Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Adult Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (probably with the lights on)

Bad Dreams in the Night by Adam Ellis

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With the exception of two stories, overall things are relatively tame for a Horror Book. However, there are places where it can be a little icky or gross. The psychological elements of thriller can be a bit of a trigger (monsters, supernatural) but Bad Dreams in the Night by Adam Ellis is best for mature teens and adults so do not let sensitive readers get their hands on it. Oddly enough, despite (or because and I am getting really odd in my old age) this […]

I am no Addie LaRue; I would have given up

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

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My book club led me to yet another book I had not heard of and wouldn’t have chosen on my own. Our latest pick was The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020) by V.E. Schwab. It is long and a little slow in places (a couple of women from my book club gave up on it), but it was also well written and very original. We had a lot of good discussions about the characters and the world of the novel. Adeline (Addie) LaRue is in her […]

The first T. Kingfisher book is one of my new faves!

Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher

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“All you had were pigs and enthusiasm. It’s not your fault.” The first book Ursula Vernon wrote under the penname T. Kingfisher; she self-published it because trad publishing did not want to subject children to things they felt were “inappropriate.” Meanwhile, she’s over here in her introduction to the new, adorable trad-published version of this book, saying things like, kids would appreciate a dead body or two. And I agree with her! Anyway, this book is in the tradition of Pratchett, with T. Kingfisher proclivities […]

Contemporary history

Journey to Tomioka by Laurent Galandon

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Journey to Tomioka by Laurent Galandon, translated by Owen Smith and Anne Smith with illustrations by Michaël Crouzat was read via an online reader copy. In June 2026, however, you can find a copy, which I highly recommend. The publisher, First Second, has become one of those publishers for me that I might not always love something they published, in fact, I might not even like it, but I always respect what happened and the time it takes to make something that can be thoughtful, […]

Plant Puns and Getting Spicy

Violet Thistelwaite is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz

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There’s a blurb on the back of Violet Thistlewaite is Not a Villain Anymore that says that this is a “cozy fantasy with plant magic, love, and second chances”. That’s generally accurate, except that this feels more on the romance side of romantasy, and things get spicier than I was expecting from something with “cozy” in the description. That’s not necessarily a complaint, but it might be a little bit about expectations. Basically, Violet was known as the Thornwitch, the powerful right hand of an […]

Taking Time to Recover

Twelve Months by Jim Butcher

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Ugh, slow start to the year. Winter is a terrible time for me. I’m going to blame Mab.  Because, why not? From what I understand, Twelve Months was not originally part of the original ‘Dresden Files’ line up; the next planned book after Battleground, if I remember right, was meant to be titled Mirror Mirror. But after the what was a very action heavy and unrelenting previous installment for the reader—and potentially the worst weekend of their life for the protagonist—I can see how we […]



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