Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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About faintingviolet

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A reader and caffeine addict who consumes all sorts of books, some just more frequently than others. Your CBR Book Club Maven with over a decade of Cannonballing experience I believe in the beauty that comes from a common goal of reading, reviewing, and discussing. Also, Fuck Cancer. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: faintingviolet's Quick Questions interview.)

faintingviolet's Reviews:

Cover of Duped. A person's hand is shown holding a pink rose.

“Being duped contaminates your entire sense of self.”

Duped: Double Lives, False Identities, and the Con Man I Almost Married by Abby Ellin

July 28, 2026 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

For full disclosure (which feels extra important when discussing a book about deception) I did not finish this book. I made it to the halfway point and realized that the structure of the book wasn’t working for me, and I didn’t want to pick it back up. So, I didn’t.   Now, with that in mind, the reason I believe I felt that way was the way Abby Ellin blended the personal narrative of her lived experience being engaged to a con man with the research about deception through double lives and false identities was not landing for me. I would imagine that Ellin hoped by keeping her own […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: abby ellin, cbr18bingo, duped, justice

faintingviolet's CBR18 Review No:18 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: abby ellin, cbr18bingo, duped, justice ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
Love Feud by Janine Amesta

The Third Moreno Sister’s Story

The Love Feud by Janine Amesta

July 20, 2026 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

Late last summer and early fall I read the first two books of Janine Amesta’s Love in the Air series and had a great time. Due to oversights that are entirely my doing, the third and final book in the series went unread until June of this year. However, I was VERY glad to have this book on vacation in June, so there’s that.   The Love Feud is the story of the youngest Moreno sister, Hailey. There has been a bit of a time jump since the end of The Wedding Con and we are now a few years away from […]

Filed Under: Romance Tagged With: cbr18bingo, Contemporary Romance, Janine Amesta, Love is in the Air series, old enemies, repair, series ender, The Love Feud

faintingviolet's CBR18 Review No:17 · Genres: Romance · Tags: cbr18bingo, Contemporary Romance, Janine Amesta, Love is in the Air series, old enemies, repair, series ender, The Love Feud ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
cover of Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian featuring two men on a television set looking as though they are about to kiss

“Simon tries to remember where he’s supposed to put his hands, what a normal facial expression feels like, how to cosplay as a functional person.”

Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian

July 17, 2026 by faintingviolet 1 Comment

It has been literal years since I have read a Cat Sebastian romance novel, and that’s a damn shame for me, because I love her writing. I’ve had books of hers out from the library, but the timing just hasn’t been right, I suppose. But her debut into contemporary romance, Star Shipped, (you, like me, will be forgiven if the cover art made you think this was mid 20th century like the Cabots series) was available as an ARC and an Aardvark book and I scooped it up as fast as possible – and then […]

Filed Under: Romance Tagged With: ARC, Cat Sebastian, cbr18bingo, Contemporary Romance, or), queer romance, Star Shipped

faintingviolet's CBR18 Review No:16 · Genres: Romance · Tags: ARC, Cat Sebastian, cbr18bingo, Contemporary Romance, or), queer romance, Star Shipped ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

“Feral, for all the wildness it implies, just means that an animal was abandoned by the system that created it.”

Poets Square: a Memoir in Thirty Cats by Courtney Gustafson

June 4, 2026 by faintingviolet 1 Comment

I am very far behind my book goal for the year so far, so I did some TBR triage by moving shorter books up to the front of the request queue with my library. Poets Square is one of the first of that reshuffle to make its way to me and was a welcome bit of solace this past weekend. Poets Square is Courtney Gustafson’s story of how she accidentally inherited a feral colony of 30 cats which in turn led her to work in […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: #memoir, Cats, Courtney Gustafson, Poets Square

faintingviolet's CBR18 Review No:15 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: #memoir, Cats, Courtney Gustafson, Poets Square ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

The wildlife is something else in this one.

Shrunkation by Janine Amesta

June 2, 2026 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

This is a great example of trusting an author you know you enjoy even when the concept doesn’t initially grab your attention. I’m on Janine Amesta’s advanced reader list having loved Love at First Flight and The Wedding Con (The Love Feud is currently sitting on my end table waiting for me). Initially the description of Shrunkation didn’t grab me, but I know I like Amesta’s way of building characters and I’m always a least a little intrigued by a marriage in trouble romance, so I went in hoping for the best.   What I think Amesta nailed here is that a […]

Filed Under: Romance Tagged With: Janine Amesta

faintingviolet's CBR18 Review No:14 · Genres: Romance · Tags: Janine Amesta ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Sex Cult and Wellness Startup

Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult by Ellen Huet

May 30, 2026 by faintingviolet 3 Comments

I have a history being interested in cults and cult-like behaviors, so when Read Harder included a task to read a book about cults, I was excited. I’ve already read The Quiet Damage this year and have a couple others lined up, including Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult by Ellen Huet.  Let’s start with the headline – I did not enjoy this book. I am an outlier in that regard.   This is not about the content; this is an incredibly well researched work from someone who has been reporting on the One Taste cult […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: cults, Ellen Huet, Empire of Orgasm, read harder challenge

faintingviolet's CBR18 Review No:13 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: cults, Ellen Huet, Empire of Orgasm, read harder challenge ·
Rating:
· 3 Comments
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