I'm very sorry I didn't get a chance to read it before it expired. I'll be looking for it when it publishes! Thanks for approving my request.

I probably never would have read this book if not for Netgalley. While it does have an interesting plot, I don't feel it has that wow factor. I prefer deep, layered historical fiction, and this is not at all like that. I tried to think of another author comparable to this one but her style is pretty unique. The story takes place in Bletchley Park during WWII; the protagonist is a typist who transcribes the decrypted signals from the Germans. That alone sounds intriguing but then the author adds some sinister characters and a love interest and then it all begins to get very convoluted. If I wasn't reading the galley version, I probably wouldn't have finished it.

This book was ... chaotic, it felt rushed, it felt unfocused and then almost too obsessive ... it took me almost three weeks to read less than 500 pages and I can say I only finished it because I received an advanced copy and felt an obligation to read it to the bitter end.

Honey was a difficult character to relate to - she seemed paranoid for absolutely no reason and she seemed to become obsessed with events, almost to the point that it felt like the story didn't move along until we hit the 80% mark. And then at that point it almost felt like a completely different story emerged. One that could have been more interesting than the original, but alas, it was too little, too late.

I was initially drawn to this story because it takes place in Bletchley during the Second World War, but really, this was a story about a typist who was caught up in past lies. It was muddy and simply didn't do anything for me.

I can't recommend this book.

Princess Fuzzypants here:
Stories about Bletchley Park are almost always fascinating as there was so much secrecy and code breaking, much of which helped the Allies win WWII. In this book, Honey works in one of the huts. The team members in each hut are allowed to know only what is relevant to their work and interaction between huts is strictly forbidden. So when she receives the first of several pieces of amber with cryptic messages embedded in the amber, she is confused and frightened.
Is it from the birth father she never knew, about whom her brother has regaled her all her life. His story is cloaked in intrigue and he may have been a spy. All she knows is what her brother has told her. And when her brother is murdered and a friend committed to an asylum, her confusion and paranoia skyrocket. What is fact and what is fantasy? Who is trying to contact her and why?
The first half of the book was a muddle where neither the reader nor Honey had a clue of what was going on. It seemed more convoluted than necessary but once it shifted into gear and the suspense mounted, it made sense. When you are working with secrets, it is easy to be swept along by deceit. It turns out that when she finds out the truth is both mundane and terrifying. What began as a plod, ended up a page turner.
i give this four purrs and two paws up.

The Amber Shadows by Lucy Ribchester starts off in December of 1942 at Bletchley Park. Honey Deschamps is on her way to her lodgings when she is stopped by Felix Plaidstow and his dog, Nijinksy. Felix states he works in Hut 6 in the park and he has a package for Honey that was misdelivered. Honey examines the package in the privacy of her room at Mr. & Mrs. Steadman’s (her skinflint landlors). The postmark has Cyrillic letters on it (Russian), and she finds a small square piece of amber inside. Honey ends up tossing the package into the trash. The next day she is at her desk decoding messages on her Typex machine when she receives another similar package. The amber reminds Honey about a missive she saw about a year ago regarding the Germans dismantling the Amber Room from the Catherine Palace and a story her brother told her about their father being its curator. Honey receives more of the mysterious amber packages. Are they from a lost treasure or is Honey being tested? Honey is unsure of who she should trust and turns to the mysterious Felix. Can they unravel the clues and solve the amber puzzle?

The Amber Shadows sounded like such an intriguing story. World War II, amber, coded messages, Bletchley Park, and a mystery. Unfortunately, the blurb was better than the novel. The book wandered and rambled on forever. It lacked focus. I was not a fan of the authors writing style (believe she is trying to set an atmosphere). Honey kept making comparisons between her situation and the movie Suspicion (with Cary Grant). I found it distracting (odd) and it did not enhance the story. I do wish to commend the author on her research and realistic portrayal of life at Bletchely. My rating for The Amber Shadows is 2 out of 5 stars (I did not like it). The mystery was lacking. It can easily be solved early in the story (it is obvious). Honey is lacking in her investigative skills. She makes very little progress until the end of the story when all is revealed. I struggled to wade through The Amber Shadows. I was never able to get into the story. The ending is very unsatisfying (made the whole mystery seem pointless). I was not a fan of the main character (I disliked Honey), mystery or writing.

While the setting and historical richness of this novel were intriguing, and the story itself interesting, the book lacked development and richness. Good but not great.

It's easy to forget that during war times that danger doesn't always come from the enemy. I think I've maybe taken for granted in historical fiction about either of the Great Wars that the enemy is usually clear and obvious. Lucy Ribchester does a superb job of reminding us that isn't always the case.
Not only are there spies to watch out for but also those who would be nefarious no matter what was happening around them.

I don't read lots of mystery books. Usually the ones I do have historical, sci-if or fantasy settings. So I will confess I'm easily fooled by a good mystery. And yet I'd like to think I'm not completely stupid (lol). So when I got towards the end of The Amber Shadows and realized I had gotten it all wrong, I was genuinely surprised. I believe this is because Ribchester has very persuasive writing. Each time I delved into the story I felt like I was in the mind of our lead gal and so believed what she believed; whilst she typed encrypted messages in an enigma calibrated typewriter. I won't lie, as much as Ribchester reminds us of how harsh and awful war times are (even for those not fighting on the front lines), it all held a little bit of magic for me. How exciting it must have been at times to decide the message that saves a ship, town or supply run from being bombed.

Yes I realize that is my very naive self falling into the trap of believing that another time besides my own might have been better. Let's face it, this is why so many of us read and wish to travel back in time or to dangerous unknown worlds; for the simple reason that it's not in the here and now.

I really don't want to say anything more about the content of the story as it might take away from the intrigue as it plays out.
I will say if you enjoy cryptic, coded, intrigue stories you are bound to like this one. But you're also likely to enjoy it if you like historical fiction in general. Ribchester does a good job of setting the scene of WWII whilst telling us a story that will make you wonder what is truth and what is deception.

I came to The Amber Shadows with a great deal of anticipation. So many things to like: the World War II setting of Bletchley Park, code breaking, the fabled Amber Room that was dismantled by the Nazis and still hasn't been found.... The author did deliver on one important part: the setting. Of all the books I've read, Lucy Ribchester has done the best job of showing readers what it was like to live in England through the Blitz-- trying to navigate in pitch darkness with no street signs for guidance, how to dress or eat with strict rationing going on, and how miserable it could be when you're billeted with people who don't want you in their house. This part of the book is excellent.

However, I didn't find much to like about the rest. One of the major themes of the book was the real versus the artificial and the danger of creating a fantasy when you don't like the life you've been dealt. The way it was handled seemed very muddled to me, and it was difficult for me to keep my mind on the story. It also didn't help one iota when the only characters who seemed to have any real intelligence and/or common sense were secondary ones who were seldom seen.

The Amber Shadows is a slow-moving tale that I just couldn't warm up to. Hopefully, your mileage will differ.

Ribchester takes a very interesting approach to the role in World War II played by many of the women who worked at Bletchley Park. For example, similar mysteries I've read haven't described the challenges for both Park employees and home owners dealing with the complex billeting system required to house so many extra people while at the same time dealing with the real dangers of possible enemy bombing raids. Although I enjoyed this book, I was somewhat disappointed in the resolution of the mystery, and I didn't feel a sense of closure with regard to the solution of the murder of the main character's brother. I like Ribchester's writing, and I hope to read more of her work in the future.

During World War II, Honey Deschamps works in one of the huts at Bletchley Park, helping in Britain’s code-breaking war. Everyone working there has signed a pledge of secrecy, and that’s not only outside the Park but inside as well. Different teams work in various huts and, though they may be only a few feet from each other, nobody knows what is going on in huts other than his or her own.

Like other Britons during the war, Honey lives on short rations for clothing and food. Worse yet, she is billeted with a skinflint couple who think it’s appropriate to allow her to bathe once a week in the water left over after washing oily, filthy work clothes. It’s not just patriotism that makes Honey eager to go to work each day.

On her way home one day, Honey runs into a man who introduces himself as Felix Plaidstow, a fellow Bletchley Park worker. Felix gives her a parcel that he says was misdelivered to his hut and meant for her. It’s a mysterious package, appearing to have originated in Leningrad. Inside there is a small rectangle that appears to be amber, as in the famous Amber Room, rumored to have been plundered by the Nazis invading Russia.

More packages arrive, but Honey doesn’t know who is sending them or why. There may be a coded message, but who can she turn to to ask in this village of secrets? Could the packages be from the man her older brother always told her was their father, a Russian who left them when they were children and returned to Russia to be a museum curator?

Lucy Ribchester has done her research and puts us in Bletchley during the dark of a blacked-out winter. We get a good picture of what people wear, eat and drink. We see what it’s like to live in the home of someone who doesn’t really want you there, to try to go through the village streets with no light to guide you, to work in an underinsulated, noisy hut knowing that even though you don’t understand exactly how it all works that what you are doing is a critical part of the war effort. And, on that rare night of fun, we see what it’s like to patch together the best clothing and makeup possible and cut loose at a dance with servicemen stationed nearby.

Ribchester also deftly portrays how the strict secrecy of Bletchley helps and hinders Honey in her efforts to find out who is sending the packages and what they mean. Should she tell the forbidding chief or will that lead to the kind of dire repercussions that others have suffered when doing the slightest thing that goes against the secrecy grain? Are there friends at Bletchley she can trust? The fear and uncertainty feel claustrophobically real.

Because Ribchester writes to atmospherically, it was disappointing that the mystery of the packages wasn’t up to the same standard. Honey doesn’t get much of anywhere with her amateur investigation until nearly the end of the book, when events just play out and solve the mystery, not through any particular putting together of clues by Honey.

I had a hard time getting into this book. Since I did not finish it, I do not intend to publish a review.

The Amber Shadows is a book you'll want to set aside some time for, especially as the mystery picks up at a thrilling pace. The voice of the narrator, Honey, is engaging and expressive and the historic aspects of Bletchley Park are absolutely fascinating, drawing the reader into an unexpected and thrilling mystery. The confusion and distrust of Honey are realistically portrayed and help the reader more easily go on the journey with her and I was hooked through the story, but I do wish the ending was different and that there was a more central theme that emerged at the end.

Boring, confusing and choppy. The narrator feels less like a character than a spectator

Everyone is doing their part for the war effort and Honey’s stepfather was able to acquire a position for her in one of the Huts at Bletchley Park. Those who work at Bletchley Park do not talk about what goes on in their Hut. In fact, Captain Tiver said he would shoot her himself if she broke the secrecy agreement. So how can she explain the packages she is receiving from Russia that appear to be pieces of amber looted from the Amber Room. She’s good at codes but the coded message etched onto the amber is too complex. Her brother Dickie would be able to help her but when he gets murdered and friends go missing she knows she needs help but doesn’t know who she can trust.

I really enjoy novels that give us a different look into events in history. The movie Imitation Game showed us a little what life was like for those tasked to breaking the coded messages of the enemy. Alan Turing is mentioned briefly in this work but it’s not about him. Ribchester has created an entertaining mystery while enlightening the reader with details of the women who worked within the huts of Bletchly Park and the difficult life many lived while serving their country. Honey’s story is fictional but is entertaining and suspenseful. However, it is filled with the dangers and uncertainty that so many felt during that time. The Author’s Notes at the back of the book details Ribchester’s research into the women who worked in the huts. The Amber Shadows is a thrilling read and would be a good one to put into the hands of teens.

A very good thriller with great atmospherics, a fascinating location and an intriguing protagonist. There are enough red herrings in the story to keep the reader on their toes, a good twist at the end and an ending that is not quite wrapped up. A fun read that lingers in the mind.

I really wanted to like this book. It had so many elements that typically I would love. The Amber Room, WWII, Bletchly Park, Russia, a mystery...but for multiple reasons it just didn't work for me. First, I think I missed a lot by not understand British slang. I actually had to Goggle some of it because I had no idea what the characters were saying. Second, the "villain" was pretty obvious from the start. Third, the conclusion to the mystery was lacking. I mean, it concluded, but it was pretty lame. And lastly, there were entirely too many characters to keep track of, and a lot of them had similar names. Oh, and how could I forget? Our protagonist, Honey? I don't know why but she really annoyed me. Meh.

I really wanted to love this! It sounded so intriguing and definitely right up my alley. However it fell totally flat for me. The atmosphere and writing style were well achieved but that's about where the good news ends. The characters were boring the story could have been mysterious and exciting but it just felt like it dragged on forever. There was a lot of ballet reference which didn't really seem to contribute to the plot except to just have it there. So much could have been done with this and I just don't feel like it delivered its intent.

Not only is this a fascinating mystery with a wonderful cast of characters and a compelling sense of time and place, it also shines a light on a wonderful group of women whose hard work at Bletchley Park during World War II was an important component of the war effort. These women deserve praise and recognition and I commend the author for doing that while still delivering a page turner of a book.