Amy 
Lynnie 
fantasy, young adult (?)
In The Queen of the Tearling, Kelsea has been raised in hiding by surrogate parents until her 19th birthday and she must now claim the throne of Tearling, a country which has been weakened by the lack of infrastructure, good medicine, and the Red Queen of the neighboring country.
Amy's Review
I really, really enjoyed this novel! It’s got adventure, action, good vs. evil, girl power, and magic. It even has a mysterious masked man! As a bonus, it was published a few years ago and the related trilogy follow-ups have already been published. In my library system, some branches have classified it as young adult (due to the age of the heroine, I assume) while others have not. I am of the non-YA opinion due to themes of rape. But, it could be YA for the right young reader.
The story is obviously set in the future after some portion of American and British citizens made a “crossing” to some other land. However, the story does not provide the reason for the departure from their homelands nor the location of the new lands. Apparently, the ship that contained most of the doctors and nurses did not successfully make the crossing. Plus, there is no modern electricity in this new world. The people in this novel are living in a medieval-type of environment ruled by monarchs. It’s unusual and creative, which I truly appreciate. But, I would like to know what happened in their past to put these people in this situation. And what happened to the people of the world from other countries? I do hope the author addresses this in a future novel.
This book did give me a bit of frustration. First, it’s inconceivable that Erika Johansen conveniently disallowed Kelsea to have a true, complete picture of the situation for which she was being prepared. Her surrogate parents, while raising her to rule as queen, did not give her a history of her mother nor a true picture of the political climate into which she would be placed and expected to lead. This is so nonsensical as to bother me immensely. Obviously, the author felt that the story would have more impact if the girl had to discover these mysteries for herself. But, I never like feeling manipulated by an author—especially when the manipulation sacrifices the realistic basis of the novel. Additionally, she’s been raised in an isolated environment, never able to communicate with anyone besides her surrogate parents. Yet, she is able to discern body language and get vibes from people regarding their intentions. She’s a bit too people-savvy to be believed, given her upbringing. Otherwise, it was a spectacular story and I loved it.
Lynnie's Review
First of all, I've heard that this is a YA book, but in my opinion it's not. High school & up would be appropriate but I found the book oddly & unnecessarily lewd at times which always made me glad I wasn't reading with a young teen or tween.
The story itself was fascinating though; I really enjoyed the characters and the political intrigue of the plot. Kelsea makes a very compelling main character, but even more so I was drawn into the secondary characters- The Fetch, Mace, Pen... I wanted to learn more about them & I suppose I will in future books. Johansen has created a very interesting world and I look forward to reading more about it.
Amy 
Lynnie
young adult, fantasy
In the conclusion
to The Lunar Chronicles series, Marissa Meyer brings all the characters
in the previous novels to this book for the final confrontation with
Queen Levana.
Amy's Review:
A
fabulous ending to a wonderful series. Every book was better than the
one before! I don't believe I've ever experienced such a thing. This
last novel, the fourth in the series, was the longest. And I'm so glad
it was long and full of a robust storyline. As was already obvious, Winter is the retelling of Snow White. This novel wove her storyline
further into those already in progress of Cinder (Cinderella), Scarlet
(Little Red Riding Hood), and Cress (Rapunzel). Winter had a little bit
of everything--adventure, suspense, action, romance, loveable (and
hateable) characters, and lots of author creativity and futuristic lunar
world-building. I would have given it five stars except that there were
some crazy lucky breaks for some of the characters that, I felt, were a
bit too convenient and unbelievable. I can't list them or it would give
things away. But, suffice it to say that I don't feel some of the
characters should have lived til the end of this novel. But, I really
can't get too angry because I do love a happy ending and this one was
extremely satisfying.
Lynnie's Review:
This
was a fun ending to the Lunar series. After a slow start with the first
book in the series, Cinder, the sequels have all been wonderful to
read.
This book had everything a YA reader could ask for-
action, adventure, romance, and great characters. My biggest complaint
(which might be a bit of a spoiler), is that everything ties up in a
neat little bow at the end. I love a happy ending, but this one was just
a bit too much for me. With all the action and the many characters to
manage in this story, I was expecting at least a little bit more drama.
Overall though, it was a fun series and, like all series, I'm glad it's
finally over.
Amy
Lynnie
women's fiction, novella, short story collection
From Goodreads: "Nell is twenty-six and has never been to Paris. She's never even been on a romantic weekend away to anywhere before. Everyone knows travelling abroad isn't really her thing. But when Nell's boyfriend fails to show up for their romantic mini-vacation, she has the opportunity to prove everyone including herself wrong."
Amy's Review
What fun! This book contains a novella and several short stories. Some of these stories contain hints of Moyes' novels that I’ve read. I can imagine that several of these ideas were considered for inclusion in her novels and discarded. Of course, the main novella, Paris for One, is my favorite in the book. But, they were all enjoyable. This story collection is about people who have something missing in their lives. All but one of the stories end happily or, at least, hopefully--the main characters having gained beneficial wisdom or perspective. The characters and situations are instantly knowable and realistic despite the short length of the stories. I could have kept reading more of them. It’s a quick read that I would recommend to anyone looking for a little boost of spirit. And, certainly, if you’re a Jojo Moyes fan, don’t miss it.
Lynnie's Review
Like most of Jojo Moyes work, Paris for One is absolutely charming. The first half of the book is the titular novella, which is a cute, happy story that put a smile on my face. The back half is a handful of short stories and each one is unique but with the main theme of women in love. A great little book for a weekend or to read at a beach.
Amy
Lynnie
young adult
Wonder by R.J. Palacio is the story of August, a boy born with facial deformities, who is attending school in a classroom for the first time in 5th grade. It is told from the viewpoint of several characters who, together, paint the complete picture for the reader.
Amy's Review
I loved this book which I read for book club! It’s really geared for middle-schoolers, I think, but it’s worth the read for all ages--and what a pleasure to read it was. Chapters are broken up into small chunks (for the benefit of the young reader, I presume) which worked perfectly for pacing. The characters are so understandable and loveable (or not) and I appreciate the way the book deals with the issues of equality, adversity, and humanity. It’s a quick read and has a lot of heart. I recommend it!
Lynnie's Review
This is a book every middle or high schooler should have to read- to remind them once in a while that sometimes you have to look beneath the surface to figure out what's going on in the world.
The story of August Pullman & his first year in real school- middle school no less (is there any worse torture?) is told from a variety of perspectives- his own, his sister's, his first real friends'... and it's a quick but brilliant tale. Auggie's acceptance of who he his and the inevitable reaction others have to him, is really what makes the entire story work.
I took issue with one section- the one narrated by Via's boyfriend Justin. When you get there, I'm sure you can figure out why. It detracted from what was, until then, a well-flowing book.
Is the book a bit preachy? Probably. But it's a wonderful story with characters that it's hard not to love.
Lynnie 
young adult, fantasy, sequel
I loved the first book in this duology, Six of Crows, so I was looking forward to reading the sequel. Unfortunately, it took me a long time to get through Crooked Kingdom and a I just wasn't interested in it for the first half of the story . I loved Leigh Bardugo's characters in the first book, but I found most of them to
be sort of boring in Crooked Kingdom and therefore I was less interested
in what they were doing.
There were some great action sequences
that saved the book for me and while I almost stopped reading in the
middle, I'm glad I didn't because the end was quite fun to read, if a
little too predictable. Generally, though, the plot moves slowly
throughout this book with a few bright shining moments and a few that
will make you scratch your head wondering why it was part of the book.
So,
if you read the first book and enjoyed it, you'll probably find some
enjoyment in this one, but if you were on the fence with Six of Crows,
you may not have the patience for Crooked Kingdom.
