Amy Q. Barker is a #1 Amazon best-selling author of women’s fiction as well as a nature lover. She writes books about extraordinary women who inconveniently fall in love during a major life crisis. Amy was raised in a small town in Western New York and now lives miles from anywhere on a lake in Indiana with her husband.
Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite
Bibliointuitive is a work of women's fiction by author Amy Q. Barker. What is intuition, and where does it come from? Riley wants to know. She doesn’t understand it other than knowing it started right after the car accident that seriously injured her and killed her best friend. She thinks this intuition thing is a curse. But is it? What if it's a blessing? And then there’s Adam – the boy who caused the accident and the intense guilt he has as he grows up. Every time he sees Riley, he’s reminded of the other girl whose life he took away. He tries to avoid Riley, to avoid his past, his memories, but living in a small town it’s rather difficult to avoid either. Both Riley and Adam have demons to confront and a past to put behind them. Can they do it?
Amy Q. Barker’s novel Bibliointuitive is a fascinating look at what-ifs and the wide world of books and literature that may or may not bring some meaning to a person’s life, especially one that is wrought in disaster. I love the idea of books and their stories becoming a center point of intrigue and coming-of-age. The author has expertly intertwined reading, writing, and intuition into a story that will have readers wanting more. The plot begins with an event in the present tense and sets Adam fearfully running from an interaction with Riley, which leaves Riley believing she really is strange, perhaps even cursed. The plot then backtracks to the chain of events that began that eventful night when Riley was twelve and her best friend was killed right next to her. Her mother encourages Riley to read and write her thoughts in a journal, and, between reading and writing, some of the turmoil sorts itself out as the young girl matures into a young woman. The dual plots of Riley and Adam are well constructed, leading the reader to the inevitable connection the two share and refuse to accept, a past they both want to forget. Troubling, intriguing, heart-wrenching, this story will have the reader captivated right to the very end.
