Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Women were built to endure the rules men make.”

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

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I would think it a real challenge to make a story about women suffering under abusive husbands and the difficulties of living in the caste system in India incredibly funny, but this book managed to do that. The humor is dark, but the characters (mostly women) are authentic, interesting and very relatable as they try to navigate the world of men while finding ways to advocate for themselves in a world that doesn’t want them to do much at all. Geeta’s awful husband disappeared 5 […]

The Story at All Costs

Off the Air by Christina Estes

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When controversial talk show host Larry Lemmon dies under mysterious circumstances, local reporter Jolene pursues the story – and gets in over her head in the case itself. At some point, like most people who enjoy writing, I considered journalism as a career path, though I quickly realized I was nowhere near as persistent and unafraid of failure as the job requires. This book, written by a long-time reporter, only reinforced this. The mystery interested me off the bat – the poisoning of far-right radio […]

It’s corn! (I can tell you all about it)

What Stalks Among Us by Sarah Hollowell

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When best friends Sadie and Logan stumble across a strange corn maze out of season, they decide to venture inside on a lark. But when they stumble across what appear to be their own murdered bodies, they discover that they have become trapped in a time loop with a murderer on their heels. Thank you dreadpiratekel for putting this book on my radar – their review mentioned monsters made of corn, time loops, and all the way in which toxic people suck, and I was […]

Blinded by the Glitter

A Most Efficient Murder by Anthony Slayton

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When the body of a strange young woman is found in the Earl of Unsworth’s garden during a party, his capable secretary Mr. Quayle is tasked with keeping the family from scandal during the investigation – a task only made harder by the secrets everyone is keeping. This is a cozy sort of mystery in 1920s England, with the vibe you’d get if you blend the adventurous plots of Sherlock Holmes and the humorous domestic drama of PG Wodehouse. I liked how the author built […]

“Being a serial killer who kills serial killers is a great hobby… Until you find yourself locked in a cage.”

Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver

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CBR16 Sweet Books: Excited (I love this book and would like everyone I know to read it, but also understand that it’s very much NOT for everyone). Spoiler warning! I will do my best to review this without major plot spoilers, but if you want to experience this book without any prior knowledge of the contents, possibly skip this review until you’ve read the book. Sloane “Blackbird” Sutherland and Rowan “Butcher” Kane have a rather unusual meet cute. He finds her locked in a cage, […]

A Lineage of Madness

The Noh Mask Mystery by Akimitsu Takagi

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An aspiring mystery writer and his childhood friend must join forces to solve the mystery of a string of deaths in a prominent Japanese family that may be the result of an inherited curse. I’ve always enjoyed reading works in translation – they seem to bring you closer to the place in which they are set – but I definitely haven’t read many genre works. As such, I was intrigued by the prospect of this locked room murder mystery, written in 1949 but never before […]



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