Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“If I had to get there without friends, I could do it. Had been doing it. I’d never met anyone who brought me somewhere I wanted to stay, looked at me and saw someone I wanted to be for good; anyone who was worth giving up the more I wanted down the line.”

The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #5) by Tana French

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This is still my least favorite Dublin Murder book, but I found a little something more in it this time. I was actually kind of dreading revisiting this one, because the prospect of getting inside all those teenage girls’ heads just felt like way too much to handle at the moment. I used to be a teenaged girl, and I do not miss it. French is such a good writer, so evocative, that I just knew it was going to bring me right back to […]

Have I told you about my lord and savior, Tana French? (Bingo – Shelfie)

Faithful Place by Tana French

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I heart Tana French. If someone gives me a blanketed, “I’m looking for a book to read” I typically check to see if they like thrillers and if so, start bellowing “Tana French Tana French Tana Freeeeeench.” I own all of her Dublin Murder Series, shown here (if you squint). Behold, the rad bookshelf that my husband built! It goes around three of the four walls of this room. I looove it because it a) saves space b) displays our books in a fun way […]

Even better on re-read.

Broken Harbor (Dublin Murder Squad, #4) by Tana French

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This is one of my favorites from this series, and I’m kicking myself for not writing this review immediately upon finishing it for the second time, because I got something different out of it this time than I did on my first read. But I don’t remember what that was! The only notes I left myself consisted of the temporary review I left over on Goodreads, which read, “This one whomped me good.” So helpful. Maybe it was something about Scorcher and his black and […]

Behold: Your Quarantimes Binge Read

In the Woods by Tana French

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“In these trying times” (said with solemn radio announcer voice) it is hard to focus on anything and reading has been a bit of an uphill climb for me. I want something that’s a bit of a distraction, something I can sink my teeth into. There is one unread Tana French book that I currently own and I’ve been saving it because she is THE BEST but then, once I read it, I have no more waiting in the reads (sob). My husband suggested I […]

“My father told me once that the most important thing every man should know is what he would die for.”

Faithful Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #3) by Tana French

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This was even better the second time. I think this might actually be the most balanced of all the books, in terms of tragedy vs. hope. In the Woods is just tragic all around, as is Broken Harbour, and The Likeness is still too full of Cassie’s grief over her partnership/friendship with Rob, and with what happens in the actual book, for it to feel much like a win when she gets proposed to by Sam. But here, devastating things happen to Frank (happened to Frank 22 years before), […]

“I found out early that you can throw yourself away, missing what you’ve lost.”

The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad, #2) by Tana French

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Four years later and in a different format, this book is still great. I always do audiobooks on my first reads of Tana French’s books. There’s something very satisfying about listening to someone telling you their innermost feelings, as her books do like no other, and the audio format only enhances that for me. But I’ve been doing paper copies on my re-reads, and that’s an interesting experience too. It takes it more out of the feelings and into the craft of it (the feelings […]



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