Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Not velvet, more like scratchy polyester

Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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  Having really enjoyed Moreno-Garcia’s novel, Mexican Gothic, I ordered Velvet Was the Night excitedly, hopeful for another arresting story that was gripping from the start. Unfortunately, that was not what I got from this book. It took me much longer to get into it, and I may have set myself up for disappointment since I was holding it up to Mexican Gothic. It took me several days to finish this book, which isn’t the case with a book I am actively enjoying, I can […]

Does what it says on the tin. #CBRBINGO – Snake

The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray

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The short, spoiler-free version: Two thumbs up, very fun. Surprisingly angsty. Does justice to murder mysteries and to Jane Austen. The longer, mostly spoiler-free version (spoils the premise and which characters are in the book from the Jane Austen canon): But where is Elinor?? I am disappointed that she only merits a couple of mentions in this book when we are in Marianne’s POV, but maybe Claudia Gray just doesn’t love her as much as I do. That’s pretty easy to do, I guess, because […]

October 2022 Leftovers

Batman: The Impostor by Mattson Tomlin

The Son by Jo Nesbø

Killer Come Back to Me: The Crime Stories of Ray Bradbury by Ray Bradbury

The Devil's Wedding Ring by Vidar Sundstøl

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Happy belated Halloween to all who observe! Again, I don’t have as many leftovers as I did in recent months since I’m logging so many full reviews for the Book Bingo. But here’s what I got, all of them quality 4-star reads…   Batman: The Impostor Really enjoyed this one. A fresh take, helped by the fact that Batman is surrounded by characters with no history. Jim Gordon is off the force. Alfred has forsaken him (or vice versa). No Joker, no Riddler, Penguin functions […]

Young love and demon hunting

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu

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CBR14 Bingo: Cozy (this is a super-sweet YA comic. While there are some dark themes, the main vibe here is absolutely cozy.) Nova Huang (she/her) is an orphaned young witch, although she sees the ghosts of her parents during each major holiday, and sometimes just when they feel she might need advice or a good talking to. She lives with her two grandmothers, who sell books of both the mundane and magical varieties. Tam (they/them) on the other hand, seems to have been on their […]

A standard domestic thriller with a premise that doesn’t really deliver.

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

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Don’t let the first part of this book fool you. It’s not as fun as those first chapters make you think. I got SUPER into the idea of the rogue therapist, but as the book went on it was less and less about her and her questionable—sometimes illegal—methods, and more just a standard domestic thriller, a genre I don’t read much of anymore, because they always seem to be three star reads for me. And this was a three star read, for sure. After how […]

Even Dame Agatha phoned one in now and then

Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie

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CBR14 BINGO: Elephant, because it’s right there in the name Double BINGO! Diagonal: Snake, Adapt, Star, Bird, Elephant 4 corners and center: Snake, Bodies, Gaslight, Elephant, Star Agatha Christie, why can’t I quit you? Even though I realized in recent years that Christie’s writing was not the great literature I thought it was when I was 12 years old, I still find comfort in the familiar characters and, dang it, even if she doesn’t give you much in the way of character development and dialogue, […]



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