Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

the challenges of an author’s back catalogue

The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles

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CW: suicides (in the past), suicidal actions/ideation (but it’s made clear that it’s a curse which is making the character feel that way), homophobia, mentions of assault, mentions of incest, magic which saps a character’s life energy, and also some magical manipulation of emotions which I found hard to get behind Bereft of Will Darling, I thought I’d give Charles’ back catalog a perusal. While I really enjoyed this novel, there’s a central premise that I felt it hard to get over. As such, I’ve […]

“I like the way he says ‘furthermore’,” Merrick observed quietly. “Cos you can tell he means ‘wankers’.”

Flight of Magpies (A Charm of Magpies, #3) by K.J. Charles

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All in all, this series has not been my personal favorite from K.J. Charles, but I’d still call it very good. In Flight of Magpies, plotlines and arcs that have been building since book one finally are resolved. Crane wants to leave the country with Stephen more and more every day. He’s chafing at England’s restrictive society, and he’d rather be away from reminders of his family legacy and obligations, as all they do is remind him of how terrible his life used to be. […]

Victorian fantasy horror mystery romance. PSA: Currently $0.99 on Kindle.

The Magpie Lord (A Charm of Magpies, #1) by K.J. Charles

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Really liked this! You can barely tell that this was her first book. It was pretty short, and for the most part that was fine, but there were parts where she sums up conversations instead of showing them, where I wanted her to actually show them. There’s a significant story that Crane tells Stephen about how he got his tattoos, and we don’t get to hear it at all! She also glossed over their initial bonding and friendship. But other than that, this was actually […]

A Reluctant Inappropriate Earl

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Warning: Contains hot m/m sex between a deeply inappropriate earl and a very confused magician, dark plots in a magical version of Victorian England, family values (not the good kind), and a lot of swearing. This was such a magical, steamy, witty, entertaining read!  Having read a couple M/M historical romance by Cat Sebastian, I was prompted by Ellepkay to check out Ms Charles books.  Thanks for that recommendation – I wasn’t disappointed!  This first book in the series had me hooked pretty much from […]

There really are a LOT of magpies in this book

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Lucien Vaudry, Lord Crane, has returned to England after a twenty year exile in China because he’s inherited an earldom he never wanted. He’s not at all sorry his father and brother are dead, his brother Hector was a particularly nasty character, and their father covered up all his grievous misdeeds. There appears to be a curse on the Crane family, however, and having claimed the lives of his father and brother, it’s Lucien’s turn next. He needs magical assistance, and fast, before he commits […]



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