...