Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Featured Review Archive

These reviews, which were promoted in CBR social media, on our homepage, and in Pajiba Love, appear below by review publication date, not by date featured.

 

Softball with a side of Magical Girl?!

Grand Slam Romance Book 1 by Ollie Hicks and Emma Oosterhous

by 3 Comments

I am so upset. I remember the first time I saw the cover of this book. Covered in bright pinks and yellows, it exuded such a queer vibe that I couldn’t look away if I tried. I thought it looked utterly delightful and, of course, I added it to my want-to-read list. I saw other people review it, and it probably crossed my path in bookstores and libraries alike. But I put it off and put it off, never actually making the decision to pick […]

Bottom’s up for summer sippin’

The Art of Mixology: Mocktails by Parragon Books

by 2 Comments

I present a unicorn: a specialty cookbook that has barely any hard to find ingredients and not too many single use specialty items (as in, specialty thing to acquire, but only use tiny bit in one recipe). The Art of Mixology: Mocktails is also kind of on-trend, but that’s also probably why I saw it on sale at the bulls-eye store. Before getting to the recipes there is a review of bar-tending equipment, glassware, terms/techniques, and general ingredient types. If you know your cocktails, none […]

“Or just another lost angel, city of night”

L. A. Women (2025) by Ella Berman

by 1 Comment

I picked this book up because I liked the font, and the colours, and I’m fascinated by Los Angeles (where, of course, I’ve never been), and its foggy shadows and neon gleam: the films, the music, the messy myths and sprawling stories. The story here is a little Natalie Beach/Caroline Calloway if they lived in the 1960s-1970s, haunting Laurel Canyon instead of Cambridge and New York. Berman’s story centres on Gala and Lane, the friend with the glitter, the friend in the shadows, and the […]

Trans Rights Readathon Books

The Deep & Dark Blue by Niki Smith

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

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The Deep & Dark Blue This is a middle grade graphic novel with a lovely trans-affirming message. Hawke and Grayson are twin grandchildren of the head of a noble house. After a coup that kills the grandfather and the presumptive heir, the twins run to the Communion of Blue, a group of women spinners and weavers who help spin the world. They disguise themselves as girls—Hanna and Grayce—and take the role of initiates. While Hawke chafes under these new restrictions, Grayce begins to accept that […]

The Power of Pottery

The Healing Season of Pottery by Yeon Somin

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The Healing Season of Pottery was my bookclub’s January pick. The member who chose it is really into cozy fiction and came across this title. This was a new author and title for all of us, but had been recommended by an indie bookstore. Jungmin has had a rough year. She’s had a melt down at her high-pressure job and is feeling untethered to life and society around her. She stumbles into a pottery shop that also offers classes and through these classes she finds […]

A murder mystery around a mythical history

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

by 1 Comment

It’s an odd thing but when you tell someone the true facts of a mythical tale they are indignant not with the teller but with you. They don’t want to have their ideas upset. It rouses some vague uneasiness in them, I think, and they resent it. So they reject it and refuse to think about it. If they were merely indifferent it would be natural and understandable. But it is much stronger than that, much more positive. They are annoyed. Very odd, isn’t it. […]



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