Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Prophecy, gods and a shield maiden

A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L Jensen

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Ugh. I know the author’s other work is a 5 book series so I had assumed that this, too, was setting up a longer series and then discovered halfway through when looking up the sequel that it was the first of a duology. Based on what happens in book 1, I’m very much thinking this story would have been better served as a stand alone novel. Here is the thing – it’s hard to write a story that has a twist that is going to […]

“The meaning of something so fleeting, life. Here and gone.”

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

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Brothers Peter (32) and Ivan (22) could not be more different. Peter is a successful human rights lawyer and university lecturer, attractive, a social butterfly. Ivan, on the other hand, is an underemployed, underachieving chess player. He’s awkward and while he’s not ugly, his second-hand clothing (a deliberate choice made for ethical, not financial reasons) and braces make him a far cry from his more glamorous brother. They are both still grieving from the death of their father from cancer, a few months prior. Instead […]

Noir with an African Touch

People of the City by Cyprian Ekwensi

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Ekwensi was a Nigerian author, studying in Britain at the time he wrote these tales, originally for radio plays for his fellow Nigerians in Britain.  Nigeria was still a British colony at the time, 1954, but it was in the process of establishing independence, doing so in 1960.  The City referred to is Lagos (although never called that), where Britain had first established itself, in order to stop the slave trade that had been established there.  It soon was an important port for all colonial […]

Misery by Stephen King

Misery by Stephen King

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Well, I had a book challenge to read a book that has been on my TBR pile for 5 years. This one has been on my list for decades. I don’t know why I never wanted to read “Misery.” Maybe because I liked the movie so much and I had an inkling I wouldn’t like the book? I don’t know. This was a drag from beginning to end. At one point I kept looking to see if Stephen King even wrote this book. My main […]

Maybe it would work as a movie but needed more for a book

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

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I saw some of the blurbs and reviews make references to Studio Ghibli and The Night Circus as comparisons for this book but they are superficial comparisons – this novel doesn’t come close to reaching the emotional depths of The Night Circus, even as it takes the reader on a tour through a magical world. I have never actually seen a Studio Ghibli movie (I know, huge gap) but I have seen trailers, and I know vaguely from paying attention to pop culture how deeply […]

Three books

Love at a Funeral and Other Awkward Conversations by Sophie Andrews

Tangled Ambitions by Sophie Andrews

The Bartender’s Baby by Sophie Andrews

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Canadian romance author, Zoe York, started posting about her love of Sophie Andrews’s book, Tangled Ambition and compared it to one of my favorite romances, Kate Canterbary’s The Worst Guy. I snapped it up. I liked Tangled Ambitions enough that I picked up a couple of other books by Sophie Andrews. One of the things I like about Andrews’s books is the way her characters live progressive values. I also love the way she can lean into the angst. Tangled Ambition: longtime professional rivals (enemies-ish), Taylor […]



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