Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“The fairy silver brought you a monster of fire for a husband, and me a monster of ice.” (Bingo)

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

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#CBR11 Bingo: Listicle (on a bunch of best of 2018 lists, including NPR, Bustle and Bookbub). Would also work for “Award Winner”, as it’s won a Locus Award, and ALA Award and an Audie, or “Remix”, as it’s a fairy tale retelling. Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of Jewish moneylenders, but her father is a dreadful one, who doesn’t have the heart to actually claim back the debts that the villagers owe, even when his daughter is starving and the long, cold winters are making his wife sicker and […]

…stay away from duels between sorcerers, parties to which you’re not invited, and houses full of corpses.

The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall

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CBR11 BINGO: Rainbow Flag OMG. OMG. OMG. Totally going to fan girl all over this one. I did a quick search and it looks like nobody has reviewed this for CBR yet. A few folks have read and reviewed Alexis Hall’s romances though so the author should be familiar to some. Those of you who are fans of the following series: Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate, Sherry Thomas’ Lady Sherlock and V. E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic….. buckle up! This book is right up your alley! […]

Paper-Thin Premise

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

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Bingo Update: This is my YOUTHS! square, as it was not only published as YA, but feels pretty stereotypical of the genre as a whole, and not in a good way. The Paper Magician ostensibly takes us on the journey of our protagonist, Ceony (whose name I never figured out how to pronounce and still don’t really like) as she learns the magic of paper. In this universe, the magically inclined are bonded to a specific material, and then that is the only form their magic can […]

Bingo: And So It Begins, with free running off the rooftops of New York

Discount Armageddon (Incryptid Series Book 1) by Seanan Maguire

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Verity (“Very”) Price has more going on than you’d think. In addition to working as a waitress at a strip club, subletting semi-legally, preparing for a dance competition, and generally trying to keep a roof over her head (and those of her colony of Aeslin Mice), she’s also responsible for keeping tabs on New York’s cryptid population. Which doesn’t leave her much, if any, time for dating.  

I Can Always Use A New Urban Fantasy Series

Grave Witch by Kalayna Price

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After I saw teresaelectro’s review of the first three novels in the series, I figured this would be right up my lane.  Despite that I was rather pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this initial entry.  Even some of my favorite urban fantasy series have struggled to find their footing in the first novel, not really hitting their stride till book two or three, such as the Kate Daniels series and even the October Daye series.  While I know there is much more to […]

Darkly Enchanting

The Binding by Bridget Collins

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It’s been a long time since a book has really grabbed me and not let go until the end. I’m a slow reader these days, usually taking 2 – 3 weeks to finish a book since I only read at night before bed. But The Binding demanded my time. I read it everywhere, foregoing all kinds of adulting in favor of immersing myself in Collins’ world, and I finished it in about 3 days. In the world of The Binding, there are people who have the […]



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