Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Can I Just Stare at the Cover for Three Hours?

Bittersweet by Sarina Bowen

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If I may take a moment, I should like to express my profound approbation for the return of facial hair to mainstream men’s fashion. All hail the lumbersexual! The first book in Sarina Bowen’s new True North series, Bittersweet hits a lot of great notes, but doesn’t quite live up to her best work in her justly loved Ivy Years Series. The hero and heroine of this contemporary romance are two people trying to sort out their lives. One is tied down, the other at the end […]

Trust Me, I Was There, It’s “Secret Baby”

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I have peered into a new corner of the contemporary romance genre with these two novels, one known as “secret baby”. Once Upon a Half-Time and Bad Boy’s Bridesmaid both feature a player and a sensible woman whose precipitous actions lead to an absolutely conventional conclusion.  These Sosie Frost books also happen to have an African-American heroine and a Caucasian-American hero. HUZZAH! for diversity, especially when it means that a romance novel looks more like the real world. The race issue is not particularly highlighted in Once Upon […]

Straining Even Kissing Book Credulity

Home for Three by Nicole Stewart

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Prurience isn’t the best reason to read a romance novel featuring two men and a woman, but I willingly admit it was a key one for me in this case. The fact that Home for Three was free also contributed, as salaciousness for its own sake should always be a bargain. This contemporary romance features an established gay couple who meet the woman of their dreams.  Can the three of them find a way to create a family? Home for Three is Queer Eye for the Straight Guy with […]

Four “In Too Deeps”, No Waiting!

In Too Deep by Mara Jacobs, Kathryn Shay, Tracey Alvarez, Lucia Jordan

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There are at least fifteen kissing books called In Too Deep on Amazon and it seemed to me that my ones of readers deserved to know how they stacked up. My criteria were simple. First, the title, second, it had to be gratis. With these rigorous investigational standards, I was able to acquire four In Too Deeps in three minutes. The Freshman Roommates Series: In Too Deep by Mara Jacobs – Young adult contemporary Lily is a college freshman giving swimming lessons to local children when she meets Lucas. He has custody of […]

With Thesaurus Assistance on Synonyms for Trite

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Is this what is known as a beach read in that it is something disposable you can follow easily whilst also making sure your toddler doesn’t drown? Bella Andre’s contemporary romance The Way You Look Tonight is easily one of the most obvious, pedestrian, and stereotypically bad novels I have ever read. Book one of a series, The Seattle Sullivans, that I will not only not be reading, it is one I would gladly use volumes of for a campfire. Rafe Sullivan is a physically attractive private detective whose […]

Julien-Shaped Shrug

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Worst Read of the Year Contender! All-around good person, Kate, runs a local food bank. Desperate for funds, she makes a local TV appearance asking for donations. Her storefront is delighted to receive a recurring anonymous monthly donation of $1,000. It always arrives in a paper bag and Kate delights in dumping the money out. If it’s singles and the local peeler bar is taking contributions, it might work. If it’s $5 or $10 bills, it’s still vaguely okay, but if the bills are any […]



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