✦✦✦✦½ Kristin Harmel once again proves why she’s one of today’s leading voices in historical fiction with The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau. This isn’t just a war story—it’s a jewel heist, a decades-old mystery, and a family drama rolled into one glittering package. Colette Marceau has always lived by her mother’s code: steal only from the cruel and use the spoils to help others. But everything changed in 1942 Paris when a Resistance mission went sideways. Her cousin Annabel was executed, her little sister vanished, and the diamond bracelet sewn into a nightgown disappeared with her. Seventy years later, that very bracelet turns up in a Boston museum, forcing Colette […]
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Amy’s Picks and Pans, Issue 38
Not Quite All Fours 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (and One 🌟🌟🌟) Almost every book I read this month landed a solid 4 stars—except for one little outlier. Indescribable Atlas Adventures (the only kids’ book in the bunch) didn’t quite measure up and came in at 3 stars. Still, no duds, no DNFs, and plenty of variety. I crossed paths with Judy Garland, shadowed an assassin, rode shotgun with a S.W.A.T. medic, and followed a Russian spy through enemy territory. I also eavesdropped on Bonhoeffer, argued with a socialite, admired an artist, and got oddly attached to a bookshop with a mind of its own. Oh, and there was an Egyptian scribe too—because why […]
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Love, Loss, and the Bonds That Bind
⭐⭐⭐✨ Ann Napolitano’s Within Arm’s Reach is a tender, multigenerational portrait of an Irish-American family in New Jersey, told through the alternating perspectives of three generations of women. Catharine McLaughlin, the strong-willed maternal grandmother, carries the family’s history and grief; her daughter, Grace, juggles a shaky marriage and the demands of motherhood; and Grace’s daughters, Lila and Meghan, navigate adolescence, first loves, and the slow pull toward independence. Napolitano’s prose is intimate and perceptive, revealing the small moments and unspoken tensions that shape family life. The shifting viewpoints show how the same events can be interpreted in vastly different ways, depending on where you stand. It’s a quiet novel, more […]
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A Haunting Farewell for Maisie Dobbs
⭐⭐⭐⭐ In The Comfort of Ghosts, Jacqueline Winspear gives Maisie Dobbs one final case—and it’s a poignant one. Set in post-WWII London, the story centers on four adolescent orphans squatting in a crumbling Belgravia mansion. Traumatized, street-smart, and fiercely loyal to one another, the teens are under the watchful eye of a wounded ex-soldier and a troubled nurse. When Maisie is asked to intervene, she uncovers secrets about the house, the young squatters’ pasts, and a wartime murder that still casts a shadow. As always, Maisie brings empathy as much as intellect to the investigation. Alongside her inquiries, she’s grappling with big life decisions—about love, family, and her future. Familiar characters […]
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Grief, Glitches, and a Message from the Beyond
⭐⭐⭐⭐ I Think I Was Murdered blends grief, tech, and suspense into a twisty, emotionally charged mystery. After her husband Brian dies, Katrina finds herself relying on a cutting-edge AI chatbot that mimics his personality and speech patterns. Built using Brian’s digital footprint—emails, texts, videos—it becomes her lifeline. She chats with “him” daily, unable to let go. But when the bot suddenly types the chilling sentence “I think I was murdered,” Katrina’s world is turned upside down. The concept is both eerie and fascinating. The bot isn’t just a gimmick—it’s Katrina’s crutch, a digital ghost she confides in, argues with, and leans on to cope with overwhelming loss. Her emotional dependency adds depth […]
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A Lukewarm Return for Mitch McDeere
⭐⭐⭐ The Exchange picks up fifteen years after The Firm, but don’t expect the same crackling suspense. Mitch McDeere is back, now a globe-trotting lawyer knee-deep in international legal drama—but the story spends more time in airports than in courtrooms. The constant hopping from city to city slows the pace and muddies the plot. It opens in Memphis, a nice nod to the original, but quickly abandons that thread and never really looks back. Instead, we’re tossed into a convoluted rescue mission that feels more like a spy novel than a legal thriller. The characters are flat, the villains generic, and the lawyers? Let’s just say if you disliked them before, this […]
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Apocalyptic Chaos Meets Personal Redemption in This Gripping Faith-Fueled Thriller
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’ve been watching and waiting for Christ’s second coming, so this was a timely read. Vanished by Dr. David Jeremiah is a high-stakes, end-times thriller that hits on both a global and personal level. John “Haggs” Haggerty leads a military unit tasked with stopping pandemics before they spread—but as disasters pile up, it’s clear the world is heading toward something far more cataclysmic. Plagues, earthquakes, wars… the signs are everywhere. But Haggs’s real battle is closer to home. He’s grieving the collapse of his marriage and struggling to stay connected to his adult daughter. The emotional weight he carries makes his fight for redemption feel real and relatable. Jeremiah blends action […]
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Beautiful Setting, Bewitching Premise… But Just Okay
⭐⭐⭐ The Amalfi Curse was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, especially after loving Sarah Penner’s The Lost Apothecary. But this one didn’t quite land for me. The setting? Gorgeous. The writing? Lyrical. The story? Well… here’s where things get murky. I’ll admit, I should’ve paid closer attention to the synopsis. Witches and magical curses aren’t really my thing, and the sea-witch storyline just didn’t hold my interest. The dual timeline (1820s and present day) had promise, but the pacing lagged in spots, and I never fully connected with the characters—especially in the historical chapters. I seem to be the odd one out here—early reviews are glowing, and fans […]
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A Late-Night Legend Gets Lost in the Spotlight
Growing up, I was a huge fan of Johnny Carson and The Tonight Show—it was appointment viewing for my dad and me nearly every night. So I was eager to read Carson the Magnificent, but I ended up bitterly disappointed. What should’ve been a thoughtful biography of a man who defined late-night television for decades came off more like a stream-of-consciousness love letter. Zehme’s writing is over-the-top and ostentatious, with paragraph-long tangents stuffed with trivia—some of it interesting, most of it repeated. The structure is a mess, and the organization, or lack thereof, makes it hard to follow. I slogged through overly long sections that felt more like filler than insight. Worst […]
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Sailing Through Time & Secrets: “Across the Ages” Is a Heart-Racing Treasure
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Gabrielle Meyer’s Across the Ages is everything I want in time travel fiction—heart, history, high stakes, and a dash of holy hope. Caroline is a gifted time-crosser living two lives: one as a disguised cabin boy aboard a pirate ship in 1727, the other as a preacher’s daughter caught up in Prohibition-era drama in 1927 St. Paul. The twists are fun, the romance is swoony, and the tension never lets up. As a Minnesota native, I loved the Twin Cities references—every landmark was familiar and warmly nostalgic. Meyer, who once worked for the Minnesota Historical Society, knows her stuff. That comes through loud and clear, especially in the informative author’s note. […]
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