Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Amy's View: Amber House


Amber House by Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed, and Larkin Reed
♦publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
♦release date: October 1st, 2012
♦hardcover, 368 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦source: ALA
"I was sixteen the first time my grandmother died . . ."

Sarah Parsons has never seen Amber House, the grand Maryland estate that's been in her family for three centuries. She's never walked its hedge maze nor found its secret chambers; she's never glimpsed the shades that haunt it, nor hunted for lost diamonds in its walls.

But all of that is about to change. After her grandmother passes away, Sarah and her friend Jackson decide to search for the diamonds--and the house comes alive. She discovers that she can see visions of the house's past, like the eighteenth-century sea captain who hid the jewels, or the glamorous great-grandmother driven mad by grief. She grows closer to both Jackson and a young man named Richard Hathaway, whose family histories are each deeply entwined with her own. But when the visions start to threaten the person she holds most dear, Sarah must do everything she can to get to the bottom of the house's secrets, and stop the course of history before it is cemented forever.


Review: Mind blowing! Captivating! This book leaves you breathless with vacant space in your chest needed to be filled.  Everything an amazing story should have. An amazing story, richly thought out.  A beautiful house filled with rich history and southern charm, ancient family secrets, ghosts of the past, blossoming love, and an enchanting masquerade ball.  I was pleasantly delighted with Amber House and all of its many marvelous mysteries waiting to be discovered just behind the threshold. 
 
Sarah Parsons is thrust into a new and delicate world in her family’s grand Maryland estate that dates back three centuries. And with it comes three centuries of ghosts and mysteries that are waiting to be discovered and solved. Sarah is caught between her old life in Seattle where she find herself ready to go running back to the comfort of the familiar and that of the new intriguing life that awaits for her at Amber house.  Not only does Sarah have to deal with an ancient house and all of its mysteries but she has her icy mother who doesn’t want to deal with the death of her grandmother or the newly inherited house. She just wants to sell the house, forget her childhood and all its pain and go back to the west coast. But Sarah isn’t so sure. The temptation of a treasure hunt for lost diamonds and the allure of the attention from two boys are enough to make her want to stay and see what Amber House has to offer. But what the house has in store for Sarah is more than she is ready for. 


Sarah learns of a new and powerful gift that is passed down to every generation of Amber house woman.  Just when Sarah is ready to leave it all behind, handsome wealthy Richard, his father, and his sailboat launch into Sarah life leaving her struggling between her feelings for him and for Jackson, the boy who lives on the grounds. And not only has Richard left Sarah questioning, but his father has charmed Sarah’s mother just enough to make her want to stay and throw the most elaborate sweet 16 masquerade ball for Sarah at Amber house to woo potential buyers into its magical web. Now Sarah truly is trapped, leaving it up to her to weave through the maze of the house mysteries, watch her little brother and prepare for the daunting and horrible ball. Not one part if this story is predictable or leaves you for a moment to catch your breath. Just when you think Sarah will figure it all out one more twist spins you to a dead end and sends you doubling back through the maze of secrets.
 
Amber House is magnificent and rich in storytelling with a new concept that blew me away. I am left eagerly waiting for the next book in this trilogy.  

 
Yep, you guessed it: 5 wonderfully lavish cupcakes.  Sparkling champagne and Vanilla bean cupcakes, heaping mountains of golden rich buttercream frosting dusted in gold glitter dust. Yummy. 


Visit the gorgeous Amber House Trilogy website!

Or find the authors online: Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase Amber HouseAmazon  •  BN.com  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

4 comments :

  1. I'm so glad you like this. I've heard some bad reviews but you have me rethinking.

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  2. I LOVE books about mysterious houses! Amber House has been on my TBR list for several months .. now I'm thinking I may need to move it over to the 'to-buy' list :)
    This sounds reeally good, thanks for your review.

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  3. I love mysteries. You're making me so excited to read this! I've had my eyes on it for a while! <3

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  4. I love the cover . I am intrigued by this line "I was sixteen the first time my grandmother died . . ."

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