Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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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.

 

A Lonely Coming-of-Age Story

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

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I’m so glad I’m finally starting my Robin Hobb journey. There’s a book club on Fable that’s going to read one of her Realm of the Elderlings book each month until we get through the whole series, and I’m excited about it. I had heard that Hobb writes slow-paced, character-driven books, and I was a little worried about being bored, but this book helped me realize that I have been conflating “slow” and “boring,” and they’re not the same. This novel is not boring at […]

Like being on a pleasant scenic drive and then plummeting off a cliff to a fiery death

Playground by Richard Powers

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When people say that the ending of a movie, book, show ruined the whole thing, I rarely agree with them. There are some rare exceptions, looking at you Game of Thrones, but for the most part if I enjoy 90% – 95% of a story then ending being a bit underwhelming does not taint the rest of it for me. It’s about the journey, not the destination is what I say. And I really enjoyed the journey of Playground, but I think the destination is […]

“The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.”

Vanishing Treasures by Katherine Rundell

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I found Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures (2024) by Katherine Rundell because it was available as an audiobook from my library. Environmentalism and animals are two themes that are right up my alley, so it was no surprise that I downloaded it as soon as it was available. Vanishing Treasures is a short collection of essays on endangered animals (or animals that have a subspecies that is endangered). The animals vary widely from the very common raccoon and bear to the rarely seen or studied […]

‘Hill House is vile, it is diseased’: People may be haunted, but Hill House being the way it is probably didn’t help

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

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“Fear and guilt are sisters” — this simple declaration comes mid-way through Haunting of Hill House as Eleanor and Theodora decide to go wandering out in the middle of the night. Author Shirley Jackson appears at first glance to be portraying both women as either emotion, as they are locked in a sort of childish standoff, so fixated on remaining engaged in their emotions that they don’t seem to notice that they were traipsing out of Hill House at night — at night! — into […]

A warm squishy hug!

Nav’s Foolproof Guide to Falling in Love by Jessica Lewis

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[Nav’s Foolproof Guide releases April 29, 2025] I’ve been following Jessica Lewis’ books since her debut, and I was so excited to see what she’d do with a romance. Suffice to say I was not disappointed! Nav’s Foolproof Guide to Falling in Love feels like a warm squishy hug and builds the tension between Nav and Gia so wonderfully. Nav doesn’t believe in love, especially not anything lasting after her mom left “for space” three years earlier, but her best friend Hallie loves to fall […]

“Never be afraid to be honest and stand up for what is right…. Just remember to balance your courage with wisdom.”

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M Draper

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Stella by Starlight is a work of youth lit by Sharon M Draper, who also wrote Out of My Mind (now a Disney+ movie). Draper has a knack for writing from the perspective of young girls on the outside. In Out of My Mind, the main character has a disability that affects her mobility and her ability to speak, but it doesn’t stop her from pushing forward for herself and her community. In Stella by Starlight, Stella is a Black 5th grader in rural 1932 […]



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