Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Of Birds and Trees

The Warbler by Sarah Beth Durst

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This one feels a bit more similar to Sarah Beth Durst’s novel, The Lost, than some of her other more recently published ones – even if The Lost is my most recently read of her. Something about the main character in this one felt very reminiscent of that earlier novel, and both novels were centered within a version of our world rather than within a fantasy world setting (like Race the Sand or The Spellshop). Regardless of the setting, mother-daughter relationships always play a prominent […]

“Take these [melted] wings”

Sweet Obsession by Katee Robert

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I have been reading this series since it started, having stumbled on Katee Robert after Sarah MacLean recommended the first novella from her A Touch of Taboo series. As someone that enjoys Greek mythology, I am very much here for the reimagining of Olympus into a modern day city run by the 12. As a result, even when I am less excited about any given pairing or grouping of love interests, the broader world politics and implications are still interesting. Still, the last few novels […]

This Book Could Have Stayed A Secret

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

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If you want a book where the author is obviously impressed with both the sound of their own voice and their cleverness, definitely buy this one. Every page just screamed “I’m trying to write the next Great Novel!” as the writing dragged on and on. Time lost meaning reading this book; I’d read for 12 hours and cover 1/3 of the book only to discover I had actually read for 20 minutes and had finished 2 paragraphs. The plot (such as it is), centers around […]

Doomsday Do’s and Doomsday Don’ts

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

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Carl is a normal dude. Except that he is stuck in the apocalypse. With his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut. And there is an alien invasion. Plus, Carl and most of what’s left of humanity are involuntarily placed on a Running-Man-style intergalactic game show. And the contestants don’t know who (if anyone) to trust. And the odds are that they will all die very soon. To stave off the inevitable, the characters have to kill monsters (Are they monsters?) and level up. Is it worth it […]

Chess was almost like getting to know a lover. It felt that intimate and, at times, that brutal.

Bold Moves by Emma Barry

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  I have loved Emma Barry’s writing since I first read the Fly Me to the Moon series she wrote with Genevieve Turner starting back in 2015. I just vibe with her writing. All of her characters are complex, fabulously messy and complicated, but her female characters have tended to be a little more emotionally mature than their love interest. With Bold Moves she has given us Scarlett, who is unapologetically and strategically difficult. I love Scarlett so much. So. Much! And so does Jaime, […]

Like so many things, this could’ve been better with Charlize Theron in it

1989 (Allie Burns #2) by Val McDermid

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The year is 1989, and journalist Allie Burns isn’t enjoying life. She’s moved from Scotland to Manchester with her girlfriend and fellow journalist Rona. The newspaper she works for has been bought by a media magnate named Ace Lockhart (named in the novel as Rupert Murdoch’s main competitor but for all intents and purposes, he is Rupert Murdoch), which means than rather than write the well-researched think pieces Allie used to do, she is now chasing juicy athlete divorce stories and covering disasters like the […]



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