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Amber
THE GRUE SERIES: BOOK ONE
Amber was a normal eighteen-year-old girl, freshly graduated from high school and on her way to work when an early morning run in with some starving vampires changed her life forever.
Bled nearly to the point of death, one of the vampires took pity on her and tried to save her. Using a technique she had only heard about, she attempted to give Amber a form of life, but something went wrong.
Now, Amber has become something that even vampires fear. She is a grue, a creature stronger than even vampires that is capable of seeming perfectly normal, but must feed only on living human flesh.
Unsure of how to survive with her new nature, Amber agrees to an alliance with the vampires while they teach her how to hunt, but can she live with the fact that in order for her to survive, human beings must die?
Amber was a normal eighteen-year-old girl, freshly graduated from high school and on her way to work when an early morning run in with some starving vampires changed her life forever.
Bled nearly to the point of death, one of the vampires took pity on her and tried to save her. Using a technique she had only heard about, she attempted to give Amber a form of life, but something went wrong.
Now, Amber has become something that even vampires fear. She is a grue, a creature stronger than even vampires that is capable of seeming perfectly normal, but must feed only on living human flesh.
Unsure of how to survive with her new nature, Amber agrees to an alliance with the vampires while they teach her how to hunt, but can she live with the fact that in order for her to survive, human beings must die?
- GenresVampiresAmazonParanormal
230 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 13, 2016
382 people are currently reading
261 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
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November 7, 2016This book is gruesome. Parts are just horrible if your mind creates a movie as you read. The author tries to tone it down but when you are reading about a Grue who can only survive by eating live people, descriptions are necessary. This story is actually quite interesting. Until I got to the end, which was awesome, I didn't really think about all the possibles in this world for a Grue--if they could be accepted by humans. It really makes you wonder what really happens to all the people in the world that go missing...no, don't focus on the young children, but on the adults...
Amber has to come to terms with eating a live person every 3-4 days if she wants to "survive". It is interesting to find out how she does this. Skid row bums? Mean, cruel people? Killers? an innocent she happens across? Who does she choose as her next meal?
What are the powers of a Grue? How often do they need to eat, sleep, and how strong are they? How many exist in our world?
This book is truly interesting and thought-provoking. It makes for a good read, but do not look for a love interest here. Maybe in the future, but not yet.
Amber has to come to terms with eating a live person every 3-4 days if she wants to "survive". It is interesting to find out how she does this. Skid row bums? Mean, cruel people? Killers? an innocent she happens across? Who does she choose as her next meal?
What are the powers of a Grue? How often do they need to eat, sleep, and how strong are they? How many exist in our world?
This book is truly interesting and thought-provoking. It makes for a good read, but do not look for a love interest here. Maybe in the future, but not yet.
July 15, 2019
Awesome
This was a fantastic start of a series. Was hooked before I finished the prologue and just couldn't put it down for long. Can't wait to start on the second book in the series.
This was a fantastic start of a series. Was hooked before I finished the prologue and just couldn't put it down for long. Can't wait to start on the second book in the series.
June 11, 2023
I received a free copy of this book through Voracious Readers Only. This book was an interesting twist of what is more mainstream in the world of vampire fiction, which is a nice change in my own opinion. By the end of the book I was actually looking forward to the next one, and the cliffhanger was just enough to get you to want the next book which is good in my personal opinion. Overall 4/5 for me, but I’ll list out the pros/cons for me personally. *Spoilers ahead*
Pros:
- Interesting way to build a predator into the vampire world, and a sort of different way to imbued lore into it.
- I liked the perspective changes, even though at first it was a little bit clunky. It helped with developing some of the characters, specifically Simone. I do wish we got to know Horace a bit better though, or that we got a bit more into Mad’s background, or even more into what Jennifer was thinking. I would have led to a greater depth of understanding of these characters who have been together for so long (aside from Jennifer).
- minimal spelling errors
- I am happy with how Amber has stayed true to her feelings regarding sexual experiences even though she’s been changed in other aspects. I would like to start seeing a shift in the mentality towards it since that is how her comrades live, and it does seem to be leading into a relationship with Simone and possibly Horace (based on the comments that Mad made towards the end).
Cons:
- The wrong place wrong time incident that lead to Amber becoming a grue was fine in my opinion, but I do wish that she had just a bit more of emotional disturbance at first, or at least shown signs of being in shock. I feel like it would’ve made the transition more understandable. This did redeem itself a little bit with her thinking about what kind of killer she wants to become at the end, but I do think that could’ve been a deeper transition if the character was developed a bit more, or if there was more critical analysis of her life.
- The start was clunky, and I do agree with some other reviewers that the discovery of vampires could have been introduced a bit better. The prologue could have even been made into a chapter or two by itself so that we can have some more details about what’s happening instead of just being rushed through it so we can get straight to the point.
- In the first few chapters it felt like she was starting to tell of a story of what happened in the past, but I didn’t feel a definitive moment where that shifted into the present tense, it just kind of happened. I feel like having a definitive moment would be a good way to give background on not only what the others experienced before they accidentally turned her, but also an insight to her thoughts and feels that weren’t just in the moment.
Pros:
- Interesting way to build a predator into the vampire world, and a sort of different way to imbued lore into it.
- I liked the perspective changes, even though at first it was a little bit clunky. It helped with developing some of the characters, specifically Simone. I do wish we got to know Horace a bit better though, or that we got a bit more into Mad’s background, or even more into what Jennifer was thinking. I would have led to a greater depth of understanding of these characters who have been together for so long (aside from Jennifer).
- minimal spelling errors
- I am happy with how Amber has stayed true to her feelings regarding sexual experiences even though she’s been changed in other aspects. I would like to start seeing a shift in the mentality towards it since that is how her comrades live, and it does seem to be leading into a relationship with Simone and possibly Horace (based on the comments that Mad made towards the end).
Cons:
- The wrong place wrong time incident that lead to Amber becoming a grue was fine in my opinion, but I do wish that she had just a bit more of emotional disturbance at first, or at least shown signs of being in shock. I feel like it would’ve made the transition more understandable. This did redeem itself a little bit with her thinking about what kind of killer she wants to become at the end, but I do think that could’ve been a deeper transition if the character was developed a bit more, or if there was more critical analysis of her life.
- The start was clunky, and I do agree with some other reviewers that the discovery of vampires could have been introduced a bit better. The prologue could have even been made into a chapter or two by itself so that we can have some more details about what’s happening instead of just being rushed through it so we can get straight to the point.
- In the first few chapters it felt like she was starting to tell of a story of what happened in the past, but I didn’t feel a definitive moment where that shifted into the present tense, it just kind of happened. I feel like having a definitive moment would be a good way to give background on not only what the others experienced before they accidentally turned her, but also an insight to her thoughts and feels that weren’t just in the moment.
September 26, 2017
I did not expect the events that happened in this book. It was really good, but really gruesome. It's a bit gory, but I could get pass that part. The story is new and fresh. I don't think I ever heard about anyone writing about this before and I've never read anything similar to it. When you have nothing to compare it to, I guess, I am giving it a higher score strictly because it's such a new, exciting concept of YA Fantasy. I will read the second book in the series, because I am intrigued. I want to know what happens next. It is a bit immature at times, but the main character is a 18 year old girl. There will be immaturity. If it wasn't so gory, I would have given it 5 stars. She's a monster, though. You kinda have to see the gory stuff for it to truly sink in. Doesn't mean it has to be so descriptive though. I usually enjoy descriptive, but it was a bit too descriptive. Also, sex, sex, sex. This book has a whole lotta sex in it, not for the homophobic. There is some girl on girl action. I really did enjoy the story though and I'm very interested to see what happens next. It's like a good horror story: a good plot, gore, and sex. lol
June 21, 2023
I was on the fence about this book to start. I took my time to go through the first few chapters and before I knew it I had stayed up all night to reach the end. Aside from a really long song lyric sequence that I skimmed I really grew invested in the main character Amber.
The conflicting emotions of suddenly not being human anymore and that she was enjoying things that would once horrify her really drew me in. I mean we would all like to believe that even if the worst should happen that we could find meaning in our new life.
I honestly didn’t expect it to end the way it did and I would have liked to see how Amber and the vamps handle their house caretaker knowing their secret. It made me feel a little sad that such an awesome opportunity was missed. Maybe those song lyrics could have been cut for that.
That being said the book didn’t go too deeply into the relationships between the main characters (another opportunity missed).
I usually don’t go for gore but this book was light enough that I didn’t feel queasy at all. Good for a light read.
The conflicting emotions of suddenly not being human anymore and that she was enjoying things that would once horrify her really drew me in. I mean we would all like to believe that even if the worst should happen that we could find meaning in our new life.
I honestly didn’t expect it to end the way it did and I would have liked to see how Amber and the vamps handle their house caretaker knowing their secret. It made me feel a little sad that such an awesome opportunity was missed. Maybe those song lyrics could have been cut for that.
That being said the book didn’t go too deeply into the relationships between the main characters (another opportunity missed).
I usually don’t go for gore but this book was light enough that I didn’t feel queasy at all. Good for a light read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 5, 2020
I'm not quite sure how to feel about this book. I really liked the world-building and the explanation of the grue as well as it was different to other vampire books. I also liked the vague inclusion of LGBT characters as a bit of representation is always nice to see. However, there was some racism towards the black characters at the end of the book that while it wasn't endorsed also wasn't condoned which made me a little uncomfortable. I also felt like the characters were a little one dimensional and I didn't like the constant PoV switches and felt like they were unnecessary and that information could have been got across in other ways. It also didn't feel like there was much of a plot and I also felt like Amber's hesitation over eating humans could have been gotten across better. However, I did still enjoy this book in a weird way and it did make me laugh on a couple of occasions.
June 14, 2019
I liked and didn’t like this book, if that makes sense. I think it was a fresh take on the typical paranormal vampire book with the inclusion of a Grue. It is gory, but that did not bother me at all. I’ve read and watched much worse than this. What I didn’t like was the racist, but “not really racist” handling of the black characters. Like, yes I understand the main character is from the country and it’s the 80’s or something, but I don’t think that explains some of the choices in her thoughts about the characters. In a book about a girl who eats living flesh you would think I would have other things to be upset about, but there it is.
I received a free copy of this book from Voracious Readers and it in no way influenced my rating.
I received a free copy of this book from Voracious Readers and it in no way influenced my rating.
May 9, 2019
I wish I could have enjoyed this story more than I did - I liked how this book was different from most paranormal stories I read but there was something missing. I'm not sure if I liked the different view points from the characters or perhaps the world building? Nonetheless the story was a great concept and the characters were different most which is likely the reason I continued reading it.
I would recommend it for people who are looking for something different in the paranormal genre.
I received a complimentary copy via voracious readers.
I would recommend it for people who are looking for something different in the paranormal genre.
I received a complimentary copy via voracious readers.
December 7, 2022
I really enjoyed this book. The genre is right up my alley. I enjoyed each characters development, they were all memorable and individual, they had a good group dynamic. I also liked how the story was told from different perspectives.
Only thing I was a little unsure on was the author's attempt to address racism. I am not an expert or authority on this though so it was probably just an attempt at awareness.
Note: I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review by Voracious Readers Only.
Only thing I was a little unsure on was the author's attempt to address racism. I am not an expert or authority on this though so it was probably just an attempt at awareness.
Note: I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review by Voracious Readers Only.
November 21, 2016
Such a change of pace.
I have been reading so many romances in the shifter genre and this book is such a great change of pace. It has the vampires, but not much of what we think of as romance. The author introduces us to a ghoul like character in Amber. Such detail to her killings and the angst involved in Amber's mind when she kills and feeds. I really liked this story and can't wait to see where the author goes from here.
I have been reading so many romances in the shifter genre and this book is such a great change of pace. It has the vampires, but not much of what we think of as romance. The author introduces us to a ghoul like character in Amber. Such detail to her killings and the angst involved in Amber's mind when she kills and feeds. I really liked this story and can't wait to see where the author goes from here.
December 5, 2017
I give this book 4stars purely due to the fact that it was so gruesome that I wasn't able to complete the book. The author describes the protagonist eating the flesh off of living people, she does this so well that it literally makes my stomach turn. If you can make it past this issue, the book is amazing because the authors continues such descriptive natures throughout the entire book giving it a realistic feel even though it is a supernatural book series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 6, 2018
Not just another vampire story
I loved this book for many reasons. The first is the many different characters! Simone is one of my favorites. I loved the spin off that she absent a vampire. I really enjoyed all the details from the gods to the emotions. I felt as if this book absent a book. Instead it felt like a movie playing. It was a great read and I look forward to the second book. Bring on the gore!!
I loved this book for many reasons. The first is the many different characters! Simone is one of my favorites. I loved the spin off that she absent a vampire. I really enjoyed all the details from the gods to the emotions. I felt as if this book absent a book. Instead it felt like a movie playing. It was a great read and I look forward to the second book. Bring on the gore!!
October 4, 2018
Interesting
I'm not a fan of being aroused while reading, so, while the story was interesting enough to keep me reading, the sexual content was disturbing. Also, the hero having some kind of thrill in killing people in the most disturbing way possible, makes me seriously concerned about those who enjoy reading this book. If you enjoyed watching "Kill Bill", you'll probably like this book.
I'm not a fan of being aroused while reading, so, while the story was interesting enough to keep me reading, the sexual content was disturbing. Also, the hero having some kind of thrill in killing people in the most disturbing way possible, makes me seriously concerned about those who enjoy reading this book. If you enjoyed watching "Kill Bill", you'll probably like this book.
December 6, 2018
I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS STORY AND CANNOT WAIT TO READ THE NEXT CHAPTER!!! If this novel turned into a miniseries, I'd watch every episode!! I loved the fact that the story took place in my hometown of Philadelphia and that I share a name with the main characters little sister. But the fact that I didn't want to miss a word stomped all over those two small factors!!! AWESOME JOB ADAMS AND SUMMERS!!! YOU TWO SHOULD DEFINITELY WRITE MORE SERIES!!!!
June 26, 2019
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author through Voracious Readers Only.
I love finding a book that's got a unique spin to it. The best part of this book though is the characters. Each is so well developed, I feel like I've gotten to know them. I'm INVESTED now. If you like a great story, with interesting characters that you want to get to know more about, you really owe it to yourself to read this book! I'm looking forward to The Grue Book 2!
I love finding a book that's got a unique spin to it. The best part of this book though is the characters. Each is so well developed, I feel like I've gotten to know them. I'm INVESTED now. If you like a great story, with interesting characters that you want to get to know more about, you really owe it to yourself to read this book! I'm looking forward to The Grue Book 2!
July 22, 2017
Loved It!!!
Not quite as gruesome as the book blurb made me expect but a thoroughly enjoyable read. The author creates such realistic characters you end up feeling for them. At one point I almost cried which is very unusual for a vampire book. It's a must read & I will be buying the rest of this series.
Not quite as gruesome as the book blurb made me expect but a thoroughly enjoyable read. The author creates such realistic characters you end up feeling for them. At one point I almost cried which is very unusual for a vampire book. It's a must read & I will be buying the rest of this series.
June 13, 2018
A great Vampire Parnormal Book
I love this book so detailed and draws you in. I just couldn't put it down. I had to rush to buy the second. This is a great book so detailed about a great girl with a big heart and in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's a must READ for anyone who loves vampires....
I love this book so detailed and draws you in. I just couldn't put it down. I had to rush to buy the second. This is a great book so detailed about a great girl with a big heart and in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's a must READ for anyone who loves vampires....
June 19, 2018
This is a must read I love these kind of books it draws you in. You read a book about this girl who gets transformed into something that is a supernatural creature and then she not only is after the bad guys but has amazing new powers its a must read. I don't want to say much as it will give it away. I hope you all download this and read it I am waiting book three......
November 16, 2016
Oh my word!!!!!! This book was out of this world crazy!!!!
From the first sentence to the very last I was absolutely hooked. I loved the main character and how she grew as a true and herself throughout the story. And the secondary characters were awesome. Loved this story!!!!
From the first sentence to the very last I was absolutely hooked. I loved the main character and how she grew as a true and herself throughout the story. And the secondary characters were awesome. Loved this story!!!!
February 4, 2017
Amber is a grue created by a vampire. She eats the flesh of the living. The descriptions of Amber feeding are a little bit grue-some. But I found this book very hard to put down. So much so that I purchased the second one in the what seems like a duology. It's well worth a read.
May 19, 2017
I loved how different this story is. Not only do you get a little from everyone, but you get to hear about the ultimate "monster". This story was just awesome with how it introduced everything how it made it seem less like horror and more action adventure (to me).
July 3, 2017
Unique
This book was the first vampire book I've read that has given me mixed feelings..the book is uniquely written and the writers imagination is wild sending me on a thrill I think others will enjoy.
This book was the first vampire book I've read that has given me mixed feelings..the book is uniquely written and the writers imagination is wild sending me on a thrill I think others will enjoy.
August 16, 2017
Amber
This was a good book. Amber a young 18 year who is a victim of wrong place wrong time. Lucky for her she has a strong will and her victimizers take pity on her. Also lucky for Amber she makes the best out of a terrible situation.
This was a good book. Amber a young 18 year who is a victim of wrong place wrong time. Lucky for her she has a strong will and her victimizers take pity on her. Also lucky for Amber she makes the best out of a terrible situation.
November 2, 2017
This is different than an paranormal book I've ever read. I really liked Horace and Simone but Amber, I am still not sure. It appears that now she'll only prey on truly evil persons with the help of Nathan. I sort of kept wanting her to be the love interest of Horace and than maybe the attorney.
November 26, 2017
Grue-some!
Not your typical vampire lore. Layered with creative characters and plot lines that keep you interested from beginning to end. Now I want to follow the characters into the next book and see what happens!
Not your typical vampire lore. Layered with creative characters and plot lines that keep you interested from beginning to end. Now I want to follow the characters into the next book and see what happens!
December 5, 2017
Amber
I loved this book but if you don't like gruesome details then this book isn't for you. This book I found is very detailed and I loved it. If you are squeamish I advise that you don't read it.
I loved this book but if you don't like gruesome details then this book isn't for you. This book I found is very detailed and I loved it. If you are squeamish I advise that you don't read it.
February 4, 2018
I stopped reading at 48%. I couldn’t stand the 6 different points of view! You get Amber’s, the Horace, Simone, Rudy, Jen, and then Madeline. It was just so pointless, and there was no flow to the story because of it.
April 13, 2018
I liked this book enough to get the next. I like the theme and the representation of light and dark. I typically like a main charecter to have more humanity... but that does right itself by the end. I also really like the sexual context without sexual content.
August 21, 2018
Wow
Allot of blood and Gore went into this book. I thought Amber would end up wanting Horace to kill her, but I was so happy when she went after Jordan. And made up her mind right then how she was going to do good in the world!
Allot of blood and Gore went into this book. I thought Amber would end up wanting Horace to kill her, but I was so happy when she went after Jordan. And made up her mind right then how she was going to do good in the world!
April 6, 2019
Wonderful
Great characters and interesting storyline, this book held my interest through the whole story. The only thing that bothered me was the way Amber, being a grue, ate....gross, but I became used to it.
Great characters and interesting storyline, this book held my interest through the whole story. The only thing that bothered me was the way Amber, being a grue, ate....gross, but I became used to it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews