Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

want more wooing, gosh darn it

Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis

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hot take felt like too much tell don’t show, ended up skipping ahead bc I wanted to see how it ended. I think my biggest issue with this book was that I felt that our male lead–Felix–was much more interesting of a character than Saskia, despite the fact that she’s the titular Witch Queen to be wooed. She felt like an idea of a role (sarcastic, misunderstood, guarded) without enough time for us to see this and believe it, so we skip over by having […]

“I was getting tired of being in an endless succession of things called “the fight of a lifetime.” Just once, I’d like to have the fight of a Tuesday afternoon.”

One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire

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The night-haunts never lie. They could, if they wanted to, but they don’t really see the point. The truth is so much more dangerous than a lie. Life is starting to look up for Toby; she’s dating again, she’s taken on Quentin as her squire, she’s discovered she’s something called a Dochas Sidhe (more on that in a later book), May has moved in, and no one has tried to kill her in a while. Of course, because this is October Daye we’re talking about, […]

Can I Get Some Cooling Fairies?

A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic: Adenashire, Book One by J. Penner

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Who wants to be normal when you can be spectacular? In the heart of Adenashire, a world that is divided into those who have magic and therefore matter, and those who don’t, who matter far less, human baker Arleta Starstone works twice as hard to sell her baked goods, dreaming of stockpiling enough to open the bakery of her dreams. So, when Ervash, her orc neighbor (biggest fan, and with his husband Verdreth, Arleta’s erstwhile father figure) secretly enters her creations into the prestigious Langheim […]

He’s Grumpy. He’s a Ghost.

The Grumpy Ghost Upstairs by Mamiko Shiotani

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Online reader copies are all the rage right now, it is environmental and quick and easy to receive. Of course, I sometimes have a hard time reading books from them, but The Grumpy Ghost Upstairs by Mamiko Shiotani and translated by Polly Lawson was an exception. I tend to be able to read picture books online as there is less text and more space to enjoy the overall work. This was especially true with Shiotani’s book. The illustrations and text was Goldilocks/Baby Bear just right. […]

“There’s a difference between someone loving you and agreeing with every single thing you do.”

It's a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan

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3.5 stars Thanks to Netgalley and G.B. Putnam for this ARC. My opinion is my own. Jane Jackson spent her adolescence as the comic relief character “Janey Jakes” on a popular teen sitcom. Now she’s a creative executive at a movie studio, and really trying to get a script she loves turned into a movie. Frequently crippled with anxiety and self esteem issues, Jane has learned to “fake it till you make it”, but she may have faked it too far this time. Desperate to […]

A disappointing follow-up to a beloved fantasy novel

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T. J. Klune

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I really wanted to like this book. It’s a sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea, which I really enjoyed. It has great LGBTQIA+ representation, and an important message about resistance and hope. But as much as I wanted to love it, Somewhere Beyond the Sea ended up falling flat for me. Linus Baker and Arthur Parnassus are finally living their happily-ever-after. They live on the beautiful island of Marsyas, with the six magical children they hope to officially adopt. The town they live in […]



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