Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Happy endings are for grown-ups too

Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill

by Leave a Comment

I am now convinced that “cozy” basically means there will be tropes generally presented in an entertaining way, and that while drama of various sorts is an option, most all will be well in the end. Basically, happy endings are now allowed in “adult” fiction. Exhibit 1: Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill. I actually picked this up in an airport bookshop (the kind where you can return it within 6 months for a partial refund, but in my case, it was kind of an exchange, so […]

Cornwall – the unchanging landscape

Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper

by Leave a Comment

Many years ago I wrote a review for The Dark is Rising which is the 2nd book in the sequence of the same name by Susan Cooper. This book is the first in the sequence but as I recommended then often better to be read second. I reread this on a recent holiday to Cornwall because in visiting the Cornish fishing villages/towns I immediately felt that sense of place I have with this book. If The Dark is Rising is a book that takes you […]

How the legend might have started with books before lattes

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

by 1 Comment

What’s cozy in the same way as a latte? Second-hand books. That’s what we get with Bookshops & Bonedust, and I’m down with that. This is a pretty good prequel, but it can be done as a stand-alone, and it also does a nice job of maybe setting up volume 3. The whole story starts with young and eager Viv getting ahead of herself and getting injured in a fight. The rest of her team leaves her behind to recover in middle of nowhere Murk, […]

Part 2 problems but not really that bad

Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

by Leave a Comment

Cozy streak incoming. First up: Apprentice to the Villain. This is definitely a part two, in that it’s still a good continuation of the story, but it focuses on developing the big problems to be resolved later. That means there is less character development, and a lot more emphasis on mutual pining, which really gets irritating. The general lack of clear communication causing misunderstandings and problems in romance is a main reason I don’t read a lot of that, because it’s so very avoidable. Do […]

The Thin Line Between Fantasy and Reality

Mary and the Birth of Frankstein by Anne Eekhout

by Leave a Comment

The year is 1812, and fourteen-year-old Mary Goodwin is living in pastoral Dundee, where she may find love but may find danger as well. The year is 1816, and eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley is living in rainy Geneva, where she may conceive of something that is strange and fearful and all hers, if she will allow herself to do it. I have still not read Frankenstein. (I keep meaning to! There’s just so many books to read!) But I am familiar with its plot, and the […]

A very sweet adventure story, gorgeously packaged

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

by 3 Comments

4.5 stars Buzzword Cover Challenge 25: Celestial (there is a big moon and several stars on the cover) What if in The Princess Bride, Buttercup didn’t sit at home and mourn for Westley when he was captured by pirates, but instead went off to try to rescue him? Of course, that would mean Buttercup had any agency at all in either the novel or the film, and she really doesn’t. But if Buttercup was a young woman named Tress, from a barren and fairly desolate […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo