Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


“You mean because you’re built like the Abominable Snowman and I’m the size of the Sugar Plum Fairy?”

Cruel Winter With You by Ali Hazelwood

Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey

All By My Elf by Olivia Dade

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur

Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria

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Amazon has put out a holiday collection of five stories that is free to Prime members, and it grabbed my attention when Olivia Dade publicized that she had a story in the collection (Ali Hazelwood, Tessa Bailey, Alexandria Bellefleur, and Alexis Daria are the other authors). I requested an ARC and was granted it, so here we are with me reading a holiday collection earlier than I normally would because we all deserve nice things when the world feels like it is crashing down. Cruel […]

Don’t Bring Helen! (Or Please Do)

The Expectant Detectives by Kat Ailes

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CBR16 Bingo: Games – Alice and her friends take up the murder investigation as diversion more than anything else while waiting to give birth, though things aren’t all fun and games for very long. Alice and her partner Joe move to the countryside hoping to raise their soon-to-be born son in a peaceful environment, but that peace is shattered when a local store owner is found murdered during the course of an eventful antenatal class. I’ve read plenty of flavors of cozy mystery, but a […]

“All I’ve ever tried to do is the right thing. If that’s so very different from how things have been done before, then what’s done before was wrong.”

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

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CBR16 Bingo: Smash – This book combines elements of fantasy (dragons) and science fiction (steampunk). The cultures depicted also smash and clash together throughout the book. All Anequs wants to do is live in peace with her tribe, content to be ignored by the Anglish conquerers who’ve taken over most of the continent. However, when she bonds with the first dragon to hatch on their island in generations, she must attend their academy and adapt to their ways if she hopes to keep her dragon. This […]

The hero really does behave quite beastly to begin with

The Beast Takes a Bride by Julie Anne Long

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3.75 stars Disclaimer: This was an ARC from NetGalley. It hasn’t affected my opinions in any way Spoiler warning – this review will contain some discussion of plot points I found difficult, so you may want to skip some parts of it until you’ve read the book Alexandra Bellamy has been taking care of her father and her siblings since her mother died. She has no dowry to speak of and knows her father has massive gambling debts. So when her father announces that the […]

The Strange, Fragile, Beautiful World

Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures by Katherine Rundell

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It’s estimated that there are around 7.8 millions animal species on the planet, many of which we know little about. Unfortunately, some may vanish before we can learn much more – which is a pity, because the variety of life on this planet is far more wondrous and strange than anything our imaginations could conjure up. This is a quiet and contemplative peek at the natural world in easy bite-sized installments. Each essay discusses an animal species which threatened in one way or another, covering […]

Life on a Cult TV Show – While Also in an Actual Cult!

Dinner for Vampires by Bethany Joy Lenz

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CBR16 Bingo: Rings – A lot of people get married in this book – at least four couples, including the author Lenz to the cult leader’s son. Bethany Joy Lenz is famous for playing Haley James Scott in the cult TV show One Tree Hill, but her experience of this time is even stranger than one would expect – she was in an actual cult at the time. I never watched One Tree Hill, but with a premise like that, who cares? Besides, TV show […]



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