Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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Literary fiction that I actually liked

Flashlight by Susan Choi

June 22, 2025 by Ellesfena Leave a Comment

The Book: It’s kind of hard to say what Flashlight is about. The summary makes it sound almost like a mystery: Louisa and her father take a walk on the beach, and hours later, she is found soaking wet and half-drowned, and he is nowhere to be found and presumed drowned. But most of the book is less concerned with this mystery than with the complicated family dynamics at play between the four main characters. Louisa’s father, Serk, is Korean, although he was born in […]

Filed Under: Featured, Fiction, History Tagged With: family saga, Japan, North Korea, susan choi

Ellesfena's CBR17 Review No:4 · Genres: Featured, Fiction, History · Tags: family saga, Japan, North Korea, susan choi ·
· 0 Comments

Highwaywomen, Smugglers, Ghosts, and Dukes

Moonstruck Madness by Laurie McBain

Chance The Winds of Fortune by Laurie McBain

Dark Before the Rising Sun by Laurie McBain

February 1, 2024 by Pooja Leave a Comment

Moonstruck Madness – 4.5 stars (Aug 2022) Sabrina is a lady by day, but by night she rides as a highwayman, trying to keep her family afloat. When she clashes with the Duke of Camareigh, her schemes begin to unravel. There is not as much swashbuckling adventure as you usually get in these old bodice rippers, but that was more than made up for by the genuinely strong-willed heroine and her rather sensible reasons for clashing with the hero. Lucien is rather arrogant though, and […]

Filed Under: Featured, Fiction, History, Romance Tagged With: cornwall, England, family saga, Georgian, historical, Laurie McBain, mystery, Romance, smuggling, war, West Indies

Pooja's CBR16 Review No:13 · Genres: Featured, Fiction, History, Romance · Tags: cornwall, England, family saga, Georgian, historical, Laurie McBain, mystery, Romance, smuggling, war, West Indies ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“It’s really most remarkable how the human race is so seldom satisfied with what it’s got. Give a man the world and he’s still pining for the moon.”

Penmarric by Susan Howatch

September 23, 2023 by Pooja Leave a Comment

CBR15 Bingo – Relation”ships”: The many overlapping relationships between the Castallacks and Roslyns, both familial and romantic, drive much of the action of the book forward. When Mark Castallack takes gloomy Penmarric as his home and Janna Roslyn as his wife, he sets a massive family drama into motion. This is one of those sprawling family sagas in which there are a lot of beautiful, dramatic, maladjusted people. The fun of Penmarric though is that it’s also a transposition of the story of Henry II, Eleanor […]

Filed Under: Fiction, History Tagged With: cbr15bingo, drama, family saga, historical, Romance, Susan Howatch

Pooja's CBR15 Review No:67 · Genres: Fiction, History · Tags: cbr15bingo, drama, family saga, historical, Romance, Susan Howatch ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

This Family Tree is a Wreath!

Katie Mulholland by Catherine Cookson

June 16, 2023 by Pooja 2 Comments

Katie Mulholland, the young scullery maid at a grand house, finds her life thrown into a tailspin when she is assaulted by her employer on the night of his engagement ball. I have an inexplicable love of old mass market paperbacks – especially pulpy books that originally sold for about a dollar that I never heard of before. So when my friend informed me that my local bookstore had an entire subterranean secondhand section, I obviously set off in search of most obscure, yellowing books […]

Filed Under: Fiction, History, Romance Tagged With: Catherine Cookson, England, family saga, historical, Romance, vintage

Pooja's CBR15 Review No:42 · Genres: Fiction, History, Romance · Tags: Catherine Cookson, England, family saga, historical, Romance, vintage ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

Obviously You Should Shoot the Intruder in Your Hidden Pool

The Proud Breed by Celeste de Blasis

February 2, 2023 by Pooja Leave a Comment

After an unexpected encounter by a hidden pool, Tessa and Gavin fall in love, but their lives together in a rapidly developing California will not be easy. Before this book I’d only read de Blasis’s Wild Swan trilogy, and it was glad to see that we see some of the same hallmarks here – strong, complex characters with an undeniable connection, no matter how many times they might fall away from each other for a time. In fact, I might argue that Tessa was a […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: American Civil War, california, Celeste de Blasis, family saga, historical, Romance

Pooja's CBR15 Review No:12 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: American Civil War, california, Celeste de Blasis, family saga, historical, Romance ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“Her mom carefully selected her memories to reflect her established opinions, and it turned her mind into a bowl of lettuce she believed was a salad.”

The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal

January 24, 2023 by cheerbrarian Leave a Comment

In the past, I’ve started my reviews with “in one word” and offered one word that sums up my feelings on a book, but over time, that has gotten stale. Instead, I’m going to give myself ten words or less to try to sum up a book, because why not. (My reviews, my rules). In Ten Words or Less: Complex female characters uncover their potential and discover family destiny. This little book charmed me and was exactly the kind of light read I needed at […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: beer brewing, family saga, j ryan stradal, midwest, Minnesota, Sisters, The Lager Queen of Minnesota

cheerbrarian's CBR15 Review No:2 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: beer brewing, family saga, j ryan stradal, midwest, Minnesota, Sisters, The Lager Queen of Minnesota ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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