Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Foiling spies and spying foils

The Ministry of Unladylike Activity (2022) by Robin Stevens

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CBR Bingo ‘Font’ square–the title on the cover embeds a cool little plane, a magnifying glass, and a fluttering blackout curtain in its lettering, while the print text inside is interspersed with lists and notes that look like handwriting. Robin Stevens’s ‘Murder Most Unladylike’ series (2014-2021) is rather marvellous; it starts off in a very English boarding school in the early 1930s, where the very English Honourable Daisy Wells befriends Hazel Wong, a new girl from Hong Kong who is trying to find her place […]

They sure did smoke all the time back in the day, didn’t they? (double bingo)

Madam, Will You Talk? by Mary Stewart

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CBR14 Bingo: Question (the book’s title is a question and there is a central murder mystery where the identity of the murderer is in question) Young widow Charity Selborne is on holiday in the south of France with her friend Louise and they really have little planned except to enjoy the good food, nice drinks, beautiful scenery, and long drives. In Avignon, Charity befriends a young English boy who is also staying at the hotel, offering to take him with her on tours of the […]

“Kim was starlight and privilege; Will had his feet firmly fixed in the mud. They didn’t belong together. Except they did.”

Subtle Blood by K.J. Charles

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CBR14 Bingo: Scandal (the book features corruption, blackmail, kidnapping, and murder – not to mention gay people in the 1920s. Gasp!) Spoiler warning! This is the third book in a trilogy. While you can absolutely read this book without the others, you will not get all the beautiful payoff from various earlier storylines that way. Also, this review will contain mild spoilers for earlier in the series. Start with Slippery Creatures. For the last few months, Lord Arthur “Kim” Secretan and Will Darling have actually […]

“Nothing could be trusted in Chicago, especially the weather.”

Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara

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In one word: Divided Cannonball Read Bingo: New I hadn’t heard of the October pick for my public library book club but as soon as my eyes peered upon the cover my expectations jumped up a notch because Mr. Sulu himself, George Takei, had good things to say about it. Known predominantly for his work on Star Trek, we also admire him in my house for his acclaimed graphic novel “They Called Us Enemy” which details his experiences as a prisoner in one of the […]

No more Tomorrow and I’m ok with that

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

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Probably unpopular, or at least in the minority, review ahead; I did not especially enjoy Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. The narrative style made it a little hard to tell the difference between Said and Sam’s perspectives, and given that the novel switches back and forth, giving them more distinctive voices would have been nice. They also have really similar personalities in a lot of ways; both have traumas in their pasts which the other sort of knows about but doesn’t seem to want to […]

We were kindred in this respect, closer than sisters, and irrevocably estranged at the same time.

Circling the Sun by Paula McClain

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CBR14BINGO: Hot square (BINGO! Cozy to Question) (Takes place in Africa, so a hot place. Sun in the title. Sun is hot, no?) Consulted my ridiculously hefty “to read” list in Goodreads until I found a title with something hot about it. Landed on his dazzling little number and was not disappointed. I have never read or seen Out of Africa which is something that I will need to remedy since I have now been introduced to some of the players in that world. Karen Blixen, the author of that […]



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