The Mrs. & the Minister

James Goss is no stranger to  Doctor Who novelizations.  So I was excited to give  The Blood Cell  a read.  The third in recent Twelfth Doctor novels, this one is more like the Doctor Who lite stories of the First Doctor.  The focus here is on The Governor of The Prison, a story told from his perspective.   And Prisoner 428 -- the Doctor -- gives him enough to worry about.  He's impatient, intimidating, prone to arguing, and heroic.  In short, he's everything we're getting accustomed to seeing in Peter Capaldi.  With his frequent attempts to escape, Prisoner 428 keeps gathering information as only the Doctor can do.  And the novel slowly builds its plot.  We're introduced to a story that has readers asking all sorts of questions -- reminiscent to me of Ten's  Blink .  Which makes it a good story.  Not great, but good.  Because, in following the plot line out, it gets convoluted.   The Blood Cell  is a fun read.  But in the whole canon of Doctor stories, it could be

Lynn Cowell's  Magnetic:  Becoming the Girl He Wants  is a resource I've wanted for years!  This amazing book takes each of the "fruits of the Spirit" to help women focus on what matters most:  God.  In a culture that teaches us to ask deadly questions -- "Why am I not enough?" or "Why won't he ask me out?" -- Cowell cuts through the anxiety and confusion with a pastoral wisdom and a mother's heart.   This book is accessible in all the ways we need it.  Her conversational style makes this book readable in one sitting.  Her thorough treatment of all the questions we regularly ask ourselves is refreshing.  This is a book I've hoped for for a long time.   And it's one I will recommend for some time to come.  Because this book focuses on  who  we are, rather than defining us by our boyfriends.  Because this book turns a microscope on narrating what we want out of our lives as  Christians .   This book is simply brilliant! _____________

My husband got me hooked on watching the BBC sci-fi show Doctor Who.   So you can imagine my excitement when I saw this novelization.  After detecting an abnormal power spike, the 12th Doctor and Clara once again arrive in Victorian England where they reunite with their old pals Strax, Madame Vastra, and Jenny.  The gang is back together, and, of course, a man named Marlowe Hapsworth is found dead at home in no time at all.  After some investigating by the Doctor and gang, they discover Hapsworth had attended the local Frost Fair where he took in a mysterious shadow puppet show (at the Carnival of Curiosities) run by the even more mysterious woman Silhouette.   More brutal murders follow.  Who's the mastermind behind the plot?  Well, that has to wait on the closing pages.  But what struck me about Silhouette  is the way it captures the voice of Peter Capaldi as The Twelfth Doctor.  While I've only seen him in a couple of episodes now, this novel was a treat because all his grou