Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Pooja

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Ardent reader of pretty much anything, including the backs of shampoo bottles. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Pooja's Quick Questions interview.)

Pooja's Reviews:

Tittle Tattle in Georgian London

The Real Bridgerton by Catherine Curzon

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This book guides us through a century of aristocratic scandals, covering both stories that are well-known today and others that have faded from public memory, discussing adultery, murder, and even incest. I read an awful lot of historical romance, and many Regency romances use the plot device of social ruin being carried around town by scandal sheets. Having read this book though, I am rather astonished that these fictional scandals managed to shock anyone at all, considering what the aristocracy was really getting up too! […]

… In for a Pound

In for a Penny by Rose Lerner

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When Nev’s father dies unexpectedly, he leaves the family mired in debt, so he decides to make a convenient marriage to Penny, the fabulously wealthy but low-born daughter of a brewer. This is the second book I’ve read by Lerner (the first being the fabulous A Lily Among Thorns), but it has many of the same hallmarks – an unconventional, rather unsentimental romance, a strong grounding in history, and plenty of intrigue and action. I enjoyed the plot about the tenant rebellion, even if I […]

Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and Boston

Boston Strong: A City's Triumph Over Tragedy by Casey Sherman, David Wedge

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This is the story of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, told from the perspectives of the civilians and police officers who were there that day. A few days ago I watched from my window as an endless stream of marathoners ran past, cheered on by the masses of people who’d showed up to watch despite the drizzly day. I live just a couple of miles from the finish line in Copley Square, so people were looking pretty haggard but thrilled as they passed me. It’s […]

“If I’m going down, I’m taking it with me. M.A.D., bitch. I’m up for Mutually Assured Destruction – if that’s what it takes.”

The Library of the Dead by TL Huchu

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Ropa, a teenage ghost-talker, is too intent on making a living to work for free. But when a ghost begs for her to seek out her missing son, she gets drawn into the magical underworld of Edinburgh and uncovers the grisly truth. Astonishingly, I have finally read a physical book! This is a series I’ve been eying for a while, and honestly I’m not sure why it took so long to get into it. Ropa is a snarky lead with a strong narrative voice; it […]

The 1813 Wallflower Club

How to Woo a Wallflower by Virginia Heath

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Finally making her debut after a long recovery from a horse-riding accident, Hattie is relegated to the wallflower chairs – but at least her brother’s rakish best friend, Jasper, is there to keep her company. This might have been the oldest remnant on my NetGalley shelf that I’ve yet swept off – while I like this genre and this author, I never seemed to get into the mood for it. I had the idea that this would be a straightforward Regency romance, and the book […]

Harper, have you considered… therapy?

Harper and the Single Dad by Amy Andrews

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After an abrupt breakup with Yarran, Harper fled to London and immersed herself in her career as a surgeon. When she returns to Sydney twelve years later, it almost feels like things between her and Yarran haven’t changed at all – except that Yarran has been married, widowed, and had a young son in that time. I pick up Harlequin romances to read when I am in the mood for a simple, comforting romance, and this book did not fail me in that regard. A […]



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