Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Brazen Desperation

The Only Honest Man in London by Lynne Connolly

by Leave a Comment

CBR 14 Bingo: Dough Money – specifically the lack of it – is a driving force in this book. After a rocky start, Viola and Gerald become close friends – and could perhaps become more. But the actions of their sister and best friend threatens to throw everything into complete disarray. Despite the Pride and Prejudice-esque elements of the plot, what really drew me to this story was Viola’s disability. I’m always on the lookout for differently-abled heroes and heroines in my romances, especially historical […]

An English Summer

Get Your Duke On by Kathryn Le Veque, Chasity Bowlin, Alexa Aston, Maggi Andersen, Meara Platt, Mary Lancaster, Caroline Lee, Elizabeth Johns, Cerise DeLand, Bianca Blythe, Nadine Millard, Amy Jarecki, Sofie Darling, Merry Farmer

by Leave a Comment

CBR 14 Bingo: Heart There is a lot of romance, folks. It’s summer in Regency England, and there is lots of romance to go around – for there are many dukes on the lookout for a wife! I love a good anthology. They’re a nice way to dive into variations on theme, sure, but even better they are a sampler for various authors, and a good way to find new ones. And considering I had never read any of the authors here, I was certain […]

“People feel more comfortable talkin’ about mental health than they have in the past, but it’s still easy to feel alone when you’re in the thick of it.”

Bet On It by Jodie Slaughter

by Leave a Comment

I requested this book from NetGalley specifically because of its Anxiety and Complex PTSD representation. On those fronts this book worked aces for me. The internal lives of Jodie Slaughter’s characters worked exceedingly well for me as a reader. I thought it was very thoughtful about the way mental health struggles were portrayed as part of the overall story, and as a driving factor in that story. Because it is a driving factor, the leads could understand that part of each other’s experience and be […]

The Stickiest of Sticks

The Undaunted by Kate Archer

by Leave a Comment

CBR 14 Bingo: Cozy An Heyer-esque read, this book has minimal angst, maintains cheer, and ends happily all round. Caroline is the latest of the young women to be presented by the Society of Sponsoring Ladies, but being set loose on the scandalous city of Brighton may end up too much for her reputation. Of course I snapped this book up on NetGalley as soon as it became available – I’ve been really enjoying this series, and it turns out that this is probably my […]

Anti-Semites Get Theirs

Gangsters vs. Nazis: How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in Wartime America by Michael Benson

by 1 Comment

CBR 14 Bingo: Bodies Bodies hit the floor a whole lot of times, if not permanently. With Nazism on the rise in 1930s America, protected by free speech laws, a Jewish judge sets out to deal with them in the only way he knows how – by setting gangsters on them. I’m not big on WW2 stories, mostly because I feel like the market is rather oversaturated. But rather perversely I’m still always on the lookout for unique stories in this setting, because those stories […]

“You ever see somebody ruin their own life?/ His poor wife.”

The Scandalous Hamiltons: A Gilded Age Grifter, a Founding Father's Disgraced Descendant, and a Trial at the Dawn of Tabloid Journalism by Bill Shaffer

by Leave a Comment

CBR 14 Bingo: Scandal The yellow papers screamed scandalous headlines in this case of stabbings, baby trafficking, and mysterious deaths. When Ray Hamilton’s wife is arrested for stabbing the family’s wet nurse, a great deal of scandalous truth comes out – namely, that the child is not his, nor hers. I have not seen that seminal musical Hamilton, but I had read the doorstopper of a book it was based on. While I knew all about the successes and scandals of Alexander Hamilton’s life, I had […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo