Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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About narfna

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Good evening, everyone. I'm Leslie Monster, and this is Nightline. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: narfna's Quick Questions interview.)

narfna's Reviews:

George Michael crossed with Eddie Vedder crossed with Beetlejuice.

Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle

June 30, 2026 by narfna 5 Comments

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. If I had to rank all of Chuck Tingle’s novels, the order would be for me, from best to least best*: Bury Your Gays, Lucky Day, Camp Damascus, then Fabulous Bodies. (I have not read his novella Straight as of yet.) And all of those books are 4, 4.5, or 5 stars. So he’s really just killing it. I’m only giving this one four stars because I know he can go deeper, […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Horror Tagged With: ARCs, audiobooks, camp, chuck tingle, Fabulous Bodies, horror, Mara Wilson, narfna, petition to ban the word deglove, thriller, would make a great movie

narfna's CBR18 Review No:18 · Genres: Audiobooks, Horror · Tags: ARCs, audiobooks, camp, chuck tingle, Fabulous Bodies, horror, Mara Wilson, narfna, petition to ban the word deglove, thriller, would make a great movie ·
Rating:
· 5 Comments

A promising debut cozy fantasy romance that didn’t quite fully hit.

Letters from the Last Apothecary by Bita Behzadi

June 3, 2026 by narfna Leave a Comment

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House | Hay House LLC for the Audio ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. This is a promising debut by Bita Behzadi, and I will be reading further books from her, but this one had some issues that mean I can’t give it a full four stars. Mostly, I had a really hard time both getting in to the story, and caring about the characters. It took about 33% for the first, and about 60% for […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Fantasy, Romance Tagged With: #fantasy, ARCs, audiobooks, Bita Behzadi, cozy, cozy fantasy, fantasy romance, historical fantasy, Letters from the Last Apothecary, m/f, narfna, Romance

narfna's CBR18 Review No:17 · Genres: Audiobooks, Fantasy, Romance · Tags: #fantasy, ARCs, audiobooks, Bita Behzadi, cozy, cozy fantasy, fantasy romance, historical fantasy, Letters from the Last Apothecary, m/f, narfna, Romance ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“All stories are love stories if you love stories.”

The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer

June 2, 2026 by narfna Leave a Comment

I can’t really tell whether or not it was a good or bad thing that I was able to predict every single twist* and reveal in this book, well before I should have been able to. I was entertained, so I guess good? Or it doesn’t matter. I’m just not used to being able to do that. So we’ll table that for now. Anyway, I went into this one grudgingly and with a bad attitude; I will admit that. And then as the book went […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Fantasy Tagged With: #fantasy, audiobooks, Books about books, contemporary fantasy, meg shaffer, meta, narfna, The Book Witch

narfna's CBR18 Review No:16 · Genres: Audiobooks, Fantasy · Tags: #fantasy, audiobooks, Books about books, contemporary fantasy, meg shaffer, meta, narfna, The Book Witch ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

All this gore and good for her friendship just warmed my lil heart. (The cats helped.)

Dead Weight by Hildur Knútsdóttir, translated by Mary Robinette Kowal

May 28, 2026 by narfna 2 Comments

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. I was sitting here thinking about how I should rate this, and I just really, really enjoyed myself, so I’m rounding this 4.5 star book up to five. Perhaps it is because there are two cats in here and one of them is a black one, and perhaps it is because of the ending, but regardless, I’m doing it, and I have no regrets. I liked the first […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Horror, Suspense Tagged With: audiobooks, Cats, Hildur Knutsdottir, Hildur Knútsdóttir, translated by Mary Robinette Kowal, horror, Iceland, Icelandic fiction, Icelandic horror, Mary Robinette Kowal, novellas, Suspense, translated

narfna's CBR18 Review No:13 · Genres: Audiobooks, Horror, Suspense · Tags: audiobooks, Cats, Hildur Knutsdottir, Hildur Knútsdóttir, translated by Mary Robinette Kowal, horror, Iceland, Icelandic fiction, Icelandic horror, Mary Robinette Kowal, novellas, Suspense, translated ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

Es-ca-pé! I wonder what that means. It’s funny . . . It’s spelled just like the word ‘escape’.

Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer

May 28, 2026 by narfna Leave a Comment

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. Continuing my recent trend of perfect little genre novellas*, Obstetrix was exactly what I was wanting it to be. We follow Liz, a doctor who was recently prosecuted for performing the last abortion in North Dakota (the jury deemed her not guilty). Fresh off being traumatized, she is then kidnapped by a Christian fundamentalist cult to be their OBGYN. *A short novel? It’s just over 200 pages, my cutoff for […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Fiction, Suspense Tagged With: ARCs, audiobooks, childbirth, cults, Naomi Kritzer, novellas, Obstetrix, pregnancy, religious fundamentalism, Suspense

narfna's CBR18 Review No:15 · Genres: Audiobooks, Fiction, Suspense · Tags: ARCs, audiobooks, childbirth, cults, Naomi Kritzer, novellas, Obstetrix, pregnancy, religious fundamentalism, Suspense ·
· 0 Comments

Seven people go for a tour in a mysterious library housing a very rare book, and you can probably guess the rest.

The Library After Dark by Ande Pliego

May 14, 2026 by narfna 4 Comments

Hooo, this was a hot mess. The idea of the library was great, but the execution failed. I feel this book’s existence is a symptom of the pressure on genre authors to publish a book a year. It might have been good if given more time to cook. She had a good story in her first book, and now this one is entirely made up of thriller and mystery cliches, all to the tune of overblown figurative language that makes no sense and does not […]

Filed Under: Mystery, Suspense Tagged With: Ande Pliego, libraries, multiple POVs, murder, mystery, narfna, Suspense, The Library After Dark, thriller

narfna's CBR18 Review No:14 · Genres: Mystery, Suspense · Tags: Ande Pliego, libraries, multiple POVs, murder, mystery, narfna, Suspense, The Library After Dark, thriller ·
Rating:
· 4 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • MsWas
    on CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge Begins
    I'll allow it. ;-)
  • LittlePlat
    on CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge Begins
    I looked it up—I have a book written by the 26th Australian Prime Minister so if I finish it in...
  • narfna
    on CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge Begins
    Give us our little boxes to fit things in!
  • Jen K
    on CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge Begins
    Not autistic but yes, I struggle with open prompts more than with very concrete ones.
  • narfna
    on CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge Begins
    2nd update: this card is so difficult for my autistic brain to process—it is a Challenge. I am taking literally...
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