Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I found a new place to dwell

Heartbreak Hotel by Micol Arianna Beltramini

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Several books on my recent HBR (Have Been Read) list have had similar feelings and/or themes. And yet, each one is its own unique read. Heartbreak Hotel by Micol Arianna Beltramini and illustrator Agnese Innocente falls into this “alike but not alike” category. This coming of age story is similar to the stories The History of Everything: A Graphic Novel by Victoria Evans, Raging Clouds by Yudori, and The Flip Side by Jason Walz. Yet, it is also its own work and has its own […]

In time for Halloween 2026

Scritch! Scratch!: An Itchy, Witchy Halloween Tale by Teri Sloat

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Just so you know, this book is due late July 2026. Yes, I read via an online reader a book due in the summer of 2026. So why bother with reviewing it in November 2025? Because you need to know about this new book. Scritch! Scratch!: An Itchy, Witchy Halloween Tale by Teri Sloat and illustrated by Zuzana Cupova might just become a classic.  You see, it is already halfway there with its classical looking illustrations. The black and white images, mixed in with sepia, […]

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip…

Ship of Magic: The Liveship Traders Trilogy Book 1 by Robin Hobb

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I’ve discovered that one of the advantages of reading an e-book instead of a hard copy book is that often, when I download an e-book, I have no idea how many pages long it is. Having just finished Robin Hobb’s The Farseer Trilogy and loving it, and given the rave reviews I’ve seen other Cannonballers heap upon Hobb’s other series, I immediately downloaded The Liveship Traders Trilogy and dove right into Ship of Magic. If I had known the books in this trilogy clock in […]

A Gothic Classic for a Reason

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

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Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. The opening chapters of Rebecca by Daphne du Marier are a haunting introduction to a place we will come to know quite well by the end of the book. Our unnamed narrator takes us past the lodge house, up the long drive to the old house, all the while reflecting on how nature has begun to take over the grounds and land, and only the most intrepid poacher would dare to trespass. She then thinks on their […]

A magic high stakes funeral

Psychopomp and Circumstance by Eden Royce

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The protagonist of Eden Royce’s Psychopomp and Circumstance, Phaedra St. Margaret is known as Phee, which challenged the way I pronounced ‘Phaedra’ in my head. The St. Margarets are a rich Reconstruction era rich Black family. They are made of overbearing mother, passive father, and wilful daughter – Phee – who unwillingly goes to Get a Husband bustle dress dance parties. At the old age of 21, Phee is ready to stop going to these parties, stop getting courted, and go do her own thing, […]

Alice in a wonderland

Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah

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I thought I’d been listening to Kristin Hannah’s latest novel, Magic Hour, but now that I’m writing the review, I just realized it was written back in 2006–so, almost twenty years ago and definitely not her latest novel. I’m a little late to this party. I’ve read a number of Hannah’s novels. Some of them I’ve really liked, and others I’ve found too contrived and I got annoyed. I was immediately drawn into this one, though, and I’m glad I read it. A young, malnourished girl wanders into […]



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