Review: Surviving Amber Springs

Surviving Amber Springs by Siobhan Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was both excited and tentative before starting Surviving Amber Springs, but by gosh did I adore it in the end. In fact, I came to enjoy this one a lot more than I’d initially anticipated.

I’m a big Siobhan Davis fan, as should be clear by now, and I’m always eager for her next release. Although Surviving Amber Springs sounded like another wonderful contemporary read, a part of me feared I would not enjoy this as much as I’d hoped. You see, the other reverse harem books by Siobhan Davis – the Alinthia books – are far from being my favourite Siobhan Davis reads. Part of this is because reverse harem books are not my favourite books to read, and despite all the signs pointing towards me enjoying this one I feared it would be a repeat of the Alinthia books.

Another element that had me worried was all the high school drama we had at the start of the book. I accept high school drama, but I quickly become bored of it. For part of this book, I feared it would be one of those stories where we became trapped into a cycle of high school drama.

A final aspect that had me worried – three worries about a Siobhan Davis book is unheard of, so you can imagine why I was so tentative at first – is that there were references to something I have personal experience with. I’m not going to say what, as it will give away some of the details of the book, but whenever such an aspect appears in books I’m worried. It’s one of those things that can be portrayed badly, and I’m always nervous that a book will send the wrong kind of message. I know Siobhan Davis deals with heavy issues on a regular basis, and she always deals with things well, but when it is something you have person experience with it is even more worrisome.

Now, before this becomes a repeat of my review of The Lost Savior, know I am not attacking Siobhan Davis for the things she includes in her books. This book may not have sounded like the book for me based upon the three above aspects, but there were many other things that did intrigue me. Moreover, I had high hopes Siobhan Davis would win me over when it came to the above. She is an author who has regularly won me over, and I had complete faith in her doing the same thing here.

Guess what – she did.

Siobhan Davis wowed me, taking my worries and proving them to be unfounded. Sure, certain things may have sounded like they may not have been for me, but Siobhan Davis did them so well that I enjoyed them.

The reverse harem element in this one was really well done. I have a few things that make it difficult for me to enjoy reverse harem as much as regular readers of the genre. The first is how much I have to stretch my imagination. I’m one of those people where no guy is interested in me, let alone multiple, so I prefer to stick to your standard romance. Love triangles are enough of an imagination stretch, so I prefer to keep it to a simple boy meets girl kind of story. Of course, I am willing to stretch my imagination when the story is good. My bigger issue, however, is when the reverse harem aspect is used simply as a way to play out certain erotic scenes. I’m no stranger to such scenes – if you look at all the erotica I read, you will see I rather enjoy such scenes and read them on a regular basis – yet I’ve read too many reverse harem books where the story has felt forced so such a thing can play out. Add in the fact the males always seem to be the same person in such books and I’m always tentative.

With Surviving Amber Springs we have none of those things. This was not a case of writing reverse harem to play out certain intimate scenes, far from it in fact. Nor was it a case of multiple males all being the same guy. With this one, we have three individual males who all add something to the story, with the reverse harem element playing in extremely well with the storyline. In fact, it’s one of the most natural reverse harem reads I have read.

The high school drama aspect was nowhere near as bad as I’d initially feared, with the details being played out before us taking up less of the book than I’d expected. I know a lot of people enjoy the high school drama element of young adult novels, but for me I want away from such a thing as much as possible. Those were the worst years of my life in many ways – and I’m not just saying that to sound like a cliché – and I want to distance myself from that sort of thing as much as possible, especially with how I’m now in a much better place. People hear stories of the kind of stuff that happened to me during my high school years and they believe it to be the plot of a movie or a book, so it makes sense that I would not want to spend my reading time being reminded of such times.

With Surviving Amber Springs the high school element was important. It was pivotal to the story and was really well done (as Siobhan Davis has demonstrated she is capable of doing in her other books). There are times when books give us high school drama for the sake of high school drama, with their being no explanation for the vicious ways (which I know from personal experience can be the case, but I prefer it when books explain how these things came to be), yet all the drama in this one had a reason. In fact, the drama was central to the storyline and not just a way to make high school seem more dramatic. It had purpose, and that is what I desire when a book includes a lot of high school drama.

The heavy issue I have personal experience with was done as well as any issue Siobhan Davis deals with. It was silly for me to have been fearful of how Siobhan Davis would deal with the topic, as she always deals with topics well, but the fear was there.

In fact, Surviving Amber Springs deals with numerous heavy topics. All of which were dealt with extremely well. All are relevant, and all will make you think about what is going on. The issues are part of a much bigger picture, with all the different elements being interwoven in a wonderful way. Each aspect draws upon the others, and they come together so well. You will feel so much, each element hitting a different emotion, and it will have you desperately turning the pages to see how everything comes together.

All in all, this book blew me away. It was so much more than I’d anticipated, my fears unnecessary. I admit to feeling as though things came together a bit too easily in the end, the timing of things was a bit too convenient for my liking. I also admit that I felt like the romance was a bit too quick to develop at the start, feeling a bit too close to insta-love for my liking when compared to other Siobhan Davis books where we get to watch the intense emotions develop over time. However, despite these things, the book had me insanely addicted throughout and I was not disappointed.

In fact, I’m willing – no, not just willing, I’m happy – to label this one of my top Siobhan Davis reads.

Without a doubt, Surviving Amber Springs is the perfect example of why Siobhan Davis is one of my favourite authors. She always writes stories with multiple interconnected elements, each done in a wonderful manner. She always writes stories with great characters, characters who are real and you can relate to. She always writes stories that hit hard, dealing with topics that will make you think if you’re not already thinking. The biggest reason why she is one of my favourite authors – beyond the expected of the great writing, addictive storylines, and all the tiny things that come together to make a great book – is she is one of the few authors who can win me over when I step out of my comfort zone with them. Siobhan Davis is the except to so many of my reading rules and Surviving Amber Springs hits on that more than any of her other books.

If you’re a Siobhan Davis fan you need to give Surviving Amber Springs a read, you will not be disappointed. If you’re new to Siobhan Davis and simply think Surviving Amber Springs sounds interesting, I cannot recommend this one enough.

To cut this review down to a simple sentence: Surviving Amber Springs is another winner from Siobhan Davis, sucking me ever deeper into the Siobhan Davis fandom – a fandom I’m already drowning in.

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