Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Emmalita

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Lives in Austin, Texas. She/her. Loves reading books, writing about books and talking about books. On the CBR Board. May send you an email. Thinking about new challenges. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Emmalita's Quick Questions interview.)

Emmalita's Reviews:

Yelling at Terrible Men

Mrs. Martin’s Incomperable Adventure by Courtney Milan

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Author’s Note: Sometimes I write villains who are subtle and nuanced. This is not one of those times. The Terrible Nephew is terrible, and terrible things happen to him. Sometime villains really are bad and wrong, and sometimes, we want them to suffer a lot of consequences. I received this novella as an ARC and this is an honest review. Mrs. Bertrice Martin is a wealthy widow of 73 who is bored and depressed. Miss Violetta Beauchamps is a poor spinster of 69 who has […]

An Effervescent Romance

The Austen Playbook by Lucy Parker

by 5 Comments

This review is spoiler free. I signed up with NetGalley in hopes that I would be given this book in exchange for an honest review. I was so excited when I got the email from the publisher that my mood did a wild swing from morose despair to OHMYGODREALLY??? I loooooooved it. Grumpy hero – check witty heroine – check sparkling banter – check sexy sexy times – check a brief spot of soulful pining – check meddling families – check shenanigans – check The […]

There is No Chef Without a Homeland

The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty

by 4 Comments

I’ve struggled to find the right way to talk about Michael Twitty’s The Cooking Gene. It was a game changer for me in the way I think about food, but it was also a mostly enjoyable and intriguing read. I recommend it highly, especially if you have any interest in food or American history. Twitty does historic cooking demonstrations in the kitchens of Southern plantations. He cooks the food that would have been eaten with the tools that would have been used. I want to reclaim my […]

The Roads Made By Kings Are Not The Only Paths A Man May Travel

Desire Lines by Elizabeth Kingston

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I enjoyed this book so much more than I expected. I received this as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a review. I asked for it because I saw the author’s name and didn’t read the description until after I had received it. I follow Kingston on Twitter and find her delightful. I generally find the medieval period unromantic, and have avoided medieval romances like the plague. Desire Lines is interesting, well written, and engaging enough to overcome my usual dislike for the period. It’s […]

Folies á Deux

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou

by 6 Comments

Happy Women’s History Month! John Carryrou’s Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup taught me a new phrase – folies á deux – a shared psychosis by two people in close proximity. Elizabeth Holmes and her (secret) boyfriend,  Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, ran the company she founded like their own fiefdom. They enforced Elizabeth’s version of reality, kept information siloed, and silenced anyone who questioned or criticized them. I do not know if Elizabeth Holmes started out with good intentions and then was derailed by […]

Between the Oceans and the Mountains is a Wild Forest.

Gender Queer: a Memoir by Maia Kobabe

by 3 Comments

Note: I misgendered the author in the 4th paragraph. I’d love to blame autocorrect, but it was entirely my own brain defaulting to the comfort of binary pronouns. Brains like to be comfortable and I was raised in an aggressively binary culture. That makes it more imperative that I get comfortable with discomfort, try harder, and be willing to correct others and accept correction. Maia Kobabe’s graphic novel GenderQueer: A Memoir is a beautiful gift to the world, filled with pain and compassion. Maia uses […]



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