Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror

Pointe of Pride by Chloe Angyal

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I’ve been waiting for Pointe of Pride since shortly after Pas de Don’t came out. It did not disappoint. I had so much fun reading.  Carly and Nick have strong Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy vibes with their prides and their prejudices (masking insecurities) acting as barriers. They have a meet disaster and initially show each other their worst sides. And then Carly hears Nick talking about her in a less than complimentary way. Neither is in a good place emotionally at the start of the book. Carly feels like […]

A love note to romance novels and healthy masculinity

Fake Flame by Adele Buck

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In the past few years it has been very difficult for me to read and review new to me authors without a deadline imposed externally. As a result, I have a whole bunch of books I really want to read, but I struggle to focus on them unless they are an arc with a looming publication date. Anyway, I was thrilled to see Adele Buck’s Fake Flame on NetGalley because I’m pretty sure I own all her books and have read none of them. My […]

There is a day after calamity

You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

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One of the most cruelly banal and gloriously affirming things about life is that it keeps on going after we’ve suffered something catastrophic. Cat Sebastian has written a string of dummies in love stories, but this is not that, though she remains strong on atmosphere and feeling. In You Should Be So Lucky, Eddie and Mark are each going through their own catastrophe when they meet. Eddie’s catastrophe is playing out in front of crowds and on TV. Mark’s is so private he can count on […]

Jackie Lau gets meta

Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie by Jackie Lau

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Jackie Lau has made her main character, Emily Hung, a LitFic author, which results in some meta commentary about the current state of publishing, especially for an Asian-Canadian author who is doing ok, but not charging up the charts. She’s got a three book contract, but she’s working two other jobs, and sharing an apartment. She’s feeling disrespected by her family, especially her mother, who keeps throwing Mark F’ing Chan at her head. After the two don’t hit it off at Emily’s youngest sister’s wedding, […]

People like Gen came only a few times in life and I’d learned the hard way not to ever waste those moments.

Out of Office by A.H. Cunningham

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A.H. Cunningham’s Afro-Caribbean Black romance, Out of Office, is gorgeous. The settings are lush. The emotions are lush. The story is rich in culture. Cunningham has delivered a thoughtful and spicy contemporary romance that grapples with how to live in a world that demands constant production. Gabriella is an up and comer at a hotel/resort chain based in Miami. Her mother is well known for mentoring Black women on corporate success and she expects Gabriella to rise to the top. Adrián has already had a taste […]

A Jewish Gender-flipped Snow White Historical Romance

Wake Me Most Wickedly by Felicia Grossman

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Wake Me Most Wickedly, the second in Felicia Grossman’s gender-flipped fairy tale retelling, but make it a Jewish histrom series, is a darker story than the first, Marry Me by Midnight, which was a gender-flipped Cinderella. It makes sense, Cinderella was forced into a life of servitude by her step mother, but Snow White’s step-mother* tried to kill her repeatedly. Between the repeated attacks on Solomon’s life and Hannah’s life lived on the edge of danger, this was a tense read. I liked it. Solomon Weiss […]



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