Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A complicated mix of a story

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

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Black Cake is a novel that I’ve seen favorably reviewed over the past few years, and according to its cover, has been made into a Hulu series. I can understand why Hulu would be drawn to this story. Black Cake involves colonialism, racism, generational misunderstanding and trauma, and resilience. The novel itself is set up with alternating points of view, the most compelling being that of Eleanor Bennett. She has died and left behind for her children a recording in which she reveals astounding secrets […]

‘Who wants us, outside? The world is full of terrible people’: A castle can be a home, a fortress, a prison

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

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Since I finished We Have Always Lived in the Castle — my second Shirley Jackson thanks to JenX’s recommendation — I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the things that are not said. We go through so much of life living in our own heads while interacting with others who carry their own histories and lives and have their own shit happening. As important as it is to hear what is said to us, just as important is the ability to see the meaning behind […]

Character Limit

Character Limit by Kate Conger, Ryan Mac

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I’ll be honest about something: I post under my real name. I also work in tech, so this occasionally makes me feel like the biggest idiot on the planet. It’s a stupid thing to do, but at the same time, we live in a terrible inflection point in history where we’re finally forced to learn what we would do in 40s Germany. I don’t want to figure out what I’ll do, but for the time being, I think it’s important that we don’t hide. We […]

“I can be brave. I can be anything for noodles.”

Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

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4.5 stars Buzzword Title Challenge 25: Water words Scarlett Vandermeer is struggling, both with her academic subjects at Stanford and her diving. While physically fully recovered from a bad accident a year ago, Scarlett has a block that prevents her from even attempting the type of dive that had her hospitalised and having to go through several surgeries to fix her broken body. She needs to get her grades up if she wants to get into med school, and she has reluctantly agreed to go […]

Dragon Player

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

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Picture this: The rain is pouring, you’re shivering, terrified, staring down into a dark abyss. You’re halfway across a narrow castle parapet—the first of many deadly tests you’ll need to survive over the next year. You’re smaller than all the other wannabe cadets. Weaker. But none of that matters. Your mother, the general in charge of your nation’s army, has decreed that you must join the Riders Quadrant. And so, you must. All your life, you’d been training to be a Scribe, studying ancient tomes […]

The Fatal Flaw of a Single Drop

Fauna by Denise Robins

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Fauna is stolen away from her village in Africa and enslaved at twelve – but her mixed blood offers her a greater chance of a happy life in England, even though it comes with its own specific dangers too. This is a bit of a hodgepodge review, because this is the omnibus edition of a trio of books following Fauna and her descendants. Originally published in the 1950s, the books have a for-their-time sympathetic treatment of the mixed-race Fauna and her descendants, even if that […]



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