faintingviolet – Page 45 – Cannonball Read 17

I Loved This One Unabashedly and Hope You Do Too

All the Feels by Olivia Dade

July 11, 2021 by faintingviolet 3 Comments

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All the Feels publishes November 16th, 2021 (originally scheduled for October 26th, 2021.) Last year I read and loved Spoiler Alert and was excited to see that there would be another book in the universe. All the Feels takes everything I loved about the first book and deepens it, makes it stronger and better. All the Feels is very likely going to make it into my top three books of […]

A Swindle, a Romance, and Beautifully Described Music

The Hellion's Waltz by Olivia Waite

July 10, 2021 by faintingviolet 3 Comments

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Hellion’s Waltz is the third book in Olivia Waite’s Feminine Pursuits series (the first book, The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics was published in 2019 and the second Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows last year). As I said in my review of The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows, one of the things I love most in good romance writing is when authors interact with larger themes. These […]

Queer (Theory) History

Queer: A Graphic HIstory by Meg-John Barker, Julia Scheele (Illustrator)

July 8, 2021 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

I tried to sneak this one in before the end of June but the library just wasn’t with me. One of the tasks in Read Harder challenge this year is read a LGBTQ history and the hunt for that book stumbled me across Queer: A Graphic History, and while this isn’t a history of queer folk (more a study of the word, theory, and the worldview) I’m glad to have read it if only to help shore up some gaps in my own knowledge base (I am […]

“The privilege of living now is that I can seat myself at the master’s table – the table of my white ancestor, a slaveholder – and interpret his world, and he has no say.”

The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael Twitty

July 6, 2021 by faintingviolet 5 Comments

I think to understand what The Cooking Gene is, you have to have a picture of its author. I’ve known Michael Twitty on Twitter for about a decade, Museum Twitter can be a small space sometimes in the best possible ways. Besides being a hoot to spend time with during political debates, Twitty is also a Culinary Historian focusing on the foodways of Africa, enslaved African Americans, African America and the African and Jewish diasporas. Basically, he’s one of the people you want to talk […]

“Brown-eyed sublime being. She of soft, deep cardigan pockets. Bubble-bath taker. Pool jumper. Cheese provider. Sunset glower. Heaven sent.”

Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne

July 1, 2021 by faintingviolet 10 Comments

I can see how Second First Impressions, Sally Thorne’s third book, isn’t going to be a five-star book for many readers – heck it wasn’t for me until quite near the end. But this book hit me in the feelings and had just the right kind of relatively low stakes, emotions are the plot set up for me. I was delighted; I understand if you were not. In this outing Thorne is playing with opposites, both in her protagonists and in the thematic work she […]

“How does she explain that she used to be afraid to love anyone because there’s a well at the center of her chest and she doesn’t know where the bottom is?”

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

June 22, 2021 by faintingviolet 3 Comments

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Early last year I read and loved Casey McQuiston’s debut Red, White, & Royal Blue like many a Cannonballer before me. Upon its completion I knew McQuiston was an author to add to my must reads list – they were writing the kind of queer romance I was looking for in the world. Once announced I put One Last Stop on my to read list having faith in the author, […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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