Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

What does the dark dark wood got to do with it?

In A Dark Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

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It’s one of those books where the “mysterious events of the past” are mysterious only because the narrator isn’t telling you about it. Leonora, 26 years old is a crime author and lives a solitary and lonely life.  Then, she receives an email from a woman she does not know, inviting her to a “hen party” for a friend she has not spoken to for a long time.  But she goes.  This hen party is for the wedding of Leonora’s childhood friend Clare.  A wedding […]

Young Women in Impossible Situations

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

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Bingo, The Turn of the Key: Free! (borrowed from an in-law) Bingo, The Death of Mrs. Westaway: Fauna (the magpies on the cover play an important role in the book) The Turn of the Key: This mystery is a retelling of The Turn of the Screw (which I’ve never read). The only reason I read it was because I got a free copy, and while I didn’t exactly like it, I also found that I needed to know what had happened and didn’t really want […]

I Am Ambivalent, Hear Me Roar

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

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The hardest reviews are not the ones about good books, or about bad ones (in fact, writing reviews about bad books is easy and so much fun it’s almost worth reading a bad book for. Almost). The hardest ones to write are the ones about books that were just okay. The Woman in Cabin 10 is one of those books. It’s bubblegum. It’s popcorn. It’s cheese, but not the good kind, no, the average kind from the supermarket that’s good as sandwich filling but not […]

I didn’t see that twist coming!

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

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The book opens  with our protagonist, Rowan, writing a letter to a lawyer/solicitor from jail, begging for him to help her. She tells him that she is innocent of a crime of murder that she did not commit and that she needs his assistance with her trial that is coming up soon. She wants him to help prove her innocence so she begins her tale. If something seems too good to be true, it usually is – or so the saying goes.  When Rowan comes […]

A good entry point, but less good continuation

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

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Hal Westaway is working as a tarot reader on the West Pier in Brighton Beach, doing what she can to scrape by. But just because it’s winter and off-season doesn’t mean the loan shark she borrowed a paltry sum from a few months ago stops sending notices. So when she gets a letter informing her of her grandmother’s death and her place in the will, Hal has a choice to make. Of course, she knows that her grandparents have been dead for years, and the […]

maybe THIS is what Quibi was supposed to be?

Snow Flakes by Ruth Ware

Treasure by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Slow Burner by Laura Lippman

Buried by Jeffrey Deaver

The Gift by Alison Gaylin

Let Her Be by Lisa Unger

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These little collections are great in a very specific way; the stories are quick, unique from each other, and can be accessed through both the Kindle and Audible. If I have just a few minutes to listen while doing chores, I can pop in and out without needed to re-immerse myself in something long and complicated! If I have a long line at the Post Office, I can stand and read the majority of a story while I wait. Low impact, low commitment, and decent […]



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