Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

From Serf to Empress

Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten

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CBR 15 Bingo – History: This is a historical novel which in following the rise of Catherine I recreates the world of late 17th century Russia. Born a serf, Marta manages through her cunning and luck to rise through society until she becomes the mistress and later wife of Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia. This is an insane story of stratospheric social mobility, and I am shocked I hadn’t heard of it beyond Alpsten’s books. There’s plenty of shadowy corners in Catherine’s biography in […]

Obscure Sex Fantasies Don’t Have to Make Sense

Reckless Heir by Jenika Snow

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Listen, is this book good? No. Not really. It’s got a weird obsession with a particularly Victorian idea of virginity, and only the loosest possible concept of the physical logistics of real human sex. It’s distracting. These people need, like, so much sex ed. And also probably to see several doctors. And then to hire somebody to come and clean ALL of their furniture. But is this book compelling? Yeah, actually. Like, I get it. Until somewhat recently, I really didn’t see the appeal of […]

Clueless Romance in a World Where Nice and Smart Can’t Co-Exist

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! v.8 by Satoru Yamaguchi, Nami Hidaka

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Bingo 21: Sex So, when the main character of a fantasy romance game whose regained her memories of a past of life of being a modern mundane teen has absolutely no concept of sex at the age of 17, and everyone around her does, it makes for some mild cringe, but mostly entertaining hijinks. By this point in the manga, Katarina has managed to make her fiancée the Prince fall for her and express his desire (totally confounds her, an she pretends it didn’t happen), […]

Gay-Lesbian Solidarity

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

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CBR 15 Bingo – Queer Lives: Both the main characters in this book are queer, and one of the major plot-lines concerns itself with what must change in society for them to live their lives openly. Hundreds of years after the time of Arthur Pendragon, his descendent Arthur Delacey is betrothed to Gwen, the princess of England. If only she wasn’t more interested in the only female knight in the realm; if only he wasn’t more interested in her brother… I picked up this book because […]

Love, Destiny, and People You Can’t Fucking Trust

Stormwind of Shadows by Jasmine Jenkins, Sophia Suliman

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Listen, these books are damn good. I don’t know what to tell you! If Lost Stars was about the Greywick siblings discovering the chaos and pitfalls of fated purpose, this installment is about that same approach to fated love. Because it turns out: 1) The problem with magical Love at First Sight is that it doesn’t care if you live wildly incompatible lives, and also he’d readily murder you if he knew your biggest secret. 2) The problem with enemies-to-lovers is that you can’t fucking […]

Do you remember the 21st night of September?

See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon

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“See You Yesterday” by Rachel Lynn Solomon is a fun, original take on the classic “Groundhog Day” narrative. The story follows Barrett Bloom, a college freshman who’s looking for a fresh start after an intense high school experience. However, things take a wild turn when she finds herself trapped in a time loop on the first day of school. Together with Miles, a fellow time-loop victim, she sets out to find a way out of the loop while navigating the ups and downs of their […]



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