Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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cover

Incredible world-building does not make up for a lackluster romance

Before We Disappear by Shaun David Hutchinson

July 4, 2023 by carmelpie Leave a Comment

“I think it must’ve been a person who’d wished for love but had never known it who’d created the first clock. Because time is a reminder of how quickly the present passes and how little of the future remains, and no one in love would want to know that.” ― Shaun David Hutchinson, Before We Disappear After narrowly escaping Paris when his employer/adoptive mother is accused of stealing a rival’s illusion, Jack finds himself in Seattle the month before the 1909 Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition. While there, […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction Tagged With: 1900s, abusive relationships, cbr15bingo, CBR15Passport, con artists, feminist, gaslighting, heist fiction, heist romance, historical fiction, historical fiction plus fantasy, magicians, queer romance, Seattle, Shaun David Hutchinson, Young Adult Romance

carmelpie's CBR15 Review No:18 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction · Tags: 1900s, abusive relationships, cbr15bingo, CBR15Passport, con artists, feminist, gaslighting, heist fiction, heist romance, historical fiction, historical fiction plus fantasy, magicians, queer romance, Seattle, Shaun David Hutchinson, Young Adult Romance ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

DNF Part 1: Crossing these off my list

The Greek Myths by Robert Graves

Troy by Stephen Fry

I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are by Rachel Bloom

Paris Dallencourt Is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall

June 15, 2023 by carmelpie Leave a Comment

Here is the first batch of “did not finish” for CBR 15. Troy by Stephen Fry The audio book was 11 hours. Listened to about half of it. Skipped quite a bit. Still didn’t finish it. I read Mythos and thought that the audiobook version of Troy would be easier to digest. It was not. Greek Myths by Robert Graves This is basically an encyclopedia of Greek myths. Maybe you can use this as some sort of reference material. But I could not get through […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: #CBR15 passport, Alexis Hall, CBR15Passport, Celebrity Memoir, DNF, gay romance, greek mythology, mythology, queer romance, Rachel bloom, robert graves, Stephen Fry

carmelpie's CBR15 Review No:12 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: #CBR15 passport, Alexis Hall, CBR15Passport, Celebrity Memoir, DNF, gay romance, greek mythology, mythology, queer romance, Rachel bloom, robert graves, Stephen Fry ·
· 0 Comments

An Intense Horror on Grief

Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould

June 11, 2023 by LB Leave a Comment

Wow, this book… this is such a beautiful, painful story exploring grief and how not letting go, staying in the past can cause more harm than learning to move forward. Beck lost her mother only a few months ago and she and her sister are on their way to Texas to live with their dad, but first Beck has to find out the truth of Backravel, the place that her mother was investigating, the place that basically stole her mother from her. But things in […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Horror, Young Adult Tagged With: Courtney Gould, grief, horror, lesbian character, queer romance, sapphic, small town mysteries

LB's CBR15 Review No:8 · Genres: Fiction, Horror, Young Adult · Tags: Courtney Gould, grief, horror, lesbian character, queer romance, sapphic, small town mysteries ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

A major bummer.

Sizzle Reel by Carlyn Greenwald

June 1, 2023 by narfna Leave a Comment

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. Bullet pointing this “review” because I have emotionally abandoned this book and just cannot be bothered. *I was into this for first 10%, despite the terrible choice to write in first person present tense. *The blurb is extremely misleading. This is a friends to lovers romance. By the time I realized this was what was happening, it was too late for me to enjoy it, […]

Filed Under: Romance Tagged With: ARCs, bisexual mc, Carlyn Greenwald, Contemporary Romance, f/f, LGBTQIA, queer romance, Romance, Sizzle Reel

narfna's CBR15 Review No:55 · Genres: Romance · Tags: ARCs, bisexual mc, Carlyn Greenwald, Contemporary Romance, f/f, LGBTQIA, queer romance, Romance, Sizzle Reel ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

If you have to go, I will go with you.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

January 21, 2023 by carmelpie Leave a Comment

“Did he know, or only guess at Achilles’ destiny? As he lay alone in his rose-colored cave, had some glimmer of prophecy come to him? Perhaps he simply assumed: a bitterness of habit, of boy after boy trained for music and medicine, and unleashed for murder.” ― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles “We reached for each other, and I thought of how many nights I had lain awake loving him in silence.” ― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles I haven’t felt the need […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Romance Tagged With: Achilles and Patroclus, greek mythology, Greek tragedy, madeline miller, queer romance

carmelpie's CBR15 Review No:2 · Genres: Fiction, Romance · Tags: Achilles and Patroclus, greek mythology, Greek tragedy, madeline miller, queer romance ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Mostly a miss for me.

Best Men by Sidney Karger

January 6, 2023 by narfna Leave a Comment

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the content of my review. First of all, I would like to say that “himbo” was absolutely 100% not a thing in the year 2003, so I hope some copy or line-editor catches that before this book goes to print. And no, don’t argue with me that it was first used in the 1980s (1988 specifically) and uses of it date from then, but it was absolutely not a term that anyone who was […]

Filed Under: Romance Tagged With: Best Men, Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, m-m, narfna, queer romance, Romance, Sidney Karger

narfna's CBR15 Review No:2 · Genres: Romance · Tags: Best Men, Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, m-m, narfna, queer romance, Romance, Sidney Karger ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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