Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Jackie Lau gets meta

Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie by Jackie Lau

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Jackie Lau has made her main character, Emily Hung, a LitFic author, which results in some meta commentary about the current state of publishing, especially for an Asian-Canadian author who is doing ok, but not charging up the charts. She’s got a three book contract, but she’s working two other jobs, and sharing an apartment. She’s feeling disrespected by her family, especially her mother, who keeps throwing Mark F’ing Chan at her head. After the two don’t hit it off at Emily’s youngest sister’s wedding, […]

An Adulterous Fiction in King Henry’s Court

The Tudors in Love: Passion and Politics in the Age of England's Most Famous Dynasty by Sarah Gristwood

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The various romantic travails of the Tudor dynasty have been well-covered in dramatic novels and shows in the centuries since they lived and died, but they too may have been influenced by earlier literature and tradition, specifically the idea of courtly love. In a market flooded with books concerning Tudor marriages, it’s hard for new releases to stand above the crowd. The Tudors in Love tries to carve its niche with the theme of courtly love, that fashionable alleged holdover from Arthurian times, and how […]

People like Gen came only a few times in life and I’d learned the hard way not to ever waste those moments.

Out of Office by A.H. Cunningham

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A.H. Cunningham’s Afro-Caribbean Black romance, Out of Office, is gorgeous. The settings are lush. The emotions are lush. The story is rich in culture. Cunningham has delivered a thoughtful and spicy contemporary romance that grapples with how to live in a world that demands constant production. Gabriella is an up and comer at a hotel/resort chain based in Miami. Her mother is well known for mentoring Black women on corporate success and she expects Gabriella to rise to the top. Adrián has already had a taste […]

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 […]

A Jewish Gender-flipped Snow White Historical Romance

Wake Me Most Wickedly by Felicia Grossman

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Wake Me Most Wickedly, the second in Felicia Grossman’s gender-flipped fairy tale retelling, but make it a Jewish histrom series, is a darker story than the first, Marry Me by Midnight, which was a gender-flipped Cinderella. It makes sense, Cinderella was forced into a life of servitude by her step mother, but Snow White’s step-mother* tried to kill her repeatedly. Between the repeated attacks on Solomon’s life and Hannah’s life lived on the edge of danger, this was a tense read. I liked it. Solomon Weiss […]

Rescue Mission in the Desert

K-9 Security by Nichole Severn

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When Elena’s younger brother is abducted by the cartel that’s been slowly taking over the town, she must turn to Cash and his canine partner Bear in her crusade to get him back. I’m a sucker for a dog on the cover. And Bear is a working dog, which is a novel idea for someone whose own dog lives for sleeping, eating, and sniffing every blade of grass he comes across on his daily walks. This is an action-packed story, where the main characters take […]



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