Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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“How is a brussels sprout concentrated?” “Well, it’s basically a really intense cabbage.”

While You Were Seething by Charlotte Stein

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This is going to be a challenging review to write because the emotional payoff in the end is the part I want to write about. I loved it so much. Reading While You Were Seething is like watching a volcano. You see the pressure growing, the little bursts where Daisy and Caleb reveal more of their interiors to each other. And then at 90% I’m sobbing because the cathartic eruption has happened and Charlotte Stein has given Daisy the words to say how I feel […]

Your Confederate Sympathies May Vary

The Outlaw Hearts by Rebecca Brandewyne

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When schoolteacher Jenny Colter takes the train into the little Ozarks town of Tumbling Creek, she’s hoping to leave behind the violence which destroyed her family in post-Civil War Atlanta. But when she catches sight of the uncovered face of Luke Morgan when he’s robbing the train, he’s determined to keep her quiet by any means necessary… Rebecca Brandewyne is another of those writers of big off-the-wall 80s bodice rippers which I love, though her work doesn’t reach for the soaring heights of WTF-ery that […]

“All Shesheshen could do for Homily was be patient with her, and make space for her, and eventually, one day behind her back, eat her mother.”

Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell

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Shesheshen is an amorphous lump who lives at the bottom of a pool in an abandoned house, hibernates during the winter, and occasionally shapeshifts into something vaguely  humanoid, wanders down to the village, and eats people. Only apparently bad people, but I guess you can’t make the carnivorous monster who is the lead of your book unsympathetic by having them eat an orphan or an old lady or a kitten or a puppy or something like that. All goes well until the day hunters come […]

“Love was seeing the truth of a person. Love was keeping faith that the best version you saw was the truest.”

Better in Black: Ten Stories of Shadowhunter Romance by Cassandra Clare

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Basically what it says on the tin: ten short stories set in the Shadowhunter Universe, each centered on one couple (or throuple, in one case.) They are as follows: The Good Storm (Will Herondale/Tessa Grey, set during their honeymoon.): So trite, so overblown. Cassie, if you can’t write sex scenes that don’t read like they’re from a bodice-ripper, don’t have them at all. Also, maybe keep track of the ages of your characters; why did you write a fifteen year old sounding more like a […]

Thee Most Adorable YA Sapphic Summer Romance

Summer Official by Rebekah Weatherspoon

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I have high expectations for a book written by Rebekah Weatherspoon. Summer Official exceeded them and now I know my expectations weren’t high enough. I fell in love with Saylor and Heaven quickly and enjoyed reading about their developing friendship and romance. This is a lovely slow-burn, introvert/extrovert, acquaintances to lovers romance. I want to talk about cake in a minute. The book starts with Saylor finding out her mother, a momfluencer, has posted a video crying with joy that Saylor has come out to […]

Dog Days Are Over, Bitches

For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn

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For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn is a romantasy that began life as a TikTok skit. Proving the old adage that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, it is also a meditation on grief, loss, love, friendship, family, allyship, and what it means to really live. Throw in some spicy scenes, an unusual presentation of what the afterlife could be, and a great deal of sass, and you have brewed my own personal cup of tea.  When we first meet Lily, […]



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