Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The size of history

We Are American, Too by Kristen Mei Chase and Jieting Chen

The Memory Cake by Caroline L. Perry and Jen Bricking

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History is all around us. And history can be as large as World War II or as small as being the second person of your race being born in a town.  We Are American, Too tackles that second theme. Kristen Mei Chase and illustrator Jieting Chen follow a family on an important day of celebration. They are honoring their history, family, their people and even themselves. The originality of the book comes from how the story is told, instead of “just another immigrant story” which […]

Welcome to the Land of Missed Opportunity

Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake

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Make the Season Bright – Because one of the main characters is called Brighton, get it?  Charlotte Donovan is a successful musician, living the dream in New York. She is a violinist in a string quartet, about to set off on a huge European tour. First, though, Charlotte must survive December, the month when her life usually comes off the rails. December is when Charlotte becomes extra accident-prone. Worse, it’s the month in which her fiancée Brighon left her at the altar. To help her […]

Book 2: Villains be villainous.

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

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Book 2 of ??? in this year’s Robin Hobb journey! I liked this one. I didn’t like it as much as the first one, but it’s still a solid 4 stars. The Pace of Assassin’s Apprentice  felt like slow and deliberate because we were getting to know Fitz, setting up the other characters, laying groundwork for other pieces of the narrative, getting to know the lay of the land, literally. Royal Assassin felt, weirdly, a little slower to me, in a more frustrating way. Like […]

“There are many skills I hoped to master in my professional career. Scrubbing chamber pots was not one of them, and yet here we are.”

The Posioners Ring by Kelley Armstrong

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This is the second book in the A Rip Through Time series, so the review ahead contains some minor spoilers for book one.   Having established how Mallory ended up in Victorian Scotland in the first book, and starting a crime-solving career in that era, this book is about her settling into her new life and dealing with yet more murder.  The story is a self-contained mystery that manages to resolve itself while filling in some characters’ backstories and introducing some new characters. Also, the slow-burn […]

Treat Yourself!

Duplicate Death by Geogette Heyer

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Ah, one of my all-time favorite authors!  It’s rare I can come across a new one of hers, since I’ve read so many, but I was fortunate today.  For those poor souls who are unfamiliar with this author, her main genre is what is known as Regency Romance.  I had never once considered reading anything of the sort, until people I trusted kept nudging her in my direction.  Boy were they right.  If you would like a taste, try The Grand Sophy – so funny!  […]

The first sign that Felix was nearing his destination came when a line of skulls suddenly burst into flames directly ahead of him.

Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis

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I loved this book. It has a grumpy witch queen who just wants to be left alone to do her magic experiments. It has a sweet poet, who is actually an escaped Archduke masquerading as a dark wizard/librarian. There are crow friends, wicked queen friends, and not human people friends. This layer cake of a book has kindness in every slice. Just because someone is a wicked queen with a bone crown and flaming skulls lighting the path to her castle doesn’t mean she isn’t […]



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