Bibliophile Amber's Book Reviews

​ Title: Tremors in the Blood  Author: Amit Katwala  Expected Publication: March 7, 2023  Publisher: Crooked Lane Books  Genre: True Crime, Nonfiction, History  Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review:  Anyone who knows me knows I love all things true crime from books, documentaries, podcasts the whole work. So when I saw this one, I knew I would love it!  I have yet to hear much about this, which was very interesting. The whole book was quite brilliant!  So Katwala starts with a pretty taboo story of Henry Wilkins. Now, Henry's story was his wife was gunned down by a thief in a devastating accident but is that all to the story? Well, she was gunned down by a thief, but many of the extras did not appear to be all the ins and outs of the story. Katwala goes into the development of the polygraph and the person who helped sponsor it, August Vollmer. Now August Vollmer was very active in developing the modern policing we know today. So these both go hand in hand. Thi...

​ Title: All The Dangerous Things  Author: Stacy Willingham  Published: January 10,2023 Published by: Minotaur Books  Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense  Pages: 326 pages  Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  Review:  I adored this book! I loved her first book, and this one, she knocked it out of the park! I firmly believe this one is better than her first! So, Isabelle Drake lived through a parent's worst nightmare while she and her husband slept with her 11-month-old son, Mason, who was taken out of his crib a year ago. The case went cold soon because there was not much for the authorities to go on. But like any mother, Isabelle is not giving up until she finds her son! It has become her life mission she was obsessed with, determined to find out what happened to her son. She is not sleeping and even her now estranged husband and friends and family want her to start the acceptance phase of her grief and accept that Mason is gone. Easier said than done. Waylon meets Is...

​ Title: You Must Remember This  Author: Kat Rosenfield  Expected Publication: January 10,2023 Publisher: William Morrow  Genre: Mystery/ Thriller  Pages: 320 pages  Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  Review:  So we all know the saying money makes the world go around; this story starts with unforgettable characters hoping to get a piece of Mimi's riches. Mini is an 85-year-old, and she has 20 million dollars in the bank that her adult children are chomping at the bit to get. However, Mini has not passed away. She is slowly losing her memory at a very slow progression of dementia.   Mimi's children, Diana, Dora, and Richard, have decided to have one more Christmas in the family mansion before her memory goes.  This story is told from two different POVs and timelines. Delphine (Mimi's granddaughter) in the present and the past Mimi while growing up. When Mimi passes away, the family starts arguing over what will happen with the finances. They argue if it was de...

​ Title: The Bandit Queens  Author: Parini Shroff Published: January 3,2022 Published by: Ballantine Books Genre: Contemporary/Mystery/ Fiction  Pages: 352 pages  Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review:  This one was different from what I had initially thought, which was splendid!  Geeta is like the town's own living urban legend. Her husband disappeared five years ago, and since no one knows what happened, the town has her painted as a cruel murderer. Now, Geeta did not kill him. He was an abusive man who ran off on his own accord, but the town did not see it in that light. Geeta used to all the stares and whispers of the people as she passes, has given her tough skin. She has her guard up at all times and does not socialize. However, when Geeta finds herself elbow-deep in an actual murder, she finds herself in a terrible situation. Now she will have to repair some of the bridges she's burned with friends from her past to help her get through the difficult times. Now this sto...

​ Title: The Villa  Author: Rachel Hawkins Expected Publication: January 8,2022 Publisher: St. Martins Press Genre: Mystery/ Thriller  Pages: 288 pages  Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review:  So I am not a new reader of Rachel Hawkins; this is probably my favorite one of hers yet! This was a unique approach of kept having two timelines for the villa in Italy timeline of the same villa in Italy. I love the dark history of the villa. Emily struggles with writer's block while going through a messy divorce and recovering from her health scare. Her agent is hounding her for the next book in her cozy mystery series. While it seems her life is in a tail spinning, her best friend invites her to spend a month at an infamous Italian Villa. Let's go back to the summer of 1974when a rockstar Noel Gordon invites Lara, her stepmother Mari and Mari's boyfriend Pierce to spend the summer at the same villa. Lara is hoping that she will be able to get closer to Noel. At the same time, Mari hopes h...