Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Yet another fake engagement story with old friends who have secretly loved each other for ever

Only on Gameday by Kristen Callihan

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3.5 stars Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for this ARC. My opinions are my own. Introverted and shy Penelope Morrow grew up an only child, but was more or less enveloped by the five children of the Luck family (all named, rather implausibly, for months – the boys, January, March and August, with the twin girls being called May and June), since their mothers were best friends. Outgoing, charming and overachieving, all three Luck boys are handsome and very talented American football players, like […]

Contemporary romance round up – summer reads

Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan

Along Came Amor by Alexis Daria

When Javi Dumped Mari by Mia Sosa

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Both Kennedy Ryan and Alexis Daria released the final novels in their latest romance trilogies in May of this year. I enjoyed both but they focused on very different types of characters (oddly enough, it was a flip between the characters they focused on in the second novel – so for Primas of Power, we get the cousin that always did the right thing and played by the rules in book 3 while Skyland explored that character in book 2, and Skyland focuses on the […]

When a bookstore owner falls for a book cover model

The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur

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If you’re looking for a light-hearted sapphic rom-com, The Fiancée Farce does the job. Bookstore owner Tansy is shy and sick of her family asking about her love life.  She tells a small lie to get them off her back when dragged into wedding prep for her stepsister. She bases her fake girlfriend on a sexy and captivating romance cover model. As fate would have it, said cover model Gemma van Dalen walks into Tansy’s life at a party with all her friends and family […]

Overthinking a romance inspired by Hannah Montana

Love is a War Song by Danica Nava

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This one had a fun premise and overall, was a light and frothy romance but it could have packed more of an emotional wallop. Everything resolved itself a bit too quickly or didn’t go quite deep enough and stayed rather surface level. Nothing about the romantic couple really stood out though it was of course inevitable that they would get together. There was a quite a bit here about dysfunctional relationships with parents but it doesn’t feel like anything was truly resolved in a meaningful […]

Fake engagements, angst and lots of secrets and lies

In a Second by Kate Canterbary

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3.5 stars This was an ARC from the author. I am very grateful, but my opinions are my own. Audrey Saunders has not seen her former boyfriend, Jude Bellessi, since he showed up at the church, only moments before she was due to get married, to ask her to run away with him instead. Because of a whole host of reasons, Audrey couldn’t tell Jude why she was getting married, and why she broke up with him in the first place and moved across the […]

Everyday Jewish Lives Divided by Time

Once There Was a Town: The Memory Books of a Lost Jewish World by Jane Ziegelman

Matzah Ball Blues by Jennifer Wilck

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I did not mean to make it a Jewish double feature, but I just happened to read these books around the same time, and it was interesting to see the same traditions discussed in a historical context and then in an average middle-class family from New Jersey. Once There Was a Town by Jane Ziegelman – 3 stars After the Holocaust, since entire shtetls had been reduced to just a handful of survivors, people across continents came together to put together yizkor books to record […]



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