Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

This wasn’t for me, but I am curious about the author

Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo

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Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo was a slow read for this reader. Also, it was nothing I had not read in other young adult novels, but for the modern reader starting out it is good. The prose poetry element reads as a novel and moves at its familiar novel pacing. I would have liked to have seen more of the narrator’s cultural background, but what is there is decent. You see, Bright Red Fruit is new if you are new to young adult literature, […]

TL;DR: Everybody Needs Therapy

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

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Either of these books could count for the Justice square, but I’m putting Ballad on “Justice,” and Sunrise on “And,” because it’s the second of the prequels. I didn’t read these books when they were first released because The Hunger Games was the perfect trilogy, and it shattered me so hard I didn’t want to go back into that world. Especially after 2016 and….*gestures broadly at everything* One of my co-workers, however, insisted that I really needed to read them. If you’re a librarian, and […]

Doggie-powered magical alchemy

Roverpowered 2-3 by Drew Hayes

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Bingo 4: Middle OK, so I mentioned a rough week about 2 reviews ago. Here come the middle volumes of Rover Powered (2-3) such as the series currently is [5 out, 6th on the way]. So mid-series for Middle square. Wanda and Wumble go to alchemist training, and Wanda and Wumble go on their first group quest (team misfit!). Still cozy. Sill just what I wanted. And we even get a little bit from Wumble’s doggie perspective. Once again, the classic frames of the magic […]

Roverpower for the win

Roverpowered 1 by Drew Hayes

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Bingo 2: Refuge How to find solace the week the world loses Dolly Parton, Tim  Curry, Peter Cullen, and I’m getting into a challenging time at work, life outside work is over-busy, I’m tired, etc.? Drew Hayes novellas, obviously. I’ve been a fan of this author for years, knew he had this series Roverpowered, but had never really bothered to look into it further. It’s labeled as cozy fantasy and YA; it deserves those labels, but was also perfect refuge from the real world, at […]

Unextreme Utena

Revolutionary Girl Utena by Chiho Saito

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CBR18 Bingo – Justice: it’s about a girl who fights for what she believes is just, instead of just being a normal girl who doesn’t need to duel. Because it’s not normal (or just) for middle school girls to duel for their life all the goddamn time. Revolutionary Girl Utena is one of my favorite animes and I had no interest in ever reading the manga because I was not interested in the story without all the things that the manga cut. That all changed […]

Sonya was just a kid growing up on the rez.

The Unbeatable Sonya Ballantyne by Sonya Ballantyne, Azby Whitecalf, Kielamel Sibal and Rhael McGregor

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The Unbeatable Sonya Ballantyne by Sonya Ballantyne, Azby Whitecalf, Kielamel Sibal and Rhael McGregor is an interesting story that has intense concepts. These concepts are handled well, still it is not for all readers as the subjects are serious in nature with such things as bullying, self-harm, racism, depression, some language and more. The basics points are there (girl deals with bullies, deals with issues at home, the dynamics of different generations) but as they are set with a background of our main character being […]



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