Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“We are never feckless”, I told her coldly. “We are full to the brim with feck.”

An Unexpected Peril by Deanna Raybourn

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Spoiler warning! This is book 6 in an ongoing series. There will be minor spoilers for earlier books in the series. You can read these without having any background, but it’s always best to start at the beginning, which happens to be A Curious Beginning.    Intrepid lepidopterist and sometime crime solver Veronica Speedwell and her grouchy partner and now lover Revelstoke Templeton-Vane (goes by Stoker) are working on preparing a memorial exhibition at the Curiosity Club for one of its recently deceased members, pioneer mountain climber […]

A dark topic, but ultimately not as depressing as you might expect

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

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*WARNING, THERE MIGHT BE SPOILERS.  NOT REALLY MAJOR ONE BUT IF YOU WANT TO KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BEFORE READING THE BOOK, SKIP THE REVIEW I read three Lisa Jewell books in succession more than ten years ago.  They just seemed to pop up a lot in my  favourite second hand book store.  From what I remember, they were more or less “chick lit”, some twists but mostly focused on romance.  They were light, fast reads, and I liked them but was not totally wowed by […]

…but you can’t pick your family.

A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny

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After immersing myself in the Bernie Madoff story following his death, I was kind of caught off guard at a character that, while probably not based on Madoff given the timing of publication, certainly resembles him. This was probably my favorite Inspector Gamache novel so far. It also reminded me of what frustrates me about the series. I’ll share what’s good in the paragraphs below and then post a spoiler alert to express my frustrations, which will mostly be for longtime Gamache readers. Both the […]

this book has been kicking around for 30ish years and I just picked it up NOW?!

Possession by A.S. Byatt

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…and it’s been sitting in my own collection for a good decade or so? How did I keep stepping around this one? This book was written for me- or at least the me of ten years ago. DEFINITLEY the me of twenty years ago. 14-year-old-me would have swooned myself into an early grave with this one! A youngish academic is sinking further and further into classic British gloom. He’s in a dead relationship, putting in time in a dead-end job, researching crumbs on a long-dead […]

Pacific Dreams

Five Decembers by James Kestrel

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I received an Advance Reading Copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Those who know me know that I’m a big fan of the Hard Case Crime label. I collect the novels and make a commitment to read at least one a month. Publisher Charles Ardai has made a point to reach out extensively to the HCC fan community; passing out ARCs and bonus copies before they go on sale. A few months ago, some of us got an […]

“Stories change with the tellers.”

The Conductors by Nicole Glover

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I have wanted this book ever since I saw the cover on Twitter! And it matches the book so well – a strong heroine, lots of magic and an intriguing mystery plot. “Who are you?” she repeated. Curiosity bloomed in her eyes, overshadowing the fear. Hetty held out a hand to the girl, much as she’d done many times before, and said, “Someone here to help.” Hetty and her husband Benjy fell into investigating murders and similar cases because the police aren’t interested in what’s […]



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