Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


This series is not for me

Still Life by Louise Penny

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Hoo boy…after the high of the previous book I reviewed, this one took a hard turn into disappointment.  It should have been everything I like in a book – a no-nonsense detective, mysterious death, some quirky characters who may or may not be the perpetrator of the crime.  It’s even set in small town Quebec – I’m Canadian, this should be great!  Even most of the reviews were glowing, and as the first book in a series I hoped to be able to settle into […]

A Brit among the cactuses.

Did You See Melody? by Sophie Hannah

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I’m posting my review featuring the British version of the book, which has the original (and MUCH better) title of Did You See Melody? rather than the sanitized and bland as hell US version of Keep Her Safe. YAWN. What were you thinking, US publisher? This is one that’s been on my shelves since spring 2018 when Sophie Hannah came to the Tucson Festival of Books as part of promoting it, and I got to escort her around campus. I’d never read any of her […]

My first five star read of 2022. I did not expect this!

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

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So I’ve been bemoaning this all over Goodreads for a couple of weeks now, but I’ve been in a five-star drought since 2022 started. (I wonder if it’s because the last book I read in 2021, Harrow the Ninth, was one of the most five-star books I’ve ever read, and the universe is just balancing itself out . . . ) I’ve been waiting, impatiently, to see what book would capture my emotions enough for me to slap that coveted five-star rating on, as I’ve […]

A Do-It-Yourself Mystery.

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

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This was a pretty unique reading experience! I picked it up because of the pretty cover (the American one is shit, so yes I did buy it from the UK) and because it sad ‘Sunday Times Bestseller’ on it, and it’s a mystery. I am basic. (In my defense, the last time I did all of that, I ended up with The Thursday Murder Club, which everyone who loves mysteries should read immediately.) For all y’all Americans, the appeal in question is not a legal […]

Chocolate, Cross-dressing, Murder, and More!

The Spanish Daughter by Lorena Hughes

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Puri and her husband Cristóbal are on their way to Ecuador, where Puri is to claim a chocolate plantation that has been left to her, when her husband is murdered by the assassin sent for her. Determined to avenge him, Puri assumes Cristóbal’s identity and goes to the plantation, where a trio of secret siblings is but the first of the surprises… I was immediately intrigued by this book, because I’d never read anything with such a plot. Yet despite the intricacy of the premise, […]

Even the Dog Can’t Save It

Bear Witness by Lark O Jensen

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Stacie is a tour guide, introducing people to Alaskan wildlife from a boat. When a man vanishes from the tour, she thinks he’s stowed away to cause trouble. But when his body is discovered out amid the ice floes, she realizes that there is something far worse at play. I really wanted to like this book. The premise sounds so cool and so eerie, the idea of a body bobbing out in the frigid Alaskan waters. Unfortunately the story goes downhill from there. My main […]



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