Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Dashiell Hammett’s Twilight

Already Dead by Charlie Huston

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I subscribe to a used book service where you tell the seller a bit about you, and then they send you 1-4 books per month that match your style(s). Since my dark, sad heart loves classic noir, they sent me Charlie Huston’s Already Dead. It’s book one in the Joe Pitt series. Joe Pitt died a long time ago. Sort of. He’s a vampyre (my preferred spelling, by the way) wandering in Manhattan. There’s lots of vampyres in Manhattan. Not only that, but they’ve set up […]

The Hunt meets Rumpelstiltskin

Gilded by Marissa Meyer

Cursed by Marissa Meyer

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I have been struggling lately with books – just feel like I keep starting novels that aren’t quite hitting the spot. They aren’t bad or anything (I think) but they aren’t pulling me in or the tone is slightly off. I have had this one on my Kindle for a few months now and wasn’t entirely sure what to expect but it worked out for me. Marissa Meyer has been a bit hit or miss for me – I mostly enjoyed The Lunar Chronicles (especially […]

Revisiting favourites

Do You Want to Start a Scandal by Tessa Dare

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When I started reading historical romances, Tessa Dare was one of the first authors I picked up. I still think her writing is some of the most unique in the genre; its heartfelt, emotional, romantic, and deeply, deeply funny. Despite that, she has never been a writer whose books I can binge. So it had been about three years since I read my last Tessa Dare when I decided to pick up this book. I think because it had been so long I rewrote how […]

A fantastic story of consequences and regrets

Blood for the Undying Throne by Sung-Il Kim, translated by Anton Hur

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I received an advance copy from the publisher via Netgalley for review purposes; this in no way influences my review. Blood for the Undying Throne releases Oct 28, 2025; Blood of the Old Kings is available now. There may be spoilers for book 1 of the Bleeding Empire. One day at the library, I happened across Blood of the Old Kings on the new releases shelf, and because I’m doing a reading challenge for 2025 where one of the prompts is a translated SFF, I […]

A romance about audiobook narrators, by a queen of audiobook narration

Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan

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Sewanee (pronounced Swanie, several characters call her Swan) Chester was a child actress on a popular sitcom, but a serious injury while filming her big break as an adult led to her losing an eye and becoming permanently scarred, so now she makes her living as an audiobook narrator. While it may not be as glamorous as acting, she’s very good at it and has won several awards. Early in her career, she also narrated romance novels, but now her cynicism makes it too hard […]

Love the family history, hate the ableism

Spilling the Tea by Brenda Jackson

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I’ve never read Brenda Jackson, though she’s been on my radar as a Black romance author and a well-loved author by many, and this sounded like exactly the kind of book I would enjoy with lots of family history and secrets. I did really enjoy the story and the family elements, and a part of me wants to go through the backlist for more about the Madaris family, but I also feel like I’m not the right audience for these books (and I’m sure a […]



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