Bibliophile Amber's Book Reviews

Title: Of Blood & Light Author: Camilla Monk Published: October 31,2024 Publisher: Yaypub/ Victory Editing Genre: Fantasy/ Romance/ Mythology/ Sci-fi, and Retellings Pages: 500 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: This is a first for me by this author and it definitely won't be the last! I loved the whole deal with the mystery, sci-fi, and the splash of romance! Beginning with River she is in the back of the ambulance with her sister Sage as they are rushing to the hospital because Sage is having difficulty breathing. While waiting in the waiting room River's dad shows up and with the hospital's policies only one visitor per patient River is left waiting in the waiting room. However, soon someone she thought was a doctor or a nurse comes in and directs her to follow them to Sage and she trusts them and goes. Only to find out they are kidnapping her and taking her far far away to a place called Thule.  Once she is in Thule she is taken to the home of her "husband" ...

Title: Don’t Let The Forest In Author: CG Drews Published: October 29,2024 Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group/ Feiwel & Friends Genre: Horror/ YA/ Mystery/ Thriller/LGBT/Gothic Pages: 336 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: I am impressed, this author is a modern-day Poe!  Honestly, I doubt my words will do the justice this book deserves.  We start with Andrew and his twin sister returning to school and there's an ominous feeling about an incident that happened the previous year. Even in the process of dropping him off Andrew's dad was unsure about letting him return but he wanted to return because he wanted to see and be around his best friend Thomas. When he sees Thomas he is excited and they are roommates however, Andrew has feelings for Thomas but he has not vocalized them or he's more on the shy side about it. Andrew is asexual with his feelings for Thomas, he's more in his discovery phase of figuring himself out as he is a senior in the school.  The...

Title: The Dangerous Ones Author: Lauren Blackwoood Published: May 14,2024 Publisher: Wednesday Books/ St. Martins Press Genre: Fantasy/ Historical Fiction/ Romance/ Young Adult Pages: 368 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: Wow! Not what I was expecting but I really enjoyed it!  Jerusalem killed her master and escaped from the plantation. Then, she joined the Confederate army to learn how to fight and wait for the moment that she could avenge her family from the vampires. Jerusalem is a saint. Being a saint, she has faster fighting abilities and can handle more to fight the vampires; however, she is still mortal.  Alexei is a vampire, however, haunted by his past. By turning into a vampire, he joins the Confederate army and trains with Jerusalem. He trains her and as he spends time with her she has a scent that smells amazing to him and he knows he loves her. When they go together along with two others for a mission and things do not go as planned they are left with one another ...

Title: Arran’s Obsession Author: Jolie Vines Published: September 19,2024 Publisher: Jolie Vines Publishing Genre: Dark Romance/Crime/Mystery Pages: 531 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: Wow! This was my first masked man romance and it did not disappoint! This is also a first for me by the author and it will not be the last! So Gen is in a bad situation, her father is missing and she saw the landlord posted an eviction notice on the door. Of course, Gen starts to investigate the last days of her father where her father was and what he was doing and it leads her to a club. Once she goes into the club she decides to act like she is interested in working in the club just to see if she can find information. When she comes up short she decides to come in and make an attempt to join the game she heard about the night before knowing what the game is. The idea behind the game is interesting and it was original and fierce. They have 5 females that sign up for the game and then they h...

Title: Every time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies Author: Catherine Mack Published: April 30, 2024 Publisher: Minotaur Books/ St. Martins Press Genre: Cozy Mystery/Thriller/Contemporary Pages: 342 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: This was a fun catchy book! Eleanor Dash needs to get through her book tour in Italy and then she wants to end her book series. She wants to do this to cut all contact with Conner because the real Conner blackmails her for profits off her books and she wants to end the cycle with him however, When the real Conner has a near-death experience when someone pushes him onto the road. Then Eleanor is pushed and Oliver (Her Ex) saves her, as the book continues there is a murder and then there is an attempt on Eleanor's life. They then work together to try to see who in the group has a motive to murder each other, and while the Italian Police are completing their own investigation as well!  I loved this! It was witty, snarky, and then just fun! I really...

Title: City of Secrets Author: P. J. Tracy Published: August 20,2024 Publisher: Minotaur Books Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Mystery Thriller Pages: 304 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: Margaret Nolan and her partner are detectives who work very well together and have solved so many cases together. When they are called to what was set up to look like a carjacking gone wrong with a fatality they slowly start to investigate. The victim is a CEO who is very good at what he does with his career, and he is in the middle of a large company sale and a divorce. Slowly they start to investigate the death and they start asking questions then an older man who talked to the police was killed the investigation deepens. While investigating the murders there is a kidnapping of the first victim's business partner's wife and while they are trying to figure out how they are all connected they realize that everything is not as it seems and they can find who is really behind it all.  This was my first bo...

Title: The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men & A Twenty-Year Fight for Justice Author: Dan Slepian Published: September 10,2024 Publisher: Celadon Books Genre: Nonfiction/ True Crime/ History Pages: 224 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: It's very thought-provoking and moving! Slepain writes how he initially started doing research for a different project, and some wrongfully landed in his lap. Then, he put the cases on the back burner while working on other projects. But, he was receiving letters from these men and then he had a cop find out the evidence that proved some of these guys were innocent and still charged.  This is really eye-opening for issues that happen in our justice system and how many roadblocks can be put in front of someone trying to free innocent men. Slepian worked and documented many things and he worked hard to be able to free these men without his help it is very possible these six men would still be wrongfully imprisoned. I realize that ther...

Title: Society of Lies Author: Lauren Ling Brown Published: October 1,2024 Publisher: Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine Books Genre: Thriller/Mystery/Suspense Pages: 384 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: Intriguing, haunting, dark, compelling, heartbreaking and secrets are just some of the words to describe this book! In Brown's debut novel, she set the bar high for her future novels because this one was well written and thoughtfully put together and I couldn't put it down! The character development alone is masterminded!  Our story begins when Maya is told her younger sister Naomi hasn't contacted her for a few days, and this is out of character for Naomi and Maya begins to worry for her younger sister. While trying to talk herself down and breathe she receives devastating news that will change her future forever. Naomie is found dead. While handling the death of her younger sister she decides to figure out what her sister was doing the months and time before she passe...

Title: Like Mother, Like Daughter Author: Kimberly McCreight Published: July 30,2024 Publisher: Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, & Anchor Genre: Thriller/Mystery/Fiction Pages: 322 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: Cleo and her mother, Katrina, did not have the best of relationships. Still, when Katrina has Cleo return to her childhood home for dinner so they can talk, she is alarmed when she comes home to food burning and her mother nowhere to be seen. However, she finds her mother's bloody shoe. Cleo immediately goes to her neighbor's house where they call the police and her father soon arrives. A detective starts to investigate however, Cleo decides to start investigating starting with her mother's computer.  Katrina is known as the fixer for a big law firm, so Cleo starts looking at her mother's dating profile and pulling threads leading her down the road of discovery. Soon she realizes that she does not know her mother as well as she thought, and she knows her father les...

Title: The Boyfriend Author: Freida McFadden Published: October 1,2024 Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press Genre: Thriller/Mystery/Suspense Pages: 368 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: Sydney has been experiencing an unfortunate run of online dating lately. With the newest date being a horrid date then he tries to push himself on her and demands a kiss while asking for a second date. Sydney trying to push Kevin away is saved by an unknown doctor and she makes her way home. However, a few days later she finds her friend who lives in her apartment dead when the super comes to finish a work order. She then decides to take a step away from the dating scene because her ex-boyfriend the detective investigating her friend's murder asked her to. All the while Sydney has been receiving phone calls about her friend's children having children into their forties, trying to give Sydney hope that she might still be able to have children later in life. Then, the mystery doctor is at a shop where she...

Title: Two Sides to Every Murder Author: Danielle Valentine Published: June 25, 2024 Publisher: Penguin Group/ Penguin Young Readers Group Genre: Mystery/Young Adult/ Thriller/ Horror Pages: 282 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: When I first started hearing about this book I knew it sounded interesting! A camp with a dark history and what seemed to me as an urban legend witch shooting people with a bow and arrow and then dark family secrets??!! I mean sign me up!  Olivia was born during the Infamous Camp Lost Lake Murders and she grew up in a loving family. However, her life is turned upside down when she runs a DNA test and she doesn't see the DNA origins that she knew she should have had so she then runs a paternity test on her father and finds out her dad is not her dad. Finding out that information she immediately wanted to find out the truth and where is the best place. Camp Lost Lake.  Reagan has been hiding and moving most of her life, her mother was the one the publi...

Title: Murder on Devil’s Pond Author: Ayla Rose Published: July 9, 2024 Publisher: Crooked Lane Books Genre: Cozy Mystery/Mystery Pages: 302 Pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: I've always had a soft spot for cozy mysteries and this one is no exception! This is a new to me author along with a BRAND NEW SERIES! So Hannah returns to her hometown to renovate and open an inn with her sister Reggie. Her main goal was to give the Victorian home a new life. While trying to tackle this feat Reggie is always in the middle of everything making sure that she is on budget and having to deal with all the people she left behind 15 years ago however throughout this whole process she finds an unlikely friend with an 80-year-old man Ezra.  Then one day Hannah finds Ezra's body in a questionable situation and she makes it her mission to find out who killed Ezra and why. As she slowly starts to investigate she finds out that she is the sole heir to everything that he has including a house full of st...

Title: A Sorceress Comes to Call Author: T. Kingfisher Published: August 6,2024 Publisher: Tor Books Genre: Fantasy/Horror/Fairytales Pages: 327 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: Wow! This was an insane ride! I enjoyed Cordelia’s spunk! Cordelia knows that her mother is unique and her normal is no secrets or doors in their home. Then whenever Cordelia's mother's male interest turns her away without giving her any money she uses her control to teach him a lesson and then goes on a hunt for a rich husband.  While they find a house for a richer man to take them in the mother starts her "obedience" using it on Cordelia and uses it on other people in the home. However, when Cordelia learns of the lesson she taught her friend's father she decides right then that she will fight back. She would do whatever she could so that it would never be the same again. She secretly teams up with Hester to stop her mother and ensure she does not hurt anyone else.  This story reminded me ...

Title: Agony Hill Author: Sarah Stewart Taylor Published: August 6,2024 Publisher: Minotaur Books Genre: Mystery/ Thriller/ Suspense/ Historical Fiction Pages: 315 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: A haunted by his past Warren moves into a new town, Bethany to work as a detective with the state police. As soon as he arrives there is a fire in a barn on a local farm and Hugh Weber is inside the bard dead. Now it is up to Warren to investigate whether the fire and death were an accident or a murder cover-up. He begins by talking to the family and then with the people of the community, and he hears several questions about Hugh and how strange he is. This is a very well-written police procedural and it shows all of the steps and the clues that he is finding out talking to the people of the community while solving a few small mysteries as well.  This is a story about the communities that know everyone's secrets and everyone has something to hide, Warren is doing well by getting all the inf...

Title: The Unmaking of June Farrow Author: Adrienne Young Published: October 17,2023 Publisher: Delacorte Press Genre: Fantasy/Mystery/Romance Pages: 320 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: A story full of mystery, time travel, and beautiful people. From the beginning, I was captivated by the eerie mystery surrounding June. In the beginning, she and her other family member Birdie had recently buried her grandmother, and there is a "family curse" that June carries with her. Her mother had this urban legend following her that she went quite mad and disappeared then she returned pregnant and then disappeared once again. Then one night her baby was brought to her grandmother's house. Her mother was never seen again, then towards the end of her grandmother's life, she required extensive care and her mind was slipping. At that point June had decided that the Farrow line would end with her, she would not bring a child into the world to deal with  "family curse" Howeve...

Title: If Something Happens To Me Author: Alex Finlay Published: May 28,2024 Publisher: Minotaur Books Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense Pages: 336 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: This book was a whirlwind of excitement! Ryan relived one night from hell over and over where he was on the "lover's lane" with his then-girlfriend when she was kidnapped and she was never recovered again. He lived with that shadow of suspicion that he had killed her or had done something to her and he even fought in the courts because of that suspicion. Well, when Ryan is on a trip abroad his father calls him with some devastating news, they found Allison's car but they found it with two men dead on the inside.  Poppy was recently discharged from the military, she went back home to live with her dad and become a deputy for the local sheriff's office. When Allison's car was discovered since she is the new deputy and doesn't have any current cases she is placed on the case and to go...

Title: Silent Sister Author: Megan Davidnizar Published: August 6,2024 Publisher: Delacorte Press Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Pages: 352 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: Grace and Maddy are sisters but they are polar opposites. Grace is very outgoing and lives up to the American Girl persona. Everyone loves her and she's a star athlete with all her friends. Maddy is more reserved, the wallflower who has always felt like she has been in Grace's shadow sho would rather get lost in writing in her notebook than to go out. The girls go on a senior trip with their class, and while all the other students that have gone on that trip have raved the trip changed them for life. That trip did just that for Grace, she was found on the side of the road injured without any memory of what happened to take everything to a new level Maddy is missing and Grace was probably the last person with Maddy. With the Detective hovering over Maddy with suspicions because she cannot remember anything sh...

Title: House of Glass Author: Sarah Pekkanen Published: August 6, 2024 Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense Pages: 344 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: Omg! This was so twisty and so good! I couldn’t put it down!  From the beginning, I was gripped and on the edge of my seat! From the outside, the family is the picture-perfect family, the one that everyone on the block covets. However they have a secret and that secret is tearing them apart, their young nanny went out the window and fell to her death. Was it an honest accident or was there something more sinister going on in the house and she was pushed? But with all the lies twisted and a nine-year-old girl who refuses to speak, how will a lawyer discover who is telling the truth and what will be the better environment for the child amidst the parent's messy divorce battle? Stella Hudson is one of the best attorneys for representing the best interest of the child in a divorce battle. She usually has a...

Title: One Perfect Couple Author: Ruth Ware Published: May 21,2024 Publisher: Gallery Books Genre: Mystery/Thriller Pages: 400 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: This was an insane ride! The story started like a bachelor-type reality show that went from sweet to insane in one night! There was a storm that happened one night and then BOOM! The love show turned into a show like Survivor! A daydream that turned into a nightmare overnight! I could not put this one down! I loved it!  Lyla is whisked off to a tropical paradise with her longtime boyfriend Nico. While everything seemed to be amazing at the beginning it slowly turned dark for the couple. Nico loses the game and is ultimately eliminated from the show then another couple is broken up because Lyla and the other boyfriend have to share a hut for the night part of the show to test compatibility and basically to test the people. Unfortunately that night there was a terrible storm that cut off their connection with the producers of th...

Title: Under the Surface Author: Diana Urban Published: August 13,2024 Publisher: Penguin Group Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Horror/YA Pages: 365 Pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: This book was like an addiction because once I started it and got into it I was not able to put it down!  Ruby is very cautious around Sean because she doesn't want to give him the chance to break her heart.  Sean is very excited to spend time with Ruby in Paris but, if things don't spark between him and Ruby he is going to wait. They are on their Senior trip with their class. So, when Ruby's best friend sneaks out she goes after her with another friend because she wants to get the footage for her channel and not get sent home on the first day of the trip. However, while everything seems to be going well and they are sneaking into the catacombs the guy they are following one of the girls falls, and then when they try to find a way to get around to the friend. Then, they get lost in the catacombs and slowl...

Title: Sleep Tight Author: J. H. Markert Published: September 10,2024 Publisher: Crooked Lane Books Genre: Horror, Thriller, Mystery Pages: 336 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: Wow! This one is really good! It did remind me of the vibe of the Whisper Man book but this one was thrilling and creepy and a great start to October!  From the beginning of this book, I was glued to the story, that prologue piqued my interest and I was on the edge of my seat! Tess is in the middle of a separation from her husband Tom, and when she was a teen the serial killer her father apprehended was executed in prison. She called her father that night to see how he was handling everything and said she would call him the next day. When she arrives at work, she receives a chilling call. The eerie call is a man telling her he killed them both, he had murdered her parents. She rushes over to the house to the horrifying scene and while leaving the scene she finds out that her daughter has been kidnapped from ...

Title: Phantasma Author: Kaylie Smith Published: September 3,2024 Publisher: Forever Genre: Fantasy/ Romance/ Paranormal/ Horror Pages: 512 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: Wow! This one was definitely worth 5 stars! Soo good!  Ophelia and her sister recently buried their mother, and while they are trying to get all their affairs into order they find out that their home is going to be foreclosed on in a month unless they can pay thousands of dollars. Then Ophelia's sister disappears and she decides to try to find her so she enters Phantasma where she will play trickery games where they have two rules: 1. Stay Alive and 2. Don't fall in love. Every day the games get harder and the house creates new monsters to terrorize the contestants. Then she teams up with Blackwell, a phantom, who states that he can guide her through the games and she is determined to find her sister so she joins him. Then, the more time they spend together they start growing feelings towards one another. Ho...

Title: The Women Author: Kristen Hannah Published: February 6,2024 Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Genre: Historical Fiction Pages: 471 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: Wow! This is one powerful book! Frankie was always with her brother so, when her brother joined the military as a nurse she dreamed of going on that adventure with her brother. Unfortunately for her the day that she enlisted as a nurse, military men arrived at her house to tell her her brother died in action. Frankie struggles and learns how to be a better nurse and navigate life in the military as a nurse in combat. While Kristen Hannah has a nasty habit of keeping me up past my bedtime I was glad to do it today! It was sooo good and I loved how she covered many aspects of what the women in that period went through and how everything changed and what didn't change.  I hated the way the women and men returning from the military were treated upon their return. This book sheds light on topics that aren't ...

Title: Bad Tourist Author: Caro Carver Published: July 9,2024 Publisher: Avid Reader Press Genre: Thriller/Suspense Pages: 336 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: So this book is mainly about three friends who became friends because they were intertwined with a tragic event that left six people killed and while only one was there the other two lost close loved ones. So they bonded over their grief. Years later they are taking a trip together to the Maldives to celebrate "Darcy's Divorce" from her husband who continuously cheated on her during their marriage. Once they got there they were starting to enjoy the beach and everything when they met Jade. Jade is on her honeymoon and she's 23 years old while her much older husband Rob is in his 40s. The trio immediately notices off the bat that Rob is abusing Jade, and the older women try to help her out and talk to her about it.  Now this story starts to intertwine and mix with all the key players and slowly as secrets start to...

Title: The Sequel Author: Jean Hanff Korelitz Published: October 1,2024 Published by: Celadon Books Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense Pages: 304 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: As the second novel in this series, the author does an amazing job in this one! Reading The Plot would help the reader understand this novel and set the foundation for what is going on. The author included enough context to inform the reader of what happened and what had happened.  Now the protagonist is pretty badass and as the reader you feel remorseful rooting for her as she goes from one murder to another murder to protect her secret from getting out.  As Anna comes into her new normal with her newfound success, she receives anonymous snips or messages taunting her works that she thought she had eradicated from existence. While receiving these messages she starts to suspect that someone knows her secret and she must solve this problem of hers!  While Anna is not a lovable char...

Title: The Night We Lost Him Author: Laura Dave Published: September 17, 2024 Publisher: Marysue Rocco Books Genre: Thriller/Suspense/Mystery Pages: 320 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: I liked this one. I loved the novel's slow burn and how all the puzzle pieces slowly started to fit together and make the picture whole.  Nora thought she had her life figured out, and even after her estranged father passed away she missed him but she was doing okay. Then when her estranged brother Sam (unknowingly to Nora) schedules a consultation with her for her designing his house he brings the news to her that he does not believe that her father fell he considers that there is a more sinister answer that he was pushed.  Nora not wanting to believe that is what happened ends up going to her house where her father had left her where he ultimately fell to his death to try to piece everything together. As she is trying to piece everything together she comes to the same conclusion as her bro...