Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“No, I mean, it’s all in pieces.” “Yes. So are we all.”

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

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Light from Uncommon Stars is both entirely typical of my reading (characters going through it, romance main or subplots, coming to terms with one’s choices, a commitment to reading trans and non-binary authors) but also feels quite a bit outside my comfort zone. I had initially put this book on my to read list because of the 2023 Read Harder tasks asking us to read a book about a trans character by a trans author and a book from the Ignyte Awards. Then my 2023 […]

Girl is not truly one but truly two…. unless she has the magical antidote

Jaclyn Hyde by Annabeth Bondor-Stone and Connor White

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I am not sure I liked the book Jaclyn Hyde by Annabeth Bondor-Stone and Connor White. I know I enjoyed it, but liked it? I am still on the fence about it. There is a lot of good, but I am assuming that I am not really the audience for it, and therefore, not picking up what Bondor-Stone and White were putting down.  And this story is obvious: Jaclyn Hyde is perfect. Perfect grades, organizes her school books alphabetically by authors’ hometowns, never really gotten […]

Jack and the Beanstalk…. but different

A Home in the Sky (Twicetold Tales) by Olivia Snowe

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Few story spoilers below: While the retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk has been done before, A Home in the Sky (Twicetold Tales) is a slightly older version and has a few modern touches.  Olivia Snowe has a series of different fairy tales/legends and made them for a today’s audience, but also kept the original feeling (or at least with this one, which I believe is Snowe’s first).  I have read reviews that said Jack was 11-years-old. I either missed that or people are assuming […]

Two books. Two different Series. One review.

Baby-Sitters Little Sister Graphic Novel: V08 Karen's Sleepover by Ann M. Martin

The Wings of Fire V06 Moon Rising by Tui T. Sutherland

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Series are pluses and minuses in my book. You can continue with characters you like, you can grow and change with them; you can learn from their mistakes and they can become like friends. But if you end on a cliffhanger, you have to wait. And sometimes wait and wait!  And sometimes the series is a take off from another series and you need to do a little catch up.  But the nice thing about the Baby-Sitters Little Sister Graphic Novel is that you do […]

Shades of Magic Trilogy – and My First BINGO

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab

A Conjuring of Light by V. E. Schwab

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A Darker Shade of Magic I knew I would eventually want to pick up another V. E. Schwab book after finishing The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and I’m glad that I selected A Darker Shade of Magic to continue my Schwab reading journey because I really enjoyed it. It’s set in a 4 parallel worlds, all of which somehow have a London essentially in the same place in each of those worlds. Grey London (from the era of George III) has no magic. Red […]

Not bad for a book that made me almost go tail feather over tea kettle!

Safer Places by Kit Anderson

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My usual library run was happening (I was picking up a couple of interlibrary loans), when I turned and there was this book, on a display behind me, called Safer Places (by Kit Anderson). At first, it wasn’t anything special, its cover was dark and the rest of the books blended in and it was “too close” to the checkout counter. The second time I went in (more interlibrary) I turned and almost ran into that display (I said it’s close) and I heard the […]



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