Lucille Guarino's 3 favorite reads in 2025

• 2024
• 2025

Piran Chegwin had known since he was just a boy that he wanted to be a priest-to bring comfort and care to ordinary folk in a little parish church. So when his father manages to scrape together the money for him to study theology at Oxford, it seems his future is set. That is, until he encounters Martin de Villiers, an ambitious, self-important fellow student who takes an instant dislike to Piran. Piran's only offense? Having been born a Cornishman. But to Martin's eyes, it's an offense that must be set right.

Journey with Piran from Oxford to the papal… show more.

"Holy hell!!!! I LOVED THIS!! Seriously, so, so glad I sat down to read this afternoon. Pure gold!" -Laura Kaste Broullire, The Women's Fiction Writers Association

Callie Wind, single mom and owner of a quirky Texas amusement park, dreams of a carousel life, but her dead patriarch is determined to keep her on a chaotic thrill ride. He delights in their spectral arguments from beyond the grave.

Her estranged daughter Sophie-now a televangelist with a knack for pyramid schemes-wriggles her way back into Callie's life with plans to turn the park into a shrine to her own ego. Caught between… show more.

“Febre's writing is at its most lyrical, starting off quietly and gently, then swelling to a crescendo of awe before calming to a resolute whisper of self-affirmation. Welcome to the Bright is a celebration not only of the life we've lived but of the living we have yet to do.” –Troy Hollan, award-winning author of Clucked

After a year-long battle with Stage-4C Colon Cancer, 48-year-old Lisa finally heard the words she had been hoping for: no visible sign of disease. Chemotherapy and radiation treatments were over, she was technically disease free, and it was time to celebrate that success.

She… show more.