Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A little disappointing

Something Wilder by Christina Lauren

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I’ve read and enjoyed two books by Christina Lauren*: The True Love Experiment and The Soulmate Equation. So, I decided to go looking for more by them, and that’s when I found Something Wilder (2022). I was excited to read this one because Christina Lauren had already proven themselves to me, and because this book takes place in Canyonlands National Park. I love Utah, and I also love a good romantic adventure, so I had high expectations when I began listening to this audiobook. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this […]

Tinder, but for true love

The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren

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My first book by Christina Lauren (a writing duo using their first names) was The True Love Experiment, which I enjoyed. But The True Love Experiment was actually the second book involving these same people and places, and I decided I wanted to see how everything started. And it started with The Soulmate Equation (2021). While Fizzy is the main protagonist of The True Love Experiment, it is Fizzy’s best friend, Jess Davis, who finds love in The Soulmate Equation. Jess is a single mother who is devoted to her little girl, […]

Disney Reimagined for Grown-Ups

Tangled Up in You by Christina Lauren

If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy

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The first Meant To Be book I ever got was If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy. That’s because it was the first Meant To Be book at all, and as a religious reader of the Twisted Tales, I was curious what an adult contemporary line from Disney would look like. Of course, like many other things, it fell behind, and it wasn’t until a year or so later that I actually picked up a Meant To Be book—and this time it was By the Book by Jasmine […]

Like Pretty Woman in a tropical setting

The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

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CBR Bingo – Rings. Marriage. Caution: Spoilers. Anna Green and Liam “West” Weston were divorced and went their separate ways after they finished their studies at UCLA. Their sham marriage was just so they could get inexpensive housing on campus. Three years later, Anna finds herself with a fine arts degree, jobless, no prospects to sell her art, and saddled under her dad’s medical bills. She gets a surprise visit from West, the handsome, extremely wealthy heir apparent to the Weston Foods supermarket chain. West […]

Romance and Reality TV

The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren

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Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of writing partners and best friends, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. I didn’t know this book was by a writing team until after I finished, but it sounds like a fun idea. And then you get to do press with your best friend, which would be way more fun than traveling around the country by yourself. Anyway, they wrote The True Love Experiment (2023), a contemporary romance novel about a reality television dating show. Now, my husband and I have been a […]

(Most of) The Improbable Meet-Cute Collection

Rosie and the Dreamboat by Sally Thorne

Worst Wingman Ever by Abby Jiminez

Drop, Cover, and Hold On by Jasmine Guillory

The Exception to the Rule by Christina Lauren

With Any Luck by Ashley Poston

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“Improbable Meet Cute” is a great concept for a short story/not quite a novella collection! The “Amazon Original Stories” branding makes me nervous because it just screams “Do it for the publicity instead of the money because we said so!”,  so I made a point of paying for all five stories to support the authors. In reviewing them, I am tried to decide if they should be appreciated as a delightful, self-contained jewel or as something that leaves you wanting more like a  novella or even […]



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