Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


A Slight Disappointment and a Solid Continuation

Startup Hell by Caitlin Rozakis

The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo

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Startup Hell This was a fun urban romantasy that satirizes office culture. Main character Morgan is working for Zabloom, a company whose CEO keeps changing what their product is. When her boss dies while summoning demon Lucareoth (Luke) to make a soul-exchange Deal, Lucareoth ends up freed from his salt circle and Morgan agrees to help him get home before he gets in trouble with his own boss. Things do not go as planned, and they end up needing to try to make a Deal […]

Probably a great satire, what do I know. CBRBINGO – Purple

The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis

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I’m sad I didn’t like this one very much. It was much less fun and funny than I was hoping it would be, with that premise. (That premise: a young couple’s five year old daughter is bitten by a werewolf and then becomes a werewolf herself, upon which they discover there is a secret magical world among the mundane one. Then there is a PTA, but at a mAgiC sChOoL.) Where I wish this had been more lighthearted and focused on the school and magic […]

A Fantasy That Hits Close to Home

The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis

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You may recognize Caitlin Rozakis as the author of Dreadful, which I had such a good time with last year. While this upcoming new release isn’t as overtly funny, it does still bring the humor and is relatively lighthearted, while being more emotionally resonant and grounded in reality. It’s told from the third person POV of Vivian, who moves with her husband Daniel and 5-year-old daughter Aria to a hidden magical town after Aria is turned by a werewolf. Prior to this, the family was “mundane” […]

From the Magical to the Personal: Two Reviews

Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

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Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis was such a blast. It features Dread Lord Gavrax, a dark wizard (and a mediocre one at that, we learn as the story progresses). Except that Gav has no memories of this. He wakes up with amnesia, freaks out when he realizes he appears to be in a dark lord’s lair, and quickly comes to realize that he is said dark lord. He then spends a good chunk of the book trying to hide this fact from potential enemies while also […]

“When does who you’re pretending to be stop being a pretense and turn into who you really are?”

Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis

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Cbr16bingo Fiasco A guy wakes up, injured, on the floor of an evil looking castle room. Who did this to him? What evil force has been at work?? Who is responsible for the tacky decor??? Though his memories are mostly gone, he realizes he did it. He is a dark wizard and he somehow is responsible for all of it. It’s a dreadful conclusion to reach, and Gav (aka the Dread Lord Gavrax), looking around at his garishly evil castle and the way his goblin […]

Beware the moat squid, magic garlic, and no memories

Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis

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One of the worst things I think a book can do to you is totally ruin things with a two page change of tone. Dreadful seemed like a pretty inoffensive light-ish almost parody of D&D-type fantasy/isekai. Dread Dark Lord Gavrax suddenly wakes up in his lab with no idea where he is or who he is. He’s got no idea why he’s got Princess Eliasha captive, what scary Dread Lord Zarcon has him doing, why the villagers a re terrified of him, and why he […]



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