Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

But of course, in his version, he’d also written a person who would eventually let herself be loved-and could shoot flames out of her fingers.

I am Trying to Break Your Heart by Ruby Lang

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Ruby Lang does a lot of things well, but one of my favorites is the way she creates women who are “kind of an asshole” and the men who love them. In her novella, I am Trying to Break Your Heart, Natalie Chen used to be an asshole but mostly she is trying not to be one now. Ben Nakamura used to be in love with her and he is trying not to be in love with her again. Nat is much more successful than […]

“I keep trying to make sober, evidence-based statements. And you try to make me jump you like a cat.”

The Art of Losing by Ruby Lang

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As soon as I heard about Ruby Lang’s novella The Art of Losing, I started plotting how to get my hands on an arc. I saw an Instagram post that linked to an arc giveaway and I entered so fast, I practically reached through the internet and snatched the file. As you can see, I was successful. And I am completely unsurprised to announce that I loved it. A lot. The Art of Losing is drenched in grief and vulnerability. Gia was born in China […]

Fried Chicken and “Wild Geese”

Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 8 by Rachel Kramer Bussel,

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I read erotica for several reasons. One of them is political. Accusations of pornography are thrown around when pushing back against the (small) gains in representation made by BIPOC and queer authors. Side note, a friend told me the parent group at her kids’ school had to argue with someone who claimed the description of a child eating a mango was pornographic. The reasonable parents prevailed, but in too many communities the unreasonable people are succeeding. I’m happy to frustrate a bigot by supporting my […]

Springing the Tightly Wound Man is Cathartic

He's Come Undone by Emma Barry, Olivia Dade, Adriana Herrera, Ruby Lang, and Cat Sebastian

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I read He’s Come Undone months ago, so this isn’t going to be the best review I’ve ever written (probably not the worst either). I enjoyed it a lot, but at the time that I read it, it was all I could do to review my NetGalley books before their publication date. Writing a review of a book that didn’t come with an obligation was too much. The five authors in the anthology are all authors I have enjoyed very much. I can guarantee that the […]

This is the one I’ve been waiting for

House Rules by Ruby Lang

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Ruby Lang is one of the authors I started reading and fell in love with in 2019. I have enjoyed every one of her books, but I think House Rules is my favorite. It is a second chance at love romance between a long divorced middle aged couple who become roommates because real estate costs in New York City are awful. I received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many years ago, Lana Kau and Simon Mizrahi were married. They were in the […]

She was going to have to kick a bunch of aunties out of their [redacted] fairy-tale meadow.

Open House by Ruby Lang

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Ruby Lang is one of my favorite author finds this year. I like the way she writes and the worlds and characters she creates. Her writing has a wry wit and a spare, natural style. Her characters interact like normal human beings. Side note: Lang’s story follows a Millennial man and woman, of Asian American and Afro-Latina descent. I, as a Gen X white woman, am absolutely unqualified to judge the quality of representation, I can only say that to me, they are relatable characters. […]



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