Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Romeo and Juliet, But Make Them Lesbians

Fate's Bane by C.L. Clark

December 27, 2025 by bjornsnipe Leave a Comment

 The Clan Aradoc and Clan Fein, two clans of the fens, have tenuous peace brought about by the taking of Agnir of Clan Fein into Clan Aradoc as a ward/hostage. For almost as long as she can remember she has been both a part of and apart from the Clan, learning their ways and growing up amongst their children, but never truly accepted as one of them. Except for Hadhnri, Chieftan’s daughter, who thinks of Agnir as not just of the clan, but as someone […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Tagged With: C.L. Clark, Celtic, lesbian romance, tragedy

bjornsnipe's CBR17 Review No:161 · Genres: Fantasy · Tags: C.L. Clark, Celtic, lesbian romance, tragedy ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Jack, in his dark camps, saw Ennis as a night fire, a red spark on the huge black mass of mountain.

Brokeback Mountain by E. Annie Proulx

December 19, 2025 by carmelpie Leave a Comment

Going up, the day was fine but the trail deep-drifted and slopping wet at the margins. They left it to wind through a slashy cut, leading the horses through brittle branchwood, Jack, the same eagle feather in his old hat, lifting his head in the heated noon to take the air scented with resinous lodgepole, the dry needle duff and hot rock, bitter juniper crushed beneath the horses’ hooves. Ennis, weather-eyed, looked west for the heated cumulus that might come up on such a day […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Romance, Western Tagged With: 1960s, American West, Annie Proulx, closeted, cowboys, e. annie proulx, film adaptation, forbidden love, gay romance, Homophobia, myth of the American west, novella, queer romance, Ranchers, short story, tragedy

carmelpie's CBR17 Review No:45 · Genres: Fiction, Romance, Western · Tags: 1960s, American West, Annie Proulx, closeted, cowboys, e. annie proulx, film adaptation, forbidden love, gay romance, Homophobia, myth of the American west, novella, queer romance, Ranchers, short story, tragedy ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Beautiful, harrowing and oh so sad

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

July 10, 2024 by Malin 2 Comments

CBR16 Bingo: Liberate (our protagonists are fighting in World War I to keep the world safe from the Germans) Official plot summary, because I finished this book in early April: It’s 1914, and talk of war feels far away to Henry Gaunt, Sidney Ellwood and the rest of their classmates, safely ensconced in their idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. At seventeen, they’re too young to enlist, and anyway, Gaunt is fighting his own private battle – an all-consuming infatuation with his best friend, […]

Filed Under: Fiction, History, Romance Tagged With: Alice Winn, CBR16, cbr16bingo, debut novel, friendship, historical fiction, In Memoriam, LGBTQIA, liberate, Malin, ptsd, romantic, tragedy, trauma, war, World War I

Malin's CBR16 Review No:27 · Genres: Fiction, History, Romance · Tags: Alice Winn, CBR16, cbr16bingo, debut novel, friendship, historical fiction, In Memoriam, LGBTQIA, liberate, Malin, ptsd, romantic, tragedy, trauma, war, World War I ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

It was a relief and a horror to be known so perfectly.

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

January 20, 2024 by carmelpie Leave a Comment

I’m not sure if I can categorize this book as dark academia, but the characters and the story remind me so much of what I enjoyed about “If We Were Villains” and “The Secret History,” it is impossible for me not to draw parallels between them. All three stories are linked by a sudden and violent death, and how those left behind cope with their secrets. Paul is a seventeen-year-old who has recently graduated from high school. He lives with his mother and his two […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense Tagged With: 1970s, class divide, codependence, dark academia, Donna Tartt, emotional abuse, forbidden love, if we were villains, Jewish American, jewish culture, M.L. Rio, Manipulative behavior, Micah Nemerever, murder, Pittsburgh, queer author, queer romance, teen drama, the secret history, Toxic Romance, tragedy, Vietnam era

carmelpie's CBR16 Review No:7 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense · Tags: 1970s, class divide, codependence, dark academia, Donna Tartt, emotional abuse, forbidden love, if we were villains, Jewish American, jewish culture, M.L. Rio, Manipulative behavior, Micah Nemerever, murder, Pittsburgh, queer author, queer romance, teen drama, the secret history, Toxic Romance, tragedy, Vietnam era ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Do with their death bury their parents’ strife

Brickmakers by Selva Almada

August 31, 2023 by carmelpie Leave a Comment

Chins slightly raised. Eyes locking on eyes. The rest hardly matters: an afternoon of scalding sun, a cloudy night, the middle of a dance hall, the soccer field in the pink evening light, some street in the center of town. Meanwhile, the music is always the same: the panting, the sound of fists, the cracking of knuckles before they land the first blow, the hiss of saliva, the occasional groan when a jab lands right in the liver, and the guys egging them on, always […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: animal abuse, Argentina, cbr15bingo, child abuse, Domestic Abuse, Fathers and sons, forbidden love, generational trauma, machismo, mothers and sons, queer romance, Selva Almada, tragedy

carmelpie's CBR15 Review No:39 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: animal abuse, Argentina, cbr15bingo, child abuse, Domestic Abuse, Fathers and sons, forbidden love, generational trauma, machismo, mothers and sons, queer romance, Selva Almada, tragedy ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

hide all you want, but nothing stays buried

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller

May 24, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos 2 Comments

Jeanie and Julius have spent their entire lives together. Over half a century of life together has passed, and they have never spent an entire night separate from each other. Jeanie tends the garden with their mother, Dot, and Julius works odd jobs in the village. Jeanie, Julius, and Dot depend fiercely on one another. They accept nothing from the outside world- at least, Jeanie and Julius spent the last 51 years believing that they were accepting nothing and indebted to no one but each […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Suspense Tagged With: ARC, Britain, claire fuller, family, family secrets, farm life, galley club, poverty, rural life, secrets, survival, tin house, tin house galley club, tragedy

andtheIToldYouSos's CBR13 Review No:45 · Genres: Fiction, Suspense · Tags: ARC, Britain, claire fuller, family, family secrets, farm life, galley club, poverty, rural life, secrets, survival, tin house, tin house galley club, tragedy ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • G.D. Giant
    on These (Slow) Burning Stars
    No heist, but it still feels a little heist-y due to some heist-adjacent action.
  • narfna
    on “The sun is up, the skies are blue, and murder is in the air.”
    Ooh, keep going! The books keep getting better. Also, I literally just bought a sticker yesterday that has that quote...
  • Emmalita
    on These (Slow) Burning Stars
    I do like sci-fi, especially when you throw in queer and revenge. The only thing that could make it more...
  • G.D. Giant
    on These (Slow) Burning Stars
    It's pretty great, really! Highly recommend, especially if you like sci-fi!
  • Emmalita
    on These (Slow) Burning Stars
    Ohhh, this sounds intriguing.
See More Recent Comments »

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