Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Your hand is unconscionably soft, Miss Eversea”

What I Did for a Duke by Julie Anne Long

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In the comments of my review of two contemporary age gap romances, Daddy Crush and Your Dad Will Do, Mrs. Julien reminded me of What I Did for a Duke. I first reviewed this back in 2015 and looking back at my review all I really see is how much I valued (and continue to value) Malin and Mrs. Julien. This book is a tour de force and I don’t think I appreciated that the first time I read it. I haven’t reread any of […]

My first Ilona Andrews was a success!

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Malin gave me this book several years ago in the CBR Book Exchange, promising that I would like it. And then I proceeded to not read it for a very long time. In my defense, it’s one of 215 (as of June 2018) books on my physical and digital bookshelves that I own but have yet to read. One of my reading goals for 2018 was to make a serious dent in my already-owned books, and that included reading all of the books I’ve gotten in the […]

Making It Up as They Go Along

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CBR10 is my seventh year participating in Cannonball Read, and in that time I feel comfortable saying that I’ve made a space for myself as a reviewer of romance books. I review all the romance I read because I believe firmly that everyone should read what they want, read what they like, and have someone pointing the way for them. We have our lead dogs of this pack (#BlameMalin) and we have the “hobbyists” (me). One of the greatest gifts of Cannonball Read is finding […]

I Don’t Need the New York Times to Give Me Permission to Think Critically About a Billion Dollar Genre, When They So Obviously Cannot

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One sometimes needs a palate cleanser. If that one is me, that is almost always a Romance novel. I am one of the millions of people who read, enjoy, and think about the genre, its tropes, and look forward to the reliability of a happy ending. (With the exception of a few descriptors I am an amazingly average Romance reader.) The world around us is falling apart quicker than we can patch the cracks. Sometimes we need to refuel with a guarantee. I finished this […]

Robert Gottlieb and the New York Times Book Review Can Kiss My Romance Reading Ass

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This may be more rant than review. Go buy the book, it’s good. I had this whole other review written and I expected to publish it Wednesday morning. It talked a little bit about how great Cannonballers are and some #BlameMalin jokes. I reviewed the book. I was debating a spoiler section at the bottom where I could talk about what I really loved. And then I read a tweet from The Ripped Bodice about Robert Gottlieb’s fabulously condescending “round up” of Romance books. I’ve […]

“I read romance to experience hope.”

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A note before we get started: I am reviewing both parts of Emily Foster’s duology The Belhaven Series. I will likely get a bit spoilery about these two books, as their author set out to do an interesting thing, and did it. These books were on my radar because of Malin’s reviews from last year (#BlameMalin). Well, specifically her review of the first book, How Not to Fall. I was particularly intrigued by the fact that the book ends both on a cliffhanger, and that […]



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