⭐⭐⭐⭐ Bombed out of her home, hunted, and lonely, Anna Pastorino has every reason to remain invisible. Instead, the half-Jewish widow accepts refuge above a Genoa printing shop and joins the clandestine DELASEM network, using her bookkeeping skills to forge identity papers for Jews fleeing Fascist Italy. The historical rescue operation gives Daughter of Genoa its compelling foundation, while Anna’s relationships provide its emotional heart. Her growing love for daring aviator Massimo Teglio is tender and dangerous, complicated by Father Vittorio’s feelings for her and his worsening tuberculosis. Devereaux handles these divided loyalties with compassion, showing how fear, faith, grief, and desire become tangled during wartime. The romantic triangle occasionally […]
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Relentless, Razor-Sharp, and Built for Action Fans
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ If you like your thrillers fast, gritty, and just a little bit dangerous, The Terminal List by Jack Carr delivers the goods. Navy SEAL James Reece returns home after a disastrous mission that wipes out his entire team. Soon after, tragedy strikes again—this time much closer to home. When the official explanations don’t add up, Reece starts digging, and what he uncovers sets him on a path that’s equal parts investigation and vengeance. What follows is a tightly wound, high-stakes hunt that doesn’t let up. Carr’s background as a former SEAL shows in every detail. The action feels real, the tactics are sharp, and the pacing hits that sweet […]
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A Quiet Little Masterpiece About Kindness
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Theo of Golden completely stole my heart. In a world full of noisy, high-concept fiction, this novel feels like sitting on a porch at sunset with someone wise enough to change your life in a single conversation. The story begins when Theo, a mysterious elderly man from New York, arrives in the small Southern town of Golden and discovers a wall of pencil portraits hanging inside a local coffee shop. One by one, he purchases the portraits and quietly returns them to the people depicted in them. What sounds simple becomes deeply moving as each encounter reveals hidden grief, loneliness, hope, regret, and redemption. Allen Levi writes with extraordinary […]
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A Hidden History That Refuses to Stay Buried
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez blends past and present into a richly layered story about family, identity, and a nearly forgotten piece of American history. This is a dual-timeline novel, and it works beautifully. In the present day, Nikki Lovejoy-Berry—a Washington, D.C. real estate agent—is summoned to western North Carolina by her estranged grandmother, Mother Rita. What Nikki expects are answers about their fractured family. What she gets instead is a fight. Mother Rita is being pushed off land that has been in their family for generations—land that once formed the Kingdom of the Happy Land, a self-sufficient community built by formerly enslaved people after the Civil War. In the historical narrative, […]
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Welcome to Amy’s Picks and Pans – Issue 41
This issue took me everywhere—from wartime Europe and windswept prairies to glamorous hotels, dangerous spy missions, cozy magical libraries, and pulse-pounding thrillers. I found stories filled with courage, second chances, heartbreak, suspense, romance, and a few books that made me mutter, “Well… that escalated quickly.” There were several standouts this time around, including Mark Helprin’s sweeping naval epic The Oceans and the Stars, Holly Jackson’s wildly entertaining adult thriller debut Not Quite Dead Yet, and Mitch Albom’s warmhearted Twice. I also revisited a literary classic with Willa Cather’s O Pioneers! and discovered a few authors I’ll definitely be reading again. As always, not every book earned glowing praise. A couple left me scratching my […]
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The Gourmet Bookworm’s 5-Star Reads of 2025
I read a record-breaking 206 books in 2025. Two hundred and six. Even I had to sit down when I counted them up. Relatively few books earn top marks from me. I’m selective; in fact, my average rating is 3.77. If a book made this list, it did more than entertain—it lingered, stirred something, or flat-out impressed me. This year delivered—historical fiction, thrillers, literary standouts, faith-centered reads, and stories that stayed with me. I even ventured into a couple of memoirs, which isn’t typical for me. Growth! Below are my five-star reads of 2025, listed alphabetically. Across the Ages — Gabrielle Meyer Genre: Historical Fiction | Time-Slip | Christian Romance […]
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A Bold, Beautiful Shift for Baldacci
Strangers in Time is a refreshing change of pace for David Baldacci—and an absolute triumph. Best known for his pulse-pounding thrillers, Baldacci trades high-tech espionage for wartime Europe, and the result is a deeply human, emotionally rich novel that’s hard to put down. Set during World War II, this story isn’t just about battles and strategy. It’s about people—flawed, brave, complicated people—thrown into impossible circumstances. Baldacci’s gift for plotting is still here, but this time he leans hard into character. The relationships feel real, the dialogue is sharp, and the stakes are personal in all the right ways. He doesn’t just recreate the era—he brings it to life with skill […]
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A Masterpiece of Prose and Friendship: Wallace Stegner’s Crossing to Safety
Few authors write with the grace of Wallace Stegner. Crossing to Safety isn’t just a novel—it’s a masterclass in storytelling, a beautifully crafted portrait of friendship, marriage, and time’s passage. Stegner’s prose is luminous, his sentences so exquisitely structured I often reread them just to savor their rhythm. If hard writing makes for easy reading, Stegner must have worked tirelessly to create a novel that feels effortless. The story follows two couples—Larry and Sally Morgan, Sid and Charity Lang—whose lives intertwine over four decades, from Depression-era Wisconsin to Vermont’s rolling hills. While Larry, an aspiring writer, finds success, his life is marked by hardship as Sally battles polio. Sid, […]
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Your Next 5-Star Read Is in Here ⭐ (Plus a Few to Skip)
Welcome to Amy’s Picks and Pans – Issue 40, where my reading life has clearly been living its best, most dramatic, globe-trotting existence. This batch took me from 16th-century France to the Canadian wilderness, from small-town courtrooms to Nazi Germany, and even into the delicate (and sometimes chaotic) corners of childhood and faith. In other words—no passport required, just a comfy chair. What struck me this month was the sheer range. I found myself completely swept away by a few unforgettable five-star reads (the kind that make you cancel plans and ignore laundry), while a handful of others didn’t quite stick the landing. There are powerful stories of resilience, richly […]
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Penguins, Personal Growth… and a Plot You’ve Seen Before: A Review of How the Penguins Saved Veronica
How the Penguins Saved Veronica is one of those light, feel-good reads that’s easy to pick up—but a little harder to fully love. The story alternates between Veronica, a wealthy, prickly loner, and Patrick, a directionless young man. For much of the book, neither is especially likable. Veronica is sharp-tongued and judgmental; Patrick is immature and self-absorbed. It takes a while—honestly, about two-thirds of the way through—before either begins to win you over. The premise is undeniably charming, even if it stretches believability. Antarctica makes for a fresh, icy backdrop, and the penguin scenes are the highlight—sweet, informative, and often the emotional glue holding the story together. You’ll even come […]
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