Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“I am both ever evolving and ever decaying.” or another book in need of a CW

Charm and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn

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Something is going on with my reading this year, I seem to be swinging back and forth between 5-star books and 2-star ones, which means I should have anticipated trouble with Charm and Strange based purely on it falling in my reading order behind Boyfriend Material. This one didn’t make me angry as some of my other two star reads, Always, in December and Seduction, but it flirted with the line. This 2014 Winner of the William C. Morris Award is designed to be read […]

“I don’t want fine… I want a connection. I want you to care as much as I care. I want you to need it and want it and mean it. I want it to matter.”

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

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I wasn’t sure how I was going to rate Boyfriend Material until I realized that I was actively putting off finishing it because even after nearly 400 pages I didn’t want to be done with the world Alexis Hall had created. So, five stars it is as well as relief that the follow up Husband Material will be published later this year (August 2022 to be exact). Boyfriend Material is the story of Luc and Oliver, but its really Luc’s as he’s the one we’re […]

“After a certain age, you can pretty much do whatever takes your fancy. No one tells you off, except for your doctors and your children.”

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

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In one word: Charming Once again, the recommendations of the Cannonball Read community came in with a flawless pick that I absolutely adored. I believe it was at the last CBR Zoom meet-up that this book was mentioned. I know by now if more than two or more cannonballers chime in with YES YES THAT’S A GOOD ONE about a book that I should just go ahead and bump it up to the top of my list. (Three cheers for internet friends who though you […]

So maybe we shouldn’t go exploring abandoned Swedish mining towns!

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten

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[Not discussed in this review but in the book itself. TW: abuse of a differently abled person, implied rape] A group of documentarians go to an abandoned village in Sweden. The lead on the project, Alice Lindstedt, wants to uncover the dark history of this little town, as her grandmother’s family was a part of the citizens that disappeared one day without a trace. But when they arrive odd things start occurring. At first it’s just mysterious figures standing in the distance and missing items. […]

Two people with a hero complex off to save the school

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

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This is the second book in the Scholomance trilogy: the first, A Deadly Education, told El’s story in the last three weeks of her junior year at the school of magic, the Scholomance, and how her efforts and those of her friends have, she hopes, helped most of the seniors graduate without significant casualties. This second book covers El’s senior year, starting off with what El considers the worst possible assignment: her study hall as the sole senior in a classroom of young, inexperienced freshmen. […]

Early this morning when you knocked upon my door …

Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen

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  Something I wasn’t aware of when I read this book (I’m not quite sure how I missed it) but other potential readers may want to know – this book is meant to be the first in a trilogy. I came across that piece of information before I finished the novel but after I was well into it. Knowing that helped me to understand the end of this novel, which feels less like a conclusion and more like a chapter break. Because, essentially, it is […]



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