Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Fake marriage and further hijinks

The Secret Service of Tea and Treason by India Holton

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Alice Dearlove works for the secret organisation the Agency of Undercover Note Takers, or A.U.N.T., staffed by spies and agents disguised as ladies’ maids, butlers, footmen, and other household staff who mostly go unnoticed by the higher classes, but are usually in a position to see and hear everything. She’s one of their top agents, known within A.U.N.T only as Agent A. Usually, Miss Dearlove works alone and gets excellent results while doing so. Now she faces one of the biggest challenges of her career. […]

“As Charlotte plummeted to the ground, still locked in Alex’s arms, she recollected Miss Plim’s warning that kissing a man was bad for one’s health.”

The League of Gentlewomen Witches by India Holton

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4.5 stars Everyone knows there’s no such thing as witches, but if there were, they probably wouldn’t use magic in flashy and extravagant ways to fly houses around and try to rob and assassinate one another. If there were witches, they would probably use their magic in tidier ways, ensuring polite society was functioning properly. Possibly liberate those who have excessive financial resources of some of it to the betterment of those with less of it (like say, themselves). If there were witches, Charlotte Pettifer […]

“So this is merely romance,” she frowned disapprovingly. “I was hoping for an epic adventure, or a gothic mystery at the very least.” Ned laughed. “Darling, don’t worry, the story has just begun.”

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton

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Official book description, because I finished this book two months ago, and the plot is rather convoluted: Cecilia Bassingwaite is the ideal Victorian lady. She’s also a thief. Like the other members of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Sure, she has a dark and traumatic past and an overbearing aunt, but all things considered, it’s a pleasant existence. Until the men show up. Ned Lightbourne is a sometimes assassin who is […]

Jane Austen but with Lady Pirates. With Flying Houses.

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton

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“It is violence that best overcomes hate, vengeance that most certainly heals injury, and a good cup of tea that soothes the most anguished soul.”  – Motto of the Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels Cecilia Bassingthwaite has been raised by her hypochondriac spinster Aunt ever since she was seven and her Father murdered her Mother and tried to kidnap her. Because of her father’s terrible reputation, the other ladies of the Wisteria Society don’t trust her enough to make her a full-fledged member, which vexes […]

I’ve talked myself around to being really annoyed by this book.

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton

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I wanted to enjoy this book more than I did. It’s not bad, it’s just very… first novel-y. Which is to say that the story has the sense that the author spent a lot of her younger years thinking about it and tries to cram in four different stories. Have you ever written an email and forgotten a word or two but your brain knows the words are supposed to be there, so it just inserts them when you proofread and then you send the email […]

“‘You are a scoundrel,’ she whispered furiously. ‘Yes,’ he agreed. ‘I’m thinking of starting a Society of Gentlemen Scoundrels.’ ‘You’re millennia too late. It already exists and is called the patriarchy.'”

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels (Dangerous Damsels, #1) by India Holton

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I actually requested the sequel to this book on Netgalley and was approved before I realized it was the second book in a series, and while it didn’t seem like it would be necessary to read this one first since romance books can usually be read on their own, I thought I’d give it a shot anyway. And it was a pretty good time! So this book is about lady pirates who fly their houses around England. They take no offense at thievery and assassination, […]



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