Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Constructive Criticism

The Last Word by Taylor Adams

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CBR 15 Bingo – You Are Here: The setting is incredibly self-contained, with nearly all of the action taking place in the same isolated house on a beach. After Emma leaves a negative review on a self-published book, she discovers that some authors take such things very, very personally. I picked up this book because it amused me that someone would take the unfortunately true tales of authors coming after readers who’ve left negative reviews on their books (generally online, but at least in one case physically) and write […]

“If an old story is enough to scare people away, then the whole world should scare them.”

After Dark with Roxie Clark by Brooke Lauren Davis

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CBR 15 Bingo – Adulthood: This YA book is a coming-of-age story for Roxie and Skylar, who must grapple with the difficult themes of guilt and closure before they can move past a massive tragedy. A year after Roxie’s sister’s boyfriend is found brutally murdered on the outskirts of town, an unexpected discovery sends Skylar on a frenetic search for the killer, heedless of who might get hurt in the process. This is a fitting read for spooky season – a family curse? A ghost […]

Handing trauma down the line

Denizen by James Mackenzie Watson

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Bingo: Violence; Passport: Bush noir Denizen is one of the most disturbing books I have ever read.  I bought it thinking I was getting another “bush noir” – an Australian crime subgenre focussed on rural murders. What I actually got was a lot more interesting, but also much more confronting.  I think my Kindle skipped over the warning at the front that “this book depicts mental ill health and self harm” as its dark turn took me by surprise.  The narrative has a familiar crime […]

Twistin the Night Away

The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly

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Last night, I woke up at 3:30 with a warm flush (being a middle aged woman is aces, y’all) and as I was fanning myself on the sofa, I grabbed my book for the usual 20 minutes or so until my temperature made sense again. I’d been reading this for a couple of days, and I was liking it but I didn’t think it’s be a problem to set it back down and so I could finish getting my night’s sleep. Reader, I’m sure you […]

I remember this being one of my first moments nearing adulthood, when I realized how powerful memory was — or at least it was the first time it hurt the most. And there was nothing I could do about the pain of the past — it just settled over me

The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis

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CBR Bingo – Queer Lives “Y’all. Bret Easton Ellis is NOT OKAY.” So says I, at my book club where we read this book. I read American Psycho about a decade ago and distinctly remember getting to something so disturbing that I yelped out loud, slammed the book shut, and tossed it across the room. If that visceral experience sounds exciting to you, well Ellis has plenty more to disturb and haunt you with, and in this, his newest book, he will take 595 pages […]

Heartbreakers

Stone Cold Fox by Rachel Koller Croft

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But Sigourney Weaver is a murderous narcissist and Jennifer Love Hewitt loves her, hates her, and is terrified by her. Just like the classic 2001 film! Beautiful, accomplished Bea is about to marry the extremely rich man of her dreams and disappear into a life of peaceful domesticity. Her only problem is winning over his protective family who think she’s a gold digger along with everyone else in his upper class social circle who are determined to keep her out. And then there’s the best […]



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