Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Archives for December 2021

In other books that I loved a lot this year

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

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Re-read (September 2021) in advance of The Last Graduate!!! it’s interesting, I think the book on the whole is a 4* book but reads a lot like a 3* book from a writing style? Reading this a second time, I’m less confused about the various plot points but it’s still a lot of exposition that you have to chew through, all within El’s head. I think the part that tips it into 4* territory is that the exposition in El’s head is next-level–I read a lot […]

Advance apologies if re-reads aren’t kosher but I did genuinely do so

The Last Hellion by Loretta Chase

Lord Perfect by Loretta Chase

Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase

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It seems so petty to have re-read books that I read literally THIS year but re-read them I did, when I was having a pretty rough time of it in the summer. It makes me so grateful to have finally, finally committed to joining the Cannonball community—I wouldn’t have read these if it weren’t for Malin, and clearly there are many others in that bucket as well. I then went ahead and included a selection of books from these two Loretta Chase series to a […]

another re-read with reviews old and new

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

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Re-read (October 2021): wanted to read this after reading The Charm Offensive and I am very glad I did! Luc and Oliver are excellent. This book is hilarious. Bridget continues to be the best. I am glad I now have this obscure reference to a Ferrero Rocher commercial from the 90s to pull out and flabbergast people with. When reading this book again, after having read MANY romance novels in the intervening time, I realize it’s long in the best way–Luc actually learns from his mistakes […]

The Prestige, but with teenagers and in the Pacific Northwest

Before We Disappear by Shaun David Hutchinson

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My entire frustration with this book is how nonsensical characters’ decisions are. The plot itself is an engaging one, for all that it mimics the beats of The Prestige (side note: basically the entire cast of that movie ended up being superheros or were already). There’s also a lovely, liberal dose of diversity of both race and sexual identity, and while the former has some period appropriate side eye the latter is barely looked at twice. But! A warm and fuzzy 1901 where Black and […]

I think this is a new romance genre I am VERY into

An Heiress's Guide to Deception and Desire by Manda Collins

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Not entirely certain why people didn’t like this book or found the main characters’ change of heart abrupt! I very much enjoyed this short-ish novel, very much in the vein of other “historical ladies push against the strictures of proprietary behavior and exact lady justice on evil doers…but with FRISSON.” In this novel is one of my favorite tropes: former lovers! Miss (aka not Lady) Caroline Hardcastle (who goes by Caro) runs a column with her friend, the highborn Lady Katherine where they talk about […]

Too short and too long at the same time

Blue-Skinned Gods by S.J. Sindhu

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I really liked Marriage of a Thousand Lies, and I’ve seen this coming out for a while and never found the blurb quite as compelling. It popped up in my Kindle loans (the benefits of sharing library cards with friends) and so I pulled it up between some lighter fare. In a nutshell, this book felt like it was too short while also dragging at times. Segments are entirely too brief–Lakshman’s exile/move to the U.S. is handled with entirely too little aplomb for the impact it […]



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