Showing posts with label Amber House trilogy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amber House trilogy. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Neverwas by Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed & Larkin Reed
The Amber House #2
Release Date: Jan 7th, 2014 by Scholastic Press
Genre: Young Adult > Paranormal > Ghosts
Source: For review from author
Find It: Amazon | GoodReads | B&N
Summary:
"I was sixteen the second time I had my first kiss...."

At the end of AMBER HOUSE, Sarah made a choice that transformed everything--and now she must choose it all again.

Things are very different--better--for Sarah and her family: her Aunt Maggie grew up; her parents are happily married; her grandmother died after a long, productive and respected life. But other things are different too, and not for the better.

After growing up in the free country of the Pacific Northwest, Sarah Parsons has settled in at Amber House, the stately Maryland home that's been in her family for generations. But the world surrounding the House feels deeply wrong to Sarah. It's a place where the colonists lost the 1776 Insurrection, where the American Confederation of States still struggles with segregation, and where Sarah is haunted by echoes of a better world that she knows never existed.

Her friend Jackson shares these visions of a different world--and together, they manage both to remember the way things ought to be, and to plan a daring mission that will reset the universe once again. Sarah must figure out what has changed, and why, and how she can fix it--how she can find her way to another otherwhen.





Remember when I read and reviewed Amber House and loved it? And I thought it couldn't get any better? I was kinda sorta... wrong.

It's going to be a little hard to write this review without spoiling the first book so if you haven't read it... please exit this review. I'm only saying it because I care!!

Neverwas takes place right after Amber House. Except.... things are a little different now. Because Sarah woke Maggie up while saving her little brother Sam, everything is different and no one except Sarah and Sam remember a time that now is neverwas. But something big is happening, something that can change the lives of those around them in a drastic way and Sarah has to find a way to change time again to stop it from happening.

The cool thing about reading this was that because it's been so long since I read the first book I forgot the little details but as Sarah was remembering what happened in the first past, it's like I was remembering it right along with her. I felt like Sarah and I had a moment. Sam is a smart boy and I wish Sarah would just listen to him more often. Sure the things he's saying aren't making much sense but Sarah, sweetie, the things happening aren't making much sense either. I liked having Maggie around this time as well, her secrets! And this version of Jackson was enjoyable, I just wish he wasn't keeping secrets from Sarah.

Neverwas was full of suspense and it kept me flipping the pages. I wanted to know who Amber was (which by the way, anything having to do with her was just down right creepy. Honestly, I had to take breaks from writing this review thinking the book over cause it creeped me out) and what the heck was going on! There was a lot of drama and not a lot of romance which I really liked. The mystery behind Amber House and the fact that Sarah can see echos is such an interesting concept. 

I really enjoyed this installment in the series and I can't wait to see what will happen in the next book.

Oh also, this one ends with a cliffhanger. If you think Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan was bad well, this one is just going to make you angry haha. 

* Thank you so so so so much to Tucker Reed for contacting me! I love this series!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Amber House by Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed & Larkin Reed
Release Date: October 1st, 2012 by Arthur A. Levine Books
Details: 368 pages, hardcover
Genre: Young Adult > Paranormal > Ghosts
Source: NetGalley (Thank you NetGalley & Publisher!)
Summary (Goodreads):

"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.






Within the first 37% SO MUCH HAPPENS. Like, it's a roller coaster of things. Just one dip after another. After another! It really makes it impossible to put this book down. 

Sarah is a pretty simple girl. She's like one of the guys (which I liked) and she has a really close relationship with her younger brother as well as her dad even though her parents are separated. She along with her brother are forced to Maryland with her mother to attend her grandmother's funeral and settle things with the Amber House which apparently has been in the family forever but Sarah has never even seen it until now.

I liked Sarah. She seemed pretty normal. I liked that she was a normal 15 year old just trying to find her way through her parents separation and being there for her brother. I loved her fierce loyalty to her brother. I'll admit, I wouldn't have the patience to deal with Sammy. I loved the relationship with her father, I'm always a sucker for a good father figure in stories. I also really liked Jackson. I always had a feeling something was off about him but I never had a bad feeling about him. He seemed like the perfect friend that Sarah needed while she was there.

I didn't like Sarah's mom. She seemed cold and cruel. She sort of reminded me of The Evil Queen in Once Upon A Time. Yeah, seriously. I even pictured her to look like her in my head lol. She never attempted to hear Sarah or Sammy out or even ask them about how they were doing or how they felt about things. She just went off DOING THINGS without really thinking, at all. She was conniving and fake. And her whole "play nice, but not too nice, if you know what I mean" card just straight up sickened me. Not everyone is out to use someone you crazy bat. I also didn't really like Richard. I mean he wasn't a bad guy, but he just rubbed me the wrong way. That's just my opinion though! 

I loved the flashbacks. Piecing together the history of the Amber House. I loved all the secrets and lies and all the darkness that weighed down the house. It did make me mad that Sarah's mom didn't bother telling her anything about the house or about herself really, I just thought it was really strange. The only thing that really bothered me about the book was the ending. I didn't really understand it. I still don't think I really understand what was going on. I know it's a series, and I'm definitely going to pick up the next book. I just wish the ending could had been a little bit more clear.

Going into Amber House I was expecting a creepy read so I admit, I was kind-of, sort-of reading it between fingers (or more like with a side eye since you know, I needed my whole hand to hold my Kindle and all...) but overall, this book wasn't really scary. There was like, one scary part. Okay maybe two. But other than that, I found Amber House to be more fascinating than scary but still a delicious read for an October night!