Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Home, Very Sweet, Home

A Peculiar Haunted House by Paul Czajak

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I have had the opportunity to read A Peculiar Haunted House by Paul Czajak a few times now (it is due mid August 2024) via online reader copies. And each time I think it gets better. The idea is simple: a house on the street is too peculiar for anyone to live in. In fact it probably is haunted. Spoiler: It is!  Because every time someone moves in and tries to remodel and change things about,  the house will not have anything to do with […]

Yeah, I Don’t Know

Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg

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There was a lot I liked about this, but somehow, it kept falling into Uncanny Valley territory for me. Hulda Larkin, a very self-possessed young woman, is in the employment of BIKER (Boston Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms – an acronym that consistently threw me off). It is her job to subdue enchanted homes into domesticity, in order to preserve their historical magical properties.  In the year 1846, she has been sent to an isolated mansion on a remote island in Rhode Island.  […]

The Hellmouth May/May Not Be Located in Kentucky Thanks to Miner Barons

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

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Let’s get it out of the way for the CBR Bingo this is row 2, column 1: Dwelling. My rating on Storygraph is 3.5 and we don’t have have decimals and fraction ratings here, but this isn’t something I’d rate a 4. In that case, I’m CBR rating it a 3. I tagged Starling House #StrangerThings and I also tagged it #GothicRomance and #MiningCountry and, in sum, that’s how I’d describe the genre and even plot of this book. This is one I wasn’t sure I’d stick […]

Bored in the House, Bored in the House

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

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A review of another book summed this one up perfectly for me: this is a rebound book. You’re kind of interested but not really. You’re not ready for anything heavy so you pick it in an I-guess-it’s-you kinda way. You have some mildly entertaining dates but you feel like you’re just passing the time. You’re holding its hand while in the relationship waiting room, hoping for something better. This is that book for me. It’s been a rough week professionally and I don’t want to […]

Spoopy Creppy

The House of a Hundred Whispers by Graham Masterton

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Former prison warden Herbert Russell lives alone in a large and remote 17th century house in Dartmoor. One night, during a full moon, he is clobbered on the head with a hammer. Days later his children – sons Martin and Rob, daughter Grace – gather for the reading of his will. The expected familial bickering ensues, but then Rob’s son Timmy suddenly disappears into thin air. Who killed Herbert? Where has Timmy gone? Why is the cellar of the house bricked up, and why do […]

The House, It’s Haunted

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

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I did not intend to follow one Riley Sager book with another, but since what I was reading wasn’t working for me, and since my rental of this one was due to expire soon, I decided to give it a go. This one is weird. In some ways, it’s better than what Sager has written but in others, it’s probably my least favorite. It’s a haunted house tale and he gets the atmosphere of a haunted house down pat. I’m not a horror guy; I […]



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