Invisible is an older book that I picked up on Kindle, a cozy mystery, with a LOL (Little Old Lady) as the heroine.  Ivy Malone is everything Jessica Fletcher is except tall. 

Actually, in this first of the Ivy Malone mysteries, Ivy is just coming into her own as an amateur sleuth.  Having lost both her son and her husband over the years, then her best friend at the beginning of the novel, Ivy begins to realize that she is invisible — drivers, clerks, walkers, police officers, etc. don't even see her until she asserts herself.  So when two mysteries — vandalism at a local cemetary and a missing neighbor — come into her life, Ivy decides to capitalize on her invisibility and investigate.

Delightful, simple, engaging.  I liked the quirky characters.  I liked the not-too-scary mystery.  I liked the subtle romances.  Yep, I enjoyed this book.  If you like cozies, there's no reason you wouldn't like Invisible also.

I won this book by leaving a comment on Barbara Scott's blog … in a drawing.  It wasn't that I'd left an exceptional comment.  But I'd posted because of the blurb that she'd given for West of Heaven that intriqued me.  The heroine inherits a brothal in west Texas and works to teach her new employees other skills to survive without prostitution.

This isn't a Christian novel, but it has some cute characters who grow during the course of their story.

The story opens with our hero, Jean Luc Desloge, with a hangover as he punishes himself for the death of his best friends/employers.  Jean Luc basically worked as the brawn for the brothal.  Our heroine shows up in town because the brothal owner — her unknown mother — has been murdered.  Marcella McGovern soon discovers the world she has been sheltered from all the years of her life.

I thought that the story would be about the various things Marcella attempts to teach her girls to keep them afloat, but that wasn't the case.  Marcella also inherits a herd of cattle from her father that she needs to get to Kansas for market.  The problem?  Her father's widow, a powerful woman in town, keeps the cowhands from joining her cattle drive.  The answer?  Marcella and Jean Luc teach the girls to be drivers, able to get the cattle safely to Kansas.

In the process, Jean Luc and Marcella fall in love, defend each other from harm, and see the women grow into ladies capable of starting new lives.

I missed seeing Jesus have a presence in the created world. None of these characters gave any thought to their spiritual lives, and that was often seen in their actions.

Book 3 of the Blood of Kings series from Marcher Lord Press.

I told you I'd get into this book just as soon as it arrived on my door step.  I did.  And I enjoyed the final segment as much as the first two.  I love the covers.

Okay, all my favorite characters are back and into as much trouble as ever.  The main characters, Achan and Vrell, continue to grow and learn and be tested and grow.  Jill brought in another of my favorite literary devices (remember we've already had girl in disguise as a boy, king in disguise as a peasant, or in this case, a stray,) now we have some amnesia.  I love that as long as it doesn't drag on beyond the need.

There are great spiritual truths.  There are great spiritual themes throughout the novel.  Trust God being the overarching one I picked up. There are some great one-liners and witty quips.  Still, my favorite line is from Achan, during his first blood voicing lesson with the duchess.  Upon realizing that he has traveled from his sick bed, and is looking down upon the castle, past his bare legs, he exclaims to his friend, I am well, Shung.  It's just … She took me into the Veil and … No pants, Shung!  No pants!

Obviously, I highly recommend this series.  Enjoy.  I can't imagine how you wouldn't.

In All Things is part 2 of Jakob and Meri's love story that began in No Other, an ebook I read last year.  I looked forward to seeing the completion of the story, and receiving that great feeling that this couple will have their happily ever after now.

Historical romance, set after World War II, by the time In All Things begins, Meri and Jakob have been in Hollywood for seven years.  Meri is a rising star, just breaking out of her studio contract to become a free agent, but life is still not the dream she imagined it would be.  She has the material "stuff" and the happy children, even the devoted and mostly supportive husband, but life is still empty.

Turns out Jakob dropped the ball as spiritual head of his household while he made sure Meri's career took off, finished his own schooling, and started his own work in architecture and developing.  Then, a Christmas trip to visit his family brings some problems, but also gets him back on track, seeking God with his whole heart once more.

That, of course, doesn't solve all their problems, but now they have something to work toward and the reader can cheer them on.

Clear motivations and struggles.  Honest family dynamics. Even some evil bad guys. Always, hope for the future.

Pick up In All Things from Desert Breeze Publications or wherever you get your e-books.

I had some problems enjoying this book, but it's a fairly funny circumstance so I think I'll share.

I'm very particular about my romance, so when a book starts off slow (slow as in the hero and the heroine aren't together), I'm aware.  I forgave in this case because I realized the author was tying this book to her last one in Last Chance, California, and previous readers would enjoy revisiting old characters.  I wasn't a previous reader, but I went along.

Then on page 41, we get the hero/heroine meet. Under duress Nevada King participates in a stage robbery where Christy Grey has been shot. Christy demands help from the robbers (Nevada) and even goes so far as to demand privacy for him to help her (away from the other stage coach passengers.)  This seems so bizarrely out of character to me that this one scene colors the rest of my reading.  Now I'm tuned to be critical.

But after I finish the book (Guy gets the girl, if you aren't a romance pro and don't realize that), I'm reading the author notes and I discover Miralee had found some history where this scene had occurred in real life.  Kind of funny, huh?

That knowledge was too late to save the book for me, but it does temper my written response.  If you like Christian historical romance and now that you've been warned to forgive the opening, there's no reason to assume you won't like Love Finds You in Tombstone, AZ — where the author included lots of true-to-life places and people.

Book 2 in the Blood of Kings.

The adventure continues for Achan and Vrell as they travel through Darkness, meet enemies, friends, and traitors, and begin to put together an army to push back the darkness.

I don't want to talk about the plot of this book much until you've all had a chance to read By Darkness Hid.

All I'm going to say is that I finished the story last night and I ordered book 3 this morning.  I should have known it was a trilogy.  I don't know why I thought the story would be told in two books, except maybe because they are huge.

Do yourself a favor and order Jill's entire story as a bundle from Marcher Lord Press. Then tell me what you think.  I'll be done with book 3 by then.

Christian fantasy.  This is becoming my favorite genre.  When it is well done — and this one is — the God truths flow out of the story, somewhat like the Word Himself, sharper than a two-edged sword.

By Darkness Hid is book 1of Blood of Kings. The adventure begins for sixteen year old Achan Cham (Trouble for a first name, fire-breathing bear for a last name) when an old knight decides to take him on as his squire.  Achan is also a stray in a civilization that is no longer kind to orphans, because a stray had killed the land's king and queen some twelve years earlier.  And darkness spread over half the land.

Our second hero is a young lady in disguise as a boy (I love this kind of book!) because the prince of the land seeks to wed her (for her inheritance, of course) and she doesn't want him.

Then, there's the bloodvoicing.  A spiritual gift inherited through the first king's descendants, now many in the kingdom possess the ability to mind-talk and various other mind games.

Er'Rets is a great medieval world.  Achan and Vrell are marvelous characters.  The secondary characters in the book are individual and fun.  The plot keeps moving forward with plenty of twists.  There was nothing about this book I didn't love.  So on finishing it, I grabbed up book 2 because this is a continuation story, like Lord of the Rings, not a stand alone book in a continuous series.

Needless to say at this point, I recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy, Christ, fiction, good story, thinking about a book after you've read it, and being challenged about how you view the world.

Perhaps you've heard that the world is coming to an end on December 21, 2012. That's the basis for this novel, The Mayan Apocalypse, which explores why an oil company's CEO believes that there will be an apocalypse and what he is willing to sacrifice to be prepared.

The story has some romance between our hero, Andrew Morgan and Lisa Campbell, a Christian journalist.  First slowed down by Andrew's grief over the loss of his beloved wife and son less than a year earlier.  Then, caught at a impasse over the couple's differing religious beliefs for the latter part of the book, love does conquer.

The Mayan Apocalypse spans three years from the past to the future, taking us further in the story than I'd guessed the authors would.

Though I hate to admit it as a fiction pro, one of my favorite chapters was the information dump on the Mayan calendars, history, etc. when Lisa was forced to bring the new reporter at the paper up to speed.  Kudos to the authors for thinking of those of us who don't know anything on the topic, but didn't want to stop in the middle of a good read for an Internet search.

Tagged as "a fantastic journey of discovery for all ages," Dragons of the Valley was a quick, fun read. Though I found nothing on the packaging to tell me this was a second in a series, it soon became obvious as I started into the novel that this story follows The Vanishing Sculptor.  No worries — this book contained all the necessary facts for me to get into the new story world and enjoy the story.

Fantasy.  Donita keeps us in the same world that she created for the DragonKeeper Chronicles, but takes us to a new land, a new nation, a different and quirky ruling family, but the same beloved plot of good vs. evil.  And evil just wants to take over because it can … unless good holds its ground and fights back.

Donita always includes some Wulder (God) teaching moments in her stories.  Here a artist turned swordsman and a too-serious for her age princess find God truths in the beauty of the world around them.

Oh, I should mention the Grawl.  Bad guy?  Without doubt.  But irredeemable? You should read to find out.

I'm not one to read a series out of order, but Red Ink was our April ACFW book club book, the third in the Extreme Devotion series.  I wasn't able to find time to read the first two first.  So I jumped into Red Ink not sure what had gone before.

Thankfully, the Extreme Devotions series is not continuing characters or plot, rather continuing theme … followers of Christ persecuted for their faith.

Red Ink is about a young woman in China imprisoned for preaching the Gospel and handing out stories of Christ to children.  It's Zhen-Li's story, and so much more.  We meet her husband, sister-in-law, small child, and mother — all suffering in different ways by her imprisonment.  We meet her cell mate and betrayer.  We meet the guard whose greatest desire in life is to break her.

And on the other side of the world, in the USA, we meet two elderly prayer warriors, Julia and Laura, the people they live with in the retirement home, and a teenager, Maggie, who has fallen in with the wrong crowd — a selfish man who not only doesn't have her best interests at heart, he is all about using her for his gain.

Kathi Macias ties them all together through one merciful God who is worthy to be served by all.