Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Come for the cats, stay for … also the cats

Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

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Like many other Cannonballers, I was familiar with Heather Fawcett because of the Emily Wilde novels, so when I saw her next novel was going to involve a magical cat shelter, I was in, even though I hadn’t enjoyed the third Emily Wilde novel as much. Overall, I had a really fun time with this but it really was primarily due to the cats and the cat shelter, and I actually would have enjoyed even more cats, and day to day life at the shelter. […]

“Isn’t it better to have your heart broken than to have it wither up? Before it could be broken it must have felt something splendid. That would be worth the pain.”

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

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Valency has always lived a dull and restrained life under the thumb of her family, but decides to start living how she likes when she learns she has only a year to live. I knew the plot twist of this book before I got into it, though I’m not sure how – maybe the plagiarism controversy of Colleen McCullough‘s The Ladies of Missalonghi? Anyway, luckily it didn’t really affect my enjoyment. This book has all the hallmarks of an LM Montgomery book – the rich […]

Bear

Bear by Marian Engel

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Fishwives. Fishwidows. And we all set out to be mermaids. ― Marian Engel, Bear The world was furred with late spring snow. It was the soft, thick stuff that excites you unless you are driving or half dead, packing snow already falling in caterpillars off the greening branches. ― Marian Engel, Bear This is the story of a woman who sequesters herself in a remote area of Ontario, Canada, to catalog an estate bequeathed to the Canadian government. In her isolation, she finds herself, breaking […]

Christmas in Toronto

A Little Holiday Fling by Farah Heron

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Farah Heron’s A Little Holiday Fling is a lovely secularly Christmas romance. As a secular Christmas celebrator, I appreciated both Ruby’s position of finding joy and fun in the season and Rashid’s frustration with the consumerism and the hegemony of it all. Ruby and Rashid are both Muslim and they’ve grown up in Canada and the UK respectively, so they have a complex relationship with the dominant religious holiday. A Little Holiday Fling deals lightly and gently with some heavy topics, giving depth to the characters […]

A Contemporary Canadian Gothic(ish)

The Glowing Life of Leeann Wu by Mindy Hung

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Initially, I read The Glowing Life of Leeann Wu back in May (?), but as is wont to happen in 2025, my brain erased all memory of everything I had read. So I started again a few months later and it was like revisiting a friend I hadn’t seen in forever. At first I was a bit anxious because I had positive feelings, but no memory. Then I got to a line that almost made me shoot coffee out my nose because it is a […]

“If monarchs are that much against being overthrown, they shouldn’t do things that would make it seem like a good idea.”

When Sorrows Come (Toby Daye #15) by Seanan McGuire

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  Well, it’s finally time for those wedding bells to chime! Off to Canada for the wedding (it’s the best place to get married without causing too much of a diplomatic incident), Toby and Tybalt discover that as per usual, their lives are never easy. Because before they get to the altar, they have to stop someone from assassinating Quentin’s parents and seizing the High Kingdom. Can’t Toby go one day without having to stab someone or bleed on whatever clothing she’s wearing? I loved […]



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