Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A couple of not so thrilling thrillers

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon

The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth

by Leave a Comment

(3 stars) The Invited by Jennifer McMahon Why do I keep reading Jennifer McMahon books? They’re never terrible, but they’re never great either. But I keep picking them up! Helen and Nate have decided to undertake a rather ambitious project. Quitting their jobs teaching high school, they move to Vermont to build their own home on a piece of property with a very dark past. Helen, obsessed with history in general and with the property in particular, does enough research to realize that a lot […]

Pretty Boring Ghost Story

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon

by 2 Comments

This is the second book by McMahon I have read and honestly this may be my last. There was nothing really wrong with this one, I just found myself getting bored. I think that McMahon going back and forth between Helen and Olive didn’t work. I also didn’t really care for Olive so that didn’t help. We have the underlying ghost story which was intriguing, but not enough to keep me wholly invested while reading this one. “The Invited” follows married couple, Helen and Nate […]

Only Enjoyed One Time Period

The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon

by 1 Comment

Sigh. Well this was an okay story, I only enjoyed the past time period in the book (the Sarah and Martin sections) and didn’t like the present at all except for Ruth. The book fell down at the end too and I honestly didn’t find this too scary. “The Winter People” follows four people (Martin, Sara, Ruthie, and Katherine) in different time periods. Martin and Katherine’s narratives are from the 1908 and Ruthie and Katherine are from the present day. The book focuses on all […]

Hi. I’m Badkittyuno, and I’ve fallen behind again…

by 5 Comments

Hi. Sorry. I really thought I was like 10 reviews behind and it turned out to actually be 19. So then I started up this list of reviews…and didn’t post it…and now I’m 26 behind. I would blame my kids/divorce/life, but really — I’d much rather read than write! Also, I’ve been working from home a lot and doing laundry instead of writing reviews (which is what I do when I get bored at the office), so that’s not helping. Anyway, here’s 26 brief reviews […]

I somehow accidently read another ghost story – this one was better though!

by 1 Comment

Ok, so when I was searching for this book on Amazon to add in the link and the picture, I found something a little creepy.  This author has a cute / slightly haunted / lost looking girl on all of her book covers: I immediately thought “did I put in the wrong book title?”, or “does this book have alternate titles?”.  I obviously haven’t read any of the other books, but now I might!  I don’t know what that says about me? This was another […]

Less Scooby Mystery, More Shirley Jackson Please.

by Leave a Comment

  I realize now that I’m pretty difficult to please when it comes to ghost/haunted house stories. This book had all the elements; an old farmhouse, possibly haunted woods and a long dead person’s diary. In the end it just didn’t deliver for me. Possibly, it just wasn’t what I was expecting, or the fact that none of the characters really resonated with me. Overall the book was good, but not great. The Winter People follows two stories concurrently which occur 100 years apart. In […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo