After enjoying the brief television series, I wanted to give these books a try, especially this one since it’s set at Christmas/Hanukkah. I haven’t read the other books that come before this one in the series, but this read just fine as a standalone.

As far as the holiday content, there’s a little crafting, a little shopping, some gift exchanges, etc., those were fun bits and I know this is a super short book to suit its intended audience and the story rightfully had more important things to deal with in few pages to do so, still I would have loved a smidge more of that festive feeling squeezed in throughout.

This excelled when it came to the emotional side of things, it genuinely captured how it feels to be a kid, whether it’s the pressure to keep up with her friends getting their ears pierced, the guilt plaguing Amber when she breaks the rules, or most poignant of all navigating the tricky feelings of divorce, a mom who doesn’t seem to even like her dad anymore, a dad moving into a new place, and a soon to be stepdad she loves even though she’d rather her parents were still together, all of that is really well conveyed here. ( )

Amber's Dad has moved back to town, and she has complicated feelings about this. It's a cute slice of life, some sad feelings, some happy feelings, some bad behaviour, mostly muddling through. ( )

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Not exactly the heir to Ramona Quimby, sometimes Amber has real dark feelings inside, and sometimes she shares them. I don't clearly remember every story so I'm copying this review to each book. ( )