Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Well, I am not proud of it, but a fellow has to make a living and I was blessed with two assets – a passably handsome face and an exquisitely persuasive tongue.

An Impossible Imposter by Deanna Raybourn

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CBR14BINGO: Font Square (BINGO! Shadow to Font) (I’m not sure what the fonts are, but they grace the cover of every Veronica Speedwell novel along with that unmistakable silhouette cover art situation. I can spot it on a crowded bookshelf a mile away and it always makes me happy.) Somehow I managed not to snatch this up as soon as it came out. Usually, I put myself on the library wait list before the next book in the Veronica Speedwell mystery series is published. Raybourn is a favorite of mine, and […]

Just Gals being Pals

Girlfriend Material by Katia Rose

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There is a photo, one of the canonical sapphic photos of the internet. It shows one woman lying down on her back, staring up at another woman’s face as she is straddled and the latter does her makeup. It’s an incredible photo and basically every queer woman I know wants that moment for themselves. Girlfriend Material by Katia Rose makes a book out of it and honestly, people should keep doing it it’s wonderful. Allison is the proverbial golden retriever nerd girl who is a […]

“The Darkling slumped back in his chair. “Fine,” he said with a weary shrug. “Make me your villain.”

Shadow and Bone (Shadow and Bone Trilogy #1) by Leigh Bardugo

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In one word: Fine Cannonball Read Bingo: Adapt I don’t read a lot of YA so I’m a late adopter of what’s hot in the genre, so I first heard of Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse books on a Cannonball Read Zoom meet-up. My CBR buddies told me I could skip the trilogy (which chronologically takes place first) and go right to the duology, as the duology was better, and doesn’t really build on the action of the trilogy. Other than a romance novel, I have never […]

I still can’t believe how much I disliked this book.

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

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This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, so naturally I chose it for one of my book clubs, because I like pushing books on willing victims. Joke was on me! We all hated it, every single one of us. What was this???? How could such a good premise biff it so hard? First of all, this is NOT a heist book. We spend approximately 5% of the book with the characters doing crime, and that is probably generous. There is also […]

Payden gets a party

Payden’s Pronoun Party by Blue Jaryn

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Payden has always used he/him pronouns, until one day Payden realizes those words might not fit. Payden’s parents promise to throw a big party to introduce whatever pronouns Payden chooses–but which pronouns are the best match? This is all you need to know about Payden’s Pronoun Party.  We explore pronouns the different people in Payden’s life use, they have a big party for Payden when the ones that fit are found, and The End. Gender exploration has never been so … done before. Now, if […]

And I ride, and I ride

The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy

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If you were interested in the question about whether or not Cormac McCarthy would ever publish another novel, you were sometimes treated to lamentations about how he was supposedly working on a grand, epic novel about incest called The Passenger. And then about six months ago his agent released a statement that he was indeed going to release not one, but two novels that circulate around the same story about a brother and sister.  And here it is. It’s not epic it turns out, even […]



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