Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Her Hair Is Black, Just FYI

Offside (The Barker Triplets Book 1) by Juliana Stone

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Offside is a contemporary romance featuring triplet sisters facing real world problems in a small town. Domestic reality elements aren’t something I particularly look for in a book, though the billionaires aren’t either because, apparently, there is no pleasing me, but Juliana Stone provides a middling romance with some above average charm and a wry, realistic sounding voice. “But Billie… she had him wanting to circle the room and piss in all the corners like a dog marking his territory. What the hell was up with that?” From […]

Scaling Back from Triple to Double-Secret Probation

Grin and Beard It by Penny Reid

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One of my romance compatriots and I have agreed that with this second entry into her Winston Brother contemporary romance series, Penny Reid has been moved back from triple secret probation to double secret probation, maybe even single overt probation.  Baby steps. A family of seven children, the Winstons live in rural Tennessee. The lone sister, Ashley has found a partner in the novel I like best for the siblings so far, Beauty and the Mustache, and her brother Duane has had his time at bat […]

Superman in the Streets, Clark Kent in the Sheets

Waiting for Clark by Annabeth Albert

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Are you sitting down? Please do so. Are you braced? It might be an overabundance of caution, but get ready. Annabeth Albert’s contemporary romance novella Waiting for Clark features two gay men… That’s not the part you have to prepare yourself for. This is: Annabeth Albert’s novella Waiting for Clark features two gay men who are gay for the entirety of the book. Not questioning, not confused, not “gay for you” in that way of LGBTQ+ romances written, I suspect, for women. The heroes are both […]

A Contemporary Sebastian. That’s Bold.

Magnificent Bastard by Lili Valente

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Hands down, “Magnificent Bastard” is the best title I have ever heard for a romance novel, contemporary or otherwise. I’m going to start a list just so I can put this book at #1 and Manaconda at #2. These are for you, Lili Valente. Well done! Joining the ranks of kissing book Sebastians, no pressure, it’s just the by-word for “ultimate hero“, is “Bash” Prince who runs an upscale romantic revenge business. For a fee, he will bring all of his hotness to bear on […]

What a Waste of a Bearded Hero

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Another Kindle Unlimited book, another M/M romance, and one of two romances I have read recently in which there was a large age difference between the main characters. From Amazon: In 48 hours, I lost everything. I came home to find my girlfriend of four years with another man. The next day a plane crash ripped my family away from me, shattering me in the process. In many ways, I died that day, too. The fun-loving man who’d lived in the fast lane and loved his career […]

Half a Cannonball with a Full Classic

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4.5 stars Venetia was my first Georgette Heyer novel which seems odd given my love of the genre and the author’s lauded status in it. I did try to read it once before, but didn’t get very far. This time, I kept going and was well rewarded for my determination. Venetia, as much as almost any romance I’ve read, is about the heroine’s effort and insistence on choosing her own life. Much of the tension in the novel comes from Venetia saying, “I want this,” repeatedly and dealing with virtually everyone else […]



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