Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Puppy That Eats Your Favourite Shoes

Good Boy by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

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When the hero of Good Boy was introduced in Us, I referred to him as the World’s Largest Plot Moppet.  I was wrong, clearly he is the world’s biggest puppy. I have seen very mixed reviews of this contemporary romance as there are troubling elements at the same time as it is also frequently charming. YMMV, as the kids today say. Blake Riley and Jessie Canning hooked up several months ago and while it was mutually satisfying, she isn’t looking for more. Brought together again […]

Hockey Romance with Coaches in Love

Power Play by Avon Gale

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My quest for good romance continues with a book recommended to me on Pajiba my online home away from home. Max Ashford’s career in the NHL was cut short when a checking accident on the ice left him with compromised peripheral vision. Working on a career behind the bench, he joins head coach Misha Samarin with the Spartanburg Spitfires in South Carolina. It’s an ECHL team – meaning a double A hockey franchise that acts as a feeder to the minors and, with any luck […]

Still No Recommended Reads from the Brooklyn Bruisers Series

Hard Hitter by Sarina Bowen

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Sarina Bowen burst into my romance reading life in 2015 with her Ivy Years series and my discovery happily coincided with her career taking off. This has provided me with lots of reading material. Though none of her more recent books have captured the magic of those first ones I read (Blonde Date is a perfect novella), I am continuing to buy her books; however as the prices have gone up, my interest has gone down. It’s one thing to be a $5 author, it’s […]

Something good happened in 2016

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Everyone who writes a lot of book reviews is aware of the phenomenon where it’s often a lot easier to talk about books that you hated than books that you loved. Something about the fire of rage makes it much easier to write at length. But when everything just falls into place, what is there to say? It seems reductive and passionless to just list all of the things the book did well and why. But if I had enough talent in writing to describe, […]

Terrible and Magnificent as Promised

Kulti by Mariana Zapata

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When I wrote “barring a dark horse in December, I am quite sure this is going to be the best romance I read all year,” about The Hating Game, I didn’t honestly expect there to be challenger. What a pleasure it is to be rounding out the year with Kulti which is a fantastic contemporary romance and one that is on theme for 2016 with a difficult hero, c.f. Dukes Prefer Blondes, Hold Me (review to come), and Act Like It. Correctly described to me as […]

Another entry into the leading romance trope of 2016: slightly redeemable a**holes

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2016 is the year of the slightly redeemable a*hole in romance. Between Richard in Act Like It, Raven from Dukes Prefer Blondes, and Joshua Templeman from The Hating Game we had quite a year. And then the lovely Patty threw out a phrase that caught my eye. Well, two phrases. German soccer star. Terrible and magnificent. She was right on all counts. Kulti is the story of Sal, the lead scorer on a women’s professional soccer team in the US and Reiner Kulti, a recently […]



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