Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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About Tracy

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40-something psychologist living with a husband, preschooler, and 2 cats. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Tracy's Quick Questions interview.)

Tracy's Reviews:

Life After the Golden Child

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez

January 12, 2026 by Tracy Leave a Comment

Julia Reyes is 15 when this novel opens, and her older sister Olga has just died in an accident that Julia partially blames herself for. Olga seemed to be the perfect Mexican daughter; she wanted to stay home with family, was content with community college, helped their mother out. Julia, on the other hand, wants to leave home to go to college and become a writer, has a rocky relationship with her mother, and chafes against the restrictions her parents (especially her mother) place on […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Young Adult Tagged With: Erika L Sanchez, latina author

Tracy's CBR18 Review No:4 · Genres: Fiction, Young Adult · Tags: Erika L Sanchez, latina author ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Living in Her Shadow

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

January 8, 2026 by Tracy Leave a Comment

Rebecca is often presented as a gothic novel, but it’s actually hard to pin down the genre. It has some gothic elements, some suspenseful elements, a marriage plot. Ultimately, I would characterize it as psychologically suspenseful litfic. The psychological suspense relates to the narrator, who remains unnamed for the entirety of the book. Twenty-one at the start of the novel, she is working as a lady’s “companion” in Monte Carlo, when she meets and falls in love with widower Maxim de Winter, and they marry within […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: classic literature, Daphne Du Maurier, litfic

Tracy's CBR18 Review No:3 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: classic literature, Daphne Du Maurier, litfic ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Great Potential, Lacking in Execution

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

January 6, 2026 by Tracy 2 Comments

This book should have been right up my alley. A cozy fantasy with an introverted librarian and a sentient spider plant assistant? Sign me up! But it failed to live up to my expectations and ended up being kind of “meh.” For me, the problems started almost right at the beginning. Main character Kiela and the spider plant Caz flee the Great Library of Alyssium when rebels set fire to it, and they head to Caltrey, the island where Kiela was born and lived for […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Tagged With: cozy fantasy, Sarah Beth Durst

Tracy's CBR18 Review No:2 · Genres: Fantasy · Tags: cozy fantasy, Sarah Beth Durst ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

Sadly Still Relevant

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

January 5, 2026 by Tracy 1 Comment

James Baldwin writes so beautifully and so incisively. He also writes quite densely, at least in this work of nonfiction (compared to the two novels I’ve read by him). His writing style made it a little hard to fully absorb and retain what he was saying. However, I was certainly able to take away how little has changed in the 60+ years  since Baldwin published this. For example, he writes about how police officers’ treatment of Black individuals affected him: “. . . all police […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: James Baldwin

Tracy's CBR18 Review No:1 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: James Baldwin ·
· 1 Comment

Letters from the Winter of Life

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

December 30, 2025 by Tracy Leave a Comment

I almost wish I had waited until January to read this, so I could start my year with a 5-star read, which this was—absolutely and unexpectedly. The idea of an epistolary novel rarely appeals to me, but I’m so glad I gave this one a try. Our main letter writer is Sybil, who is 73 when the book starts, but it spans several years. She writes to just about anyone and everyone, including her brother, a neighbor, the son of a former colleague, a customer […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: epistolary novel, litfic, Virginia Evans

Tracy's CBR17 Review No:95 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: epistolary novel, litfic, Virginia Evans ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Two Very Different Reads That Explore Identity

Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot

Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell

December 27, 2025 by Tracy 1 Comment

Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot Abby and Seth seem to be the only Jews living in their small town in Vermont. While Abby finds Seth’s cheerfulness annoying—especially as she is anything but cheerful—she agrees to pretend to be his Nice Jewish Girlfriend when he goes for Chanukah in exchange for helping her find vendors to put on a Chanukah festival in their town that she was roped into organizing. She’s hoping it will drive business to her struggling coffeeshop. One of the things […]

Filed Under: Romance, Science Fiction Tagged With: Amanda Elliot, Cebo Campbell

Tracy's CBR17 Review No:94 · Genres: Romance, Science Fiction · Tags: Amanda Elliot, Cebo Campbell ·
· 1 Comment
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Recent Comments

  • Mrs. Julien
    on Yet another fake engagement story with old friends who have secretly loved each other for ever
    Callihan is still coasting on the fumes from The Game Plan (2015) for me. I'm glad she's back from the...
  • Emmalita
    on Yet another fake engagement story with old friends who have secretly loved each other for ever
    I was pretty underwhelmed by this one, but live in hope for the next.
  • Malin
    on “Uncovered and propped on a pillow, the opening around her toes nests five half-starved, featherless birds with expensively pedicured beaks.”
    You wrote a really good review of this terrible book, though.
  • Tracy
    on Letters, We Get Letters
    I really loved this one.
  • narfna
    on “Uncovered and propped on a pillow, the opening around her toes nests five half-starved, featherless birds with expensively pedicured beaks.”
    I couldn't believe it while I was reading it. This author's debut gets a lot of praise, but now I'm...
See More Recent Comments »

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