Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Seven people go for a tour in a mysterious library housing a very rare book, and you can probably guess the rest.

The Library After Dark by Ande Pliego

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Hooo, this was a hot mess. The idea of the library was great, but the execution failed. I feel this book's existence is a symptom of the pressure on genre authors to publish a book a year. It might have been good if given more time to cook. She had a good story in her first book, and now this one is … [Read more]

's CBR18 Review No:14 · Genres: Mystery, Suspense · Tags: , , , , , , , , ·

My Second Tove Jansson and the Newest Murderbot

Platform Decay by Martha Wells

Fair Play by Tove Jansson

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Platform Decay by Martha Wells At this point, the Murderbot books are basically comfort reads. If you've read enough of them, you have a general idea of what's going to happen and how things will end up, always accompanied by a healthy dose of snark and sarcasm from Murderbot. In this one, we … [Read more]

's CBR18 Review No:32 · Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction · Tags: , , , , ·

These (Slow) Burning Stars

These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs

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These Burning Stars, by Bethany Jacobs, is a revenge-driven, bloody, action-heavy space opera. It’s full of political intrigue, social commentary, and gun fights. And I thought it was excellent. It was, however, slow to start for me. In fact, I originally started it several months ago and got a … [Read more]

's CBR18 Review No:8 · Genres: Science Fiction · Tags: , , , , , , , , ·

“The sun is up, the skies are blue, and murder is in the air.”

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

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A few years ago, it felt like everyone and their neighbor were reading The Thursday Murder Club. I was intrigued but hadn’t pulled the proverbial trigger. But here we are and the time has arrived for me to dig in to the story of a group of friends in a retirement village who investigate cold cases … [Read more]

's CBR18 Review No:9 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery · Tags: , , , , ·

A family too annoying to care about

These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean

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I saw These Summer Storms (2025) by Sarah MacLean on NPR's Favorite Books List. I've never read anything by Sarah MacLean, but I'm a fan of romance novels, and this one seemed interesting enough. So I picked it up. Unfortunately, I found this one more disappointing than not. After a fun beginning, … [Read more]

's CBR18 Review No:21 · Genres: Fiction, Romance · Tags: ·

“You know, Kiley Forge, most people like me.” “I’m not most people.” “Oh, I’m aware.“

The Scoring Secret by Ainsley Booth

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One of the reasons I like duet narration is because the way many men voice women grates on my nerves. In duet narration, that's not an issue. This very much increased my enjoyment of The Scoring Secret. In general, I like Ainsley Booth/Zoe York's books. They are very readable, and satisfying. The … [Read more]

's CBR18 Review No:33 · Genres: Audiobooks, Fiction, Romance · Tags: , , , , ·


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