Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

CBR BINGO: Summer—“That is not a load-bearing ear!”

Daggerbound (Swordheart, #2) by T. Kingfisher

August 5, 2026 by narfna 2 Comments

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. Honestly, there is a character in here that I was obsessed with IMMEDIATELY and had they been present throughout the narrative, this was going to get five stars. However, they were not, so I am only giving it 4.5, because I missed them when they were gone. Daggerbound is the sequel to 2020’s Swordheart, which was the first T. Kingfisher book I ever read, and still holds a special […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Fantasy, Romance Tagged With: ARCs, audiobooks, Daggerbound, fantasy romance, Jesse Vilinsky, m-m, narfna, queer romance, Romance, Swordheart, t kingfisher, The World of the White Rat

narfna's CBR18 Review No:21 · Genres: Audiobooks, Fantasy, Romance · Tags: ARCs, audiobooks, Daggerbound, fantasy romance, Jesse Vilinsky, m-m, narfna, queer romance, Romance, Swordheart, t kingfisher, The World of the White Rat ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

George Michael crossed with Eddie Vedder crossed with Beetlejuice.

Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle

June 30, 2026 by narfna 5 Comments

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. If I had to rank all of Chuck Tingle’s novels, the order would be for me, from best to least best*: Bury Your Gays, Lucky Day, Camp Damascus, then Fabulous Bodies. (I have not read his novella Straight as of yet.) And all of those books are 4, 4.5, or 5 stars. So he’s really just killing it. I’m only giving this one four stars because I know he can go deeper, […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Horror Tagged With: ARCs, audiobooks, camp, chuck tingle, Fabulous Bodies, horror, Mara Wilson, narfna, petition to ban the word deglove, thriller, would make a great movie

narfna's CBR18 Review No:18 · Genres: Audiobooks, Horror · Tags: ARCs, audiobooks, camp, chuck tingle, Fabulous Bodies, horror, Mara Wilson, narfna, petition to ban the word deglove, thriller, would make a great movie ·
Rating:
· 5 Comments

A promising debut cozy fantasy romance that didn’t quite fully hit.

Letters from the Last Apothecary by Bita Behzadi

June 3, 2026 by narfna Leave a Comment

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House | Hay House LLC for the Audio ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. This is a promising debut by Bita Behzadi, and I will be reading further books from her, but this one had some issues that mean I can’t give it a full four stars. Mostly, I had a really hard time both getting in to the story, and caring about the characters. It took about 33% for the first, and about 60% for […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Fantasy, Romance Tagged With: #fantasy, ARCs, audiobooks, Bita Behzadi, cozy, cozy fantasy, fantasy romance, historical fantasy, Letters from the Last Apothecary, m/f, narfna, Romance

narfna's CBR18 Review No:17 · Genres: Audiobooks, Fantasy, Romance · Tags: #fantasy, ARCs, audiobooks, Bita Behzadi, cozy, cozy fantasy, fantasy romance, historical fantasy, Letters from the Last Apothecary, m/f, narfna, Romance ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Es-ca-pé! I wonder what that means. It’s funny . . . It’s spelled just like the word ‘escape’.

Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer

May 28, 2026 by narfna Leave a Comment

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. Continuing my recent trend of perfect little genre novellas*, Obstetrix was exactly what I was wanting it to be. We follow Liz, a doctor who was recently prosecuted for performing the last abortion in North Dakota (the jury deemed her not guilty). Fresh off being traumatized, she is then kidnapped by a Christian fundamentalist cult to be their OBGYN. *A short novel? It’s just over 200 pages, my cutoff for […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Fiction, Suspense Tagged With: ARCs, audiobooks, childbirth, cults, Naomi Kritzer, novellas, Obstetrix, pregnancy, religious fundamentalism, Suspense

narfna's CBR18 Review No:15 · Genres: Audiobooks, Fiction, Suspense · Tags: ARCs, audiobooks, childbirth, cults, Naomi Kritzer, novellas, Obstetrix, pregnancy, religious fundamentalism, Suspense ·
· 0 Comments

Her name! Was Victoria!! Sandwich!!!

The Jam Sandwich Detectives by Clare Thompson

April 20, 2026 by narfna Leave a Comment

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audio ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. Okay, picture Big Little Lies, but less literary and more cozy mystery-esque. A group of moms attend a cake bake-off where everyone has baked a Victoria Sponge, but before many cakes can be tasted and judged, the host (whose name is also Victoria Sandwich!) drops dead. One of our main characters, Rachel, has the blame pinned on her by the other mothers because of some offhand comments she’d […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Mystery Tagged With: ARCs, audiobooks, cake, Clare Thompson, murder mystery, mystery, The Jam Sandwich Detectives, yummy mummies

narfna's CBR18 Review No:12 · Genres: Audiobooks, Mystery · Tags: ARCs, audiobooks, cake, Clare Thompson, murder mystery, mystery, The Jam Sandwich Detectives, yummy mummies ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“I don’t know if any of the people we know are suspicious or whether they’re just trying to live their lives.”

The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey

January 5, 2026 by narfna Leave a Comment

Thanks to NetGalley and Tantor Media | Tantor Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. I’m a little annoyed that this was marketed as a mystery when it is very much not, but it was a very good book, so I can’t in the end remain annoyed. I just wish I’d been able to set my expectations accordingly. This is, in fact, historical fiction that errs into literary territory on occasion, with a smidgeon of crime for light flavor. This takes place […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Mystery Tagged With: 1970s, ARCs, audiobooks, British, historical fiction, historical mystery, Jennie Godfrey, Joanne Froggatt, mystery, narfna

narfna's CBR18 Review No:2 · Genres: Audiobooks, Mystery · Tags: 1970s, ARCs, audiobooks, British, historical fiction, historical mystery, Jennie Godfrey, Joanne Froggatt, mystery, narfna ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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