Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

Loner Gardener and Extroverted (former) Librarian Get Feelings. That’s mostly it.

The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

by Leave a Comment

The Enchanted Greenhouse has made me wonder whether cozy romantasy is mostly just about at least a couple of characters working through their issues together is a somewhat healthy way, and catching feelings along with way. No plot necessary. Which might be why The Enchanted Greenhouse barely has one, a plot that is. The central figure is Terlu Perna who spent The Spellshop being mentioned briefly as Caz the sentient spider-plant’s creator who got turned into a statue for illegal magic use. Somehow Terlu gets […]

My Meh Reading of Recent

My Vegan Year by Niki Webster

by Leave a Comment

With a title like My Vegan Year, you’d expect a book to either be more of a memoir, or a guide to seasonality. Somehow this book manages to be neither. It is a vegan  guide of sorts, with lists and  general discussion that might be useful, including pantry basics, produce by season (in the UK), and vegan lifestyle (like clothing and skincare).  It’s got some recipes too, but that’s  where things get random.  Each season has some combination of various meals, but there’s no clear […]

Hooray for Magical Talking Plants

The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

by Leave a Comment

What do you call a bee that’s been put under a spell? Bee-witched! Be kind, you can’t expect a magical talking rose who just woke up from a long enchanted sleep to be instantly ready for a comedy special. In which we get to meet Caz’s mom! Once upon a time a lonely little librarian named Terlu Perna cast a forbidden magic spell to create a friend (Caz the spider plant whose story was told in The Spellshop). Her punishment was to be permanently transformed […]

A little faerie magic and a lot about real world sustainable gardening practices

Shroom for Improvement (Mythical Mishaps #1) by Jemma Croft

by Leave a Comment

“So, you’ve seen me naked before?” I said. “Oh, yes, many times. You have a beautiful body, by the way.” My cheeks heated. Damn. It had been so long since anybody had complimented me, I was blushing at the disembodied words of a magical house. ​​ ― Jemma Croft, Shroom for Improvement CBR17 Bingo: School Sonny is a professor and his knowledge of mycology is a key part of the story. Sonny Daye has a problem. To complete his research on mushroom glamours, he must […]

I only counted one of the four as they are short short (but cute) board books

Hello, Beach! by Katherine Pryor and Rose Soini

by Leave a Comment

All three board books which were read, were read via an online reader copy. All (but the one I have not yet read) are currently available. If you like easy board books that have a seasonal overtone, then the Katherine Pryor and Rose Soini books are for you. We have the books Hello, Beach!, Hello, Rain!, and Hello, Garden!  And due in September 2025 is Hello, Snow! Overall, things are terribly simple as they are aimed at not just the board book crowd to look […]

“With the mystery genre booming in print and on screen at present, I have had no problem satisfying my cravings for crime.”

Gardening Can Be Murder: How Poisonous Poppies, Sinister Shovels, and Grim Gardens Have Inspired Mystery Writers by Marta McDowell

by Leave a Comment

Are you in the mood for a light and breezy book about how gardens and gardeners feature in crime and mystery writing? If so, I have the book for you. I am not a gardener, in fact my great grandparents who ran a greenhouse would be shocked at my inability to understand the finer points of plants and their needs and five years of working on a living history farm did not improve the situation. But it did introduce me to the author of Gardening […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo