Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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When Your In-Laws are Forever

My Big Fat Vampire Wedding by Jessica Gadziala

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Pandora needs to get married in three months to secure her family inheritance, and Victor needs money to finish his PhD studies. A fake marriage would solve both their problems, and soon sparks are flying between the pair. The only trouble is that Victor has no idea that Pandora is a vampire. I loved the premise of this book, but the execution let me down a bit. I waffled between a two- and three-star rating for a while, but ended up going with the former […]

The Charms of a Competent Man

Lord Ravenscar's Revenge by Barbara Cartland

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After Romara is beaten and thrown out of the house by her sister’s abusive lover, the last thing she expects is to wake up married to Lord Ravenscar, who wed her while extremely drunk. But when he steps in to help her solve Caryl’s problems, she starts to wonder if they will be able to make a real marriage work. I read a lot of historical romance, so of course I am familiar with the insanely prolific Barbara Cartland, though I haven’t read any of […]

A promising debut cozy fantasy romance that didn’t quite fully hit.

Letters from the Last Apothecary by Bita Behzadi

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Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House | Hay House LLC for the Audio ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. This is a promising debut by Bita Behzadi, and I will be reading further books from her, but this one had some issues that mean I can’t give it a full four stars. Mostly, I had a really hard time both getting in to the story, and caring about the characters. It took about 33% for the first, and about 60% for […]

Loner Gardener and Extroverted (former) Librarian Get Feelings. That’s mostly it.

The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

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The Enchanted Greenhouse has made me wonder whether cozy romantasy is mostly just about at least a couple of characters working through their issues together is a somewhat healthy way, and catching feelings along with way. No plot necessary. Which might be why The Enchanted Greenhouse barely has one, a plot that is. The central figure is Terlu Perna who spent The Spellshop being mentioned briefly as Caz the sentient spider-plant’s creator who got turned into a statue for illegal magic use. Somehow Terlu gets […]

“I’m a fuckin’ honey badger and by this claw”— she held her hand up—“ I fuckin’ rule.”

Hot and Badgered by Shelly Laurenston

In a Badger Way by Shelly Laurenston

Badger to the Bone by Shelly Laurenston

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I picked up the first book on Saturday and was done with the third by the end of the week. Like Pringles, you can’t have just one. Hot and Badgered – 4.25 stars When a naked woman tumbles onto his hotel balcony while escaping her enemies, Berg’s happy to give her a T-shirt and a gun, but doesn’t expect to see her again. But it turns out that Charlie’s problems are manifest, and when they bring her to Manhattan, he’s happy to lend her a […]

“Despite her past experiences with murders, she had not yet learned that the most inescapable force in the world is irony.”

The Rushworth Family Plot: A Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney Mystery (#4) by Claudia Gray

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To condemn the female of the species for frivolity while simultaneously limiting her to frivolity is patently unjust, and yet grievously common. Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney understand each other (and their own hearts) perfectly; it’s a pity their families do not. A series of misunderstandings, misplaced pride, and—indeed—prejudice, never mind that Fitzwilliam Darcy is a judgemental prig, has led their fathers to deem the pair unsuited to wed (but more like the other father unsuited as their child’s in-law. And Darcy is a judgemental […]



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