Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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“To me, the allure of history lay in the minutiae of life long ago, the untold secrets of ordinary people.”

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

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A friend loaned me this book and I dove in and read it in two days, tackling the first 13 chapters in one go: highly readable, and a breeze to get through. That said, I know that reading this book will be relegated to the pantheon of things I forgot I have read two months from now. I was quite surprised to learn it was a Goodreads nominee for Best Debut Novel and Best Historical Fiction because I wouldn’t have given it such high praise. […]

A bit of a mixed bag (and a complete Passport!)

The Lost Apothecary: A Novel by Sarah Penner

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CBR15passport book you own (passport complete) I bought this book a while back as part of a sale. It’s historical fiction, which I almost always enjoy, and it moves back and forth between the late 18th century and present day London. Overall, it’s a decent read, the kind of book that you could finish on a long flight or over a weekend. Its focus is on female characters struggling to deal with dishonest and unfaithful men, and women finding fulfillment in their own work and […]

Drunk on mediocrity

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

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Ugh. The cover for this one was so pretty, and I kept seeing it on bookstore shelves, so when I finally was able to snap up a library copy I was really excited. The back cover promises a woman apothecary in the 1700s who helps other women kill all the Bad Men who were oppressing them? Yes please! Alas, this was a lot of promise without the delivery and I was mostly disappointed. FYI that there are some spoilers in my review below. Penner’s novel […]

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve disliked a book this much, but boy howdy, did I dislike this.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

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This is the second version of this review I’ve written because I did the classic dumb thing where I wrote a huge review in the GR review space and didn’t back it up (AND NEITHER DID GOODREADS EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO NOW). I had about 2,500 words written and I wasn’t done, and I had a lot of thoughts, many of them snarky and sort of mean*. I’m not sure how much what I’m about to write will resemble what I wrote yesterday, […]

It’s Hard to Know What to Say When Your Feelings are Just Slightly Above Apathy. It’s Fine, You Know?

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

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Truth be told, I listened to this audiobook on a whim as it came up in the new book recommendations of my library app. Sounded interesting enough! And overall, it was an easy and engaging enough listen, though I can’t say that it grabbed me much beyond a passing enjoyment. The Lost Apothecary flits between two time periods (and 3 protagonists’ points of view therein). The first setting is 1791 London, where a woman named Nella works in a hidden apothecary for women, helping them […]



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