Cannonball Read 14

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Fascinating historical fantasy mystery, an okay romance.

Rag and Bone (Rag and Bone, #1) by K.J. Charles

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Sometimes this happens with K.J. Charles and me—and it’s often in this particular magical world of hers, come to think of it—where I am way more interested in the plot and worldbuilding than I am in the central romance. Here, partly it’s because the couple are already together at the start of the book, and the tension of “will they stay together” is just not as inherently interesting to me as “how will they get together and when”. But also, partly, there’s just something about […]

“My dear chap, this is a bookshop. There’s never anywhere better to be.”

Slippery Creatures by K.J. Charles

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CBR14 Bingo: Snake (SPOILER: being a thoroughly disreputable sort, Kim also turns out to betray Will at least once during the story) Will Darling has inherited his late uncle’s bookshop and is grateful for the fact. After serving in World War I, most of his skills involve killing swiftly and efficiently, not really a commodity on the post-war job markets back in England. Now he just needs to get some idea of all the books actually in the shop and get on with being a […]

the challenges of an author’s back catalogue

The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles

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CW: suicides (in the past), suicidal actions/ideation (but it’s made clear that it’s a curse which is making the character feel that way), homophobia, mentions of assault, mentions of incest, magic which saps a character’s life energy, and also some magical manipulation of emotions which I found hard to get behind Bereft of Will Darling, I thought I’d give Charles’ back catalog a perusal. While I really enjoyed this novel, there’s a central premise that I felt it hard to get over. As such, I’ve […]

author on the will read shelf for sure

The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by K.J. Charles

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And then, for something different and DELIGHTFUL. I should have known to satiate my historical romance longing with a standalone novel by K.J. Charles, who had so recently delighted me with the Will Darling series. Here, we go even further back in history and even further into gay with the tale of two scheming siblings, attempt to fortune hunt (as the title would suggest) with the most moral of intentions. Neither of them want to want, and they’re in the game together. If one rises […]

two short reviews for two short scenes

To Trust Man On His Oath by K.J. Charles

How Goes The World? by K.J. Charles

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To Trust Man On His Oath I saved this conversational exchange as a draft review, knowing that I was terribly behind on reviews and wanting not to forget the sentiment: Will sighed internally. “Look, you don’t have to talk to me. But if you want to, it’s three in the morning.” “Does the time make a difference?” “Don’t you know?” Kim’s expression suggested he didn’t, and perhaps he wouldn’t. He was not much of a man for confidences, or intimacies. “Three in the morning, or […]

so sad this was over

Subtle Blood by K.J. Charles

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CW: I cannot fully remember, but I recall there’s some period appropriate homophobia but from family members The interesting thing about this trilogy of books is how it doesn’t fit the normal arc of trilogies. Usually, Book 1 stands alone-ish–sets up the world, but the main plot issue sorts itself out so that if there’s no traction there’s not a horrid dangling issue left for the audience to deal with. Also, you’re more likely to get traction because the book has a nice finality to […]



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