Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

If It Bleeds? King sure does; the master is no longer impervious

If It Bleeds by Stephen King

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Late last year, I thought to myself it’d been a while since I last read something by the author who once was my favorite: Stephen King. Since he’d just released a new novel, Billy Summers, one I’d seen some rather positive press for, I picked it up from Walmart, although with some trepidation. It had been some time since King had written anything that captured my attention the way my favorites of his have; I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve attempted to make […]

Old fashion feel to a book of today

Sweeping Up the Heart by Kevin Henkes

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Sweeping Up the Heart is a cute little book by Kevin Henkes. Known mostly for his picture books, he has created some lovely middle reader novels. However, the adult reader will realize that they have seen the subject, the message, before. This is not fresh, but for the aged 8 to 10 (or even up to a younger 12) it is a nice story of change and friendship. The subject centers around loss (via death and divorce), friendships (new and old), family, and love. Our […]

So Glad I Didn’t Die Before I Met You

Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford

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As I was finishing this novel, my husband was playing the album I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning by Bright Eyes – and I completely endorse the pairing, if it’s available to you, when you read this book. Which you should, because it was a lovely novel about five lives. It’s not too much of a spoiler to tell you that in the first chapter, everyone dies. The author describes, in painful detail, the impact of a bomb in a Woolworths in Bexford (a fictional London […]

Riverdale meets Ferris Bueller’s Day Off meets Ted Lasso

You'll Be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus

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If you read my review of her last book, this one is going to be more of the same. (Once again – THREE CHARACTERS, KAREN. Why are you doing this to me?) Karen McManus is basically my YA Liane Moriarty, in that I will read whatever light mystery she writes and enjoy it no matter how slight, because she’s good at creating characters I like to spend time with. And also the first books of theirs I read were the best and it’s been somewhat […]

Hush Little Baby- The longer I sat with it, the more annoyed I got

Hush Little Baby by Suzanne Redfearn

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Plot: If I stay, he will kill me. If I leave, he’ll destroy Addie and Drew. Jillian Kane appears to have it all – a successful career, a gorgeous home, a loving husband, and two wonderful children. The reality behind closed doors is something else entirely. For nine years, she has hid the bruises and the truth of her abusive marriage in order to protect Addie and Drew, knowing, if she left, Gordon would destroy her-destroy them. When, in an act of desperation, she flees, […]

Don’t Read This Novel, Even If Cults Interest You

The Children of Red Peak by Craig DiLouie

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I should be the perfect audience for this book (cults! horror!) but it was a disappointing and frustrating read. Spoilers follow throughout my review. The book follows the five survivors of a cult who all vanished in what the world believes to be a mass suicide. But some of the survivors have memories that suggest that other forces were at work. As the fifteen-year anniversary of the tragedy approaches, one of the survivors kills herself and the remaining four have to face what they’ve been […]



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