Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I have a mental block about this book and it defeated me.

Miss Wonderful (The Carsington Brothers, #1) by Loretta Chase

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I first tried to read this book several years back on e-book, which I had checked out from the library. I had it out for months and never got past a third of the way through. I resigned myself to trying again later. Later came in March of this year because I wanted to get back into Loretta Chase, and this book was standing in my way. I got my hands on a physical copy and commenced reading. I started from the beginning, and things […]

“It’s a role I play.” Max shrugged. “Just as you do.”

The Agency for Scandal (2023) by Laura Wood

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The Agency for Scandal (2023) is a children’s/YA late-Victorian set romantic romp with a dash of adventure and a feminist core. Isobel Stanhope has inherited her father’s talent for lock-picking but also his debts–which she must keep a secret from her delicate mamma and her younger brother, conveniently away at school. She is recruited to a mysterious agency called The Aviary, led by Miss Finch, a group of women dedicated to righting the wrongs that patriarchy inflicts on their sisters, and often using rather sneaky […]

Murder mystery romance magic ON A BOAT.

A Restless Truth (The Last Binding, #2) by Freya Marske

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I am really enjoying this series. It has so many things that I love: Lonely people falling in love, hijinks, magic, secrets, murder mysteries, an overarching plot that advances while leaving each book to be satisfying on their own, a fun Georgian England setting, queer representation in a historical time period, cheeky humor (there is a runner in here about pornography), benign and helpful ghosts, and I could keep going but that would be a bit much. And this one’s set on a boat! I […]

The boldly feminist historical romance you need

The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham

Portrait of a Duchess by Scarlett Peckham

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The second installment in Scarlett Peckham’s Society of Sirens came out this week!! And it was excellent!! And I think everyone should read this series!! I would love to leave this there, but there’s this word count I’m supposed to hit for this to count, so I suppose I’ll give y’all a little more. This series is about “fallen” women who have decided to accept, embrace, and use their tarnished reputations to improve the situation for all women. The heroine of the first, the Rakess […]

This was fine, but I doubt I’ll ever re-read it

The Duke Undone by Joanna Lowell

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Lucy Coover is on her way to her painting class at the Royal Academy one morning when she stumbles across a body in an alley. The man is completely naked, and she assumes he’s been the victim of a crime. Then she realises he’s breathing, so he seems to only be dead drunk. As a female art student, Lucy is fascinated by human anatomy but is also not allowed to ever attend life drawing classes at the Academy. She’s late for class but also makes […]

“Desire was not passion and passion was not love.”

The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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I have been slow to jump on the Silvia Moreno-Garcia bandwagon, mostly because I read one of her earlier books and it wasn’t for me. Then everyone lost their minds over Mexican Gothic. And I did nothing! But I’m glad I eventually gave her another shot, because this book shows me that I can like what she does, though it still didn’t perfectly gel with my tastes. SM-G is a genre hopping author, and with The Beautiful Ones, she takes on a fantastical version of […]



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