I must confess that this afternoon I have toothpicks stuck in my eyes, but it’s not for reasons you might think. It’s because I stayed up until nearly 1 a.m. finishing Jill Elizabeth Nelsons’ Christian thriller Reluctant Burglar. Oh, my! I started the book Monday evening as an excuse to not deal with my own novel’s rewrites. Tuesday afternoon I thought I’d treat myself to 1 chapter….which quickly became 4 chapters. I can’t really tell you what happened after dinner. Mike must have put the three kids to bed, and no one tucked him in. Next thing I knew my contacts were stuck to my eyeballs, and the clock struck midnight. I was so close to done, that I sprinted to the bathroom to trade for my glasses, and boogied right back to my reading chair.

So many times I thought I had the plot figured out in this exciting story, and each time I was shocked to discover I was wrong. Desiree Jacobs is a spunky, independent, single woman who works for her father’s security company. He taught her everything she knows about their internationally renowned business, art, honesty, and faith. Then her father is murdered and she is left with clues that direct her to a container filled with stolen paintings. Her father was the thief. Desiree is determined to find out what caused her father to do such a thing and who killed him. She also decided to secretly return the priceless art to their original owners. However, she is doing all of this with the FBI breathing down her neck. She is frustrated by Special Agent Tony Lucano who is hot on the case and…let’s just say…hot period. Tony is positive Hiram Jacobs was an art thief, but he isn’t so sure about Desiree. He’d certainly like to find her innocent.

I found myself out of breath and flipping pages so fast my hair got messed up. I’m telling you, I don’t do out-right scary, but this is edge of your seat thrill right here! Check out Jill’s website for more information about her and the next book in the series. Yes! This is the first of three books. I’m confident you will love Desi and Tony as much as I did!