Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“No one had ever held my hand before. Somehow people in Texoma always needed their hands free. I found it a little hot, a little sweaty, and since we were yoked we had to match our pace. But it made me feel good.”

A Longer Fall (Gunnie Rose #2) by Charlaine Harris

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Charlaine Harris (she of the Tru Blood series) knows how to write a breezy entertaining romp, not quite a “can’t put down” page-turner, but a book you are happy to go back into in a world that has interesting magical elements. Her characters can be a bit wooden and two-dimensional, but synonyms for that could be familiar and comforting. Her writing is straightforward and easy to read, with violence and a bit of sexy sprinkled throughout, the type of book that I would qualify as […]

Please read this stunning book

How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith

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There is VERY much a reason why this book is topping so many best-of lists in 2021. The most important thing to take away from this review is that you should read this book.  It is extraordinary. This is a work of non-fiction in which the author visits 9 different sites, in the US and abroad. At each location, Smith vacillates between exploring the local connections to slavery (sometimes more explicit than others) and meditating more broadly on how our society should shape itself around […]

Will you accept this…shoe?

If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy

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A few years ago, I discovered Julie Murphy by way of Dumplin’, which made the rounds around CBR and if I remember right, everyone pretty much loved it. If the Shoe Fits is cute – not as awesome as Dumplin’ – but still an interesting retelling of Cinderella, only without the wicked stepmother and stepsisters. (They’re much nicer in this version.) Cindy is a recent graduate of Parson’s School of Design, but she feels a bit adrift and not particularly inspired after graduation. She returns […]

Aladdin Fanfiction? I couldn’t possibly….*downloads immediately*

The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury

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So this book poses the question that I know we have all just been secretly dying to ask: what if the genie was a hot lady instead of Robin Williams? Turns out it’s a kind of cute and fun romance! And ok there are actually quite a bit of changes other than the hot genie lady thing. ‘Zara’ is the aforementioned genie who is found in her lamp after hundreds of years by the thief Aladdin. Aladdin uses his wishes to set up a plot […]

Foley Double Feature – Two books for the plot of one!

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

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My library decided to drop these holds on me a week apart even though they were expected WEEKS apart so I ended up getting both right after the other. I do not think Foley is for me after both these middle ground books. The Guest List I don’t think this book is necessarily bad, but I am not quite so sure why its so popular either. The Guest List is not your typical mystery/thriller, while we know that SOMETHING happens in the future what we […]

I Wish I Hadn’t Been Spoiled

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

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Best for: Fan of claustrophobic fiction In a nutshell: In the 1600s in Norway, a sudden storm kills nearly all the men in the village of Vardø. A year later, a man is sent to govern the remaining women. Worth quoting: “But now she knows she was foolish to believe that evil existed only out there. It was here, among them, walking on two legs, passing judgment with a human tongue.” Why I chose it: It was in a subscription box and I hadn’t yet […]



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