Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Getaway Short Story Collection

Uncharted Waters by Sally Hepworth

His Happy Place by Zakiya Dalila Harris

Stockholm by Catherine Steadman

Belle Mar by Luanne Rice

Catch Her in a Lie by Jess Lourey

Shell Game by Rumaan Alam

by Leave a Comment

So I read through all of the “Getaway” collection the other day and thought some stories hit harder than others. Per usual, here’s my rating per story in the collection. “Uncharted Waters” by Sally Hepworth (3 stars)-Yeah this one shocked me too. Probably because I have pretty much loved most of Hepworth’s mystery novels set in Australia. This one is also set in Australia, but follows a married woman named Ella who is going on a cruise without her husband Mac. While on the cruise […]

The Good Sister- First book of the New Year y’all!

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

by Leave a Comment

Plot: There’s only been one time that Rose couldn’t stop me from doing the wrong thing and that was a mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life. Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister Rose three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life and disrupting her routine can be…dangerous. When Rose discovers that she cannot get pregnant, Fern sees […]

Rep Square: The Good Sister

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

by Leave a Comment

I’m using this as my REP bingo square.  The Good Sister is told from the perspective of two Australian sisters (and twins), Rose and Fern. Rose is an accomplished interior designer married to a wonderful man and all she wants is to be a mother. Through her journal entries, however, we hear about her fraught relationship with her own mother’s narcissistic ways.  And Fern, while not explicitly identified as such, seems to have Autism Spectrum Disorder given her sensory processing issues, social discomfort, and love […]

I Just Wanted a Nice Soothing Book about Murder

The Mother-In-Law by Sally Hepworth

by 6 Comments

Like many people, this year I’ve been more than usually interested in books that are comforting, but of course what feels comforting is different for different people – along with Jane Austen and Barbara Pym, for me one of the most soothing types of book are murder mysteries. I like the predictable structure, the ultimate triumphing of good over evil (all too rare in real life), and seeing the ways that different authors stretch and interpret the standard ideas of the genre. Unfortunately for me, […]

The real message here is to limit your children’s screen time

The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth

by Leave a Comment

CBR12 Bingo: Pandemic This is another entry in the ever-growing genre of “twisty” books aimed at women. I admit I am always tempted by these books–I have to know what the twist is! And for the most part, I actually enjoyed The Mother-in-Law, unlike some other entries into this genre. The book opens with Lucy and her husband receiving a visit from the police to tell them that Lucy’s mother-in-law, Diana, with whom she has never gotten along, has been found dead by apparent suicide. […]

A couple of not so thrilling thrillers

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon

The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth

by Leave a Comment

(3 stars) The Invited by Jennifer McMahon Why do I keep reading Jennifer McMahon books? They’re never terrible, but they’re never great either. But I keep picking them up! Helen and Nate have decided to undertake a rather ambitious project. Quitting their jobs teaching high school, they move to Vermont to build their own home on a piece of property with a very dark past. Helen, obsessed with history in general and with the property in particular, does enough research to realize that a lot […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo