Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

“The search for a scapegoat is the easiest of all hunting expeditions.”

The Scapegoat: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham by Lucy Hughes-Hallett

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CBR18 Bingo: Right – As favorite to both James I and Charles II of England, the Duke of Buckingham served as the right hand of the king in helping govern the kingdom. When George Villiers caught the eye of James I of England, it was the start of a brilliant rise in politics and society for him. However, his close association with the increasingly unpopular crown would also lead to his downfall. I mostly think of James I as the king who was obsessed with witch-hunting, […]

Very much NOT a romantasy

Monster, Monarch, Maiden by Rae Carson

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This was an ARC; thank you to NetGalley, Harper Audio and Greenwillow Books. My opinions are my own. This book is on sale now. Bria Angarsold is an innkeeper’s daughter (she mentions this at seven different points in the story, in case you were likely to forget) who was kidnapped by raiders, along with her sister and several other people who were at her family’s inn at the time. Bria is one of the last surviving captives when the raiders’ caravan is attacked by a […]

“People always say that your wedding day is the happiest day of your life, but honestly, people should try solving murders more often.”

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

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CBR18 Bingo: Joker – Vera is a wild card in the investigation around Malcolm’s murder, and shakes up the lives of the suspects out of the blue. After a dead man is found in Vera Wong’s teahouse, being rather unimpressed by the police’s efforts, Vera decides to investigate the death herself. Unfortunately, she finds herself liking all her murder suspects a little too much. A word to the wise: Don’t read this book while hungry. Vera cooks up veritable feasts throughout the book, and the […]

“She’d played so many parts she hardly knew which one was her. She was an onion made of only skins with nothing at the centre.”

The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

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Nowhere Book Bingo 26: Book rec from a friend (Ashley/Narfna loved this) Defeat the Goblin TBR: The Rogue Book – a book with politics/intrigue/sneakery involved (this book has all three and lots of it) CBR18 Bingo: Left (All of my fiction books are alphabetised by author, so Abercrombie comes to the very top left of the bookshelf it’s placed on) A cowardly monk. A mercenary. A vampire. A werewolf (who used to be a viking warrior). An elf. A necromancer. A knight who cannot die. […]

The Charms of a Competent Man

Lord Ravenscar's Revenge by Barbara Cartland

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After Romara is beaten and thrown out of the house by her sister’s abusive lover, the last thing she expects is to wake up married to Lord Ravenscar, who wed her while extremely drunk. But when he steps in to help her solve Caryl’s problems, she starts to wonder if they will be able to make a real marriage work. I read a lot of historical romance, so of course I am familiar with the insanely prolific Barbara Cartland, though I haven’t read any of […]

The Audacity of Princes

The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily by Nancy Goldstone

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Joanna I, Queen of Naples, is best known today for having stood trial for the murder of her husband during the height of the bubonic plague, but she faced many other challenges during her thirty-year-long reign. The whole time I was listening to this audiobook, I kept marveling at the absolute audacity of the royal men of this era, who over the decades launched a number of invasions and plots in an attempt to claim Naples for themselves. A woman on the throne seemed to […]



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