Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Arts and crafts as magic

The Moorwitch by Jessica Khoury

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Bingo Square: Free Space, replacing Borrow – and board complete with two final bingos (2nd column & last row) This novel was an Amazon First read for October, and the author was scheduled for a talk with Beth Revis at a local bookstore so it seemed like the perfect choice. The talk was earlier this week, and it was such a great discussion. I hadn’t actually picked up on this when I read it but Khoury did say this novel was inspired by/a nod to […]

“I wish I were a girl again, half-savage and hardy, and free.”

Fifteen Wild Decembers: A Novel by Karen Powell

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Fifteen Wild Decembers tells the story of the Brontë family through the eyes of Emily, from 1825 when she first goes away to school, to her death in 1848. From their childhood tales of the fantastical island of Gondal, to the events in their lives that shaped them and their literary outputs, Fifteen Wild December offered a glimpse into their lives. It was an alright book; I’d love to rate it any more warmly than that, but it didn’t really inspire much in me. I […]

a manor on the edge of ruin, a mute little girl, a butler with a dangerous past, and a potentially magical drunken dandy…

The Maker of Swans by Paraic O'Donnell

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What looks like a recipe for potential nonsense is actually a truly surprising and unique thriller! Paraic O’Donnell follows up the Victorian spiritualism of The House on Vesper Sands with another historical mystery, but where I was expecting (and hoping for, honestly) a continuation of the former, The Maker of Swans jumps head-first into the 20th Century and dares the reader to catch up. A butler tries his damndest to keep his employer safe, sane, and sober- but the draws of the Jazz Age have the […]

A Very Thriller Retelling of Jane Eyre. Recommended for haters of Mr. Rochester. Fans of Bertha Mason might be disappointed.

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

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So many 3.5 star books lately, and so hard to decide whether to round up or down. In the end, it was down for this one, because I don’t think, had I not read Jane Eyre, that I would have been very interested in it at all. I think it would have read like just another thriller. But, it was well done, I think. I just have thriller fatigue. And I love Jane Eyre, and while this book shares characters, the characters don’t share motivations, […]

Reader, I murdered him. And him. And him. Him too. But they were all bad.

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

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(He) was felled by a strangely skillful blow-as if I had studied the act, when in fact I had simply decided that he should stop being alive. – Jane Steele Stop me if you have heard this one. A girl in mid-1800’s England is orphaned at a young age and sent to a cruel school for young women to learn to be a governess. She later becomes a governess for the ward of a rugged and brooding man, falls in love, flees when the love […]

A girl and her book

Charlotte Bronte before Jane Eyre by Glynnis Fawkes

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While an interesting story, Charlotte Bronte before Jane Eyre felt like something was missing. It is more of a few panels/pages hitting highlights of Bronte’s life than a full-on biography. In other words, if you need a biography to do a paper on, this is something fun to help you summarize, but one should not to take it as your only source.  Glynnis Fawkes is obvious a fan of Jane Eyre and Bronte, but you do not have to be to appreciate what happens to […]



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