Book Review: The Mystery of the Yellow Hands

The Mystery of the Yellow Hands by Jake Thoene

The Mystery of the Yellow Hands (The Baker Street Mysteries)
by Jake Thoene, Luke Thoene

2.5 out of 5 stars

Sherlock Holmes hires Danny, Peachy, and Duff as the Baker Street Brigade to help track down a gang of kidnappers. The boys can’t seem to find any clues, but they keep looking around the docks and warehouses on the banks of the Thames. They befriend a policeman’s daughter, Clair Avery, and when she is also kidnapped, the boys are more desperate than ever to solve the case.

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Book Review: The Seeing Stone (Arthur #1)

The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland

The Seeing Stone
by Kevin Crossley-Holland

1 out of 5 stars

Merlin gives a seeing stone to thirteen-year-old Arthur de Caldicot, and he sees a vision of young Arthur Pendragon pulling the sword from the stone and becoming king. As Arthur from 1199 watches the visions of King Arthur from hundreds of years before, he begins to realize that events in his own life are mirroring those of his previous self. And Merlin is there to guide and advise them both.

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Book Review: A Recipe for Robbery

A Recipe for Robbery by Colleen Nelson

A Recipe for Robbery: Mystery at the Biltmore #3
by Colleen Nelson

4 out of 5 stars

Elodie runs a detective business in her apartment building, and she gets called in to help when a famous recipe is stolen. The chef is desperate to get the recipes back in time for the opening of their new bakery. Elodie is joined by her dog, Carnegie, and her neighbor, Oscar, who loves tumbling and acrobatics. Most adults don’t take a child detective seriously, but Elodie is determined to prove herself. She follows the clues and regards everyone as a suspect, but all the neighbors are so nice. None of them would steal the recipes… would they?

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Book Review: Tales Before Narnia

Tales Before Narnia by Douglas A. Anderson

Tales Before Narnia: The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction
by Douglas A. Anderson (Editor)

4 out of 5 stars

This collection of short stories and poems includes works that influenced C.S. Lewis or were direct forerunners of some of his ideas. The list includes G.K.Chesterton, George Macdonald, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kenneth Grahame, and Edith Nesbit. There are also works from some of Lewis’s fellow Inklings, friends and acquaintances, such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, Roger Lancelyn Green, and William Lindsay Gresham.

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Book Review: Midnight for Charlie Bone

Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo

Midnight for Charlie Bone (The Children of the Red King, #1)
by Jenny Nimmo

Charlie discovers that he has a magical ability to hear voices from people in pictures and photographs. His evil aunts are delighted, because now he can attend the prestigious Bloors Academy. But Charlie is not sure his new school is a nice place. He meets some good friends, but there are many mysteries at Bloors Academy, not all of them pleasant.

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Comic Book Review: Anti/Hero

Anti/Hero by Kate Karyus Quinn

Anti/Hero
by Kate Karyus Quinn (Author), Demitria Lunetta (Author), Maca Gil (Ilustrator)

Piper wants to be a superhero. She has super strength, but doesn’t always have the wisdom to use it responsibly. Sloane is a teenage thief. She has a super brain that can calculate the perfect heist, but even a genius can’t plan ahead to avoid everything.
When the two girls switch bodies due to a failed science experiment, they must learn to work together to stop the crime boss who is after them and their families.

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Book Review: Reignited

Reignited by Colleen Houck

Reignited (Reawakened, #0.5)
by Colleen Houck

The Egyptian gods have many rules that bind their powers, but the most important one is that none of the gods are allowed to marry each other, because any resulting child would drain the magic from the cosmos. And yet, Isis and Osiris fall in love with such a passion that they are willing to rewrite the stars to create a way to be together. Seth, the evil god of chaos, desires Isis for himself, and as he gradually gains more power, he tests his ability to unmake even a god.

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Book Review: Outlaws of Ravenhurst

Outlaws of Ravenhurst by M. Imelda Wallace

Outlaws of Ravenhurst
by Sister M. Imelda Wallace

Ten-year-old George has grown up with a poor farmer’s family in the colony of Maryland, but he discovers that he is actually a Scottish lord and his uncle takes him back to Scotland to be the chief of the Gordon clan. The Gordon clan are traditionally Catholic, but Catholicism has been outlawed in Scotland, and the young chief must now decide if he will risk his life for his faith.

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Book Review: Frogkisser

Frogkisser! by Garth Nix

Frogkisser!
by Garth Nix (Goodreads Author)

4.5 out of 5 stars

Princess Anya goes on a quest to de-transform her sister’s suitor after he was transformed into a frog by an evil sorcerer. She must gather ingredients to make a magical lip balm that simulates true love’s kiss to undo evil spells. Along the way, she meets other transformees who beg her to change them back to their proper forms. Traveling in the company of a royal dog and a mischievous thief transformed into a newt, Anya encounters giants, good wizards, witches, magic carpets, and a host of other odd characters.

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Book Review: Hercule Poirot’s Casebook

Hercule Poirot's Casebook by Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot’s Casebook (Hercule Poirot, #42)
by Agatha Christie

5 out of 5 stars

This collection of fifty short stories with Hercule Poirot is wonderful! Poirot is one of my favorite fictional detectives, and it’s so fun to see all these mysteries being solved very quickly in just a few pages. I love the longer Poirot novels as well, but I enjoyed reading these short stories because I could quickly finish each one within a few minutes when I had little time to read.

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