Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Forty women trapped in a bunker for years

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

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CBR17Bingo: “Diaspora” – a little bit of a stretch, but this book has countless people all taken from their homes and brought to another location that is foreign to them. (It’s unclear, but it seems like they may have been brought from a different planet.) I stumbled on this book while browsing Audiobooks for something to listen to in my car. I had no idea what I was getting into. I Who Have Never Known Men (1995) by Jacqueline Harpman was originally written in French and has recently been […]

She’s as bisexual as the next person, but this is not some highly evolved plea for implied polyamory or whatever.

Alice Rue Evades the Truth by Emily Zipps

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Alice Rue Evades the Truth is lovely, but I’m struggling with it being labeled as a romcom. There’s romance and there is comedy, but there’s so much more focus on loneliness and isolation. The book is While You Were Sleeping, but make it gay and more Jewish. I want to be clear that I enjoyed Alice Rue and there are definitely funny parts, I just worry that people will expect a light romantic comedy and that’s not what this is. Alice Rue works as the […]

I’m Just Here for the Music

Songs for Other People's Weddings by David Levithan

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The book: Songs for Other People’s Weddings is the story of J, a minor pop star from Sweden, who often performs at weddings. For each wedding he’s hired for, he writes a personal song for the happy couple that he performs at the ceremony. He’s dating a woman named V, whose job takes her from Sweden to New York for several months, and he’s having trouble coping with the distance. Why I read it: This is not normally a book I would have any interest in, if […]

Julia Song is Not the Problem

Julia Song is Undateable by Susan Lee

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Is it weird that the third act breakup is my favorite thing about Julia Song is Undateable? I’m not giving a backhanded compliment. I really thought that Susan Lee was masterful in building to the conflict, making me wonder how these two are getting a happily ever after, and then producing one that is satisfying and believable. I have thought about what she pulled off for days. Unfortunately, I can’t talk about it without spoiling so many things. I saw the seeds planted, hoped so […]

“Lies are as dangerous as a sword. They can cut to the bone.”

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

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I am so torn about the rating of The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton. Part of me was won over by the interesting world Clayton created where people are born alike, with red eyes and grey skin, and hair the texture of straw. What is considered “beauty” – a variety of skin tones, hair colors and types, and body shapes – does not come naturally unless they are a Belle. The Belles have the ability through their arcana (think natural magic ability) to change people’s appearances, but not their own. All varieties are considered various degrees of beautiful, but of course like […]

“When death stares people in the face, they revert to their true self.”

The Inheritance by Ilona Andrews

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CBR17 Bingo: Free (swapping out Migrant) In a world pretty much like our own, people were just going about their ordinary lives when suddenly, everything changed. Gigantic portals to some other mystical dimension began opening all over the world. It soon became clear that if the portals were left unattended for a while, hordes of horrific monsters emerged and proceeded to wreak havoc. Once specialised teams started breaching the gates, they discovered each portal contained a lot of rare and valuable minerals and resources, as […]



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