Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Wheel of Time: Book 13 (review IX): I’m honestly too tired to string three thoughts together. This is my speed round review!

Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

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Years ago, I had a brief but memorable relationship with a woman. It ended fairly amicably. Some years later we reconnected, and I was initially reminded of the good times. All those memories came flooding back, and it was exciting catching up on the years we’d been apart. And then, flushed with the realization that we ended it for a reason, I remembered how little I actually liked her. The wind was completely removed from my sails, and I limped back to safer waters. This […]

“You can. Stop fighting the tide, Nella. Once you stop fighting—once you let this wave wash over you—you’ll see. It’ll wash over you so quickly, you won’t even feel it.”

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

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It took me about a month to let this one simmer in the back of my mind before ultimately deciding to round up to four stars. The small thing that threw me at first is overshadowed by how much the ending has stuck with me, and how powerful the implications of that ending are. This one starts out pretty simply with our main character Nella, who works in the otherwise all-white workplace of an influential publishing house based in NYC, excited that another Black woman […]

Paula Hawkins third novel is her best one yet.

A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins

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Daniel Sutherland is found viciously murdered aboard his houseboat on the dock of a London canal by Miriam, an older woman on a neighboring boat. A troubled young woman, Laura, was seen leaving the docks covered in blood, and the police quickly zero in on her as the suspect, despite the fact they cannot find the murder weapon. Soon the people that best knew Daniel are pulled into orbit with one another and long-simmering resentment will erupt into a conflagration.  Motive is the question that […]

It’s history, it’s the Little Mermaid, it’s fantastic!

Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

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Mix West African lore with The Little Mermaid and you get this exciting fantasy novel and the beginning of a series featuring Simidele (Simi) the Mami Wata (mermaid) who inhabits the waters around West Africa in the 15th century when the trans-Atlantic slave trade is beginning to grow. This YA novel is a combination of fantasy and fact, allowing Natasha Bowen to introduce readers to factual information about West African cultures and society as well as the myths and lore of the diverse people who […]

Waiting to Die

Shoot the Moonlight Out by William Boyle

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William Boyle has done it again. I don’t know if he’ll ever write anything as delightfully manic as A Friend Is A Gift You Give Yourself. But as long as he keeps doing these Brooklyn-based character driven crime stories, I’m a happy reader. This one is familiar if you’ve read his others but you don’t need to in order to dive in. They’re loosely connected so you can start anywhere. Boyle uses the template of a crime novel to create a world of south Brooklyn that he […]

When you know the author you know reading their books is a must!

Slip by Marika McCoola

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I have said it before and will say again, the perks of working in a bookstore rock. That biggest of all perks is the reading of a book well before it comes out. And y’all might have to wait until June for Slip by Marika McCoola (unless you can find a reader copy like I did) but you can read this review today (tomorrow and the next day, too). Not to mention that if you go to your local independent bookstore today you can preorder. […]



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