Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

My new favorite Emily Henry book.

Funny Story by Emily Henry

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“What do we love?” “Your fake relationship,” Ashleigh says. “Well, I don’t,” I say. “Now there’s no good way to get out of it. I mean, when we ‘break up,’ Peter will get to feel smug and superior about that. “That’s no problem,” Miles says, pouring a taste of white wine for each of us. “All we have to do is get married, and then stay together until they split up. And if they have kids, just have one more than them. If they get a dog, we get a […]

Muffins & Murder

Leather & Lark by Brynne Weaver

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I’m not usually a fan of Contemporary Romance novels – I do love a good romance subplot, and I’ve slowly been getting into reading Romantasy lately (with mixed results) – but I somehow ended up reading Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver earlier this year. The premise was intriguing (two serial killers fall in love!), and I enjoyed it far more than I expected to – it was gross and exciting (in a fun way, yay cannibalism!) and I loved the characters and the way […]

“God, if she caught feelings, she was going to have to kick her own ass.”

Role Playing by Cathy Yardley

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4.5 stars CBR16 Sweet Books: Cozy 48-year-old Maggie’s son has recently moved away to college and now she’s stuck in the big house she got in the divorce some years earlier, in a town where she barely knows anyone. She’s unapologetically grumpy and doesn’t actually want to expand her social circle. She worries about her son in college, however, and keeps trying to challenge him to socialise and make friends. He turns the table on her and demands that she do the same. She has […]

“Everyone is naked under everything.”

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

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Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review.. Okay, now that I’m sitting down to actually review this book, I can no longer remember why I didn’t bump my 4.5 rating up to 5 . . . so I’m just going to do that right now. There. Fixed. (To be clear, this is still a 4.5 until I can re-read, but it’s living so pleasantly in my mind right now and I’m still laughing about the […]

“There’s a whole universe in her and I would be so lucky to live in it, explore it. Over and over.”

Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola

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The voice in this was fantastic. Also terrific? The plotting, the emotional arcs of these characters, the way she develops the main characters’ relationship with scene after scene of conversation. Not to mention the great side characters, the effortless queer rep, the handling of black culture on an overwhelmingly white liberal arts college in England, the radio element, and the female friendships. Honey & Spice follows Kiki Banjo (amazing name), a sophomore at a university in England and host of her own radio show, Brown Sugar. […]

“And isn’t it just so pretty to think / All along there was some invisible string / Tying you to me?”

Really Good, Actually (2023) by Monica Heisey

Romantic Comedy (2023) by Curtis Sittenfeld

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Really Good, Actually (2023) by Monica Heisey I came across Monica Heisey on Caroline O’Donoghue’s podcast Sentimental Garbage, in an episode on ‘Break-Ups’, and then found out that Heisey had been a writer on Schitt’s Creek, which I love enough that I wrote an academic chapter on it and still managed to love it afterwards. Really Good, Actually, does not at all have a Schitt’s Creek vibe, which is good! We love a versatile creative type! It’s about Maggie and her post-divorce malaise at the […]



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