Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A genre-bending good time.

Mrs. Plansky's Revenge by Spencer Quinn

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Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge, a book I’m having a hard time slotting into a particular genre, isn’t going to rock your world, but you will probably have a good to great time with it. Just a solid, fun little book that tweaks your emotions a tad every now and then. I guess let’s call it cozy crime/adventure. It’s not a mystery, not a thriller, not (despite what the title […]

Murder, mystery, fine ale, friendship, plague, dark humor. A very enjoyable book.

The Alewives: A Plague-Era Tale of Murder, Mystery, and Fine Ale by Elizabeth R. Andersen

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This was pretty much everything I wanted it to be. Honestly, I didn’t even read the synopsis before I ordered this, just because I love reading about alewives, but was even more delighted to learn it’s about female friendship and life post-Black Death in medieval Europe, and also solving murders. Worth pointing out in its own paragraph: this is an indie author and the book doesn’t have many ratings, so people who love slice of life history, the middle ages, cozy mysteries, and female friendship, come! […]

Whyyyy haven’t more people read this???

The Good House by Tananarive Due

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This is my exact perfect kind of horror: Meaty, character-driven, fantastical yet chilling or creepy stories but without the bleak or nihilistic rush some people seem to get when all the characters end up dead—or worse—at the end of a book. No coincidence, methinks, that Tananarive Due namedrops two excellent Stephen King books in here*, because her writing style reminds me a lot of his. Both authors really know how to immerse you in a long story, and give you the payoff at the end […]

Whoa buddy, was this a DNF.

The Curse of Saints (The Curse of Saints, #1) by Kate Dramis

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DNF @ 33% I am SO UPSET about this one. The edition I have is BEAUTIFUL. It is almost perfectly suited to my personal aesthetics. I am not immune to a bit of magical thinking, so my brain latching on to how beautiful the book also simultaneously planted a vicious little expectation that I was going to love the insides, too. UNFORTUNATELY HOWEVER. Cynical statement of the day: This is why you should never have expectations. So this book is about a young woman named Aya […]

I loved this one! If you are missing high/epic fantasy, this might be for you.

The Will of the Many (The Hierarchy, #1) by James Islington

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First off, this is one of those books that I am pretty sure when I come back to it later for a re-read, I will be bumping up to five stars (already done as of posting this to CBR). It’s taking up space in my brain, but I’m still processing. Also, I want to see where it goes in book two. If you love high fantasy, magic schools, and intense worldbuilding based on historical civilizations, this will probably be a book for you. The Will […]

“We women have been taught since birth that virtue is our greatest asset. I have nothing against virtues—I’d like to think that there are many virtues I practice assiduously. But power does not yield to virtue. Power yields only to power.”

Murder on Cold Street (Lady Sherlock, #5) by Sherry Thomas

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I liked this one, but the mystery plot got convoluted at the end and I had to re-read several bits multiple times, and stop and think about things before it all came together for me. That confusion aside, this also didn’t have as high of emotional stakes for the characters I cared most about. The biggest stakes are for Inspector and Mrs. Treadles, since Inspector Treadles has been accused of two murders. Reasonably, as it turns out, as he was found in a locked room […]



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