Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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About Jen K

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I’ve been around off and on since the first year of CBR, and it and books have been a constant in my life through multiple moves and a major career change. I live with 3 cats, Dany, Jace and Jorah. Fantasy, specific types of sci-fi, historical fiction (especially mysteries) and romance tend to be my go to genres now a days. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Jen K's Quick Questions interview.)

Jen K's Reviews:

They did the monster mash

Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

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I kept looking at this one last year since it would come up on various lists and then finally picked up a copy. It also ended up being announced as the February choice for the Buffering podcast book club which worked out perfect – always great when book club just helps you prioritize a book you already have. This novel was just pulpy, campy fun, combining classic horror creatures with AIs (the good fictional kind that make you discover things about humanity) and space travel. […]

Surprisingly, her utter lack of brains or personality is not her “Defect”

Conform by Ariel Sullivan

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Oh my god, this book. There are so many ways someone could have taken this premise and done something with it but it would have required some world building that makes sense. Or a protagonist that isn’t a wet blanket but also the most special girl to ever live. Supposedly Emeline is 27 but I would have just as easily believed she was a pod person created the day before the book started. This is a society built on class and eugenics. The very top […]

Apple headed dolls and missing girls

The Witch’s Orchard by Archer Sullivan

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In addition to author events, the local independent bookstore hosts a few book clubs. When I moved here, the sessions were closed but I signed up for two of them when they opened for the spring. This was the first selection for the Southern Lit book club, which is also the one I am doing with my mom. Overall, it was a good book. Even though I like mysteries, this isn’t one I would have likely picked up on my own since I tend to […]

A Pride and Prejudice retelling that works best when it follows the inspiration less strictly

The Bennet Women by Eden Appiah-Kubi

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While I think this novel started a little bit rough for me, I ultimately ended up liking it. This novel is a contemporary take on Pride and Prejudice, set at a New England liberal college, focused on the women of Bennet House. While I am sure I originally picked this novel up because it was a Pride and Prejudice retelling, while reading it, I realized that I don’t actually love the plotline of Pride and Prejudice enough to want to go through all of the […]

Might be time for a Hidden Legacy reread!

Beast Business by Ilona Andrews

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I knew Ilona Andrews had a new novel coming out very soon but this novella in the Hidden Legacy universe was a bit of a surprise (no, I still haven’t signed up for the newsletter). This focuses on two characters outside the family that we have seen pop up over the years – Augustine, an Illusion Prime, Head of House Montgomery and the agency Nevada once worked for, and Diana, animal mage, Head of House Harrison and ally to House Baylor through her brother and […]

I was hoping for more of Medusa smiting powerful men

I, Medusa by Ayana Gray

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Marketing and publishing trends can be interesting. For the longest time, it seemed like fantasy written by women ended up being forced into YA. Over the last year or two, there have been quite a few novels that have been marketed as the adult debuts of YA authors. That cross over has always existed (I remember R.L. Stine’s first adult book) but for some of the novels, it’s hard to say what actually makes them adult. The Alchemy of Secrets was one example like that, […]



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