Bibliophile Amber's Book Reviews

Title: A Game of Fate Author: Scarlett St. Clair Published: September 18,2020 Publisher: Bloom Books Genre: Romance/Mythology/Greek Mythology/ Romantasy / Retellings / Fantasy/ New Adult/ Fiction Pages: 379 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: "Take her, and I will destroy this world. Take her, and I will destroy you. Take her, and I will end us all"  I read the first book told in Persephone's perspective and while I thought the story would be overly repetitive and that I wouldn't love it. I actually really enjoyed hearing the love story from Hade's perspective. While both books showed that they had different struggles, I enjoyed the different aspects.  Hades emotions, his thoughts and everything were on full display. I enjoyed that! I really enjoyed the whole telling the story from his and her perspectives with the romance genre. I loved that!

Title: A Touch of Darkness Author: Scarlett St. Clair Published: May 19,2025 Publisher: Bloom Books Genre: Mythology/Retellings/Greek Mythology/ Fantasy/ Romance/ Fiction Pages: 379 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: I have found a new obsession to read!  Persephone finally branched out. She was attending college and had an internship being a journalist! However, her mother, Demeter, was still trying to keep tabs on her and see what she was doing and giving warnings about staying away from the other gods and men.  Persephone's best friend persuaded her to go to a club one evening. Unknowingly, Persephone made a deal with Hades and she owed him a favor. When she returned to the club the next day, she demanded to know what the mark on her wrist was from and Hades told her she had made him a bargain and she owed a debt to him. She had six months to make life in the underworld. All the while she was working on a series of articles about Hades. When everything comes to a head the ...

Title: Onyx Storm Author: Rebecca Yarros Published: January 21,2025 Publisher: Red Tower Books Genre: Fantasy/ Romance/ Dragons/ Fantasy Romance Pages: 529 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: I loved it! While I feel like this book connected several things, I have questions.  I am absolutely in love with this series, but Xaden broke my heart in Iron Flame, and looking forward to this one, I thought there would be a cure, but there was nothing. There was no hope.  I loved how Violet grew into her leadership in this book like she took charge and Xaden had to take a step back.  There was some confusion with all the different places and then what Xaden's mother's husband did to them is absolutely unforgivable! They still prevailed!  This is full of action, secrets, more dragons, and how they find out what happened and what Violet's father wanted her to know.  The books that her father left her and how she had to figure out the whole deal to open the books because they ...

Title: Hold Strong Author: Robert Dugoni, Jeff Langholz &Chris Crabtree Published: January 28,2025 Publisher: Brilliance Publishing/Lake Union Publishing Genre:Historical Fiction/ Fiction/ Romance/ War/ World War II/Historical Pages: 503 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: Thought-provoking, historical, tense, and heartbreaking. This was an emotional rollercoaster. The story begins with Sam and Sarah, as they are high school sweethearts. However, life and unfortunate circumstances send them in opposite directions in life and then the great depression adds to everything. Sarah is off to college and Sam joins the reserves to have an income to help his family and to save for college. However, things change drastically when Pearl Harbor occurs and Sam must go overseas to serve his country.  This sets both of their life journeys into different paths they never thought would occur. They capture Sam as a POW; meanwhile, Sarah completes a Master's degree and begins a career in the militar...

Title: Every Fall Author: Angela Douglas Expected Publication: January 28,2025 Publisher: Dream Scape Media/ Rising Action Publishers Genre: Thriller/ Horror/ Mystery/ Fiction/Mystery Thriller Pages: 384 Pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: I'm surprised because this is the author's debut novel! Wow! Get ready to pick this one up for heart-racing moments with goosebumps! This reminded me of the Simone St. James type of vibe! You have Bree who is a new mother but also a stay-at-home mom living in a not-so-great neighborhood when she has a horrendous horrifying experience where a guy hurts himself trying to run away from the security of the story. Bree is panicking and calls her husband Jake, who is a police officer and he arrives on the scene and comforts Bree and takes her home. Together they decide for the family to find a new place for the family to live, especially since there is a gang out for Jake and his family after he made a case against them.  They find a house and just as t...

Title: Under The Same Stars Author: Libba Bray Expected Publication: February 4,2025 Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux/ Macmillan Audio Genre: Historical Fiction/ Young Adult/ Historical/ World War II/ Fiction/ Mystery/ Romance/ LGBT Pages: 480 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: This is a powerful read!  While this one will make you cry, it is a very enlightening read! The author does a splendid job of mixing the different timelines and showing how all the times connect. I loved that aspect!  We start with the timeline in 2020, when the pandemic was at its peak with tension in the air and everyone on edge. It has the characters figuring out how to talk to one another and stand up for their beliefs when they are so confused and unsure how to go about it. I liked that part. Then you have Jenny's story in the 1980s where she was trying to figure out her life and her first love and how that all went up in flames after she changed so much of herself to try to show her love inter...

Title: The Night is Defying Author: Chloe C. Penaranda Expected Publication: January 28,2025 Publisher: Macmillan Audio/Bramble Genre: Fantasy/ Romance/ Fantasy Romance/ Adult Fiction/ Vampire Pages: 448 pages Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: Good Lord Ms Penaranda how could you do me like that???  Leaving me sitting on that cliff until the next one comes out??!! OMG! 😳 So addictive! During this installment, we also get a bit more of the backstory of Astraea and Nyte. The story continues where we left off at the end of the book, with Astraea coming to terms with being the star maiden and all that entails. Through noble efforts, Astraea is working on returning some of her memories and Nyte is free from the veil.  Do not start this book if you cannot binge it! It's packed with high stakes, new characters and significant plot twists that will leave you spinning in circles with your jaw dropped! This is an addictive love story that has you rooting for Astraea and Nyte through it all. It'...