Amber House

Starred review from October 8, 2012
The ghosts of the past haunt the present in this complex tale of family secrets and lingering loss, first in a planned trilogy from Moore and her daughters. After the death of 15-year-old Sarah’s grandmother, Sarah and her family move into Amber House, a sprawling, centuries-old Maryland mansion that has been in the family ever since it was built. There, Sarah is beset by visions of the past, quickly learning that the house is almost alive, filled with ghosts and memories.
As she and her new friend Jackson, the grandson of a longtime family friend, search for a treasure supposedly hidden in Amber House, they’re drawn into a mystery that spans generations, and only Sarah has the ability to fix things before tragedy strikes again. Lush descriptions and an intricate plot drive this intense tale, which straddles the lines between magical realism, fantasy, ghost stories, and horror, with a touch of romance and classic glamour. The result is something rich, strange, and utterly fascinating. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jenifer Weltz, Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency.

September 15, 2012
A deliciously creepy beginning to a projected trilogy. As 16-year-old Seattle native Sarah Parsons arrives at her maternal grandmother's funeral, she learns that her family's historic Maryland home, Amber House, has more than its fair share of secrets, having housed her lineage for more than 10 generations. Sarah and her 5-year-old brother, Sammy, feel an immediate connection with the house, and she discovers that she can feel echoes of the past, seeing visions of her ancestors--both good and bad. Predictably, there is the requisite love triangle between Sarah and Richard, a dashing senator's son, and Jackson, the quiet, down-to-earth son of her late grandmother's nurse, and it is quickly obvious who is the right admirer for her. What is truly novel is the spin that the Reed sisters and Moore, their mother, give the direction of the romance, setting this apart from many of the cardboard triangles found in the genre. Those who think that this is a straightforward ghost story will be sorely mistaken: This is a complex, layered tale that bends time and imagination, demanding to be read with all the lights on. Move over Bella Swan: Sarah is a strong, admirable character who'd rather speak her mind than sulk and sigh over some hot guy. Richly woven, with depth and swift plotting that will leave readers clamoring for the sequels. (Horror/romance. 13 & up)

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November 1, 2012
Grades 9-12 There are no ghosts in Amber House, only currents of time and echoes of the lives once lived there. Women in Sarah's family have always seen these echoes and most were labeled crazy. After her grandmother's death, Sarah, her mother, and her five-year-old brother travel to Amber House to ready it for sale, and Sarah finds she, too, is seeing scenes from the past trapped in time. Despite a contemporary Maryland setting, the highly descriptive, lush prose and Sarah's strong, first-person point of view lends an atmospheric, gothic feel to this first book in a planned trilogy, which stands alone quite well. Time shifts, ghostly apparitions, and a mansion that practically becomes another character, with its hedge maze and hundreds of years of hidden family secrets, serve as a backdrop to an extravagant sweet-sixteen masquerade ball and a hunt for lost diamonds. The mother-daughter author team's deft handling of family dynamics, believable characterization, and twist on the now ubiquitous love triangle will leave readers eager for more.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)