Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Smuggling, insects, and family drama surround this gay love story

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles

by Leave a Comment

Thank you, Emmalita, for this wonderful book and first exposure to KJ Charles!  In the 2023 Cannonball Book Exchange I put that I would like any book by KJ Charles and she graciously gifted me The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen. Kent and London had a good thing going.  They met up at the Three Ducks in London for some enthusiastic and anonymous sex.  But then Kent needs to do business away from the city and London, familiar with abandonment, decides to shut things down instead […]

I may have inadvertently started a new holiday tradition

Duke, Actually by Jenny Holiday

by 1 Comment

Last December I flew from California to Michigan for my sister’s nursing school graduation.  Shortly after arriving at the airport for my return trip it was announced my flight was delayed.  So I did the only sensible thing and perused the little bookshop for something to read.  I was in the mood for something light and if it was Christmassy, that was a bonus.  I settled on So This is Christmas by Jenny Holiday.  The book was exactly what I was looking for!  Due to […]

The Limits of a Good Metaphor

King of Immortal Tithe by Ben Alderson

by Leave a Comment

Listen: it’s fundamentally really tricky to pull off a romance when the premise for their connection is that this is the ONLY person who can physically touch you and not die. Our basics here are fairly simple: our ingenue protagonist is abducted in a kind of marriage trade to a fae prince whose touch drains people’s life force, causing instant death. Except it doesn’t work on our hero. Possibly because he’s already dying. And that creates an instant connection. But that premise only goes so far, right? […]

There is Such a Thing as Having TOO MUCH of a Type!

Lord of Eternal Night by Ben Alderson

by 2 Comments

Okay, so, full disclosure: I’m trying to burn through my Kindle Unlimited backlog list, because I’m cancelling my subscription next month, because I hate a price hike. (The new fees system also charges readers more to pay authors less, which is corporate greed at its finest. But, theoretically, this review isn’t supposed to be my Rant About the Evils of Capitalism, but I digress). Lord of Eternal Night is your typical monster-y romance: ingenue protagonist gets sacrificed to the monster, finds out they’re not so monsterous after all, […]

An Emotional, Vital Story

Only This Beautiful Moment by Abdi Nazemian

by Leave a Comment

I don’t know that I know how to talk about this book except that GOSH it’s amazing and good and powerful and I am so glad it exists and I can’t wait for more people to have the chance to read it! At its core, Only This Beautiful Moment is a story of family and community, of fighting for your beliefs and also learning who you are and want to be. Told across three generations, Moud, Saeed, and Bobby are each discovering their history and […]

A Fantastic YA Centering Queer History & Adventure

Lion’s Legacy by LC Rosen

by Leave a Comment

Gosh, gosh, gosh! This book, LC’s writing reminds me how reading a queer book by a queer author really does hit differently, in the best ways. Tennessee Russo is a teen who’s been going on adventures with his dad to find ancient artifacts for his dad’s tv show since his bar mitzvah, but at fifteen he starts to see the way his dad sells the artifacts as unethical, which results in a fight where his dad abandons him in Japan. Two years later, Ten has […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo