Review: Amber

Author: Julie Sykes
Edition: Curious Fox Paperback
Released: 12th September 2013
Series: No, standalone
Pages: 297 approx.
Links: Goodreads | Author's Website | Buy the book!

How do you live by the rules if you don’t know what they are?

Amber’s lost her memory. She doesn’t even know her real name. The only clues to her identity are a beautiful amber necklace and a broken mobile phone. She’s determined to learn the truth about her past life, and the secrets she’s hiding, but how many rules will she break along the way?

In all honesty, I didn't really know what to expect from Amber. The synopsis left a lot to the imagination and I'd never heard or read of the author previously - so, opening it, all I was hoping for was a nice, enjoyable read, and that's exactly what I got.

I believe this is Julie Sykes first novel for older readers and, I've got to say, I hope she delves into the YA genre more. I really enjoyed Amber. After the amount of heavy dystopian books I'd been swimming in, it was a nice change. I adored that it was a standalone - the storyline wasn't majorly complex because there was no need to set up any sub-plots for further books. Of course there was mystery - that's a guarantee when you have a main character with amnesia! - but most is resolved, we aren't left with frustrating loose ends! It was definetly a refreshing read and just what I needed at the time.

I got along well with the main character, Amber. She was neither annoying nor whiny but, rather, intriguing. She's quite the mystery and you are just constantly waiting to see if she'll remember something, anything throughout the course of the novel. I did like her though. She was smart and realistic. As nice as Dan - another prominent character - was, toward the end of the book, I started finding him more and more irritating and, well, getting in the way. I think only people who've read the book will get that last sentence, sorry! ;3

Anyway. To conclude, Amber is the perfect novel for a light, rainy day read. It's not overly complicated and introduces us to a nice bunch of characters that each add a little something to the story. I'm going to round it up to four stars because, though I didn't dislike anything about it, it didn't blow me away. I recommend it to readers who enjoy light mystery and have lately found themselves drowning in heavy, complex books. I applaud Sykes for bringing out her first Young Adult novel and hope she does it again! :)

FOUR STARS!

Huge thanks to Curious Fox for sending me out this book to review!

Happy Reading,
Rachel xoxo

PS: The cover is absolutely gorgeous! :O