Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

For good reading on a plane, you can’t go wrong with Austen

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

by Leave a Comment

When I told Ms. Was I had downloaded Sense and Sensibility (among other things) for a long flight I’d be taking, she said, “Well, you can’t go wrong with Jane Austen.” Were truer words ever spoken? Some Austen novels might be better than others, but they are all solid entertainment for passing the time, whether you are curled up with a cup of tea on a rainy day or wedged into a tight airplane seat and taking a break from binge-watching episodes of The Office. […]

Smuggling, insects, and family drama surround this gay love story

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles

by Leave a Comment

Thank you, Emmalita, for this wonderful book and first exposure to KJ Charles!  In the 2023 Cannonball Book Exchange I put that I would like any book by KJ Charles and she graciously gifted me The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen. Kent and London had a good thing going.  They met up at the Three Ducks in London for some enthusiastic and anonymous sex.  But then Kent needs to do business away from the city and London, familiar with abandonment, decides to shut things down instead […]

Bonus: Ridiculous 1830s Fashion

Dukes Prefer Blondes by Loretta Chase

by 4 Comments

Five series and 28 or so books into a very successful career, it comes as no surprise that Loretta Chase is a really consistent historical romance author who provides great entertainment value combined with sincere emotional connections. I loved Dukes Prefer Blondes when I reviewed it for Cannonball Read in 2016 during Romancelandia’s Year of Difficult Men*  and I adore it  now. I went back to revisit a specific scene and the next thing I knew, I’d re-read to the end and then gone back […]

Like the Oregon Trail Game with a Bodice Ripping Mod

Emerald Fire by Julia Grice

by Leave a Comment

Fleeing her plantation home to escape her lecherous cousin, Emerald ends up joining a wagon train headed to California as a mother’s helper. She’s drawn to their guide Mace, but has a long way to go before she can reach her happy ending. More a pioneer adventure than a true romance, we follow Emerald on her way west as the train tangles with illness and injury, hostile Native Americans and a pair of bank robbers. We encounter all kinds of curious characters both on and […]

The Comeback Kid

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

by 2 Comments

At 37, Carrie Soto is well past the age of retirement for a professional female tennis player, and as the record holder of most Slam titles won, she can rest easy as the best player the world has ever seen – until a younger player matches her. At this point, I probably have to admit that Jenkins Reid’s historical novels have a distinct cheesiness about them, and that I enjoy it very much. Having first met Carrie in Malibu Rising in an unpleasant cameo, I knew she […]

Love in the Quiet Places

A Daddy for Her Twins by Scarlet Wilson

by Leave a Comment

Three years after the death of her husband, single mom and physiotherapist Madison must figure out if she is ready to move on with the new pediatric doctor Fletch. I don’t know if Harlequin’s been publishing a spate of single parent romances lately or I’m just reading more of them. Sometimes they can be too saccharine or the kids might seem to have been written by someone who’s never met a kid, but when done right it adds another dimension to the romance. This is […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo