Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A first impression can often be misleading

Her Pretend Christmas Date by Jackie Lau

by Leave a Comment

Disclaimer! I was given an ARC of this book by the author. That has in no way influenced my review. Julie Tam’s sister Charlotte is an engineer and has an outgoing and charming boyfriend, the guy who lived next door when they were young. She is everything their parents could want. Meanwhile, Julie works as a waitress in a Cider Bar and designs her own jewelry. She goes on a blind date with Tom Yeung, which starts out badly and ends even worse. Tom is a […]

Opposites Attract Fake Relationship Holiday Romance Novella – a book made for me

Her Pretend Christmas Date (Cider Bar Sisters #2.5) by Jackie Lau

by 5 Comments

I received an ARC of this novella from the author, in exchange for an honest review. Her Pretend Christmas Date releases on December 8th, 2020. I am a sucker for a holiday romance novella. I read and enjoyed Lau’s Holidays with the Wongs series (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Valentines Day) and after reading The Ultimate Pi Day Party earlier this year I signed up for Lau’s reviewer list – and Her Pretend Christmas Date is the first work I’ve received as part of that. […]

Practice dating quickly evolves into the real thing

His Grumpy Childhood Friend by Jackie Lau

by 1 Comment

I was given an ARC of this by the author. That has in no way influenced my review. Charlotte Tam doesn’t really leave the house unless it’s to meet her friends at the local cider bar and even then, she sort of resents having to change out of her pajama pants. She mainlines coffee and is clearly the grouchiest and most pessimistic of the friend group, but is starting to miss a more personal connection, having sworn off dating after her former boyfriend proposed to […]

Quite possibly Jackie Lau’s food-porniest book yet

Her Big City Neighbor by Jackie Lau

by 1 Comment

I was given a free copy of this by the author. It has not in any way influenced my review. Amy Sharpe always wanted to go to graduate school, but when her grandmother got sick, she gave up on those plans and stayed in her small home town to take care of her. After both her grandmother and great aunt has passed away, she has now inherited her great aunt’s house in Toronto, and despite the fact that her entire family seems to disapprove of […]

When they were kids, it had felt like she was always the one saving him.

His Grumpy Childhood Neighbor by Jackie Lau

by Leave a Comment

While the first book in Jackie Lau’s Cider Bar Sisters series, Her Big City Neighbor grew on me as I read it, I fell immediately into the second book, His Grumpy Childhood Friend. Charlotte is at a baseball game with her boyfriend of 3 years when her actual nightmare happens, he proposes on the jumbotron. She runs away and goes on a five year dating moratorium. As one does. When we rejoin Charlotte in the present (an alternate universe present with no COVID-19), she would like […]

He was careful not to touch her fingers, afraid he would get infected with sunshine.

Her Big City Neighbor (Cider Bar Sisters #1) by Jackie Lau

by Leave a Comment

Jackie Lau has started a new series set in Toronto, the Cider Bar Sisters. The Cider Bar Sisters are a group of friends. Most of them met at the engineering program in college. I’m very excited about this series. I received an arc of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. Her Big City Neighbor introduces Amy to the Sisters. Amy inherits a house in Toronto and takes it as an opportunity to put some distance between herself and her small […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo