Bibliophile Amber's Book Reviews

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 rule

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 the sh

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 the

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 always cove

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 character she is pretty interesting, h

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 brother. Her