Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A quiet book with a powerful story of connection and survival

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

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This was the second book that the marvelous and generous faintingviolet got for me last year during the Holiday Book Exchange. This book is outside of what I usually pick up to read, but I’m thankful that I gave it a chance. Agnes Magnusdottir has been convicted of murder and sentenced to die in the early 1800s of Iceland. While she awaits her execution she is sent to live with a district official and his family. There’s his wife Margret, a very sick woman who […]

Once More With Feeling

Dream Keeper by Kristen Ashley

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It will come as no surprise to any of my regular readers that my first review of Cannonball Read 14 is a selection written by Kristen Ashley. What you might be surprised to learn is that she has switched things up a bit with Dream Keeper. Which is not to say that there aren’t A LOT of references to characters from other books, or that obvious leads to future books weren’t being set in motion, because of course there was so much of all of […]

Great SF/F in the Tradition of LeGuin

Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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This was such a satisfying read! It was a perfect blend of fantasy and sci-fi, and packed a lot of plot into a relatively short book. This reminded me what reading a good book could be like and why I do love to read after struggling through my last pick. The book (which I think is being sold as a novella, but it’s 198 pages, so a long novella) uses alternating viewpoint chapters to good effect. Lynesse Fourth Daughter is a princess in a medieval […]

19th century medicine was unhinged, and this book revels in that.

Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

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Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the content of my review. I did the thing where the beautiful cover lured me in, but this time it wasn’t a disaster! In fact, the book mostly earns it! I was *thisclose* to giving Anatomy: A Love Story five stars, in fact, until the ending. YMMV on this ending, seriously. What happened is something that I have read in YA historical fiction books before, and it bothered me there as well, and […]

Who is in charge of picking books that become movies?

The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

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Seriously, who is in charge? I could say from a mile away this series would NOT make a good movie. But it did make a really good book series. I found myself emotionally involved and invested in the first book and in love with the second. The third was a bit of a let down personally but the conclusion and characters were still strong. Quick plot summary: Todd is a boy aging into manhood on a planet with a lack of women. The men of […]

Looking for an “unrealistic YA rom-com where the fat girl gets the guy?” Well, it might be more realistic than you think.

Big Boned by Jo Watson

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I started Big Boned by Jo Watson sometime last fall. And it took me this long not because it was bad, the opposite actually, but I was only reading at lunch, was not reading every day and it just got away from me.  This weekend I had a few hours with nothing bothering me expect my friend’s cat occasionally giving me the stink eye as I was not petting him and sitting in his spot. What started off as a funny-without-be-lol-funny book would have its […]



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