Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search this Site

| Log in
  1. Follow us on Facebook
  2. Follow us on Instagram
  3. Follow us on Bluesky
  4. Follow us on Goodreads
  5. RSS Feeds

  • Home
  • About
    • Getting Started in CBR18
    • Rules of Respect
    • Cannon Book Club
    • Diversions
    • Fan Mail
    • Holiday Book Exchange
    • Book Bingo Reading Challenge
    • Participation Badges
    • AlabamaPink
    • About Cannonball Read
  • Our Team
    • The CBR Team
    • Leaderboard
    • Recent Comments
    • Participant Interviews
    • Cannonballer Location Maps
    • Our Volunteers
    • Meet MsWas
  • Categories
    • Review Genres
    • Tags
    • Star Ratings
    • Featured Review Archive
  • Fight Cancer
    • How We Fight Cancer
    • Donate
    • CBR Merchandise
  • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • 2026 Registration
    • Suggest a Review
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Social Media

“But I do think that when we choose the easy path, where people or society reward us for being what they want us to be, against who we really are, a kind of death occurs. To the soul.”

November 6, 2018 by Caitlin_D Leave a Comment

I read Openly Straight last year and, while I thought the premise of going back into the closet strange, I loved the relationship between Rafe and Ben. Honestly Ben picks up right where Openly Straight ends with Ben is questioning things after he hooks up with Rafe. Ben has discovered Rafe knows he is homosexual and wasn’t just experimenting like Ben was which sends him into a bit of a tailspin. After winter break Ben discovers he was awarded the highly prestigious Pappas Award, complete with a much needed scholarship, and […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Young Adult Tagged With: Bill Konigsberg, Honestly ben

Caitlin_D's CBR10 Review No:114 · Genres: Fiction, Young Adult · Tags: Bill Konigsberg, Honestly ben ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“Straight people have it so much easier. They don’t understand. They can’t. There’s no such thing as openly straight.”

June 9, 2017 by Caitlin_D Leave a Comment

Badkittyuno raved about Openly Straight and its sequel Honestly Ben so, despite my old age and the crotchety nature in which I reacted to the last YA novel I read, I picked it up from the library. It was definitely better than The Upside of Unrequited with slightly more believable, fleshed out main characters. Claire Olivia is a bit of a manic pixie dream girl but she is a minor character, and not a love interest, so I’ll let that slide. Rafe was openly gay in liberal Boulder, Colorado but chooses […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Young Adult Tagged With: Bill Konigsberg, Openly straight

Caitlin_D's CBR9 Review No:64 · Genres: Fiction, Young Adult · Tags: Bill Konigsberg, Openly straight ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

A kissing book & some young adult fiction

May 25, 2017 by badkittyuno Leave a Comment

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne 3 stars I don’t normally read romances, with the exception of my beloved Outlanders, but y’all recommended Kulti and I really liked that, so I thought I’d give this other highly rated one a shot. I didn’t love it, but it was cute. I listened to the audio version, and hearing the name “Joshua Templeton” repeated over and over varied from obnoxious to over the top hysterical, depending on my mood. I liked Lucy, but I have trouble getting behind the whole “I’ve loved you all along which […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Romance, Young Adult Tagged With: badkittyuno, becky albertalli, Bill Konigsberg, liz moore, sally thorne

badkittyuno's CBR9 Review No:128 · Genres: Fiction, Romance, Young Adult · Tags: badkittyuno, becky albertalli, Bill Konigsberg, liz moore, sally thorne ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

I wanted to love this. But I just couldn’t bring myself past feeling lukewarm.

April 17, 2017 by scootsa1000 1 Comment

This book was practically a sure thing for me. It has an adorable little porcupine on the cover. I can’t resist! I mean, LOOK AT HOW CUTE THAT IS. It also has a blurb from my Cannonball boyfriend, Andrew Smith. Just reading the words ANDREW SMITH is like catnip to me. Seriously, I was destined to love this book. But I just didn’t. And I don’t really get why. Carson is uprooted from his life in NYC for a summer in Billings, Montana, against his will. His father (who abandoned him […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Young Adult Tagged With: Andrew Smith, Bill Konigsberg, cbr9, Scootsa1000, The Porcupine of Truth

scootsa1000's CBR9 Review No:24 · Genres: Fiction, Young Adult · Tags: Andrew Smith, Bill Konigsberg, cbr9, Scootsa1000, The Porcupine of Truth ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

Andrew Smith & A.S. King lovers should try this one

April 5, 2017 by badkittyuno 2 Comments

More YA! Are you sick of me yet? I have 2 more reviews to post after this and then I promise to leave y’all alone. This is what happens when I bring six books on vacation and read every one of them… “To me, religion is the Walmart of spirituality … I mean it’s prepackaged. Lowest common denominator. People just have to follow the present motions and rituals and rules. The don’t have to think about how the words reconcile with their own hearts. Their […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Young Adult Tagged With: badkittyuno, Bill Konigsberg

badkittyuno's CBR9 Review No:90 · Genres: Fiction, Young Adult · Tags: badkittyuno, Bill Konigsberg ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments


Recent Comments

  • katie71483
    on Dog Days Are Over, Bitches
    definitely some healing from religious trauma! And, Saved! is one of my favorite movies of all time.
  • jomidi
    on Library Week! Show us Your Library Joy
    I meant to visit museums using library passes (so $5 admission for one museum and $15 admission to another museum)...
  • jomidi
    on Library Week! Show us Your Library Joy
    Speaking of other stuff at libraries, in the past couple of months I used library museum passes to pay only...
  • jomidi
    on Library Week! Show us Your Library Joy
    Long Hill Township (NJ) library was my local library when I lived in NJ. I still attend their author events...
  • Emmalita
    on Library Week! Show us Your Library Joy
    Those are all great! My local library regularly has herb and gardening classes. Next Tuesday I’m going to one on...
See More Recent Comments »

Support Our Mission

  • Support Our Mission, Donate Today!
  • FAQ
  • Shop
  • Volunteers
  • Leaderboard
  • AlabamaPink
  • Contact

Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo

The reviews and comments posted on this site reflect the opinions of individual posters and do not reflect the views of Cannonball Read.

© 2026 Cannonball Read Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) | Log in