Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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monologuing at the mouth of madness

The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell

January 11, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

A strong opening pulls us directly into the spooky fold; a seamstress with a secret hurls herself from a very important man’s very high attic window. The House on Vesper Sands has all of the hallmarks of a Victorian throw-back; mazes of manners, decrepit mansions, and gin-soaked police populate a scuzzy world of destitute working girls, complicated family histories, and genteel young men all-aflutter. The Spiritualist movement is in full-swing and a cloaked and creepy group of “Spiriters” may be responsible for a rash of […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense Tagged With: ARC, crime, detective, galley, gothic, historical fiction, murder, Paraic O'Donnell, paranormal, tin house, tin house galley club, victorian england

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR13 Review No:5 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense · Tags: ARC, crime, detective, galley, gothic, historical fiction, murder, Paraic O'Donnell, paranormal, tin house, tin house galley club, victorian england ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

A little rocky on this fake exes hosting a radio show romance novel but I liked it overall.

The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon

December 31, 2020 by narfna Leave a Comment

Thanks to Berkeley and Netgalley for the Advanced Reader’s Copy. This book and I went on a ride together. It didn’t really gel with me at first, but by the end, there was more of it that charmed me and worked for me than that didn’t. I will definitely read more books from this author going forward. The premise here is that Shay has been a radio producer at a public radio station in Seattle for ten years, and wunderkind Dominic is fresh out of […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Romance Tagged With: advanced reader copy, ARC, Contemporary Romance, narfna, NetGalley, public radio, Rachel Lynn Solomon, Romance, the ex talk

narfna's CBR12 Review No:197 · Genres: Fiction, Romance · Tags: advanced reader copy, ARC, Contemporary Romance, narfna, NetGalley, public radio, Rachel Lynn Solomon, Romance, the ex talk ·
Rating:
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A first impression can often be misleading

Her Pretend Christmas Date by Jackie Lau

December 28, 2020 by Malin Leave a Comment

Disclaimer! I was given an ARC of this book by the author. That has in no way influenced my review. Julie Tam’s sister Charlotte is an engineer and has an outgoing and charming boyfriend, the guy who lived next door when they were young. She is everything their parents could want. Meanwhile, Julie works as a waitress in a Cider Bar and designs her own jewelry. She goes on a blind date with Tom Yeung, which starts out badly and ends even worse. Tom is a […]

Filed Under: Cooking/Food, Fiction, Romance Tagged With: ARC, Canada, cbr12, Cider Bar Sisters, Contemporary Romance, Her Pretend Christmas Date, Jackie Lau, Malin, novella, small town life

Malin's CBR12 Review No:89 · Genres: Cooking/Food, Fiction, Romance · Tags: ARC, Canada, cbr12, Cider Bar Sisters, Contemporary Romance, Her Pretend Christmas Date, Jackie Lau, Malin, novella, small town life ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

The Bearmuda Triangle

A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears) by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

November 20, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos 2 Comments

Something this dire – a town of people so opposed to paying taxes that they become a country-wide hotspot for bear attacks – should not be this funny. Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling carefully walks the line between Bill Bryson and a VICE documentarian while spinning this wild story of a Free Town and the beasts- man and animal alike, within. This collection of people, carefully and deliberately documented by Hongoltz-Hetling, shoot themselves in the foot so many times and with such ferocity that it is amazing the […]

Filed Under: Comedy/Humor, Non-Fiction Tagged With: a libertarian walks into a bear, ARC, bears, free state project, free town project, Grafton, Libertarians, Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling, modern history, NetGalley, New Hampshire, politics, Reporting, Small town, sociology

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR12 Review No:121 · Genres: Comedy/Humor, Non-Fiction · Tags: a libertarian walks into a bear, ARC, bears, free state project, free town project, Grafton, Libertarians, Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling, modern history, NetGalley, New Hampshire, politics, Reporting, Small town, sociology ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

“She wondered, for the thousandth time, who got to decide one tradition was right and another was wrong.”

The Butchers' Blessing by Ruth Gilligan

November 16, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

What makes a tradition a tradition? How and when do we pass from routine to ritual, and ritual to sacred rite? How do we decide what it kept, what is left behind, and what must be destroyed for the good of the future? Ruth Gilligan knows, but she will not give us any easy answers. Instead, she gives us snapshots; a literal photograph  sets us in motion, but glimpses into the life of “modern Ireland” connect the pieces by stringing one red knot to another. […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense Tagged With: 1996, animal husbandry, ARC, art, celtic tiger, end of the 20th century, folklore, gothic, historical fiction, Ireland, irish gothic, murder, mythology, photography, poverty, prejudice, rural poor, ruth gilligan, shankill butchers, the butchers, the butchers' curse, tin house, tin house galley club, tradition

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR12 Review No:120 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense · Tags: 1996, animal husbandry, ARC, art, celtic tiger, end of the 20th century, folklore, gothic, historical fiction, Ireland, irish gothic, murder, mythology, photography, poverty, prejudice, rural poor, ruth gilligan, shankill butchers, the butchers, the butchers' curse, tin house, tin house galley club, tradition ·
Rating:
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It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad…House

It Will Just Be Us by Jo Kaplan

November 11, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

A knock at the door. A series of frantic knocks at the door. Yes, It Will Just Be Us  nearly starts with “it was a dark and stormy night”. Our narrator, Sam, is a down-and-out adjunct professor of archeology barely hanging onto her sanity. After a series of upsetting events, we find her moving back to her crumbling, ancestral mansion in on the edge of a foreboding Virginia swamp. The mansion is, for all intents and purposes, haunted. It’s haunted by the living specter of her […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Horror Tagged With: animal abuse, ARC, Domestic Abuse, dysfunctional family, ghosts, grief, Haunted House, it will just be us, Jo Kaplan, madness, NetGalley, paranormal, Slavery, Southern Gothic, suicide, Virginia

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR12 Review No:116 · Genres: Fiction, Horror · Tags: animal abuse, ARC, Domestic Abuse, dysfunctional family, ghosts, grief, Haunted House, it will just be us, Jo Kaplan, madness, NetGalley, paranormal, Slavery, Southern Gothic, suicide, Virginia ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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