Review: Amber House by Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed, and Larkin Reed

Amber House by Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed, & Larkin Reed

• Pub. Date: October 1,2012
• Publisher:Scholastic, inc.
• Pages: 368

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.

First Line: "I was almost sixteen the first time my grandmother died . "

Review: I knew I had to get my hands on this one when I first heard of it and I am glad to say it did not disappoint at all. Yes it was Gothic goodness mixed in with horror and just all around creepiness. I have a tendency to read late at night and I found myself paranoid about the littlest sounds that I heard thanks to this book and my overactive imagination.

The story circles around Sarah. Her grandmother has passed away leaving Amber House to her mother. Amber House has been passed down from generation to generation in her family except now Sarah's mom wants to get rid of it and sell it. Sarah and her brother Sam devise a plan to prolong their stay for a while due to their curiosity of the place and with the help of Jackson find the diamonds that are said to be hidden in the house somewhere.Sarah never could have imagined the dark secrets and unspeakable horrors Amber House held.

When reading this I felt like I was watching a movie. Amber House holds imprints of the past and the women of the family can see them through echoes. Which is already more then what Sarah bargained for but when those echoes turn out to be more then what they seem things get even more creepy then what they already were. There were light moments in the book but for the most part it was not a light read at all. Sarah discovers so much about her ancestors and barely any of it was good. There was so many horrible crimes, betrayals, deceit, family secrets  and the list goes on. Another thing that made the book interesting was the relationship between Sarah and her mother, they had some serious issues to deal with.  I really didn't like the mom especially with the way she kept having Sarah taking care of her little brother Sam who is autistic because she didn't know how to deal with him. And then the way she was towards Sarah just irked me. Selfish would describe the mom for majority of the book in my opinion.

Now on to the ending of the book, I loved it but I have soooo many questions. It's one of those endings that wraps everything up but now you have new questions in which you actually want a second book. Overall I really enjoyed reading Amber House.

Memorable Quote

"Do not sleep," she crooned as if to a baby. "No,no. Do not ever sleep. Because I live there now."