Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Back to Yale, back to Yale, to prove to dad that I won’t fail (sung in Billy Madison “back to school” tune)

Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) by Leigh Bardugo

Hell Bent (Alex Stern #2) by Leigh Bardugo

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I don’t know you guys are going to believe this, but I made up that title. It’s not a real song. I was just thinking of “Back to Yale”, since this book is set at Yale, and my brain did the rest! As my boss said today, “your words aren’t wordsing”, so we’ll see how this goes! I read Ninth House almost exactly three years ago. I think I even reviewed it here for whatever CBR we were on in January 2023. I really liked […]

The Surprise Party- I really need to start checking reviews on these domestic thrillers before I read them

The Surprise Party by Rowen Chambers

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Everyone I know is here to celebrate my birthday. One of them wants me dead. I didn’t expect anyone to throw me a surprise birthday party. My husband, Adam, would never do anything like this, so I’m touched my friends and coworkers went to all this effort. It’s the perfect night — until it all starts to unravel. Adam and I argue. Our teenage daughter, Caitlyn, storms off after I refuse to let her leave. I search the house to check that she’s okay. She’s […]

Welcome to the Family- …..this plot makes no sense.

Welcome to the Family by Cathryn Grant

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They invited me in. They shouldn’t have… I knew the moment I met Daniel that I would marry him. As I meet his family for the first time, I say a silent prayer. It’s important that I make a good impression… and that they don’t discover why I’m really there. Over a lavish family dinner, I take in their tight-lipped smiles. His mother watches my every move, his brother flirts dangerously with me and his sister maintains her thunderous expression as she carefully avoids any questions […]

Oxford Bomber

Down Cemetery Road by Mick Herron

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The first novel from Mick Herron, better known as the author of the Slow Horses series, has recently been adapted for television by Apple. The series stars one of my favorites, Emma Thompson, as private detective Zoe Bloom. This book is marketed as the first entry in “the Zoe Bloom series.” But for all that, there’s precious little Zoe Bloom in it. Our focus is primarily on Sarah Tucker, an Oxford housewife (of the reluctant variety.) Sarah is begrudgingly hosting a dinner party for one […]

Conflicted About the Trainwreck

6:40 to Montreal by Eva Jurczyk

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To be honest, I’m not sure whether 6:40 to Montreal is a bad book, or if I’m just deeply annoyed with the ending. Multiple things can be true at the same time, of course, but I like to go into a review with a clear head and pure motives. Writing fiction is hard, and I myself can’t do it. Trust me, I’ve tried. There will be no snarking here for the sake of scoring points or looking clever. Just sound advice on whether or not you […]

No One Can Hear You Squish

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

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I found this audiobook from Booktok. The Darkness Outside Us is a Stonewall Book Award Nominee for children’s and young adult literature. Queer characters plus a space opera is how it was marketed to me. I did see a follow up video that there is horror (said in a dramatic voice). Ambrose wakes up on a space ship with no memory of launching. He is injured, and he quickly realizes that he is on the ship to rescue his sister, who was sent to explore […]



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