The Best Reader + TIME

I won this book via a twitter contest hosted by author @lizzyarmentrout. Thank you, Lizzy, for sending me the book! Lizzy was also my first Author Interview as well!

"A Vengeful Spirit" — Lizzy Armentrout

From Amazon.com...

"Welcome to Pilotview, NC; a quiet, peaceful town where nothing much happens. That all changes when evil strikes the Irvin family. Why is someone targeting Tucker's family? What could a 12 year old have done to bring such terror to his home? Why is his father missing? Shelly Gale, his teacher, can't resist helping one of her students as his family seems to go through trial after trial."

"A Vengeful Spirit" isn't really in the genre that I normally read — so it took me a while to get used to the characters and the plot. But by chapter three I was captivated. I ended up finishing the story in two sitting. It's a fast read and it's a good read. The characters are unique and feel like real people — people that could be in my own community. I liked that I could relate to these characters — it helped with Max, the 10 month old Golden Retriever, Pippin is five years old but I remember back to the days when he was just a hot mess of red fur. But even without Max, I could relate to Nicole who loved all things material but was still a great friend. And as a future teacher, I could really relate to Shelly's love for her students. And while not as devote as the Christians in the book, I could still relate to their need for guidance, wisdom, and protection.

As a Christian Murder Mystery, Lizzy Armentrout has produced the perfect balance between all things Christian and Murder Mystery. So many times authors have to sacrifice one for the other — but Lizzy Armentrout manages it perfectly.

The only 'negative' thing I can think of is that the romance in the book is a little predictable. But Lizzy Armentrout makes up for that with all of the twists and turns that the mystery brings to the book. At the end of the book, the final "ah hah!", I was just stunned! The book was written perfectly for a mystery — everything was going some where and there were no loose ends.

This is a great book for Christian readers and those who just love a Murder Mystery. I look forward to finding out what trouble Shelly Gale finds next.