Cannonball Read 13

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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I'm a mom of two and a voracious reader. I love happily-ever-afters and space ships.

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“Truth is a human right.”

Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis

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I have no idea who Lindsay Ellis is, so I picked this up solely based on the blurb. I have a definite soft spot for first contact stories, especially ones where the humans involved are not, well, exactly who you’d pick to represent humanity. “Truth is not freely given in our society; it must be taken. Where walls are built, tear them down. Where borders are drawn, erase the line. Where you see wax, break the seal. Truth is a human right.” It’s 2007, and […]

A fun novella, but a bit lacking in the romance development

Hot as Hades by Alisha Rai

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CBR13Bingo: Mythic (Hades & Persephone) Well, this book certainly lives up to its title – it is hot as heck. And I’m quite fond of Hades/Persephone retellings since they’re basically the OG grumpy/sunshine, so this was fun and quick read, if not everything I wanted. From the moment Persephone is dumped (naked) into Hades’ lap, it’s a steamy ride. Neither knows how she ended up there, and both are annoyed about it, but once it becomes clear that Persephone’s stuck in Hades’ realm for a while, […]

A delightful sapphic fall romance… with witches!

Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper

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This is a perfect sapphic fall romance. It’s atmospheric, a little bit angsty, and wickedly hilarious. Emmy Harlow’s been away from her hometown of Thistle Grove for nine years, and just about the only thing that could drag her back was a pleading letter from her father asking her to uphold the family tradition in the Gauntlet, a magical competition held every fifty years between the heirs of the four witch families that founded the town – well, except for the Harlows, who just arbitrate […]

Cool cover, meh book

Luminous by Mara Rutherford

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Stories about teens learning to love their magic always are one of my favorite YA fantasy tropes, and that cover is so pretty. Unfortunately, the rest of the book didn’t quite live up to it. “Magic—especially the kind people wielded deliberately—was as much of a mystery to me as the world outside Sylvan.” Liora has spent most of her life in hiding in her quiet village. After a tragedy when she was a child, she started displaying signs of magic: her skin glows, especially when […]

“It’s a little broken down, sure, but isn’t it worth putting it back together?”

The Shaadi Set-Up by Lillie Vale

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CBR13Bingo: Fauna – the puppers! The adorableness of this cover! This is a tropey and cute book, full of second chance high school sweethearts and a bit of forced proximity, though not everything worked out for me. “There’s something about old things, right? Comforting favorites. A place in time you want to return to, revisit, like an old friend.” Rita and Milan have dated since they were fifteen, and now, after Milan’s first year of college, they’re finally getting to see each other again on […]

“well they’re all good dogs” …or stories

The Year's Best Science Fiction volume 2 by Jonathan Strahan

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I adore short story collections, and I was particularly impressed by last year’s anthology edited by Jonathan Strahan. It follows the same format as last year, with the editor’s introduction including other recommended reading as well as general comments on the state of the publishing industry in 2020. And then we get into the real meat of it: 27 short stories that are, arguably, the best of the year. While some stories missed the mark a bit for me, they were all well-written and interesting. “well […]



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