kailey_luminouslibro's reviews
3762 reviews

Abigail Rook and Mr. Jackaby are trying to solve a murder from ten years ago - the murder of their dearly departed friend Jenny, the resident ghost in Jackaby's house. Whenever Jenny tries to remember her death, she is overwhelmed by an "echo" and dissolves into darkness. It might take her hours to recover a visible form again after an episode like that. When a new string of murders seems to mirror the same circumstances as Jenny's murder, Abigail will do anything to uncover the clues, but Jackaby warns that they should be cautious when dealing with ghostly echoes. He is afraid of pushing Jenny too far in exploring her memories. Once again, Miss Rook and Mr. Jackaby are dealing with the supernatural as a greater evil becomes apparent. They have hidden in the shadows for years, but now Jackaby will bring their dastardly plans into the light.

I loved this book so much! I really liked the world-building and the way that the supernatural creatures and people are trying to mingle with ordinary humans. The more we dive into Jackaby's world, the more we learn that legends of mysterious creatures are really true.

This book also has a transgender character who is bullied, but Miss Rook and Mr. Jackaby are kind to the person.

I especially loved Jackaby and Miss Rook and their detective partnership. They are both full of witty remarks and flippant little quips. Jackaby kind of reminded me of Doctor Who in the way that he carelessly meets danger with no plan and silly grin. Utterly delightful!

I loved Miss Rook's character! She is very introspective, analyzing the clues and analyzing her relationships with people. We get to see her emotional turmoil as she tries to adjust to her life in the big city. She goes on quite an inner journey to find the confidence to trust herself and be able to assist in the investigation. She is so spunky!

The writing style is excellent. The plot is mysterious and fun! The mystery really kept me guessing, and I loved all the strange clues. Because there are magical elements in play, it's difficult to tell what is just a normal clue or what is some weird supernatural power at work. There are a lot of moving parts in the plot, and characters with different abilities and secret knowledge. It becomes like this weird game of chess with red herrings all over the place, until you realize that the red herrings are actually the center of the mystery. Such great plot twists!

To see sensitive content in this book, including violence, murder, and dark content, check out the book on the Screen It First website! https://screenitfirst.com/book/ghostly-echoes-jackaby-3-365246

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

Fabrizio is a servant to the magician Mangus, who is called to the king's castle to consult on a grave matter. The princess has been seeing apparitions of a ghost that she claims must be her murdered brother. The king believes in ghosts, but Mangus insists that there is no such thing. The king begs Mangus to use his magic to banish the ghost, but Mangus explains that his magic is only illusions and tricks. The evil Count Scarazoni has his own political reasons for wishing that the ghost be banished or proven to be a hoax. Mangus must investigate the apparitions, and he relies on his loyal servant Fabrizio to help him. Fabrizio can go anywhere in the castle, talk to servants, and sneak around secret passageways to find out if the ghost is real or not.

I loved this fun ghost mystery! The adventure and mystery are full of twists and turns. The writing is fast-paced and intriguing. There were so many curious red herrings that had me wondering what on earth was going on!

I liked Fabrizio's character, because, as his master says, he is both dumb and clever at the same time. He is very superstitious, and, like the king, he also believes in magic and ghosts. He even tries using tarot cards to predict the future, although Mangus assures him that tarot cards are all nonsense and silly superstition. But Fabrizio is also scheming and cunning when it comes to helping his master decipher all the mysteries of the castle.

To see the sensitive content in this book, check out the book on the Screen It First website! https://screenitfirst.com/book/midnight-magic-midnight-magic-1-2480675

Rosamund is finally out from under her strict family's guardianship, and her uncle has left her a little money in his will. She decides to follow all her own dreams and not stop for anything. She buys a house by the lake, and decides to set up a fortune-telling booth to make her living. But her new neighbor Mr. Squire is a very traditional person who seems to disapprove of everything she does. Rosamund tells herself that she doesn't care about his approval, but in her secret heart she wants him to think well of her. Can they manage to be neighborly or will Rosamund's wild ways tear them apart?

I loved this hilarious book! The whole story is ridiculous and silly and delightful. The romance was so sweet, and I really liked the supporting characters who come to Rosamund for advice. She leads them into some crazy situations, but they all find their dreams have come true once they have the courage to see it through. There is an orphan girl looking for a true family, an inventor with no money to develop his turbo engine, a society girl who is sick of parties and fake people and just wants to tramp around in the woods and wear trousers like a man, and a millionaire who worries that his friends only want his money.

Rosamund is flighty and frivolous, but she has her own brand of wisdom as well. Although her words and actions are sometimes silly, she has a good and generous heart. She just refuses to be restricted by other people's ideas of what is sensible.
Mr. Squire is steady and responsible, but he is amused by Rosamund's antics, and he needs some shenanigans to shake him out of his boring life.

This book is altogether delightful and fun!

Ruth is desperate to get out of Vienna when the Nazis march into Austria. A friend of her father's offers to use his British passport to get her out of the country, but they have to be married to put her on his passport. Quinton and Ruth agree to a marriage of convenience and plan to get an annulment once they are safely in Britain. However, the legalities take longer than they realized. While waiting for the lawyers to sort things out, they keep their marriage a secret and Ruth makes plans to continue her college education, at the same college where Quinton is a professor of paleontology! Quinton knows that Ruth is planning to marry her beloved childhood friend, a pianist with a brilliant career ahead of him, but still Quinton can't help but be attracted by her vibrant personality and gorgeous flowing hair. And Ruth is faithful to her pianist boyfriend, but her heart is wayward and wild when she gets close to Quinton.

There were things that I liked about this book, and things that I really really hated. I liked the writing style. Eva Ibbotson always has remarkable and insightful writing. This book was especially interesting because the author herself was a refugee to England during WWII, so it's like a little window into history. 

I liked Ruth's character and her winsome charm, and I liked Quinton's strong and stubborn personality. They have a few really sweet romantic scenes that stole my heart. 
But a lot of the book is centered around sex and the idea of sex and the expectations and difficulties and pathologies of sex. Ruth has read all these books about sex and she worries that she has a pathology or that she is repressed or something, but she wants to live with her pianist boyfriend before they are married. It was just very very weird. And Quinton has had a long string of girlfriends over the years that he brings back to his London apartment, so he's very experienced. That was gross, because he's still with one of the girlfriends while he is technically married to Ruth. If I'm supposed to believe that he's falling in love with Ruth, then why is he sleeping with these other women? Yuck. It's all "closed door" so there are no erotic details, but I still found it really gross. The whole attitude of the book ruined it for me.

To see details about the objectionable content in this book, check out this book on the Screen It First website! https://screenitfirst.com/book/the-morning-gift-691935 

The best part of this book is the side characters. Ruth's parents and her refugee neighbors, and Quinton's grumbly aunt, and Ruth's classmates at college, and Quinton's fellow teachers at the college. They are all so varied and life-like. It was really fascinating to see how they are all woven together in this tapestry of human connection.

Harry, the son of Phileas Fogg, wants to prove to his father that motorcars are the future of travel. He takes on a bet that he can drive his new motorcar around the world in only 100 days. Johnny, the mechanic who designed and built the car, is along for the ride, and Charles is coming to make sure the rules are followed for the entire journey. However, they didn't expect a plucky woman reporter to be joining them, eager for exclusive reports at every stage of the trip.

This adventure was so much fun! There is intrigue and mystery and wild country and bandits and swindlers and kidnappers. The pacing is very fast with something new happening in every chapter as they race around the world. I really enjoyed the humor in this book! The writing is snappy and kept me reading and reading for hours.

I loved Harry's character a lot. He is kind of headstrong and careless, but his heart is good and he is really kind to Johnny and the others. Johnny has some cognitive troubles after a head injury, but he's a genius with machines. Harry is really patient with him.
Charles starts out like a namby-pamby jellyfish, but through their adventures he toughens up and shows his true courage. I really liked his character development.
Elizabeth the reporter is spunky and sweet. She charms her way right into their hearts from the beginning, and she proves her worth when the going gets tough.
They all have something to prove to their families, or a past they are running from, or a future they are wishing for. The journey really becomes about them each finding something else inside themselves.

To see details of any sensitive content in this book, check it out on the Screen It First website!
https://screenitfirst.com/book/around-the-world-in-100-days-1376387

Jeanie Deans is horrified to learn that her sister, Effie, has been arrested on a charge of child-murder. Effie insists that she is innocent and that her baby was taken from her immediately after his birth. Effie refuses to tell anyone who the father is. The lawyers assure Jeanie that there is a loophole in the law and that if Jeanie will only testify that her sister told her about the pregnancy before the child was born, then Effie cannot be prosecuted under the law. But Jeanie is from a staunchly religious family and she feels that she cannot tell a lie under oath. Effie is condemned to death, and Jeanie undertakes a long and dangerous journey to London to seek a pardon directly from the king.

This book is so brilliant and I loved every page! Sir Walter Scott has such a genius for writing exciting adventures and compelling characters. Certainly, he can be a bit long-winded at times, but that just adds to the flavor of history.

Jeanie Deans is an incredible main character with many complex layers, but her most important trait is how she was brought up to obey godly precepts. She cannot reconcile with her conscience to lie at any time and especially not under oath in a court of law, even if it means saving her sister's life.
I love that Jeanie concocts this plan of going to London all on her own. She is so independent and capable and smart! She has a gentle spirit but with a fierce will of her own. She remains undaunted in the face of obstacles and danger and privations. That steady courage is what gives her a calm wisdom in every circumstance in which she is placed.

One of my favorite things about Sir Walter Scott's works is that he often has poor common people interacting with nobility of very high rank, and those of high rank appreciate the wise simplicity of the commoners and respect their bravery and good sense. One of my favorite scenes is when Jeanie is talking to a Duke and they get to talking about the making of cheese and which breeds of cows have the best milk for cheese-making. This juxtaposition of the high and low has a lovely humor to it, but also illustrates that people of all ranks are the same everywhere, no matter their education or status.

One of the main themes of this book is the pursuit of heroic action and what it means to truly be a hero or heroine. There is a side character who joins a band of ruffians and thieves, because he is craving the danger and heroic action that a sedentary society cannot give him. But Scott proves that heroic action is possible within the confines of the law, even within the confines of a peaceful and sedentary life. Jeanie Deans heroically tries to save her sister from the gallows by undertaking the journey to London alone, and in all the dangers she endures, she responds with heroic action and sacrifice that wins admiration from all who know her. She doesn't need to carry a sword or pistol to be a hero. She wins the battle with her gentleness and determination. The best part of her character is that she is entirely unconscious of her own heroism. She is just doing what she believes to be right, and trusting God for the outcome.

I also loved the themes of family loyalty, national pride, faith in God, and sisterly devotion. This story is full of humor and adventure and intrigue. I got really emotional a few times, and ended up crying at the sad or distressing scenes. Scott has that eloquence in his writing that really tugs at your heart and inspires your soul.

Throughout American history, the books we read have shaped our culture, politics, and collective imagination. This book gives a broad overview of the history of bookstores in the USA, as well as anecdotes and close looks at the rise and fall of different types of bookstores. We meet the individual booksellers, and learn what inspired them to start their book business. We get a snapshot of the interior of a bookshop and the general mood and ambience of the place. We learn what purpose each bookstore has, whether focused on revenue, politics, personal expression, or community values. And we follow the dramatic stories of bookstores struggling to stay afloat, fighting against bureaucracy and unfair laws, and serving as meeting places for people of many varied creeds. Every bookstore has a place in history and maybe... in our hearts.

All the way from Benjamin Franklin to Jeff Bezos, this book is kind of a wild ride! There are chapters about tiny indie bookstores, big chain bookstores, LGBTQ+ bookstores, online bookstores, African American bookstores, feminist bookstores, mobile book vans, and street book vendors. There is even a chapter about Communist bookstores and Nazi bookstores that housed dangerous Nazi radicals before WWII. History is kind of insane sometimes, and some of that drama happened in bookstores.

The writing is engaging and interesting. I liked that each chapter is told like a story, instead of just a bunch of boring facts. Each chapter is like walking into the actual bookstore and meeting the owner and getting to hear a little bit of their life story. Sometimes it felt like watching a movie and seeing the history unfold day by day in the average life of the bookstore as employees come and go, and business deals are made, and lawsuits are filed, and buildings are sold to open in a new location; and in the middle is a person who just loves books.

I really appreciated that the author gave the bare events of history and quotes from the people involved without passing any moral judgement in the narrative. It is left for the reader to decide if any action or value or belief or creed is moral or amoral or just a weird thing from history. That is exactly how history should be presented, without any bias or opinion from the author. However, the inclusion of some types of bookstores to the exclusion of others revealed a lot too. But I appreciate that the reader isn't preached at or fed a lot of propaganda promoting one type of belief.

There are only a few curse words in this book, all of them in quoted material. It didn't bother me too much because they were few and far between.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review.

This daily devotional book gives you a traditional Christian hymn to read/sing each day, and tells about the composer/author who wrote it. There are Bible passages to read and a place to write in some of your thoughts as you answer the Bible study prompts.

The design of this book is really beautiful, with every page in a soft color. The pages for week 1 are in a dusty pink, then week 2 is olive green, week 3 is lilac, and week 4 is a soft blue. The pretty flower design on the cover is mirrored on the pages inside, and there are special pages with Bible verses quoted in lovely font.

As a musician, I really enjoyed learning about the history behind some of my favorite hymns! Many of the stories of the authors are tragic, but it is also encouraging to see how God brought them through their troubles and gave them grace and peace through their music.

Many cultures find winter to be a restful and exciting time of year. Snow becomes a beautiful occurrence when you approach it with the right mindset. But some cultures encourage an attitude of despair and grumpiness in the winter, making summer the star of the year, and forcing winter into a narrow box of grouchy grumbling. This book will give you practical tips for enjoying winter no matter how bleak it may first appear.

When I used to work an office job, I would go to work in the dark and leave in the dark and never see the sun in my little indoor office. I had the winter doldrums for sure. But now that I am master of my own work schedule, and I can go outdoors in the winter when the sun is shining, I find that I enjoy winter so much more! Even when days are dark or cloudy, my mindset is completely different. I find the darkness restful, and I don't push myself to be so active in the winter. I embrace the cold and make it into something cozy. Instead of focusing on the cold, I focus on the crisp clean feeling in the air, and I appreciate the warmth of fuzzy socks and a hot cup of tea even more.

No matter what your schedule may be, or how little sunlight your area receives in the winter, you can find gratitude and appreciation for all the delightful things that winter brings. I love that this book gives real practical ways to enjoy winter. Get outside. Dress warmly. Sleep more. Enjoy warm foods. Embrace candlelight and low lamps. Celebrate holidays all winter long, not just at Christmas. Make time for calm activities. Notice nature.

My favorite part of this book was the chapter that talked about rest. I realized that I don't let myself rest enough, especially in the winter. I always thought of sleep as sort of a waste of time when I could be doing productive things, but those productive things are not going to happen if you don't have a healthy foundation of rest. Mental rest, physical rest, spiritual rest; all these can be cultivated in winter more than any other season.

I used to think I had Seasonal Affective Disorder, because I would be so worn down and depressed in the winter. After reading this book, I'm convinced that (for most people) Seasonal Affective Disorder is a myth. Only the most extreme cases might actually be medically diagnosed with SAD. But for the rest of us, we just have a culture of griping and grouching in the winter. For myself, I want to cultivate an attitude of rest, gratitude, and delight in the winter.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review.

When the royal family of Bohemia needs help, Holmes is on the case tracking down a photograph being used for blackmail. The blackmailer is the beautiful Irene Adler, and she might be the only person to ever fool Holmes and beat him at his own game.

This Sherlock Holmes mystery is retold and simplified for children ages 7-13. The story follows exactly the same story line as the original book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, with much of the same dialogue and narration. Holmes and Watson are the same beloved characters that we know, and the mystery is just as suspenseful and thrilling as the original.

I loved how the writing style is simple, but is still vivid and energetic! The text is large, and there are a few definition boxes that explain terms or historical items that may be unfamiliar.

I loved the black and white illustrations that pop up every few pages. The cartoony style of the drawings is just right for this type of children's retelling, and gives an added flair to the story. The artwork is sometimes humorous and fun, making the story a little more lighthearted for young people.

I can't wait to revisit more Holmes stories in this children's series! This is an excellent way to introduce classics to elementary and middle grade readers!