Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Featuring A Gold-Toothed, Tattooed, Mystery-Solving Nun

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

by 6 Comments

Sister Holiday is not your average nun. She came to the Church later in life, after a misspent youth full of punk rock, tattoos, and a love affair that broke her heart. But she’s committed her life going forwards to the Sisters of the Sublime Blood, a very small progressive order located in New Orleans, and the only order in the whole country that would accept her. As one of the sisters, she’s also expected to teach at St. Sebastian’s, the parochial school attached to […]

How To Be A Groovy Witch

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

by Leave a Comment

In which we learn why bookmobiles are an essential part of any community and a spell to ensure that our appliances always run smoothly and reliably. It is the summer of 1970 and Fern, Rose, Zinnia, and Holly are currently trapped at the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida. Pregnant girls are sent here by their families to secretly have their babies and give them right up for adoption before forgetting that any of this ever happened. They are in control of nothing about their […]

“A beautiful man with too much heart for the raw deal he got”

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

by Leave a Comment

I noticed Caesar’s Wife’s review of Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, but as I was finishing up the book myself, I held back reading the review. Now that I’ve finished this wondrous book, I can say Caesar’s Wife has it all exactly right. It’s a much better job than I can do here, having just finished the book a few minutes ago, brought to tears. Demon Copperhead is about a young boy born in the rural south, with little to his name but a mother who […]

Egyptology, a Met Gala and an Art Heist

The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis

by Leave a Comment

I’m not sure if it’s me or the author, but while I have enjoyed the last few Fiona Davis novels I have read, I also don’t think they have been as good as some of her earlier books. I think part of it might be that the two I enjoyed the most had more time between the two view points of the dual narratives so there was a bit more of the modern person discovering the story of the past while these last ones I […]

Family legacy and family secrets

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

by Leave a Comment

I think I picked this when I first saw previews for the Hulu show but never got around to reading it (or watching the show). However, since her other book is the March selection for my book club, I thought I might as well check this out first. After Eleanor Bennett dies, her two adult children meet with her lawyer and find out that she has left them one last black cake in the freezer and a recording that they must listen to together. Benny, […]

It Will Only Hurt for a Moment

It Will Only Hurt for a Moment by Delilah S. Dawson

by 1 Comment

I read this after seeing Delilah Dawson speak at ComicCon. She was amazing. Told heartfelt stories, was entertaining, and gave sincere answers to audience questions about the craft. The book she was plugging, It Will Only Hurt for a Moment, is set at an artist’s retreat where our protagonist, while digging a pit kiln, uncovers a coffin where someone was buried alive. Shit ensues. This was a hard book to read, and I mean that with maximal praise. The writing was excellent and effective, the characters […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo