Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Probably should have given up the ghost

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

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cbr14bingo Minds Level 2  At first The Taking of Jake Livingston was enjoyable. There was enough familiar to make it comfortable, but new enough to not be the same-old-same-old. Even a couple of clichés could be forgiven for they did move the story along. Then there were the clichés that bogged it down. Then the ending (SPOILER) where our narrator walks away free of any consequences from his actions. What could have been something different turned into the same old thing. I was rooting for […]

Who the Heck is Mira?

Mira's Last Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold

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First of all, this is the fourth book in Ms. Bujold’s Penric and Desdemona series. I was bewildered by the format. It’s a small book, barely 150 pages, 8 chapters, and written in very large type. I wondered if it was a YA novel, but when I read the cover, I saw it was “a fantasy novella.” Why she didn’t consolidate the six stories into two normal-sized novels, I don’t know. Possibly because each story is separate and independent. Whatever the format, this is typical […]

Penric to the Rescue

Penric's Mission by Lois McMaster Bujold

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One of my favorite authors, Lois McMaster Bujold, has written a series of novellas about Penric and Desdemona, a wizard and a demon who help people needing the services of wizards and demons. Penric, tall, handsome, and charming, is just what a young widow named Nikys needs when her brother, General Adelis is accused of treason and blinded by boiling vinegar. Penric, an secret sorcerer and physician, posed as a simple courier when he provided the documents showing Adelis had sought employment in a neighboring […]

If Mr. Fantastic and Captain Marvel were combined

Ms. Marvel, Volume One: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson

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cbr14bingo Series Level 1 She might be a superhero with pretty cool powers, but she is still 16 and has a curfew. I have read one other Ms. Marvel graphic novel/comic and was not totally impressed. I think that was because the character in the other book was a kid and Kamala in Ms. Marvel, Volume One: No Normal is a teenager, and somehow being a superhero is more believable to me if you are at least old enough to drive. I had no idea […]

Home Run Time

R.B.I. Robots (Fuzzy Baseball, #3) by John Steven Gurney

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cbr14bingo,  Funky Funky meanings: having an earthy, blues-based quality or character. having an offensive smell; evil smelling; foul. adjective funkier or funkiest informal (of music) passionate, soulful; of or pertaining to funk authentic; earthy stylish and exciting; cool, funky jeans overcome with great fear; terrified. John Steven Gurney (whom I missed when he came to my store due to a headache I was fighting) has a great baseball series called Fuzzy Baseball. I have read them out of order, which mostly is okay, but I […]

Oh, shit I just realized I could have used this for the ‘snake’ BINGO square, but I’m already committed to a less literal and more satisfying usage of it later.

From Bad to Cursed (The Witches of Thistle Grove, #2) by Lana Harper

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Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley books for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the content of my review. I liked this even better than the first one. I actually think what I like most about this series doesn’t really have anything to do with the featured romances. I just like this world, and I like that Lana Harper is creating a fictional place that is not just full of eccentric townspeople and coziness, as one expects from a small town romance series, but also continues to […]



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