"The Devil's Banker" - Christopher Reich

I really don't read a lot in this genre: adult thriller. I picked this out because it was about a forensic accountant (my husband's dream job) and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

A financial accountant has left his high-paying job, partner status, to join an espionage team routing out terrorists through their money trial. It's quite fascinating! Like a modern-day Sherlock Holmes bank teller.

Read Also:

Roger Hobbs' Ghostman.

I haven't read the following (I read almost ALL of my recommendations):

The Last Trade by James Conway.

Stephen W. Frey's The Chairman.

"Traitor" - Sandra Grey

I love me my Christian romance! I'm a little weirded out by Mormon romance...

Marie is a Mormon Allied spy in France. Rolf is a Mormon Nazi major. They cross paths, and through the guidance of the Holy Ghost, they manage to make it through the war.

I just realized how dull this book sounds. But it's really not! I was surprised by how interesting it was. (If her research was done right,) the details of how Mormons lived in Nazi Germany were fascinating. I also think her side characters bumped the plot up. How contemporaries reacted to Mormons is not often discussed in your average WWII story.

[Heads up: it's a trilogy.]

Read Also:

Hadassah: one night with the king by Tommy Tenney is a WONDERFUL(!!!) novel about Esther, a religious girl placed among non-Jews. I like these books for the understanding that develops on both sides.

If you'd like to commit to a huge endeavor: The House of Winslow series by Gilbert Morris follows a family through the history of America. A highly religious family, each member must gain their own faith while living through historical eras.

Romeo and Juliet comes to mind...

"Codename Zero" - Chris Rylander

You don't even know... I laughed out loud. There were sentences I couldn't finish because I was laughing so hard!

Carson is bored. Bored of middle school. Bored of North Dakota. But then he receives a package... What's a guy going to do when a secret government base is located right under his hometown? Save North Dakota and the World! Ice cream is involved...

Read Also:

Find out what another sleepy town hides in Lissa Evans' Horton's Miraculous Mechanism.

Any chance I get to recommend Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson. Laugh-out-loud funny and secret organizations.

On my "To Read" list is The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson.

"Lunch Lady and the Video Game Villain" -Jarrett Krosoczka

So there I was, having to read a graphic novel appropriate for ages 5-8 years. I went to the 741.5s (Dewey for cartoons, comics, etc.), did a little browsing, saw this bright yellow spine, flipped through the pages and didn't gag...Voila!

The Lunch Lady and her assistant, Betty, serve lunch "and justice" to Thompson Brook Middle School. They keep an eye on any nefarious substitute teachers, crazy mathletes, or evil librarians(!). Video Game Villain is 9th in the series with the IT guy stealing technology and building an electronic monster to take over the school. The reader follows 3 students who have troubles of their own.

They are well done with all their gadgets (lunch tray laptop, spork communicator), the artwork is fun, the dialog is age appropriate. I make sure to read all of the series.

Read Also:

Frazz, a comic book by Jef Mattlett, takes place at an elementary school with the coolest janitor ever!

The Knights of the Lunch Table by Frank Cammuso is an Arthurian themed graphic novel trilogy about 3 outcast middle schoolers.

"Shadows Over Stonewycke" -Michael Phillips, Judith Pela

The 5th in a serires of 6 ... or the 2nd of 3 in the 2nd series of 2 ... dude.

Coming highly recommended (Thank You!)- the "Stonewycke" books: The Stonewycke Trilogy and The Stonewycke Legacy, are about Stonewycke, a castle in Scotland and its owners: the Ramsey clan.

The trilogy focuses on Margaret Duncan (bks 1,2) and her daughter Joanna (bk 3) as they live and learn and grow. The legacy focuses on Allison, Joanna's daughter, and her husband, Logan MacIntyre. Shadows Over Stonewycke deals with the War years. Allison's and Logan's marriage, though built on their Christian faith, crumbles under the stress and lack of faith that comes from hard times. The "refiner's fire" they undergo during WWII rebuilds their faith, trust, and love in each other and God.

Very religious books, I enjoy reading about how these women take very natural emotions and desires and use them in ways to build their faith and families. I have cried multiple times during these books as the writing is strong and thought-provoking. There is quite a bit of history as well. Btw, the time frame of the series is over 100 years!

Read Also:

E.W. Honung's Raffles: the Amateur Craftsman - pretty much what Logan MacIntyre does before he reforms.

Bodie & Brock Thoene's The Galway Chronicles - 4 book series about an Irish family's faith and strength through Ireland's violent history.

Leon Uris' Trinity - an epic of familial loyalties and history in Ireland and England.

"The Seduction of the Crimson Rose" -Lauren Willig

As a lover of the Scarlet Pimpernel books and a sucker for a romance, I was on top of a recommendation to read The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. History, romance, swashbuckling, hunky guys: my kind of book. So much so that I recommended the book to someone else ere I ever cracked the cover. Oops. Before we met up again, I read the book and was a little shocked at the sex. I wasn't prepared for a Harlequin romance, if only because I expected more story. She was slightly scandalized that I had ever read a book like this. I held off reading the 2nd book but the story was good:

Plot: doctoral student in England studying spies of the Napoleonic era discovers proof of her theory of a Pink Carnation spy, equable to the Scarlet Pimpernel and Purple Gentian. The tales of the student and her research are told simultaneously through the series.

So I kept reading and each book had less sex. Well, here I made it to The Seduction of the Crimson Rose, the 4th book in the Pink Carnation series (yes, they all use flowers in the titles), and it had negligible sex in it. Not sure what Willig's goal is but the stories got better and the romances kept up. So now I feel justified in recommending the series.

Read Also:

I tend to lean towards Christian romance so a wonderful historical romance was Bodie and Brock Thoene's The Galway Chronicles (4 books) set in Ireland under the oppression of England.

A similar writer, though I don't actually recommend her writing, just her subject matter, is Joanna Bourne's The Spymaster's Lady.

And of course, Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel!