Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“He couldn’t bring himself to look directly at her. Her gown was the color of daylight just before sunset; if he looked at her too long, he feared he might be left blind once she was gone.”

The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan

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For my Bingo Gateway Square, I decided on a personal Gateway and one that I would recommend to others. The Governess Affair was my on ramp into the writing of Courtney Milan (and her near perfect Brothers Sinister series) and it’s been a love affair for the past six years. As for others, this lovely little novella is good for a general introduction to romance and romance novellas specifically. I struggle often with reading novellas or short stories – too often for my liking the […]

A new year, an old friend of a book.

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I had promised myself a reread of A Kiss for Midwinter this Christmas, however I didn’t get to it until this weekend, but that doesn’t matter since its a very quick read. It is Mrs. Julien’s favorite novella, possibly of all time, and one that I really enjoyed, but always felt like I was missing something. I think I’m still missing something, but this is definitely a 4.5 star book for me, and proves that Milan is fantastic at novellas (not that I didn’t already […]

“I thought he was a centipede. Where did he get tentacles?” “The tentacle store. Stop interrupting.”

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Once again, I’m one of the last ones to jump on the Courtney Milan bandwagon. Last year, Milan was an author I had never heard of, writing books in a genre that I knew nothing about. And then I followed the advice of my fellow Cannonballers and read her Brothers Sinister series — and I really liked them. Milan was a good writer who really appreciated history and strong women. This year, the buzz was all about Milan’s entry into the contemporary, New Adult genre, and her […]

Ladies’ Man, Man’s Man, Man About Town

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The Brothers Sinister series has come to an end for me, and it’s unfortunate that it goes out with a bit of a whimper. I have loved reading this series – it has contained some of my absolute favorite romances and delightful characters while also being a beacon for what quality historical fiction (romantic or not) can and should be. I have spread these seven works out over the course of nearly a year – I read The Governess Affair in late July of 2014 […]

“No. When I was a girl, I wanted to be a pirate.”

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As has become my tradition in reviewing Courtney Milan’s Brother Sinister books I was on the lookout for the trope that Ms. Milan had turned on its head. In The Duchess War the male protagonist shows the insecurities which would typically be portrayed by the female protagonist. In The Heiress Effect the ‘damsels in distress’ save themselves. And in The Countess Conspiracy the gentleman at the center of the story works to move forward the career aspirations of his lady love. All of these are […]

“We can’t help being the most interesting people in the room.”

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In my past reviews of the main novels in Courtney Milan’s Brothers Sinister series I’ve enjoyed talking about the different tropes that Ms. Milan has turned on their heads in this landmark series. In The Duchess War the male protagonist shows the insecurities that one would typically expect in the female protagonist. In The Heiress Effect the ‘damsels in distress’ save themselves. This trend continues in The Countess Conspiracy as the gentleman at the center of the story puts his considerable efforts to work putting […]



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