Alyssa Cole – Page 3 – Cannonball Read 17

Field Guide to Queendom

How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole

May 6, 2021 by Emmalita 1 Comment

I think Alyssa Cole is really up there with Courtney Milan (5 steps ahead of me for sure), in thinking about and wringing all the juice out of romance tropes. How to Catch a Queen uses the arranged marriage trope to dive into toxic masculinity, patriarchy as governance, and recovering from the harms of Colonialism. I can always count on Cole for excellent mental health rep, and she brings it here. Shanti Mohapti might be my very favorite character created by Alyssa Cole, and that says […]

Assorted Short Fiction II

Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones

The AI Who Loved Me by Alyssa Cole

A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell

Yard Work by David Koepp

Anonymous by Uzodinma Iweala

There's a Giant Trapdoor Spider Under Your Bed by Edgar Cantero

The Remedy by Adam Haslett

Falls the Shadow by Skip Horack

Screwball by Simon Rich

The Beckoning Fair One by Dan Chaon

Q&A by Ben Winters

Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhry

Decorum at the Deathbed by Josh Malerman

April 2, 2021 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

Night of the Mannequins – 3/5 Stars – Stephen Graham Jones This is a newish novella from Stephen Graham Jones that you’ll have to roll with the bad title and go with it because it does some very interesting things. It has a significant flaw by the end, and the way I will describe that is that it either doesn’t trust the audience or trust itself to make the more interesting choice. The plot involves a group of teenagers, friends and frenemies, who friend works […]

“We are not your ornaments, we are your backbone.”

How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole

March 31, 2021 by Nart Leave a Comment

Do you love the Big Dumb Sadboy Fixed By Perfect Woman trope? Have you read and liked every retelling of Beauty and the Beast you’ve ever encountered? You’re going to love this book. Plot: Ever since she was a little girl, and saw the powerful, wise queen of Thabiso, commoner Shanti has had only one goal in life – to be a queen, but that is much easier said than done. Still, having unbendable determination and the support of her parents helps. Neighbouring country Njaza […]

Sadly, yet another Alyssa Cole hero kind of unworthy of his heroine

How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole

March 25, 2021 by Malin 3 Comments

3.5 stars Official book description: When Shanti Mohapi weds the king of Njaza, her dream of becoming a queen finally comes true. But it’s nothing like she imagined. Shanti and her husband may share an immediate and powerful attraction, but her subjects see her as an outsider, and everything she was taught about being the perfect wife goes disastrously wrong. A king must rule with an iron fist, and newly crowned King Sanyu was born perfectly fitted for the gauntlet, even if he wishes […]

I got behind again

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

The Unsuitable by Molly Pohlig

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott

March 23, 2021 by lowercasesee 3 Comments

Doozy of a post coming up because I got way behind whoops. We’ll start with my favorite of the bunch but these are all honestly 3 stars and above, some solid reads here. When No One Is Watching, by Alyssa Cole A gentrification thriller that feels all too plausible and is also a way to learn about the history and impact of gentrification without feeling preached at (I do a lot of preaching). It could be easy to call this a “what if gentrification was […]

The princess epidemiologist fairy tale that is rather topical right now

A Princess in Theory: Reluctant Royals by Alyssa Cole

February 19, 2021 by Dome'Loki Leave a Comment

In November, my favorite independent bookstore was celebrating Small Business Saturday with promotional items depending on how much you spend. I was a short hop away from the goal I wanted and decided to get A Princess in Theory because I had enjoyed A Prince on Paper, which I acquired during the Cannonball book sale last year, and was curious to read more by Cole. What I didn’t realize when I read A Prince on Paper was that it was the third book in Cole’s “Reluctant Royals” series. […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

Help Our Mission