Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Worth your time, but maybe not the lingering headache

The Treatment by Mo Hayder

by Leave a Comment

Crime fiction is an odd thing. Visit your average thriller-horror-Facebook group and you’ll regularly find people looking for books that portray the extremes of human behaviour. “The sicker the better”, as they put it. Weirdly, The Treatment by Mo Hayder is not one that pops up very often – possibly because it’s about 20 years old – but in all honesty, this book is intense. We didn’t believe in Trigger Warnings in 2022 but this book could do with a couple of them.  On a […]

“Winston was the only person Randolph truly loved.”

Churchill & Son by Josh Ireland

by Leave a Comment

If I say “this book was a lot better than I thought it was going to be,” I definitely run the risk of sounding rude, but I was very pleasantly surprised by Churchill & Son. I’m not a politics book type of person, as I tend to find them too dry, but Ireland has written a very engaging and interesting book that deals with a lot of politics in a readable and nuanced way. I was never bored or forcing myself to push through a section […]

It’s Set in Scotland. Of Course it’s Bleak.

Knots and Crosses (Inspecor Rebus #1) by Ian Rankin

by Leave a Comment

Edinburgh, 1986. A number of young girls disappear. They’re abducted seemingly randomly, strangled and their corpses abandoned. All of Edinburgh’s police force is on top of it and so is John Rebus, a chain smoking, hard drinking former marine who now works as a burnt-out office drone for Edinburgh’s constabulary. It’s not that he doesn’t care, but the work he does is monotonous and neverending, and he’s far away from the action – at least, he thinks so. But someone keeps sending him letters, letters […]

I’d rather not

Look for me by Lisa Gardner

by Leave a Comment

On a pleasant spring day, Detective D.D. Warren is called in from a day out with her husband and son to investigate a quadruple homicide. A family of four has been shot and killed in their home. A fifth member, eldest daughter Roxy, is still missing along with the family’s two dogs. As she’s seen fleeing the crime scene, the question immediately rises whether Roxy escaped in a panic, or whether she’s involved with the murder.  Let me start with the essential part here: the […]

Not all rainbows in these celebrity memoirs

We're Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union

Handbook for an Unpredictable Life: How I Survived Sister Renata and My Crazy Mother, and Still Came Out Smiling (with Great Hair) by Rosie Perez

by Leave a Comment

I read We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union for my last in-person Mocha Girls Read meeting in March. This memoir is a collection of moments that are mostly linear with some flashbacks. Unlike Becoming, the chapters are not as detailed about her early childhood. The book is all about keeping it real and reflecting on her past with levity. We learn about her family and how she at a young age she looked after herself. With no supervision, Gabrielle got up to some […]

terrific writing about terrible things

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

by Leave a Comment

Trigger Warning: please read the tags before deciding to read this review and/or book. If you feel that you can read this book, then you must. If you feel that you cannot, I will pass no judgement. Perhaps you have heard of the drama surrounding this release. American Dirt was climbing the charts and dominating the controversy  conversation when My Dark Vanessa tip-toed in and threw a hat into the ring. There was an implication of plagiarism from a woman who wrote a memoir about being groomed and […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo