Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Ardent reader of pretty much anything, including the backs of shampoo bottles. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Pooja's Quick Questions interview.)

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Bravery is Best

Be Daring, Duke by Kate Archer

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Rosalind Bennington wants her husband to be a courageous man – but in such a safe location as upper-class Regency London, this means having to orchestrate dangerous situations in which the Duke of Conbatten can prove his daring. This is the second book in the A Very Fine Muddle series, which follows five aristocratic sisters who have been raised by a fanciful hopeless romantic of an aunt and consequently have very fixed ideas on what their future husbands should be like. Learning from her elder […]

“It’s really most remarkable how the human race is so seldom satisfied with what it’s got. Give a man the world and he’s still pining for the moon.”

Penmarric by Susan Howatch

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CBR15 Bingo – Relation”ships”: The many overlapping relationships between the Castallacks and Roslyns, both familial and romantic, drive much of the action of the book forward. When Mark Castallack takes gloomy Penmarric as his home and Janna Roslyn as his wife, he sets a massive family drama into motion. This is one of those sprawling family sagas in which there are a lot of beautiful, dramatic, maladjusted people. The fun of Penmarric though is that it’s also a transposition of the story of Henry II, Eleanor […]

From Serf to Empress

Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten

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CBR 15 Bingo – History: This is a historical novel which in following the rise of Catherine I recreates the world of late 17th century Russia. Born a serf, Marta manages through her cunning and luck to rise through society until she becomes the mistress and later wife of Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia. This is an insane story of stratospheric social mobility, and I am shocked I hadn’t heard of it beyond Alpsten’s books. There’s plenty of shadowy corners in Catherine’s biography in […]

Gay-Lesbian Solidarity

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

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CBR 15 Bingo – Queer Lives: Both the main characters in this book are queer, and one of the major plot-lines concerns itself with what must change in society for them to live their lives openly. Hundreds of years after the time of Arthur Pendragon, his descendent Arthur Delacey is betrothed to Gwen, the princess of England. If only she wasn’t more interested in the only female knight in the realm; if only he wasn’t more interested in her brother… I picked up this book because […]

Why is it always the innocents who suffer most?

Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder by Jerry Bledsoe

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CBR 15 Bingo – Edibles: Fritz, Susie and her sons are on mind-boggling amounts of vitamin pills, which they are observed taking by the handful to the bemusement and horror of their friends and family. No one can think of a reason why anyone would kill Delores and Janie Lynch in such a cold-blooded manner. But when their in-laws are murdered barely a year later, the police suspect that the motive for the deaths might be found among the ranks of the family. Bitter Blood is one […]

Roll Call of the Anonymous Dead

Lay Them to Rest by Laurah Norton

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CBR 15 Bingo – On the Road: Laurah and Amy spend much of the book on various road trips around the United States chasing down leads on the identity of “Ina” Jane Doe. True crime podcast host Laurah and forensic anthropologist Dr. Amy work to uncover the identity of the Ina County Jane Doe, who has been unidentified since her partial remains were found in 1993. Though I enjoy the true crime genre, I generally avoid stories which don’t have conclusive endings – I’ve always found […]



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