Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Beauty and the Beast with no Stockholm syndrome and more magic

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

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In 2020 I read Naomi Novik’s, Spinning Silver, which I found to be an excellent reimaging of Rumpelstiltskin.  I finished the review with,  “Uprooted is going on my “wish list”.  Between then and now I got Uprooted in a Cannonball fundraiser but it has sat on the shelf.  I had this slated for the “Bird” square in Cannonball Bingo because of the bird on the cover.  However, I ran out of time and used Transmetropolitan volume 2: Lust for Life instead. I’ve long been a fan of […]

Sort of sexy, not really addictive

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

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I’ve come to realize that most of my reviews start with “this book is a best-seller” or “this book was on a top fantasy/YA/scifi list” etc… The words that kept coming up for this series were sexy and addictive. Yes, and yes. So I went ahead and bought the four book series knowing that if it really was as addictive as everyone said it was, I would plow through the entire series in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, I got bored with book one and […]

Beauty and the Beast, Now with 100% Less Stockholm

Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

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I’ll say that this is probably more of a 2.5 book that I am rounding up because I liked it but also kept wincing until near to the end (if not the end), which is not a reaction I want to have with these types of books. I believe this was a Beauty and the Beast retelling I stumbled upon after reading When Beauty Tamed the Beast and deciding that this would be a vein I’d pursue in some more detail. If it weren’t for the fact […]

How many Beauty and the Beast retellings can I get through? Many

When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James

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I enjoy these fairy tale retellings quite a bit! There’s something very Georgette Heyer about the way that Eloisa James writes dialogue, in the exact vein of my favorite works of hers (The Grand Sophy*, Cotillion). All heroines are sparkling wits (and may or may not be beauties) who clash verbal swords with broody male leads and/or secondary characters (conservative ladies who hold the keys to Almack’s, clearly unsuited secondary male leads). Not everything is the same, of course–both of these novels take place in foreboding castles far […]

Tale As Old As Time? Gimme Gimme

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

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This is a 3.5 star book, rounded up because I definitely enjoyed it quite a bit. Recommended here by Siskel101, I was always going to be in the mood for a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Belle remains my jam, Disney weirdness aside (did you know she’s apparently 17? What would have been lost in the storytelling if she had been 27? Nothing, that’s right. Kids don’t understand the difference between 17 and 27, they’re both Old). This was definitely not as good as Robin McKinley‘s […]

All I Want is My Own Cinnamon Roll Monster Boyfriend

Bitterburn by Ann Aguirre

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Ann Aguirre is starting a new series of gothic fairytale retellings. In Bitterburn, she is retelling Beauty and the Beast, but has added in some elements of Bluebeard. I received an arc from the author in exchange for an honest review. If you don’t know, a cinnamon roll is a love interest who is warm, sweet, supportive and gooey on the inside. They might also be a lot of other things, but their support for their love is unqualified. Njal is the Beast of Bitterburn, a […]



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