Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Billionaires Are Bad, This Book Is Great

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

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“Birnam Wood,” by Eleanor Catton, was published in 2023. I picked up my copy in 2024, and it took me approximately two years to get into it. I started the book multiple times, but just couldn’t get past the dense prose that is apparently Catton’s specialty. This time I stuck with it, and I’m so very glad I did. This book is fantastic. It won’t be for everyone, and you really do have to tough it out for a bit, but it’s absolutely worth it. […]

CBR BINGO: And—”I think this might actually be happening. I think I might be trapped in my own personal Enchanted, and I’m Patrick Dempsey.”

Romantic Hero by Kirsty Greenwood

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For context, I have been allergic to all romance not written by Cat Sebastian, Alexis Hall, or K.J. Charles for almost two years. I finished Romantic Hero first thing this morning and was super tempted to just slap five stars on it, because I’m so happy that I found another romance author that works for my brain. Which means, they actually know how to write. Like, the actual SKILL of it. THE CRAFT. Kirsty Greenwood can write! She knows how to pace a book. She […]

Poor little rich girl

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

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Last year, I tried to complete the seasonal reading challenges on Goodreads (though the skeptic in me feels like it’s a way for Amazon to get people to buy more books). This year, I have been checking the categories and using them as a way to work through books I already own but I won’t buy a book to complete the challenge and it’s also fine if I don’t get all the achievements. I am currently in too many book clubs to also let challenges […]

More Murder, Less Family Drama Please

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins

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Decades after the heiress Ruby McTavish was kidnapped as a toddler and dubiously recovered a year later, her adopted son Camden and his wife Jules return to her ancestral home in a bid to claim her long-neglected inheritance. This book draws inspiration from several cases in the early 20th century in which a kidnapped or vanished child was thought to be returned, only for it to be later discovered that it was instead some unrelated child who for whatever reason was trying to be forced […]

Botany, Bears and Beaver Ponds

Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey

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This is a lovely, sad, beautifully written book. I feel bad for everyone who rated it one star on Goodreads just because it wasn’t a faithful retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Because if you read it for what it is, instead of what it isn’t, it’s really quite wonderful. Ivey touches on themes of motherhood, love, personal freedom, mental health and the natural world, all in a dark fairy tale setting. Single mom Birdie does the best that she can for her daughter, Emaleen, […]

Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match

The Matchmaker by Aisha Saeed

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Nura is a third-generation matchmaker for high society, and business is thriving, even if she’s working herself ragged for it. But when a series of bizarre incidents starts plaguing her clients, Nura begins to realize that someone may have it out for her. Though arranged marriage is becoming less common among desi immigrants in the United States, there is definitely a thriving market for it. Nura’s methods are far more intensive than the folders with photos and personal and professional details that my dad sometimes […]



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