Amber House (The Amber House Trilogy #1) By Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed & Larkin Reed
Rating: 3 out of 5 hearts
368 pages
Released: October 2012
Buy it @ book depository
"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."
"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
The whole premise behind this book - an old house full of treasure & memories, maybe even ghosts sounds fantastic and is right up my alley. After reading this though, it wasn't what I was expecting. It started quite slow and I was expecting a spooky, stay up all night kind of book but it wasn't. I'm not saying this was terrible, it just turned into something different.
Sarah, her mum & her autistic brother are staying in her recently deceased grandmother's house (Amber House) because Sarah's mother is getting it ready to be sold. Sarah's mum used to live in Amber House when she was a little girl but something happened and she never really wanted to come back. I didn't pick the reason why the mother wanted to stay away but other things were quite easy to pick up on. I'm pretty bad at picking out what is going to happen next in movies and in books, so for someone like me to get clued in means others will know the ending quite easily too.
Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed reading it once I got halfway through mainly because the mysterious back story to who this little girl in white is and why can she see & interact with Sarah if she isn't a ghost? Of course with any teenage fiction these days there has to be a love triangle, luckily I was really glad with who Sarah picked in the end.
The ending was really good and I don't think there needs to be a trilogy written, I feel this book was great on it's own. I've seen the blurb for the next book and I don't think I'll rush out to read it when it's released mainly because this ended really well.
My final thoughts are that this would make a fantastic teen movie. It has everything in there. Suspense, mystery, romance, rich guy on a boat and a ball party where the main character can dress up in a ball gown.
Thanks to NetGalley & Scholastic Inc. for my kindle edition.
Sarah, her mum & her autistic brother are staying in her recently deceased grandmother's house (Amber House) because Sarah's mother is getting it ready to be sold. Sarah's mum used to live in Amber House when she was a little girl but something happened and she never really wanted to come back. I didn't pick the reason why the mother wanted to stay away but other things were quite easy to pick up on. I'm pretty bad at picking out what is going to happen next in movies and in books, so for someone like me to get clued in means others will know the ending quite easily too.
Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed reading it once I got halfway through mainly because the mysterious back story to who this little girl in white is and why can she see & interact with Sarah if she isn't a ghost? Of course with any teenage fiction these days there has to be a love triangle, luckily I was really glad with who Sarah picked in the end.
The ending was really good and I don't think there needs to be a trilogy written, I feel this book was great on it's own. I've seen the blurb for the next book and I don't think I'll rush out to read it when it's released mainly because this ended really well.
My final thoughts are that this would make a fantastic teen movie. It has everything in there. Suspense, mystery, romance, rich guy on a boat and a ball party where the main character can dress up in a ball gown.
Thanks to NetGalley & Scholastic Inc. for my kindle edition.
On the cover
You couldn't get a more perfect cover that tells you what happens in the book. A spooky house, a maze and a ball. But as this was a kindle edition I didn't get to close the book to look at the front cover, which I like to do often.
What I'm reading next: The Happiest Refugee by Ahn Do
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