Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the Yay for YA Discussion About YA Books Now  

“I have everything I ever wanted–and it tastes just as delicious as I always imagined.”

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

by 1 Comment

I love an unreliable narrator. Whether they are divorced from reality à la Montresor of “The Cask of Amontillado,” deceiving themselves as a defense against trauma, like Pi in Life of Pi, or intentionally deceiving the reader, as in many mysteries I won’t name to avoid spoilers. . .I just can’t get enough of them. What intrigues me about June Hayward (aka Juniper Song) in Yellowface is I’m never certain how much of her own press she buys into. She definitely believes she’s been screwed […]

A lovely choice for Mother’s Day but get your hankies out

Foster by Claire Keegan

by 2 Comments

This novel, which is barely 100 pages long, packs an emotional wallop. Set in rural coastal Ireland, Foster is the story of an unnamed girl, age unknown (I’m guessing 7 or 8-ish), who abruptly finds herself living with an aunt and uncle one summer. In these few pages, Claire Keegan beautifully reveals the pain and longing of this child and of her relatives, and the roots of each. The novel opens with this girl and her father getting in the car on a Sunday morning […]

I agree; The Tempest is a horrible play to perform on an ocean voyage.

A Sea Change: A Shadowhunters Novella by Cassandra Clare

by Leave a Comment

Most people on their travels are looking for something; either to run towards, or as an option to go run from their troubles to. But not Shadowhunter (bisexual, recovering alcoholic, and general mess) Matthew Fairchild and his loyal (and here mostly when the plot requires him) golden retriever, Oscar Wilde. No. Matthew is searching for himself aboard the Majestic, a grand 19th century ocean liner sailing from Greece to Constantinople, where he’s meeting his parabatai James Herondale, and James’s wife Cordelia.  (Luckily it’s the Black […]

“Emotion check: Having someone else support your bad decisions feels kind of good”

Platform Decay: Murderbot Diaries Book 8 by Martha Wells

by 3 Comments

This latest Murderbot installment is short (150 pages) but full of the snark and excitement one has come to expect from the series. It is missing the usual cast of characters (including my favorite ART) but it introduces some new ones and of course focuses on everyone’s favorite SecUnit. The action of Platform Decay occurs on a torus, that is, a space station ring surrounding a decaying planet. The torus is man-made and contains a variety of biomes, mining and farming zones, habitation areas and […]

A strange book that went too long

The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard

by Leave a Comment

Note: I read this book in English, but I thought this (Russian?) cover was cool. So I swear I read this book because somewhere it was recommended as an interesting take on climate change, but it wasn’t actually about climate change. I borrowed the ebook from the library, so I can’t go back and confirm, but I SWEAR the intro specifically says that the book is NOT about climate change. Something bad happened to the sun I think (I’m having trouble remembering because once I […]

A prime example of how a poor narrator can almost ruin a book

Phantasma (Wicked Games #1) by Kaylie Smith

by Leave a Comment

As you can probably tell from the title of my review, I listened to this as an audiobook. I didn’t fully dislike the book, but the narrator’s portrayal of the main character had me annoyed. Ophelia is a budding necromancer, and she’s reeling from the sudden death of her mother. She has to basically take over the family business of bringing back people’s loved ones for closure before she’s fully trained or ready. There’s a whole game aspect (some might call it the plot) with […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo