Cannonball Read 14

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Heroine as Victim

Tregaron's Daughter by Madeleine Brent

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When I started reading this, I was surprised how similar the plot was to Madeleine Brent’s (Modesty Blaise writer Peter O’Donnell in reality) first novel, Merlin’s Keep. We have a spunky young lass, a dying father, a benevolent and rich foster father who takes her into his family, and a handsome young man with a checkered past who seems to dislike her but secretly pines for her. Cadi Tregaron from Cornwall is the spunky heroine. She takes care of her father in a small fishing […]

A Gothic romance that could have been better

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

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[Read as an audiobook from the public library] Sigh. Okay. Y’all, I really, really like Crimson Peak. It’s a weird, sexy, stylish, haunted spun sugar mess of a thing that I will watch any time it’s on. And clearly the author of The Death of Jane Lawrence also likes it. And I do not fault her taste for that. But I feel like she might have some views on the Law of Attraction that we might argue about. Jane Shoringfield is a sensible woman. She […]

A Few Drops of Water to Keep the Peace

The Wife in the Attic by Rose Lerner

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I’m going to be clear up front that I am not a fan of the Brontes and I really dislike Mr. Rochester. When he gets held up as a romantic hero my jaw clenches. When Rose Lerner announced she was writing an f/f retelling of Jane Eyre I was delighted.  I was delighted Mr. Rochester wouldn’t end up with the love of a good woman, and more importantly, Rose Lerner is an amazing author and I’d read her retelling of my grocery list. The Wife […]

The Original YA Novel: Classic for a Reason

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

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Everyone has a classic book that they’ve successfully managed to avoid. Jane Eyre is mine. After abusive Wuthering Heights left me fuming—f***ing emo Heathcliff—I binned all the Brontë sisters. I know now that I did wrong. Strong and sensitive Jane Eyre is the progenitoress of Anne of Green Gables, Meg Murray, Lyra Belacqua, and Katniss Everdeen. Unlike any English novel prior to 1847, the story happens *inside* a young woman’s mind, giving the reader direct access to her thoughts, emotions, and observations. (The book couldn’t […]

A Familiar Scent Rose Up Into the Air, and I Remembered Something Special From a Long Time Ago

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

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Rebecca is atmospheric, spooky, and sometimes downright scary. In it, our unnamed narrator meets the handsome widower Maxim de Winter while in Monte Carlo. They build a sort of friendship which eventually leads to a marriage (there’s no romance involved, as far as I can see), and he takes her back to his estate, Manderley. There she learns more about his first wife Rebecca, who was drowned in a sailing accident, and struggles to find her place as the head of the household. Her problems […]

Woman Has Choice Between Man Who Treats Her Badly and a Boring But Nice Guy, Guess Who She Chooses?

The Shivering Sands by Victoria Holt

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Sorry for the long title, but this whole book irked the life out of me. I get that Holt is writing Gothic romances, but she always seems to take the worst parts of Mr. Rochester (Jane Eyre) and Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights) and uses that to make the male heroes in these stories. I think Heathcliff was terrible by the way for anyone that is ready to jump at me in the comments. I think due to the last book and this one I am going […]



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