Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I’m With the Mariachi Band

Adela’s Mariachi Band by Denise Vega

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I decided that when I got an email from Charlesbridge (a publisher) I would read some of the twelve online picture book reader copies included. I ended up reading ten (one had been previously read, so technically nine). I didn’t read two because the covers didn’t “speak to me” but I saved the links in case they someday would. One of the reads was Adela’s Mariachi Band. Due in mid-August, this story by Denise Vega and illustrated by Erika Rodriguez Medina was not what I […]

The stories of two young men

Hands by Torrey Maldonado

Garvey in the Dark by Nikki Grimes

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I needed a short read or two. I found two, while terribly short looking, books that also felt like they would have some “meat” to them. And those books were Hands by Torrey Maldonado and Garvey in the Dark by Nikki Grimes. I was familiar with Grimes, as they are the author of Garvey’s Choice and others I enjoyed reading. But Maldonado was new. Hands looked like it would be a boxing book. And it is, somewhat. But really what the book is about are […]

Taking on the role of Isaac

Buzzing by Samuel Sattin

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Buzzing is more of a 3.5 as an averaged out score than either a 3 or a 4.  I enjoyed seeing the changes in the illustrations to show the emotions, feelings, and how our main character is reacting. This is clever and a unique way of helping us see the situation. However, I never felt any one character was overly fleshed out and none felt “real” and more of a bit of a cliché. At the same time there are a lot of good pieces […]

And here my basement only had a skunk

Things in the Basement by Ben Katke

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The rating of a four for Things in the Basement is because of the illustrations. While on the surface, Ben Hatke’s story and art are not huge  “wows” (the illustrations are not overly colorful, or detailed; the story is slow to build up), there is something about them that makes you want more. The focus you need for the illustrations means you need to read the images as the book itself is mostly wordless. There are some interesting twists and turns and the “creepy factor” […]

Lightning Strike

What is Love by Jen Comfort

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Jen Comfort became an autobuy author for me when I read Midnight Duet, her utterly bananas and brilliant gender-flipped retelling of The Phantom of the Opera. Her banter is top notch. Her characters are substantial. Teddy Ferguson falls in love with Maxine Hart after she steals his lucky donut, takes one bite, corrects his trivia factoid, and then throws the rest of the donut away like a beautiful agent of chaos. I also fell in love with Maxine at that moment. There is, I think, […]

Bonus: Ridiculous 1830s Fashion

Dukes Prefer Blondes by Loretta Chase

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Five series and 28 or so books into a very successful career, it comes as no surprise that Loretta Chase is a really consistent historical romance author who provides great entertainment value combined with sincere emotional connections. I loved Dukes Prefer Blondes when I reviewed it for Cannonball Read in 2016 during Romancelandia’s Year of Difficult Men*  and I adore it  now. I went back to revisit a specific scene and the next thing I knew, I’d re-read to the end and then gone back […]



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