Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Men wanted his opinion on any number of topics. Women swooned at his feet

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

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I am not a fan of straight up bodice rippers, but witty banter, suffering in silence and smoldering looks are right up my alley. Give me a sassy heroine and an honorable but standoffish hero and I’m ALL IN. Austen vibes? Yes. Sweeping historical epics a la Outlander? Please and thank you. The issue is that I tend to shy away from some romance novels due to swift cover judgement (man in open pirate shirt with disheveled woman leaning back against him in rapturous ecstasy) […]

“You have to live each hour as if it’s your last and each day as if you were immortal.” (CBR Bingo)

The Viscount Who Loved Me (Bridgertons #2) by Julia Quinn

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Of the early Bridgerton books I loved books three and four, really liked the first, and thought the second was okay on my first read through. The good news headline of this reread review is that I liked this book more the second time through than I did the first. The plot of the book is a bit thinner than its predecessor, but that isn’t a bad thing. In The Viscount Who Loved Me we follow Anthony and Kate as they maneuver through the 1814 […]

“And if you say that’s because you lot barged into her home like a herd of mentally deficient sheep, I’m disowning all three of you.” (CBR12 Bingo)

The Duke and I (Bridgertons #1) by Julia Quinn

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Continuing down the road of comfort reading I’ve decided to do some rereading of Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series. I first read the books in 2015 and loved them then, and I’m happy to report that after my latest reading of The Duke and I, the first book in the series,  that I’m just as pleased now as I was then. Even better, there’s a Netflix adaptation of the series on the way – season one finished filming before COVID shutdown most television production but we […]

Quinn’s best novel in a while

First Comes Scandal by Julia Quinn

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3.5 stars This is the fourth and, I’m assuming, final book in the Rokesby series. All the books work fine on their own, you do not need to read any others for the story to make sense. Nicholas Rokesby, the fourth son of the Earl of Manston, is studying to be a doctor in Edinburgh. When he receives an urgent summons from his parents while he’s in the middle of taking important exams, he assumes someone may be dead or at least dying, so he travels back […]

If you’re presuming a Regency Romance, you presumed correctly

Mr. Cavendish I Presume by Julia Quinn

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If anxiety = fluff reading, then Julia Quinn sales should be through the roof.  I’ve read at least one of Quinn’s previous novels, and I remember being largely satisfied- I didn’t have to think too hard and I don’t remember large plot holes or grating characters.  That same moderate praise holds true for Mr. Cavendish, which is one half of Quinn’s two-part “Dukes of Wyndham” set (the other is “The Lost Duke of Wyndham”). This installment is told from the perspectives of the current and […]

A warm bath of a book

Because of Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

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This is like a warm bath. Not too hot, not too cold, and entirely unchallenging. It is, what I think we usually look for when we go to movie theatres to watch a rom com, only to remember that a team of (male) writers usually can’t seem to consistently produce a love story like a single woman (with editors, god bless them) can. Julia Quinn is something of a juggernaut in romance, and I’ll be honest, it took me a while to get the appeal. […]



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