And So It Begins

Ebeneza Petty and the Toxic Masculinity (With Spoilers)

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

October 4, 2018 by emmalita 3 Comments

I listened to the audio version of this narrated by Euan Morton, who is playing King George in Hamilton currently. I really enjoyed it. The night after I finished the book, I was having a tough time falling asleep so I started listening to Carry On again. Now I am addicted to falling asleep to Carry On. I don’t know what this says about me as a person or about the book.

10/4/2018 emmalita's CBR10 Review No:42 |

A gripping YA fantasy series by an underrepresented author (3 Bingo squares for 3 books!)

An Ember in the Ashes, A Torch Against the Night, The Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir

September 30, 2018 by Aquillia Leave a Comment

I’m slowly working my way through my library’s fantasy collections on Overdrive, which is how I found An Ember in the Ashes, the first book of Sabaa Tahir’s YA fantasy series. My reading goals this year are to a) not buy books (only bought one so far this year!); and b) read more female fantasy writers (I made it to July without reading any dudes, and I read more than I usually do!) So, as I quite enjoy YA fantasy, I added this one to my reading list and figured I’d give it a whirl. It’s a bonus that Tahir is […]

9/30/2018 Aquillia's CBR10 Review No:29 |

Män som hatar kvinnor (Men Who Hate Women)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

September 16, 2018 by KimMiE" 4 Comments

CBR Bingo entry: And so it begins. And BINGO was his name-o! I originally considered reading this novel for the CBR Bingo square “The book was better?” because I have seen both the American and Swedish versions of the film. In fact, I saw them both on the same day. My husband and I went to see the 2011 Hollywood production starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara and appreciated it, so we decided to come home and watch the original Swedish version on Netflix. Because nothing follows up two and a half hours of murder, rape, and religious depravity like two […]

9/16/2018 KimMiE"'s CBR10 Review No:21 |

A Sparkling World of Intrigue

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

September 12, 2018 by Lisa Bee 2 Comments

I’ve read a few of Holly Black’s other novels dealing with faeries which were alright but not bad, and hearing good things about The Cruel Prince, I figured it was worth a read! And it was quite an entertaining YA novel, though I can’t say that I loved it. The Cruel Prince begins with three young sisters living in the human world: two twins named Taryn and Jude, and an older sister who is actually half-human-half-fae named Vivienne (or Vivi). The three live with their mother and father, until the father of Vivi returns to bring his daughter back to […]

9/12/2018 Lisa Bee's CBR10 Review No:46 |

I wouldn’t describe it as “historical fiction with a twist of lime”

The Guns of Ivrea by Clifford Beal

August 14, 2018 by Dome'Loki Leave a Comment

When I set out to read this book I didn’t know it would qualify for the “And So It Begins” square on the CBR10 bingo card. Happily for me that is a box now checked off, as this is book one in The Tales of Valdur series. The header of The Guns of Ivrea page on Clifford Beal’s site says, “Historical Fiction with a Twist of Lime”. Historical fiction implies to me that you are taking historical people and events and writing your own interpretation of said events. This book is not that. There are sailing ships, historical clothing/armor/weapons, aristocracy and religious orders […]

8/14/2018 Dome'Loki's CBR10 Review No:28 |

Here, There Be a Lot of Info Dump

Here, There Be Dragons by James Owen

August 13, 2018 by Ale Leave a Comment

One of my students suggested this book to me last year, and I finally got around to getting it from the library. If I was twelve years old again, I would have absolutely loved this book and been hooked for the duration of the series. It was fanciful, had a cute ending, and hit all the correct markers for decent kids’ fantasy, but the older I get, the harder a time I have sinking into YA fantasies, and this book was no exception. Our three main men, John, Jack, and Charles are all Oxford men who end up in the […]

8/13/2018 Ale's CBR10 Review No:16 |

Revisiting Cormoran and Robin (CBR10Bingo)

The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike #1) by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling pseudonym), Robert Glenister (narrator)

August 4, 2018 by faintingviolet 5 Comments

I don’t scorn rereading (see please, my Harry Potter reread), it just isn’t something I do all that much since I joined up with the Cannonball crowd back in 2012. It is sometimes very difficult to find new words to express a reaction to a book, and now that writing a review is part of my reading process I cannot skip a review. If I read a book… I’m reviewing it (with the exception of one book back in CBRV). So, why did I dive back into the world of Cormoran Strike? Several reasons, actually. I was longing for the […]

8/4/2018 faintingviolet's CBR10 Review No:27 |

J on “I wasn’t ashamed of anything because our family secret wasn’t dark and my mother acted neither apologetic nor embarrassed.”Such a good book! The affection comes through on every page.
emmalita on What a Bunch of A-holesYou should definitely listen to those podcast episodes. All your rage will be for the assholes involved.
lowercasesee on “The library is a gathering pool of narratives and of the people who come to find them. “Oh woah! I have this one coming from the library. I've seen so much "IT'S GREAT" but not actually know what it is going to...
badkittyuno on Shockingly raw and well-writtenThat was great! I feel like that show would be improved several times over if they lost the soundtrack...
badkittyuno on “Carnivore in the streets, person-who-has-eaten-a-carrot-masquerading-as-a-hot-dog in the sheets.”Ha I didn't even realize. Thanks!