Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Nart

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Nart is an avid romance reader who dabbles in other stuff when she has the spoons. When she’s not reading she’s a bureaucrat both professionally and as an activist because she’s a masochist. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Nart's Quick Questions interview.)

Nart's Reviews:

A fake relationship that works!

If I never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane

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I’m a sucker for a well told fake relationship trope. It is one of these story format that is incredibly hard to get right because of how ludicrous the very idea is, at least if you’re past the age of making decisions with a mind addled with teenage hormones.  The set up is key to the believability, and McFarlane nails it.  Plot: sort of boring woman works for regressive, sexist company. She has been immune to a lot of the really nasty stuff that goes […]

Fiction featuring a Royal that doesn’t obsess over royals

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

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I was convinced to pick this book up by pixiestyx’s review. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d like it. I’m not part of the monarchy’s fan base and I find that’s usually a pre-requisite to enjoy books about them. This is not that kind of book.  Plot: The son of the President of the United States was snubbed once by the younger grandson of the Queen. This leads to a weird non-fight at the Heir’s wedding, which destroys an expensive cake, and they’re instructed to pretend to […]

A historical romance with pranks is what I never knew I needed

A Beastly Kind of Earl by Mia Vincy

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This book is full on bonkers, in the best way. It constantly borders on being too silly, too ludicrous, too impossible to believe, and then pulls back just enough to keep you in on the ride. Plot: Thea is very nearly a manic pixie dream girl who loves pranks so long as the cause is good and the people being pranked suck. Rafe is a very nearly standard alphahole who is being maneuvered into marriage to Lady Arabella (fancy lady and Thea’s close friend) to […]

Writing time travel is hard, but it shouldn’t be this hard to read

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone

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Ya’ll. This was not was for me. This book has been well loved by Cannonballers. It’s won the Nebula and the Locus awards. And I get why! The storytelling style is unique, the narrative is interesting. This book has style for daaaaays. But oh my lord I was bored to tears, which is a special accomplishment for a novella. Plot: The plot, frankly, doesn’t really matter. You have two opposing shadowy organizations fighting for domination of the world by strategically travelling through time and causing […]

Revenge in the form of pranks is dumb and other lessons

Angel in a Devil's Arms (The Palace of Rogues #2) by Julie Anne Long

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This is the sequel to Lady Derring Takes a Lover and it is excellent. I reviewed the first one a while ago here and unli ke most romance series where you can really pick up any book out of order, you’ll miss out on plot and meeting a lot of the characters that are central to this novel if you don’t read the first in the series before this one. Plot: Now that the Palace on the Grand Thames is doing pretty okay, the Way Full […]

Another strong book from Tessa Dare

The Wallflower Wager (Girl Meets Duke #3) by Tessa Dare

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Tessa Dare does a great job balancing humor and serious storytelling as a rule and this book is a very good example of that skill. Plot: We follow Lady Penelope Campion, my favourite of the gang, is a devoted animal lover and vegetarian. This has made her unpalatable to the men of London who for some reason don’t want to live in a house with a bunch of animals, including a goat. Gabriel Duke (not aristocrat, just named Duke, I see what you did there […]



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