Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Mrs. Julien

CBR 4
CBR 5
CBR 6
CBR 7
CBR 8
CBR 9
CBR10 participant
CBR11 participant
CBR14 Participant
CBR16 Participant
CBR17 Participant

My stays are quite binding. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Mrs. Julien's Quick Questions interview.)

Mrs. Julien's Reviews:

Wonderfully Sarcastic, Quietly Romantic

Pretty Face by Lucy Parker

by 6 Comments

Lucy Parker is TWO for TWO! Buy this one! Pretty Face follows the contemporary romance that I hope you’ve already read, Act Like It, in Parker’s London Celebrities series and she continues to mix clever writing and emotional sincerity to gain engaging, recommendable results. Herewith the only note I took while reading, “wonderfully sarcastic”; although, I highlighted several passages, such as, “It’s a lost art, condescension. Most workplaces are so PC these days that you just don’t get patronized in quite the same way.” and […]

He Smelled Like an Expensive Forest

Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas

by 8 Comments

“He smelled like an expensive forest.” The goddess of romance writers, Lisa Kleypas, has not lost her clever touch. What starts as potential ruination and scandal quickly changes into a fierce love match when Gabriel, Lord St. Vincent, and Lady Pandora Ravenel are caught in a compromising position when her dress is caught in the scroll work of a settee at exactly the wrong moment. Encouraged, but not badgered, by her family, Pandora agrees to spend time with her erstwhile seducer despite her very strong […]

Sweet and Funny People Falling in Love. Was That So Much to Ask?

The Weight of It All by N.R. Walker

by 5 Comments

The Weight of It All was one of those quietly enjoyable reads that are hard to review. It was wonderfully simple and just plain nice. In this contemporary romance set in Sydney Australia, two sweet people fall in love in a funny and engaging romance short on drama and long on kindness. Freshly dumped and taking his ex’s parting salvo of “old and fat” to heart, Henry Beckett and picks himself up and ventures to the local gym to see what he can do about […]

Hockey Romance with Coaches in Love

Power Play by Avon Gale

by 3 Comments

My quest for good romance continues with a book recommended to me on Pajiba my online home away from home. Max Ashford’s career in the NHL was cut short when a checking accident on the ice left him with compromised peripheral vision. Working on a career behind the bench, he joins head coach Misha Samarin with the Spartanburg Spitfires in South Carolina. It’s an ECHL team – meaning a double A hockey franchise that acts as a feeder to the minors and, with any luck […]

Still No Recommended Reads from the Brooklyn Bruisers Series

Hard Hitter by Sarina Bowen

by 5 Comments

Sarina Bowen burst into my romance reading life in 2015 with her Ivy Years series and my discovery happily coincided with her career taking off. This has provided me with lots of reading material. Though none of her more recent books have captured the magic of those first ones I read (Blonde Date is a perfect novella), I am continuing to buy her books; however as the prices have gone up, my interest has gone down. It’s one thing to be a $5 author, it’s […]

After 515 Kissing Books, Interesting Is Welcome

The Secret Heart by Erin Satie

by 5 Comments

I received The Secret Heart in the Cannonball Book Exchange. It was selected for me by my “romance twin“, Beth Ellen, the fellow reader with whom I most often agree on books. It was interesting. From Amazon: Adam, Earl of Bexley, lives to work. His only relief is the sordid savagery of bare-knuckle boxing. Not women, and definitely not a disreputable, scheming woman who dances in secret with such passion…Caro Small is desperate to escape her selfish family. Her only chance is a good marriage, and […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo