Bibliophile Amber's Book Reviews

Title: The Secret Next Door  Author: Rebecca Taylor  Expected Publication: November 9,2021  Publisher: Source Books, RB Media  Genre: Mystery/Thriller  Pages: 352 pages  Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review:  Think about looking for the perfect home in the highest-rated school district. However, on the outside, while everything looks perfect and collected the other side of the grass is not always greener. Alyson is trying to give her son a life she didn't have: a stable home, a loving home, and a great school in a safe neighborhood. Alyson is trying to fit in in this neighborhood, while she has made one friend in the neighborhood she really wants to be in with the crowd. When Alyson was invited to the neighborhood book club, while trying to fit in with the club she wakes up the next morning with a hangover hugging her toilet. Later that morning while walking her son to school they notice an abundance of medical vehicles over by the lake, and later found out...

Title: My Mother, Munchausen's and Me Author: Helen Naylor  Expected Publication: November 25, 2021 Publisher: Thread Books  Genre: Non-Fiction/ Memoir/ Biography  Pages: 276 pages  Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review:  Wow! This is a crazy story and with Munchausen's becoming a popular topic ever since the Gypsy Rose case I knew I had to read this book! I was not disappointed at how this book was written, my heart is full of sorrow for the author because of everything she went through! The author starts off with when she was a child and the passive-aggressive side of her mother with her, and how she was basically left to fend for herself growing up because her mother needed her to sleep in the afternoon. Then when Helen overhears a conversation between her mother and one of her mother's friends about her father may die at any moment, her mother unknowingly gave her this complex that if her father was gone she would have to take care of her. As time went on Helen di...

Title: The Sorority Murder  Author: Allison Brennan  Expected Publication: December 28, 2021 Publisher: Mira/ Harlequin Trade Publishing  Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense  Pages: 448 pages  Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review:  So I am a huge true-crime podcast lover and these books that use a podcast as a way to work through the story and crime I am really enjoying! Let's start at the beginning. A very popular Sorority girl is murdered. Candace was at a sorority house party and when she left that night she was never seen alive again. Two weeks after that night her body was found. That was three years ago, now her murder is a cold case. Lucas is a forensics major and he is interning at the medical examiner's office. He is also obsessed with Candance's murder. While originally the suspect was a homeless drunk man he has not been seen since her murder, so that is kind of a dead-end there. While interning at the medical examiner's office Lucas finds some new infor...

Title: The Ex Hex  Author: Erin Sterling  Published: September 28, 2021  Published by: Avon & BOTM  Genre: Romance/ Fantasy  Pages: 320 pages Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review:  I kept hearing about this one and when BOTM offered it I had to grab it! I enjoyed that this was a second chance trope with the magical aspect. Vivienne had her heartbroken by Rhys when she was 19. With her cousin, while she was nursing her broken heart she half-heartedly cursed Rhys while she was nursing her broken heart. Nine years later Rhys returned to the hometown for an annual fall festival, to help recharge the town's ley lines, and while all that goes completely wrong! It as this moment that Vivi realizes that maybe her half-hearted hex actually worked. Now, Rhys and Vivi team up to try to break the Hex along with all the chaos that the hex has caused. I enjoyed this read and it was a fast funny read but there are definitely some heated moments. While I am not normally a R...

Title: The Only Good Indians  Author: Stephen Graham Jones  Published: July 14, 2020  Published by: Sega Press/Gallery Books  Genre: Horror/ Thriller  Pages: 310 Pages Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review:  So this definitely was not what I expected but I enjoyed it! A classic horror tale that follows four men after an incident where they went hunting and they killed a pregnant elk doe. First, we start off with Luis, who lived on the Rez for a long time. Luis had it all the beautiful wife, the great career, and a home. While it seems he has it all he seems to keep either having hallucinations or the spirit of the pregnant elk doe in his house. Then, his pet dog died and he was convinced it was the elk that had something to do with his dog's death. While slowly he's losing his mind and eventually commits murder, this is a slasher book at its finest. Then we get a chance of POV with the other guys on that hunting trip, it gets creepier and gory. This is a great ho...

Title: A Flicker In The Dark  Author: Stacy Willingham  Expected Publication: January 11, 2022  Publisher: Minotaur Books Genre: Mystery/ Thriller  Pages: 368 pages  Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review:  Edge of your seat thriller! Let's start with the background. When Chloe was twelve six teenage girls disappeared, and by the end of that summer, her own father was arrested. He was tried and convicted of being a serial killer. This of course was a difficult time for Chloe and her family to have to face what happened and to deal with the aftermath. Now skip 20 years later and Chloe is a psychologist at a private firm, while she seems to be having a few issues like getting a prescription under her significant others name. Along with getting ready for her own wedding, she seems like she's having anxiety and pressure about it all. Then another teenager goes missing and brings back all the memories and feelings about what happened 20 years earlier. I enjoyed this no...

Title: Killing November  Author: Adriana Mather  Published: March 26, 2019 Published by: Knopf Books  Genre: Mystery/Young Adult/ Thriller  Pages: 368 pages Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review:  Wow! I enjoyed this one definitely something different! I haven't read anything like this before but oh man once I started this book I literally couldn't put it down! This book has murder, romantic interest, and action! It has it all! November is sent to a secret society-type boarding school after her dad said that her aunt was in trouble, but this is not your average school with average classes. There are classes from archery and poison to dagger throwing. So while November is completely in the dark, one of the rules of the school is that you cannot tell personal information. November is trying to figure out the rules and everything, she sneaks out one night to meet with Ash, to learn more about the history of the families. While sneaking back to her room she stumbled upon ...