Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Featured Review Archive

These reviews, which were promoted in CBR social media, on our homepage, and in Pajiba Love, appear below by review publication date, not by date featured.

 

I Bought into Amazon’s Author Exploitation Again

Under the Mistletoe: Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood

Under the Mistletoe: Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey

Under the Mistletoe: All by My Elf by Olivia Dade

Under the Mistletoe: Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur

Under the Mistletoe: Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria

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I mean, I assume it’s exploitive. It is Amazon. Having had some success with the Improbable Meet Cute collection for Valentines  Day, and, as someone who absolutely loves a Christmas novella, I paid for one (the Ali Hazelwood) and borrowed the other four of these Under the Mistletoe “get to know a romance author with a  free read” stories. I imagine Amazon is doing the same thing as telling someone to work for free for the exposure. I hope they were compensated in some way. […]

The American Spirit, Kentucky-Style

Kentucky Bourbon by Susan Reigler

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My bourbon journey started about 2.5 years ago, and to be honest if you had told me three years ago that whiskey would ever be my drink of choice, I would have looked at you like you were crazy. In college, I gravitated towards sweet cocktails, primarily rum and vodka based, like pineapple and Malibu. By my mid 30s, I had settled into gin as my preferred liquor, with gin and tonics being an easy make at home. I have always wanted to be more […]

Lucky Tomorrow by Deborah Jiang-Stein

Lucky Tomorrow by Deborah Jiang-Stein

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Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review. This is a collection of short stories by Deborah Jiang-Stein. The main reason why I just gave the overall collection 5 stars was that although it took me a bit to get used to how she curated this collection, it started to resonate with me after a while. We follow a “main” character so to speak, but some of the other stories were so short that I didn’t […]

When in a pinch use a banana

The Book of Candles: Eight Poems for Hanukkah by Laurel Snyder and Leanne Hatch

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After reading the book, Shrinking Violet by Laurel Snyder, I wondered what else they had written. I found The Book of Candles: Eight Poems for Hanukkah (illustrated by Leanne Hatch). It is currently available (it came out mid September 2025) but I was able to find an online reader copy. I might purchase a few copies for some adult friends and/or my local library as it had a fresh take that makes it “not another Hanukkah” story. Most Hanukkah books have an ideal setting for […]

“The child intuitively comprehends that although these stories are unreal, they are not untrue…”- Bruno Bettelheim

F*cked Up Fairy Tales: Sinful Cinderellas, Prince Alarmings, and Other Timeless Classics by Liz Gotauco

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This book goes to show fairy tales are timeless; the same crap you’re going through now in real life happened to people whose stories (most of the time) ended in “Happily Ever After.” It was highly enjoyable; I appreciated that Gotauco pulled out a list of stories that (for the most part) I had never read or heard of before, as well as one or two I’ve read different iterations of. Interesting (and showing the international collectedness she talks about) how many of the stories […]

A Gothic Classic for a Reason

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

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Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. The opening chapters of Rebecca by Daphne du Marier are a haunting introduction to a place we will come to know quite well by the end of the book. Our unnamed narrator takes us past the lodge house, up the long drive to the old house, all the while reflecting on how nature has begun to take over the grounds and land, and only the most intrepid poacher would dare to trespass. She then thinks on their […]



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