Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


“If you were a thief in Loretz, then your fingers itched for the magic the place was famous for.”

Made Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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Think Pinnochio and Toy Story meets Boxtrolls and you’re most of the way there. Plot: We have robots, they can be made of wood or metal and given life with a special sort of magic. Unsurprisingly, they aren’t treated with the utmost respect in the city of Loretz. Coppelia, a thief in her own right, has met a few of these small creatures and together, they have formed something of a thieving ring to survive, but the eye of the law is on them, and […]

“Okay, ovary up. Fallopian forward. Vulva with a vengeance.”

How to Fail at Flirting by Denise Williams

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Finding yourself and love after abuse. Plot: Dr. Turner is on the cusp of tenure after years of working to rebuild her professional reputation from a smear campaign by an abusive ex when she finds out that her department is getting evaluated by consultants. You know what that means. It’s job cuts time! Her friends suggest this may be an opportune time to start challenging herself by stepping out of her comfort zone. You know what that means. Sex with a stranger. It always means […]

The slow horror of watching your life fall apart, one terrible decision after another

Come Closer by Sara Gran

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I had low expectations going into this book, but I was in the mood for something quietly horrifying and unsettling. I saw someone praising this on Reddit, and it was freely available on Audible. And it was exactly what I wanted. Which is to say, it left me deeply unsettled. Amanda, an architect in what appears to be a happy marriage, finds her life slowly unraveling. It starts off with  a quiet tapping in her apartment that she and her husband can quite track down. […]

A burnt out Millennial medium and the ghost of her dead best friend solve crimes. Yes you should read it.

Grave Expectations (Grave Expectations, #1) by Alice Bell

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I knew as soon as I read the blurb for this one early in 2023 that it was going to be a book For Me. Sometimes I do turn out to be wrong about these things, but in this case I was very much right. I had such a good time with this book. (And I’ve had ridiculously good luck with mysteries this year, most of which are having fun with the traditional mystery format/genre). The premise here is that Claire is a thirty-something down-on-her-luck […]

“There is nothing wrong with being a monster.”

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

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?????? It’s been weeks now and I still don’t know what to make of this one. A very dark and weird take on The Little Mermaid story, with a cheeky little nod to Hans Christian Andersen even; mostly this was an exercise in imagery and I didn’t connect to the characters, but I can’t deny it has style. The mermaid here was essentially stolen from the sea, forced to marry a prince, had her tongue cut out, and then gave birth to daughters who then […]

Triple Cannonballing with fugitive Blanche, here to solve your murder mysteries and nose around until all your secrets are exposed.

Blanche on the Lam (Blanche White, #1) by Barbara Neely

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This was published in 1992 so it should have SO MANY more ratings on Goodreads than it does. It was very good! Mystery/crime junkies, consider this your notice. A fun series is waiting for you. There are only four books in it, and this is the first. And if you have KU or Audible, it’s free! I highly enjoyed the audiobook experience, if you are an audiobook person. The book opens with Blanche—who I now love with all my heart—sitting in court waiting to hear […]



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