Author: LuminousLibro

Book Review: Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen, #1)
by Joanne Fluke (Goodreads Author)

3.5 out of 5 stars

Hannah is the owner of the Cookie Jar bakery. When the delivery guy is late, she goes out to the alley and finds his body. Her brother-in-law is the police detective on the case, and he asks for Hannah’s help. She hears all the gossip at the bakery and their small town neighbors might be more willing to talk to her than to a police officer. Hannah begins to poke around, discovering secrets and mysteries, but only one clue will eventually lead to the killer.

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Book Review: If I Had Lunch with C.S. Lewis

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If I Had Lunch with C. S. Lewis by Alister E. McGrath

If I Had Lunch with C. S. Lewis: Exploring the Ideas of C. S. Lewis on the Meaning of Life
by Alister E. McGrath

4 out of 5 stars

The author postulates what subjects might arise if you had lunch with Lewis. Taking quotes from Lewis’ written works, we can guess what direction the conversation would take and generalize things that Lewis would probably say. However, this is not a book of imagined dialogue. It is a compilation of generalizations and paraphrases about what the author thinks Lewis would be likely to think and say on certain topics.

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Manga Review: Hamlet

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Manga Classics by Crystal S. Chan

Manga Classics: Hamlet (Modern English Edition)
by Crystal S. Chan (Adapter), William Shakespeare, Julien Choy (Artist), Michael Barltrop (Goodreads Author)

4 out of 5 stars

This manga adaptation of Williams Shakespeare’s Hamlet is the perfect way to introduce Shakespeare to readers who might feel intimidated by the original play. The text is modernized, but still captures the original style of Shakespeare. The entire play is intact, and all the beauty of Shakespeare’s words comes through wonderfully in this modern adaptation.

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Book Review: Harley James and the Peril of the Pirate’s Curse

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Harley James and the Peril of the Pirate's Curse by Leah Cupps

Harley James and the Peril of the Pirate’s Curse
by Leah Cupps (Goodreads Author)

3 out of 5 stars

Harley travels around the world with her archeologist dad, visiting historic sites and learning about ancient legends. While in Jamaica, Harley hears the legend of the Perla Azul (The Blue Pearl). If the pearl ever touches dry land, a hurricane and earthquake could wipe out the entire island. It already happened once before in 1692 when a young pirate boy witnessed the destruction of half the town of Port Royal. Most of the town sank below the waves and still lies buried in the sand. Harley and her friends discover that the pirate boy wrote a diary where he left behind clues to the pearl’s location in the sunken city. Harley has to find the pearl before her archeologist father and his diving team stumble across it and bring it back to land!

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Book Review- Explorer Academy: The Forbidden Island

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Explorer Academy by Trudi Trueit

Explorer Academy: The Forbidden Island (Explorer Academy, #7)
by Trudi Trueit (Goodreads Author), Scott Plumbe (Illustrator)

5 out of 5 stars

In this final book of the series, Cruz and his friends are looking for the final piece of the puzzle that his mother left for him before she died. With time running out, the bad guys will take any risk to stop Cruz from finishing his quest. Dangers surround Cruz on every side, and someone close to him is feeding information to the enemy.

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Book Review: Harley James and the Mystery of the Mayan Kings

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Harley James and the Mystery of the Mayan Kings by Leah Cupps

Harley James and the Mystery of the Mayan Kings
by Leah Cupps (Goodreads Author)

3.5 out of 5 stars

Harley travels around the world with her archeologist dad, visiting historic sites and learning about ancient legends. While in Guatemala, Harley learns the legend of the three Mayan kings. If the statues containing their souls are ever reunited, the three kings could return with an army of the dead to conquer the world. Harley and her friends must stop thieves from stealing the statues. When she discovers a secret message, Harley doesn’t know who to trust.

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Book Review: Roswell High: The Wild One

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The Wild One by Melinda Metz

The Wild One (Roswell High, #2)
by Melinda Metz (Goodreads Author)

3 out of 5 stars

Isabel meets a mysterious boy at school who seems to have some sort of power over her. She is wildly attracted to him, despite all her friends telling her that he is dangerous. Could he be an alien too?

Isabel is really idiotic in this book as she ignores all the red flags about this mystery guy. He is bad news, and she just doesn’t care. She throws away every good relationship in her life and gets into some serious trouble with Sheriff Valenti tracking down aliens in Roswell.

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Book Review: The Man Born to be King

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The Man Born to Be King by Dorothy L. Sayers

The Man Born to Be King: A Play-Cycle on the Life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
by Dorothy L. Sayers

5 out of 5 stars

This collection of radio plays follows the birth, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It tells the history of Christ from the perspective of the ordinary people around Him. The Three Wise Kings visit Bethlehem, John the Baptist preaches in the wilderness, and the twelve disciples are called to follow Jesus. Christ begins his ministry, performing miracles and healing people. Gradually Judas Iscariot is tempted into betraying Jesus. Caiaphas and Pilate and King Herod all try to manipulate the political situation at Jesus’ trial, ending with His crucifixion. The women find His tomb empty on the third day and Jesus visits his disciples after His resurrection.

These plays really capture the completely extraordinary experience of meeting God Himself in human form and shows how ordinary people were drawn to Christ. It’s really interesting to imagine more details around the actual history in the Bible. Some of the dialogue is straight from Scripture, and some of it is imagined or paraphrased.

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Book Review: The Last Battle

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The Last Battle (Chronicles of Narnia, #7)
by C.S. Lewis

5 out of 5 stars

King Tirian hears rumors that Aslan has returned to Narnia, but he is not sure whether to believe it. When he investigates, he discovers that a false Aslan has been masquerading and fooling the Narnian people. He calls on the children of the ancient past to help him and to save Narnia from imposters and traitors. Eustace and Jill arrive just in time to rescue Tirian, but feel hopeless in the fight against the lies that have been built up around the false Aslan. How can you get people to believe the truth when they have swallowed so many lies?

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Book Review: The Magician’s Nephew

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The Magician’s Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia, #6)
by  C.S. Lewis

5 out of 5 stars

In this prequel book, we learn about the origins of the world of Narnia and how Aslan first created Talking Animals. It’s fascinating to see how the magic of Narnia first came to be, and I love those moments when we recognize something we are familiar with from the other stories. We get a little “aha!” moment of delightful recognition as certain elements of the magic are explained and explored in more depth.

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