Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Questions without answers

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

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I think I picked up Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer sometime around when the movie loosely based on it came out in 2018. For whatever reason, I didn’t read it then, but as it’s a short book I decided to read it a few days ago. The novel follows a team of women sent to investigate a strange area known only as Area X. Previous expeditions have occurred, but usually some weird misfortune happens to the participants (in one, members killed each other, in another, killed […]

Lady Sherlock!

A Ruse of Shadows by Sherry Thomas

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You know, I never have any idea what’s going on in these books and I really appreciate that Thomas has taken a very Holmesian approach to each novel–which is to say, they obvious have a very rich mythology at this point (see: the cast of characters at the start of the novel, which you’d usually associate with some terribly long Russian novel) but also they sort of (?) stand alone if you’re willing to be confused and accept that you’re not getting as much nuance. […]

Two girls, couple mysteries and basketball.

Shirley and Jamila Save Their Summer by Gillian Goerz

Shirley and Jamila's Big Fall by Gillian Goerz

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When ten-year-olds Shirley and (new girl) Jamila meet accidentally at a local tag sale, their summer takes an interesting turn, one that neither expected it to take. They not only find a way to not go to the summer camps their mothers have signed them up for and find a bit of freedom, they also solve a case of stolen property and a missing gecko, not to mention they become friends. All of this and a bit more happens in Shirley and Jamila Save Their […]

When the clock doesn’t tick

Hourglass by Barbara Mazzi

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Twenty is just a cog in the wheel of the utopian society in Hourglass by Barbara Mazzi. Or at least for  the privileged.  Twenty is trying for one of the coveted positions on the team of engineers. If you make it to the top the reward is everything. But until then, they help keep the Hour Glass running so the privileged few can reap the reward of immortality. But when a real piece of the machine goes missing, more than the Hour Glass will fall […]

“Oh Catskins, why aren’t you dead yet?”

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

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I first became aware of Roshani Chokshi when my kiddo discovered her Aru Shah middle grade series, the Pandava Quintet.  Printed in the “Rick Riordan Presents” line it focuses on Hindu mythology as Aru Shah embarks on adventures with her friends.  We even went to one of the Aru Shah book signings.  Chokshi was witty, charming, and engaging.  I left wanting to read the books but never got around to it.  In the past year I became aware of her fiction for older readers, particularly […]

Let’s take this to the neck level

The Confessional by Paige Hender

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Recently I entered a “Grab a Galley” sweepstakes thingie and I have been honored to win a few that I really wanted. But one of them I was on the fence about putting my name in for. This was The Confessional by Paige Hender. But (and I know one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover) the cover was calling me. Which might not be a good thing since it is about vampires. Picture it: New Orleans, 1922. Cora Velasquez is a fairly newly turned […]



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