Malin

Norwegian secondary school teacher, Geek and reading enthusiast. Married with two cats. Mother of little boy, born in February 2018. Cannonball-veteran. Loves fantasy, romance and YA. Pretty much hates Modernist lit and stream of consciousness writing, yet married a man whose favourite book is James Joyce's Ulysses, so there you go. Strongly opinionated about many things.

Malin's Reviews:

Ending the year on a rather mediocre note

The Other Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

December 27, 2018 by Malin 3 Comments

Miss Poppy Bridgerton is visiting a cousin at the coast when she stumbles upon a strange cave, which happens to be full of smugglers’ goods. When she’s shortly after discovered by two of the smugglers, she finds herself drugged and abducted onto a ship, where the very handsome captain tells her that she can’t be released until after the ship has been to Portugal and back. Poppy is none too happy about this, obviously, but doesn’t really have a choice. She just has to hope that her reputation isn’t completely in tatters by the time she returns. While he has […]

12/27/2018 Malin's CBR10 Review No:108 |

Standalone fantasy novels are rare and precious. This one was not bad.

Starless by Jacqueline Carey

December 27, 2018 by Malin 1 Comment

Khai was destined from birth to become the Shadow of the Sun-blessed princess Zaryia. Both born during the same eclipse, Khai was the child who caught the hawk’s feather thrown by the selected priestess, thus confirming that he was the chosen one. Raised by warrior priests deep in the desert, Khai is trained in all the deadly arts of stealth and fighting, and gets his first chance to kill a man at age nine. He hones all his abilities to become the very best Shadow to his soul’s twin, destined to guard and protect her against all evil. Yet when […]

12/27/2018 Malin's CBR10 Review No:107 |

A revenge plot that thankfully goes completely wrong

Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah Maclean

December 25, 2018 by Malin Leave a Comment

Felicity Faircloth may be the daughter of an Earl, but she is now on the fringes of society and her family desperately need her to land a rich husband, sooner rather than later, please. She’s not at all happy to discover just how dire the family’s finances are (and that they’ve kept the truth from her for over a year), but she may have just doomed them all, but telling a very inconvenient lie at a ball held by the reclusive Duke of Marwick. The lie – that she’s in fact already betrothed to marry him. Imagine her surprise when […]

12/25/2018 Malin's CBR10 Review No:106 |

An excellent bridging story between a finished trilogy and a series to come

Diamond Fire by Ilona Andrews

December 24, 2018 by Malin Leave a Comment

4.5 stars Spoiler warning! This novella takes place after the events of Wildfire and this review may spoil things for any reader who has not finished the original Hidden Legacy trilogy. Proceed at your own risk. Nevada Baylor is marrying Connor Rogan, and that means a huge society wedding with countless guests, including many of Rogan’s family members from all over the world. After the bride runs off numerous wedding planners, her sisters Catalina and Arabella decide to take over the wedding planning duties. It turns out that dealing with her older sister’s increasingly erratic demands is child’s play compared to some of the other […]

12/24/2018 Malin's CBR10 Review No:105 |

Such a lovely surprise on a cold and snowy day

Geek Knits by Joan of Dark/Toni Carr

December 15, 2018 by Malin 2 Comments

Last Saturday, I woke up feeling a bit out of sorts. By the afternoon, it became clear why – I was coming down with a doozy of a cold. By Sunday, I was feeling pretty wretched, my head was fuzzy, my throat was sore, my nose was constantly dripping and I felt completely wrung out. Sadly, I could not just call in sick and stay in bed fighting this thing – the end of term English test for my students was on Monday and Tuesday (preparation day on Monday, actual essay writing on Tuesday). I had to tough it out […]

12/15/2018 Malin's CBR10 Review No:0 |

#CBR10Bingo: Two Heads Are Better Than One – introducing my husband (Blackout AND double Cannonball!)

Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O'Shea

November 30, 2018 by Malin 2 Comments

#CBR10Bingo: Two Heads Are Better Than One So my final review of #CBR10Bingo requires some assistance, and I will be joined by my husband Mark (“Hello!”), who also gave me the book we’re co-reviewing. I figured I should start with some background. I hadn’t watched any of the now hugely popular children’s television program Doctor Who until I went to University in Scotland in the late 1990s, early 2000s. Of course, this was because at that point, the show wasn’t actually on the air, and anyone who wanted to watch it, or get other friends interested in it, probably had to own […]

11/30/2018 Malin's CBR10 Review No:104 |

#CBR10Bingo: So Popular! – Revisiting a favourite (Bingo #9 and #10)

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

November 28, 2018 by Malin Leave a Comment

#CBR10Bingo: So Popular! This is my second re-read of Attachments. I first read it back in 2011, and my original review can be found here. Considering how much I loved the book back then (and still do), it’s a fairly short and unenthusiastic review. But it’ll give you the basics of what the book is about. When it came to selecting a book for the “So popular!” square, all ten choices (among the most reviewed books of the ten years on the Cannonball blog) were ones I’d already read at least once. Some, like Divergent, The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl, I really just didn’t feel […]

11/28/2018 Malin's CBR10 Review No:103 |

Such a good book, giving me comfort in the (literal) dark times

Pretty Face by Lucy Parker

November 25, 2018 by Malin 1 Comment

This is a re-read of one of my favourites. My original review (which is quite lengthy) can be found here. We’re pretty much in the coldest and darkest part of the year here in Norway now and it gets harder to motivate oneself for anything except hibernation, really. So with an ever more attentive and demanding baby and preparing to go back to work as a teacher for the first time in over a year, I’m not really up for anything very challenging to read in my spare time. Hence the need for comfort reading. As I mentioned in my review […]

11/25/2018 Malin's CBR10 Review No:102 |

janet snakehole on I don’t want to review this book.Loved this review. I like Rob Delaney's twitter, which does not necessarily mean I would enjoy a full book by him. I found this out...
janet snakehole on White Feminism: A NovelGood review! As a white feminist lady I was intrigued by this book but skeptical of its relevance. Your review confirmed pretty much what I...
Scootsa1000 on Just Because It’s Brief Doesn’t Mean It Isn’t PainfulA+ use of Jack Tripper.
Scootsa1000 on You, Sir, Are No Colin FirthI read this ages ago, maybe for CBR3. Hands down, the worst Austen-related book I’ve ever come across. Everyone was awful and the sex scenes...
emmalita on This is where we learn it’s not a good idea to throw your GF into a bottomless pitEmotional satisfaction and political outcomes rarely seem to go hand in hand. I guess I’ll stick to voting and protesting.