Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Women Will Do What They Need to Survive

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

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Best for: Those who enjoy a bit of mystery, a bit of revenge, and some history. In a nutshell: Two parallel stories: In the late 1700s, Nella runs a secret apothecary in London to assist women who need freeing from abusive men. In the current day, Caroline has come to London to celebrate her 10th anniversary, only just before leaving the US for the trip, she found out her husband had been having an affair. Worth quoting: N/A – Audio book Why I chose it: […]

“To me, the allure of history lay in the minutiae of life long ago, the untold secrets of ordinary people.”

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

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A friend loaned me this book and I dove in and read it in two days, tackling the first 13 chapters in one go: highly readable, and a breeze to get through. That said, I know that reading this book will be relegated to the pantheon of things I forgot I have read two months from now. I was quite surprised to learn it was a Goodreads nominee for Best Debut Novel and Best Historical Fiction because I wouldn’t have given it such high praise. […]

Back from whence you came

The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner

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This was an airport bookstore grab on my birthday, one of those deals where if you bring it back within six months, you can get 50% of the cover price back. The London Séance Society will indeed be going back. It’s not a bad read or story, just not amazing enough to take up some of my limited shelf space. The alternating back and forth between two perspectives and narrators actually does some pretty cool stuff with unreliability; both narrators are but for very different […]

A bit of a mixed bag (and a complete Passport!)

The Lost Apothecary: A Novel by Sarah Penner

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CBR15passport book you own (passport complete) I bought this book a while back as part of a sale. It’s historical fiction, which I almost always enjoy, and it moves back and forth between the late 18th century and present day London. Overall, it’s a decent read, the kind of book that you could finish on a long flight or over a weekend. Its focus is on female characters struggling to deal with dishonest and unfaithful men, and women finding fulfillment in their own work and […]

“You cannot be betrayed by someone you do not trust.”

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

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This cover is gorgeous!  It may have sucked me into checking this out, but I stayed for the story.  This is one of those books that jumps from present time back to a point in history.  I’ve read several of these; it’s a popular theme that usually involves distant relatives.  However, in this case, it’s a young woman, Caroline Parcewell, in present day who finds out her husband has cheated on her, and she takes off to London on what was supposed to be the […]

Drunk on mediocrity

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

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Ugh. The cover for this one was so pretty, and I kept seeing it on bookstore shelves, so when I finally was able to snap up a library copy I was really excited. The back cover promises a woman apothecary in the 1700s who helps other women kill all the Bad Men who were oppressing them? Yes please! Alas, this was a lot of promise without the delivery and I was mostly disappointed. FYI that there are some spoilers in my review below. Penner’s novel […]



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