Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

She had sex before pizza, which didn’t surprise her in the least.

Identity by Nora Roberts

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I have an occasional argument with a friend who is certain that Nora Roberts has a stable of ghost writers and I am certain that she writes every word of her own books because the author voice is so consistent. I haven’t actually read a new Nora Roberts book in a few years, but Identity was like putting on an old familiar sweater. Of course Nora Roberts has evolved as an author over her 40+ year career, but I still know a Nora Roberts book […]

His hand looked like the rest of him, large and stern and competent.

Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller

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I loved Hotel of Secrets and now I want to go read Diana Biller’s backlist. I was anxious going in to this romance because I haven’t enjoyed a straight historical romance in forever, but it quickly won me over. I liked it so much I’ve actually preordered a signed copy from an independent bookstore. Hotel of Secrets is set in Vienna just as 1878 begins. While the jostling among empires (Austro-Hungarian, Russian, Ottoman) and the rise of national identities isn’t a focus, it does creep […]

One million roses, each handpicked.

In Search of Perfumes: A Lifetime Journey to the Source of Nature's Scents by Dominique Roques

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Dominique Roque, a sourcing agent working in the perfume industry, recounts his travels and travails in pursuit of natural ingredients used in perfumes and dives into the storied history and often precarious methods of the producers of those raw materials. Perfume is a ubiquitous thing, to the point that you don’t really even register it. I have several bottles sitting on my dresser right now. But I’d never really thought about where the components of which they are composed of, which was why I found In […]

It’s not a bad decision to be happy.

Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly

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Anita Kelly has very quickly become one of my favorite writers. They are on my very short auto-buy list. If you haven’t picked up Kelly’s Moonlighter’s series, you should do that. They are short, sweet, and very queer. Something Wild & Wonderful is in the world of Love & Other Disasters, London and Delilah even make an appearance, but it is a stand alone in terms of plot. After being disowned by his parents and laid off from his job, Alexei is hiking the Pacific Crest […]

Maybe that’s how you fool other empaths, like, “hey baby, you just be your high-strung self and let me handle all that scary danger,” but respectfully, Agent Dead Man, I’m pretty sure you are the scary danger.

Liar City by Allie Therin

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Note: the Harper Collins Publishers Union and the NewsCorp have reached an agreement and the union has accepted the contract! I’ve been waiting to talk about Liar City for weeks!!!!! Allie Therin writes wonderful queer urban fantasy, and I would love for more people to start reading her books. I have enjoyed her historical fantasy series and was intrigued to see what she would do with a contemporary alternate universe. Folks, I loved it. Liar City opens with a mysterious phone call at 4 am […]

Madeline’s Working-Class Older Brother

Hotel Splendide by Ludwig Bemelmans

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Ludwig Bemelmans recalls his time as a waiter at a fabulous hotel in New York City, complete with lots of humor, tragedy, and a cast of colorful coworkers. I picked up this book because I love behind-the-scenes stories, and because I was interested in learning about the fabulous excess of 1920s New York City from a working-class perspective. It was only after I started reading it that I realized that the Bemelmans also wrote the Madeline series, about the little girls who lived “In an […]



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