kailey_luminouslibro's Reviews (3.79k)

Loki has been banished from Asgard. Odin has given Loki the form of an 11-year-old human, and sent Thor, Heimdall, and Hyrrokkin (also in the form of humans) to keep an eye on him. Loki must learn to be good within a month's time, or he will be punished for all eternity. Thor and Loki go to school together and must dodge the sneaky Frost Giants, while Loki tries all the wrong ways to be good.

This was such a funny book! I liked all the cartoony comic illustrations on each page. Sometimes the text of the story changes to a comic strip for one or two pages, then back to the regular text again. The narrative is told from Loki's perspective as he is writing about his quest in a magic diary that gives him points for being good. I thought this was a wonderfully effective story-telling technique!

The characters of Thor, Heimdall, and Hyrrokkin were really hilarious! They are all trying to adjust to life as a human, and they discover that humans have internet and games and cat videos. Heimdall keeps reading weird parenting books to try to be a father-figure to help Loki become good.

All the kids Loki meets at school are pretty typical. Some are bullies, some are nerds; they are just kids. One of the side characters, Valerie, mentions a couple of times that she has two moms.

I liked that, although Loki is selfish and mean, when things get really serious and dangerous, he will step up to help protect his friends. He is such a crazy complex character, and this book did a good job reflecting that. I liked that although Loki does bad things and bullies people, this book turns that around into a positive moral message about kindness and selflessness.

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.

This book examines the attributes of God and how we can truly know God in a personal way. It begins by outlining the type of attitudes we should have in approaching God with humility and a desire to know the truth. The second part of the book focuses on the attributes of God in His unchanging Triune nature- His majesty, wisdom, love, grace, wrath, truth, judgement, goodness, and jealousy. The last part of the book applies all these things to the Christian life, and gives us a practical look at what knowing God actually looks like in living out your life.

Throughout this entire book the focus is always on the Gospel and the person of Christ. The best way to know God is through the revelation of His Son Jesus. I really loved that the focus of every chapter always comes back around to Christ!

This book is absolutely dripping with Scripture on every page. I really liked that every point and every idea was directly drawn from a particular Bible verse which is referenced. You know you are getting the truth right from God's Word, and every spiritual idea is clearly explained with multiple references to Scripture.

More than that, this book inspired me! I felt enriched after reading each chapter, and I was able to pause and reflect on my own spiritual life and apply the lessons I was reading about. It took me a long time to read this book, because there are so many wonderful messages and I wanted to go slowly and digest everything I was reading and take the time to think about each chapter. Many times after reading a chapter, I just paused to pray and thank God for His incredible grace and love. This book made my heart rise up in worship for God's goodness and majesty!

In this second story from the world of Antyfas, we follow Cristiano's little brother, Tino. He is waiting for his brother to come home from visiting Dusbar College. They are planning a belated birthday party, and Tino is very excited for his favorite dessert, peach pie. Just as the guests are arriving, Tino receives a party invitation from a gnome, and decides that he would rather go to a bigger party with the gnomes. But Tino gets more than he bargained for with the gnomes, and it's up to Cristiano to save his brother!

I liked this short story so much! I enjoyed learning more about the world of Antyfas, and all the different magical creatures that live there. The world-building is so imaginative and fun! There are gnomes, fairies, trolls, and a magical chicken that is part gryphon.

The writing style is so hilarious and charming! I was laughing and chuckling through most of the story!

In the first book of this series, I was a little disappointed in the plot structure. But this book has a great plot with an exciting battle at the end, and I loved how the characters join together to defeat the bad guys. They all have their own strengths and they are quite cunning in using their magic in unique ways.


Disclaimer: I received an ecopy 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.

At Princess Amy's christening, one of the fairies grants her the gift of ordinariness. Compared to her beautiful royal sisters, Amy is plain and ordinary. All her sisters have long blonde hair and perfect complexions. Amy has short mousey brown hair and freckles on her nose. As Amy grows up the royal family is distressed, because no prince wants to marry an ordinary princess with freckles. Princess Amy must take her destiny into her own hands, and prove that you don't have to be beautiful and perfect to find happiness.

I loved this fairy tale so much! I liked that the story takes all the lovely tropes that I look for in fairy tales, and gives them a new twist. The story is refreshing and modern, but also includes all the traditional elements of a good old-fashioned fairy tale. I liked the juxtaposition of the fancy royal traditions versus the common-sense normalness of ordinary people.

The writing is so charming and fun! Every page is dripping with deliciously vivid words that draw you into the fairy tale world. There is a lot of comedy already in the plot, but the writing style makes it even more hilarious and sarcastic.

I loved Amy's character! She is very determined and independent, and she scoffs at all the ridiculous royal traditions that keep her family enslaved to their perfect fancy customs. She breaks free and creates her own happiness. It's inspiring and exciting!

I was completely enchanted with this lovely book!

I do love Rudyard Kipling's writing, but I found this book difficult to get through. It took me a year to read little by little through all of the short stories and poems and essays, because I didn't enjoy most of them.

Most of the time the setting of the stories were so entirely foreign to me that I had a hard time understanding what was going on. There are so many references to historical things and cultural ideas in India that are not explained. The author assumes that the reader already knows about these things, and so it is not clear to a modern reader what is happening. Unless you know the entire history of the British occupation of India and every battle and political upset from the 1800s, you will likely be lost.

I guess Kipling was writing for a very particular set of people- British soldiers and statesmen who had lived or visited India. They have their own lingo and slang for things, and if you don't know the unique words they used, then their dialogue is difficult to follow.
I wish the footnotes did a better job of explaining these things. There are some footnotes, but not nearly enough.

Another reason why I did not enjoy most of the stories is that many of them are depressing, dealing with death and illness. The way Kipling approaches the subject of death is very dry and stark. There is not much hopefulness in the mood of the stories. It's just despairing and sad.

I liked the poems a little better, many of which talk about Picts and Romans from ancient times. But a lot of the poems were written from the perspective of dead soldiers, so that was also depressing. The essays were mostly forgettable.

Overall, I think I will stick to the "Jungle Books" and novels like "Kim" and "Captains Courageous", which are definitely his best works. I don't particularly recommend his short stories.

Aunt Crete, with her sweet personality and patient nature, is bullied by her sister and niece, always forced to do the most difficult chores around the house. When her nephew comes to visit from the West, Aunt Crete is liberated from her oppressive relatives in a hilarious weekend at the seashore.

I really liked this funny story! Aunt Crete is so adorable and kind, and her nephew immediately recognizes that she is being taken advantage of by her mean relatives. He determines to give her a better life, and takes pains to teach his cousins a harsh lesson about their lack of kindness and humility.

I love the writing style that paints this lovely picture of a sweet old aunt. It really draws you into the story and makes you care about the characters.

I also enjoyed reading a story from Grace Livingston Hill that is NOT a romance. It was refreshing to have a story all about family togetherness!

The Peachey family has to move to a new home. Some of the family members are excited, but Betty is worried about having to go to a new school and make new friends. She will miss her old house and her old friends. Betty is sure that she will hate the new house. But McTavish the dog has a plan to make everything better and help Betty settle into her new surroundings.

This was such a cute book! I loved the hilarious writing style. Every page had me laughing! The Peachey family is full of unique personalities and crazy characters. I loved their wild antics as they prepare to move.

McTavish the dog is adorable and sweet. He's a very smart dog, and he always knows what to do, even when the humans are being silly.

The illustrations are adorable, and I loved the art style. It really brings the story to life, and adds to the comedy of the plot.

I also really liked the positive messages in this book about being brave and embracing change. Betty is able to make new friends, and the whole family comes together is a special way. It's so heart-warming and sweet!

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.

Crimson is different from other witches. She doesn't want to wear a pointy hat; she wants a hat with a bow. She doesn't like black dresses; she wants a dress with pretty polka dots. When Crimson accompanies her mother to the department store, Broomingdale's, Crimson wants to shop for something unique that will reflect her own style. But she finds much more than she bargained for!

I loved this cute book! Crimson is so sweet and I loved that she is not afraid to be different. I thought the story was really positive and had good moral messages, but it was also just fun!

I liked the cute illustrations, but I felt like the art work was really dark. There are so many witches wearing black dresses, and there are lots of shadows in the background, so it made the art very dark. But the story is so light-hearted and fun, so it was an odd juxtaposition.

This book made me laugh, and I loved the hilarious writing style!

It was so interesting to find out about the world of the witches. I loved the world building with all the different types of brooms and styles of witch hats.

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.

 Story of a Whim is about a girl who wants to get rid of her old organ. When she sees some furniture at the train station being shipped to Florida, she thinks it will be fun to add her organ to the shipping and surprise someone with a free organ. The organ arrives at an orange orchard in Florida much to the surprise of the farmer.

I liked this story and thought it was really hilarious and sweet. But there are a few plot holes about the Sunday School that is started, and a little bit of insta-love in the romance. I also didn't like that one of the main characters puts a lot of faith in a portrait painting of Jesus. It almost seemed like idolatry to be praying to a painting. The theology there is definitely suspicious.

Overall, I enjoyed this short little romance, and I thought it was interesting. I love the writing style that draws you into the story and into the hearts of the characters! 

Snoop, the mountain goat, dreams of going on a quest to find the primordial grass. In this first volume, Snoop remembers a legend of an ancient goat who discovered the primordial grass and made a deal with cavemen to protect his herd.

This entire first volume is all about the legend of Baa Caprone, who first discovered the primordial grass that granted health and wisdom. Snoop doesn't really do anything in this volume. He just tells the story of the ancient legend, setting up all the backstory for future volumes.

I felt like the story was a little disjointed. The writing style "tells" the reader what is happening, instead of using dialogue to further the story line. That got old pretty quickly. There is almost no dialogue at all, making the writing sort of awkward and bare. The story doesn't flow naturally.

I didn't connect with any of the characters, either animal or human. I found it odd that none of the cavemen have names. That made it difficult to connect with them or follow their dialogue.

The design is not a style I am used to seeing in graphic novels. There are a lot of text boxes with lengthy paragraphs, and then boxes with artwork in them. The pages don't always flow in a natural way.

The artwork itself is good, but the action on the page wasn't always clear. I liked the bright colors on each page!

Overall, this is definitely an interesting story and some nice artwork, but it felt kind of unpolished.

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.