Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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All I did was phone you. Then be in the same restaurant as you. Then watch you from across a crowded coffee place. Then follow you down a street when it’s getting dark and there’s no one else around and oh okay right yeah I’m seeing it now yep it’s dawning on me…

When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein

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I don’t even know how to talk about this book. One of the things I loved best about it was the way Charlotte Stein used words to illuminate her characters, but I’m reading an advance reader copy so I’m not supposed to quote from it. I’m going to have to share a quote though because otherwise I’m just going to blather a bunch of dumb words at you. She saw it happen, almost immediately. All in one big rush, like he couldn’t contain it. Her […]

Gorgeous

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams

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Tia Williams has just made me like a fated lovers romance. Not like. Love. Lovers who are destined for each other is one of my least favorite tropes, but WIlliams makes this work for me. She throws in the right mix of magic and logic, and gives us achingly human characters. Now is the perfect time to read this. A lot of the action takes place in February 2024. Williams grounds her magic in the leap year, almost making me believe in the magic of […]

“Come along, Pleiti, you can practice ethnography later. We have a murder to solve.”

The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older

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I loved Malka Older’s The Mimicking of Known Successes. The second Mossa and Pleiti novella, The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles was also a delightful read. There was a moment in the story when I thought back to a conversation I had years ago with a much younger cousin who was still in his 20s. He began expounding on his desire to live somewhere that tested his grit, a place with “real” problems, like on the gritty prestige cop shows he watched. I didn’t point out all […]

We’d missed the notification as we jazzed up our dark purple Madcap Market crewnecks using fabric scissors, some thread, a bit of glitter, and a ton of gay willpower.

The (Fake) Dating Game by Timothy Janovsky

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I read my first Timothy Janovsky back in June, and now The (Fake) Dating Game is my fourth. With each book, he gets better and more assured. I really liked Never Been Kissed, though I could see where the plot could use some tightening and tuning. New Adult was one of my favorite reads last year (though it somehow got left off my list?), so I have been excited about diving into this one. Furthermore, this might be one of my favorite fake dating romances of all […]

“Someone poisoned you last night,” I said bluntly. He looked thunderstruck, then hurt. “It was my birthday party.”

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

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Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands is as enjoyable a read as it’s predecessor, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faerie. I found that I liked spending time with Emily, Wendell, and Shadow even in the places where the plot dragged a bit. Emily is as prickly as ever, and I love her all the more for it. The marriage proposal remains unanswered, but Wendell remains delighted by her. I only wish there had been a few more of the “my dear dragon” endearments. Emily and Wendell […]

It’s beautiful because it’s melancholy. It’s a complicated kind of beauty.

Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday

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I am struggling with getting my review of Jenny Holiday’s Canadian Boyfriend right. I really enjoyed it. It’s a romance surfing on big waves of grief and trauma. For a big chunk of the book Mike and Aurora have a quasi employer/employee relationship that some people will, reasonably, consider a hard no. I want to put all this up front, because it’s important information for readers, and I don’t want my whole review to be about the things that might put a reader off of […]



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