Amy 
Lynnie
young adult, fantasy
Serafina lives in the basement of the Biltmore Estate with her father, one of the repairmen in the mansion. Her entire life, she's been told to always remain hidden and to never leave the grounds. When children from the estate begin to disappear at the hands of a mysterious man in a black cape, however, Serafina must break all the rules and join forces with the Vanderbilt's young nephew, Braeden, to uncover the truth and save the estate's children.
Amy's Review
Serafina and the Black Cloak was a charming, magical tale geared for middle schoolers. I do not
normally enjoy novels for kids younger than high school. But this novel
had received such rave reviews and it takes place at Biltmore, which I
love. So, I decided to listen to the audiobook. (The narrator was
perfect for this story! She was a joy to hear--so expressive and great
with different voices and accents!) The mystery was engaging and the
characters were interesting. The pacing was good. The story itself was
creative and fun. I don't know that I'll read any more of the series,
but am happy to be able to agree with all the praise Serafina has
received.
Lynnie's Review
This a cute story that's squarely aimed at the
middle reader. Robert Beatty has written an engaging little mystery that takes place in and
around the Biltmore Mansion in North Carolina which is a wonderful
setting. There are some definite slow parts of the story, but for the
most part the story moves along at a decent pace with a fun set of
characters. I can't say I'd recommend it for my grown up friends, but
I'd certainly recommend it for their kids.
Amy 
historical fiction
The Nightingale was a great story that illustrated the lives of those living in France during WWII—those who were not soldiers but were left to face life during wartime in a land being occupied by German soldiers. It centered around two sisters with very different personalities. I enjoyed both viewpoints and the time period leapfrogging between past and present. All the characters were very well-developed. The story was sad, inspiring, shocking, educational, heartwarming, infuriating, and complete. It covered the entire lives of the main characters, although the meat of the story took place during the war years.
I’ve heard many people express that this is the best book they’ve ever read. It was definitely a great book and, by far, a better book than the other novel I've read by Kristin Hannah, Firefly Lane. But, I think that there are several better WWII-set novels. Those who liked this book might want to try The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Other WWII novels I recommend are Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (also set in France and also moves back and forth between past and present), City of Thieves by David Benioff, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
I also wanted to mention that I listened to this in audiobook format. The narrator gets a C. While she had good accents and voices, when she was being the narrator, she was emotionless and robotic. I really had to make an effort to get past the annoyance of her narration to get to the story behind it so that her voice didn't ruin the enjoyment of the story for me.
Amy
Lynnie 
play, fantasy
The adventures of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley, along with their friends and family, continue into the next generation of witches and wizards in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The script to this play based on J.K. Rowling's young adult series, though written by John Tiffany and Jack Thorne (despite her prominent name on the cover), has been called the 8th story in the Harry Potter series.
Amy's Review
While
I enjoyed being back in the world of Harry Potter, I did not really
care for this story line. It had its moments, but I did not like seeing
Harry being anything other than an exemplary father. And, some of the
boys’ antics and troubles and immaturity were painful to read about. The
best parts were the alternate universes, in my opinion. But, I just was
not excited at any point during this play. I thought it was a great
idea to have a play instead of a novel as a follow-up. But, it did not meet my expectations and ended up leaving me unsatisfied.
Lynnie's Review
Um...
Honestly? I didn't love it. Let me start by saying I read a lot of
plays, so the format wasn't the problem for me. The problem was that it
was kind of a crap play. The staging, as described, sounds tremendously
cool & I'm sure adds a lot to the experience but as a script? It's
just okay.
My biggest issue was the story. It's clear from the
beginning that this wasn't written by JK Rowling, therefore it felt a lot like reading fan fiction, and bad fan fiction
at that. The older characters didn't sound like themselves, though I
enjoyed the younger, newer characters tremendously. It's possible I
would've enjoyed it more if the story focused solely on them, but it didn't. Part Two
(so the second night of the show?) was much more enjoyable than Part One
& saved this from being a 2-star review.
Overall? 2 1/2
stars & I'm going to add this to the pile of sequels I wish didn't
exist- like Allegiant (Divergent series), Breaking Dawn (Twilight), Go Set A Watchman (TKAM) among others in the pile of shame. I'm just gonna
pretend this didn't happen & go back to Deathly Hallows.
Amy
Lynnie 
young adult, action/suspense, fantasy
The final novel in the Lorien Legacies series, United as One completes the story that began with Pittacus Lore's I Am Number Four about a group of aliens fighting for their existence against another alien race on Earth.
Amy's Review
A very satisfying ending to the series. This final installment was not as action-packed as most of the others in the series, but gave the story the ending it deserved. As with all the previous installments, it held my interest and made me want to keep reading to find out what would happen. However, the authors left it open for future installments so maybe there will be another novel (or more) some day. You gotta love a series that holds your interest and delivers a good ending.
Lynnie's Review
It's hard to review this book without looking back over the series as a whole. SEVEN books later, the action finally reaches a climax as the Garde (or at least what's left of it) has their final & inevitable show down with Setrakus Ra & the Mogodorians.
This book is darker in tone than the previous books, but it's understandable why- the Garde has faced death, destruction and mayhem and all of it colors who they are and how they behave in this final book. As expected it is non-stop action from cover to cover and I often found myself on the edge of my seat to see what would happen next. However, I also often found that the trajectory of the story was so obvious & predictable that I considered skipping ahead to the next action scene (don't worry, I didn't).
Overall I enjoyed this book as much as the previous ones & was pleased to see some resolution at the end, though I imagine many people won't be content with how the story wraps up. I'll continue to recommend this series to people (particularly young people) who are eager for an exciting series to read.
Amy 
