Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Dance with a side of criminal profiling

The Spectacular by Fiona Davis

by Leave a Comment

Fiona Davis can always be relied upon to create a good story focused on historically inspired events and buildings set in New York. This one was a little bit different since both of the time lines focused on the same person, Marion Brooks, just about 36 years apart. Most of the other novels of hers I have read have had a larger gap in time and the person in the more recent time line is trying to figure out the mystery while the reader knows […]

A cozy paranormal romance for the holidays~

Clara, Darling by Chace Verity

by Leave a Comment

Chace Verity is one of my absolute fave authors, and they’ve held that title since their debut, Team Phison, so any time they have a new release I get all excited. Clara, Darling is a holiday (Christmas) novella, but unlike Verity’s previous Christmas story (Team Phison Forever), this has much less family trauma and is almost dream-like in its story tell. Sadie has been married to Alvin for ten years, but in all that time she’s never forgotten her best friend and first love, Clara. […]

Based on truth, lies, myths, and rumors

Al Capone by Swann Meralli

by Leave a Comment

Al Capone by Swann Meralli and illustrated by Pierre-François Radice is told from Capone’s POV but due to who he was, and the images given, we know he is not a reliable narrator. However, he does tell you “the facts” but his version is colored by his personality and the fact he is telling his mother his side of things. It is an interesting graphic novel that highlights important events that will start with him as a child (which little to nothing is known), continue […]

“That’s the problem with living in New York. You’ve got no New York to run away to.”

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

by Leave a Comment

In five-ish words: sophisticated, entertaining, New York, haunted I know a lot of people who say that Towles’ “Gentleman in Moscow” is their favorite book. I haven’t read it yet and have it on my TBR, somewhere middling in the middle. But then a co-host on my podcast recommended “Rules of Civility” for her “must read book” so this one rocketed straight to the top. I felt compelled to pick it up and I’m so glad I did! His writing is so clever and he […]

Nowhere had she encountered as many puppeteers as in Hollywood

Table for Two by Amor Towles

by Leave a Comment

CBR16 BINGO: Golden, because the novella Eve in Hollywood takes place during the Golden Age of Hollywood BINGO: Part 1, Part 2, Dreams, Golden, Scandal I was so taken with A Gentleman in Moscow that the gathering up and devouring of more of Amor Towles’s works became inevitable. While not quite reaching the same level of charm as the aforementioned tale of a Russian aristocrat, Table for Two is a solid collection of short narratives that mingle humor, tragedy, and resilience. Table for Two feels like […]

Monkey Business

Ivanov by Hanna Bervoets

by Leave a Comment

It’s 1994 and student Felix van der Elsken has just arrived at JFK airport to begin his studies at an unspecified New York university. Felix is young, gay, and desperately looking for connection and a way to shape his identity. A few months after his stay, he meets a young scientist named Helena. New York in 1994 is in the throes of the AIDS-epidemic, and Helena has made it her mission to find a cure in a decidedly unorthodox fashion. Felix is toying with the […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo