Bibliophile Amber's Book Reviews

​ Title: The Suspect  Author: Kathryn Croft  Published: February 8,2023  Published by: Book outure Audio Genre: Mystery/ Thriller  Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Pages: 361 pages  Review:  This is a rollercoaster ride from beginning to end! This is a new author to me, and I was not disappointed at all! This is one of those where even though you have stuff to do or want to go to bed, you will lie to yourself and say, "I'm just going to read one more chapter," and then it's 3 AM.  So I will say this, Croft does an insanely outstanding job at keeping you guessing though out the story. Just when I think I solved this thing, something would happen, and I would be completely wrong!  Lori is out for a walk with her infant daughter Jess, and while it seems like everything is good and nothing unfortunate can happen, the most sinister thing does! She is murdered. Nathaniel is the main suspect in the murder; they did not have enough evidence to hold him, let alone convi...

​ Title: The Angel Maker  Author: Alex North  Published: February 28, 2023  Published by: Macmillan Audio/Celadon Books  Genre: thriller/Mystery  Pages: 352 pages  Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review:  I'm rounding up. I gave this book 3.5 stars.  As a fan of Alex North, I looked forward to this book for a while! I enjoyed his works and even gave his books as gifts to friends for gifts because he is a very talented writer. However, while the second half of this book was terrific, the first half was rough, and I had to push to get through it.  North has an exciting way of twisting philosophy into his storyline that flowed throughout the book very well, and that ending left me needing clarification. The story was wrapped up in a bow at the end, which was pretty awesome! This one showed the risk of taking chances as a parent and the results that happened as well. The story is well written, but the time jumps confused me several times with the story. If you ...

​ Title: The Soulmate  Author: Sally Hepworth  Published: April 4,2023  Published by: St Martin’s Press  Genre: Mystery and Thriller  Pages: 336 pages  Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review:  Now and then, you will come across a book that consumes your mind and attention. This is one of those books. The story is twisty, compelling, and also tragic. I appreciated that the twists were shocking, surprising, and not foreseeable—especially the last one ( I was shattered and needed an emotional break from reading).  This book is about how women can fall hopelessly and madly in love, showing how people can be in toxic and extremely dysfunctional relationships. This is a great thriller to get you thinking and will twist your insides about how something like this could be going on, and on the outside, it seems fine until it's not.  Gabe and Pippa look like your average family and even have some close family. However, their house is located on a cliff(which people...

​ Title: The Haunting of Ivy May  Author: Nancy Basile  Expected Publication: January 19,2023 Publisher: Media Medusa LLC  Genre: Horror/Mystery  Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review:  I enjoyed the plot of this book; it was very well written, with many different elements coming into play. A short fun-filled read that did not disappoint. Fresh out of a not-so-great relationship, Ivy moved to a town a reasonable distance from her ex-husband and purchased a new beginning for herself. She purchases a fixer-upper, which ends up needing a lot more fixing than she initially anticipated, and it’s a packaged deal with this horrifying ghost who always tries to attack her, it seems.  The story is excellent, I loved all the diverse, quirky characters, and the way that Ivy was being incorporated into the town was great too. It had creepy vibes but also laughing-light vibes at times. This book did have a mysterious vibe going on that I enjoyed it! I went into this book blind, and I ...

​ Title: Every Missing Girl  Author Leanne Kale Sparks  Expected Publication: February 7,2023  Publisher: Dreamscape Media  Pages: 272 pages  Genre: Mystery/ Thriller  Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review:  This book broke me. It broke me because I have girls around the age of the missing girls, and that ending broke me! WTF happened when I know going into reading some books that there won’t be a happy ending in some, but you still hold out the hope that all will be well in the end?  This is the first I've read of the series, and it will not be my last. Kendall is an FBI agent, and she and Adam were working on a robbery that went south together. Then later that night, Adam's niece went missing, and they did everything they could to find her.  Now this robbery that went south is also a double murder, and the more they get down to what happened, they find out something far more sinister is going on. They found a connection to the sex trafficking children ...

​ Title: Pandora  Author: Susan Stokes-Chapman  Published: January 17,2023 Published by: Harper Audio  Pages: 416 pages  Genre: Historical Fiction/ Mythology  Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review :  When I read the description of this book, I knew I had to read this one! (Well, in this case, listening to this one!)  Historical Fiction with a splash of mythology and a smidge of romance? Count me in! Dora was alluring with her passion and love for her art and jewelry; she also lived with her uncle after the passing of her parents.  Dora was not told much about her parent's death, which bothered her. The aroma of mystery surrounded what she was told about the death of her parents.  Dora did live with her uncle, and they ran an antique store. Then, we have Edward, a man who wanted to be acknowledged for his work, and it was not happening to him. So the paths of Edward and Dora meet, leading them on an extraordinary adventure that takes many twists and turns t...

​ 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...