Full review at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books 
 Amberlough is an intense fantasy spy novel that ends on a cliffhanger. It's not a romance novel, but there is romance in it. It's a novel in which none of the main characters seem especially tender or affectionate and yet everyone is motivated by love. 
 Amberlough is technically a fantasy novel in the sense that it takes place in an alternate world, but there are no magic spells or dragons (alas). The city of Amberlough is reminiscent of 1920's Berlin, but using a fictional city and world allows the author to incorporate gay, poly, and interracial relationships (our hero's lover, Aristide, has dark skin) without historical constraints. Residents of Amberlough do their best to get to work and buy food and enjoy the cabaret entertainment at The Bumble Bee Cabaret amidst increasingly violent riots and raids. The city is in the midst of an election year, and the fascist One State Party (the Ospies) is poised to seize power. 
 The thing I found most interesting about this book was that even though all the characters are involved in political activities, their strongest motivation for their actions are personal relationships. I spent a lot of time thinking about the relationship between Cyril and Aristide, which on its surface is purely sexual. It didn't occur to me until the end of the book that they both actively conceal their feelings for reasons of safety on many levels, some of which aren't clear until the end. Their words to each other are seductive, insulting, and generally untrue (they lie to each other constantly), but their actions belie a deep devotion that fuels almost all everything they do once things start to go wrong in their world. 
 Some readers will be captivated by the Roaring 20's aesthetic of the book. Some will be enthralled by the plot. I was most interested in the reminder that the personal is political, and the political is personal. The love story is hardly a hearts and flowers one, and the cliffhanger ending is maddening, but I ended the book wanting very much to read it all over again. I'd recommend this book to anyone who can tolerate violence, morally murky characters, and cliffhangers. Readers who like political thrillers and spy novels will adore it, and fans of the 1920's will like it, too. 
 - Carrie S.