Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.”

Iron Flame (The Empyrean Saga #2) by Rebecca Yarros

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Well, I’ve hit Book Two, and it’s almost as good as the first, which I’ll take as a rare yet wonderous thing; I have read too many series where the first book is fantastic, and then we hit Disney’s Tower of Terror for the rest. There have been some changes in my opinions of the characters, some good, some bad. Dain, Mira, and Lilith (Violet’s mother) all grew on me over the book; I actually finished it not really wanting any of them to die. […]

“We cannot turn back time, but we can keep on living.”

Among the Burning Flowers: A Roots of Chaos Tale by Samantha Shannon

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(This is the third book in the series, and the second prequel.) Set a few years before The Priory of the Orange Tree, Among the Burning Flowers tells the story of how the Kingdom of Yscalin became under Draconic rule; told from the alternating points of view of Marosa, heir to the Yscali throne, her fiance Aubrecht Lievelyn of Mentendon, and Estina Melaugo, a former thief living elsewhere in Yscalin. This book proves why the Roots of Chaos series is  my preference in Samantha Shannon’s […]

No more

The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley

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CBR17Bingo: “Arts” because this book has a heavy emphasis on sculpture and painting. I am usually very good about writing my reviews in the order that I read the books, but Seven Sisters (2015) by Lucinda Riley somehow slipped through the cracks. Maybe I just didn’t want to think about this book anymore. Seven Sisters is the first book in a series of eight, and it was chosen recently for my book club. I dutifully downloaded the audiobook and began listening to the over eighteen hours of narrative. This […]

Ghostly and Green

Toilet-bound Hanako-kun vol.22 by Aidalro

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Bingo 22: Green The cover is green. Thematically, there’s a potential sense of a potential new season of life (kind of a stretch but possible)., like spring means natural green coming back. Toilet-bound Hanako-kun (vol 22) is a weird little ghost story, sometimes going for spooky, sometimes going for cutesey. This volume jumps into one adventure, finishes the first segment, and cues up the next part of the arc. The time-keeper supernaturals have ‘arrested’ Yashiro whose been turned into a toddler along with Hanako, Amane […]

Please, Re-read the Previous Book First

Queen Demon by Martha Wells

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So, I did mention I had more than one Martha Wells book to attend to today, and this is the tricker one to write about. I read Witch King  earlier this year, and while I very much liked it, there were, I thought, some notable flaws. Witch King had a dual narrative, with each of the two branches separated by over fifty years. And within these fifty years, there have been some significant political changes that are sometimes a little hard to grasp because of […]

A Frothy Adventure With Hints at Depth

The Selkie Scandal by Rosalie Oaks

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The Earl of Beresford isn’t expecting to get accosted by a naked woman on the beach, but the selkie cares little for propriety and demands help in finding her kidnapped brother, the High Prince of Skerry.  Beresford reluctantly agrees and sets out with his crew, a selkie princess, and a case of Beresford Plum Jam in order to find the missing prince. This is a delightful little novella, though it does raise more questions than answers.  It’s the prequel to a mystery series that I’m […]



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