Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A companion to find creative and personal freedom

The Companion by E.E. Ottoman

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The Companion by E.E. Ottoman is a queer historical romance featuring a trio of trans characters. Madeline is invited to stay with Victor as his companion. The city and the literary scene of 1949 haven’t been kind to a woman like her. Victor comes off as intense, writing the day away in his secluded room. He is sometimes short but always adamant about welcoming her in his unique way. His home is big enough for them to write in separate corners without disturbing each other. He […]

the great 2022 Bingo Catch-Up!

Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby

A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djeli Clark

From Hollywood, With Love by Scott Meslow

The Companion by E.E. Ottoman

My Mother, She Killed Me, My Father, He Ate Me by Kate Bernheimer

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It wouldn’t be CBR Bingo without me frantically catching up on everything I read but was too distracted to write about, now would it? Square: Cold – Fool Moon – DNF This is it, folks- my first DNF in YEARS! I just couldn’t do it. I started this book way back in JANUARY, and despite multiple formats and multiple tries, I just can’t do it. I know there’s a mythical “it gets better” carrot hanging out past the fourth entry, but I just don’t have […]

Inclusive Romance FTW

The Companion by EE Ottoman

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I don’t read much in the realm of romance (no disrespect to the genre, just not for me) but I made an exception when looking for a book to read during an indulgent post-pandemic vacation. (I know, the pandemic is not over, but so far this summer feels like a reprieve and a step toward how things used to be.) And The Companion (2021) by EE Ottoman fit the bill for a breezy, escapist vacation read. The plot is straightforward–Madeleine Slaughter, physically and spiritually depleted by […]

“We look after each other.”

The Companion by E.E. Ottoman

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This book is the equivalent of drinking a hot cup of tea while sitting on a screened-in porch full of plants: it’s as cozy, gentle and relaxing as the cover suggests. Demoralized by the publishing industry in late 1940s New York City, Madeline accepts an invitation to be a companion for Victor in upstate New York. He’s a mystery writer who inherited a large house and enough money where he never has to leave it: he gets his groceries and newspaper delivered. But spending all […]

I Wanted to be the Enchantress of the Woods, Beautiful, Powerful , and Wild

The Companion by E.E. Ottoman

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I joke sometimes that I wish I could turn into my great grandmother with her big kitchen table at which she turned produce into preserves with such competence. EE Ottoman’s The Companion is really tapping into that desire. It’s also reminding me that Granny canned fruits and vegetables so that her family would have enough to eat, not because she thought it was fun. Set in 1949, Madeline Slaughter is on her way to a small town in up-state New York, exhausted and demoralized from trying […]



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