Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A Slow Burn Magic Story

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

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I’m not usually interested in historical fiction, but after reading Piranesi, I wanted to try more of Susanna Clarke’s work. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is set in England during the Napoleonic wars in the early 1800s. There used to be magic in England, but magic hasn’t been seen in centuries. Instead, the people who call themselves magicians are theoretical magicians – they study magic but don’t practice it. However, in the quest to discover why magic is no longer practiced in England, one of […]

It only took me a year to review this

Dry by Jarod and Neal Shusterman

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This book was first recommended to me by a librarian and then by my brother, so I read it in December 2022, enjoyed it, started to review it, and never got around to finishing the review. Now I reread it in December 2023 and finally finished my review. It only took me a year! Dry by Neal Shusterman is a dystopian thriller set in California during a massive drought called the “Tap-Out” where there is no running water. People are fighting over water and resources, […]

This book stole my heart

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

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I read Little Thieves by Margaret Owen because of a recommendation from a bookstore, and it seemed very interesting to me. The story is set in a fantasy medieval setting, there is trade and politics, but no heavily advanced technology. This book is the story of a girl who after being taken in by the gods Death and Fortune, is then given to a noble family where she becomes a serving girl. She, for reasons to be found, takes the spot of a soon to be […]

Who knows what one might be capable of

Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein

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How’s that for an evocative cover? Spoiler alert: the entire novel is essentially as unsettling as that image. Our unnamed narrator moves into a house in a “northern country”. We know that she is Jewish, the youngest of many children, and from the first sentence we know that this book will take us to unusual places. Of course, there’s dead cows, piglets possibly murdered by their own mother, phantom dog pregnancies. But this book isn’t about the things that happen, at least not entirely. It’s […]

Harry Potter But It’s Elves and Stegosauruses

Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

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This book is something that’s basically taken my school by storm. Although it blew up with popularity in epic proportions, there are (I’m sorry – is it just my taste?) way better books out there deserving attention. Also take in mind that I wrote this review after only reading the first book. Spoilers ahead~ TL;DR (it is 500 pages…), this story is about an elf that doesn’t know she’s an elf. Sophie is 12 and she lives amongst humans but she has a secret: she’s […]

Didn’t expect to find myself looking in the mirror…

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

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Now this is more what I was after with the first book. While it remains plenty spicy, the story doesn’t take a backseat to it all this time. And though there are still some moments that had me questioning what the fresh hell I was reading (for example, Khai wakes up with morning wood every day, so he thinks that means jerking it in the shower is a necessity to the point that he gets frustrated it makes his days less efficient), there were fewer […]



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