Cannonball Read 12

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Difficult Women, Trauma, and Romance

The Trouble with Hating You by Sajni Patel

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The Trouble with Hating You is not your typical Romance read, even though Patel is working within and against established tropes, and I liked it better for it. This is definitely an enemies to lovers romance (the title pretty much announces it) and in it we have Liya Thakkar,  a happily single successful biochemical engineer, who has a very strained relationship with her parents and has been very clear that she is not interested in being set up with a potential spouse. The moment she […]

A Steamy Novella that Also Made Me Hungry

Tikka Chance on Me by Suleikha Snyder

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The Pandemic has stolen my ability to focus on long form works, so I went trolling through my digital library to see what I had available in the novella length, thankfully for me at some point I had downloaded Suleikha Snyder’s Tikka Chance on Me. Perfect. I *loved* the first part of this novella. Pinky Grover is a fantastic lead – she’s a feisty, sex-positive Desi heroine that could carry a much larger work on her character’s shoulders. Snyder introduces us via Pinky to Trucker […]

“Please tell me people who look like us can have happy endings.”

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade

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I have been waiting for this book for months and am extremely happy to report that it does not disappoint. This is only my second Dade book (Teach Me was also highly enjoyable), but I can already say my favorite thing about her writing is how relatable and human her characters are. The two leads in Spoiler Alert are at a point of change in their lives – and actively seeking it – and the layers of their lives that push them towards, and in […]

The world is falling apart, but the magic is coming together

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

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This felt like a post-apocalyptic story within a post-post-post-apocalyptic story. In the aftermath of the last Fifth Season (a catastrophic event that causes massive destruction and changes the face of the Earth for an unspecified amount of time; the last one started in the first book), Essun finds herself in a new community, with everyone learning how to live and work together. There are bandits and bad communities, internal strife, lack of food and resources, and the usual post-apocalyptic worries. Of course, this being an […]

“High crimes were probably better suited to a betrothal than a mere courting gift: you couldn’t just start burning things down in hopes the other person found it romantic. You’d want to be sure.” (CBR Bingo)

The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows (Feminine Pursuits #2) by Olivia Waite

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Let’s get this part out of the way early – I was prepared to love this book and I only really like it. Here’s the thing: there’s too much story here and I feel like a heel for saying so. But, bear with me. One of the things I love most in really good romance writing is that the authors aren’t afraid to interact with larger themes. These books aren’t just sexytimes (we have erotica for that) they are not just character studies (although lord […]



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