Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Give Me A Break – The Breakaway

The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner

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I have read several books by Jennifer Weiner so I knew what to expect and I was looking for an easy read/romance story. I don’t know if I was not in the right mindset, but I found this book insufferable – or I should say all the characters were insufferable. The Breakaway centers around the main character Abby who is tasked to lead a group on a two week bike ride from New York City ending at Niagara Falls. Of course, the good-looking guy who […]

Yes, let the Taylor Swift-lyric title and the beautiful cover lure you in.

Don't Want You Like a Best Friend (Mischief & Matchmaking, #1) by Emma R. Alban

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[finishes book] [three and a half weeks later] I don’t know why I’m having such a mental block about writing this review, so I’m just going to go and see what happens. [two days later] This is an adult queer Regency romance featuring two young women as the protagonists, and it’s the first sapphic historical I think that I have really loved*. There still isn’t that much f/f historical romance or ones involving nb folks to begin with, but the ones I’ve read have not […]

For good reading on a plane, you can’t go wrong with Austen

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

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When I told Ms. Was I had downloaded Sense and Sensibility (among other things) for a long flight I’d be taking, she said, “Well, you can’t go wrong with Jane Austen.” Were truer words ever spoken? Some Austen novels might be better than others, but they are all solid entertainment for passing the time, whether you are curled up with a cup of tea on a rainy day or wedged into a tight airplane seat and taking a break from binge-watching episodes of The Office. […]

Smuggling, insects, and family drama surround this gay love story

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles

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Thank you, Emmalita, for this wonderful book and first exposure to KJ Charles!  In the 2023 Cannonball Book Exchange I put that I would like any book by KJ Charles and she graciously gifted me The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen. Kent and London had a good thing going.  They met up at the Three Ducks in London for some enthusiastic and anonymous sex.  But then Kent needs to do business away from the city and London, familiar with abandonment, decides to shut things down instead […]

Bonus: Ridiculous 1830s Fashion

Dukes Prefer Blondes by Loretta Chase

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Five series and 28 or so books into a very successful career, it comes as no surprise that Loretta Chase is a really consistent historical romance author who provides great entertainment value combined with sincere emotional connections. I loved Dukes Prefer Blondes when I reviewed it for Cannonball Read in 2016 during Romancelandia’s Year of Difficult Men*  and I adore it  now. I went back to revisit a specific scene and the next thing I knew, I’d re-read to the end and then gone back […]

Like the Oregon Trail Game with a Bodice Ripping Mod

Emerald Fire by Julia Grice

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Fleeing her plantation home to escape her lecherous cousin, Emerald ends up joining a wagon train headed to California as a mother’s helper. She’s drawn to their guide Mace, but has a long way to go before she can reach her happy ending. More a pioneer adventure than a true romance, we follow Emerald on her way west as the train tangles with illness and injury, hostile Native Americans and a pair of bank robbers. We encounter all kinds of curious characters both on and […]



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