Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Beautiful Prose and a Compelling Fantasy World

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

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This cements it – Laini Taylor is now an auto-buy (well, auto-read) author for me. I loved the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, and now I love Strange the Dreamer. My fondness for the author comes from both the stories she crafts and how beautiful her writing is. Something somewhat gruesome happens on the very first page of Strange the Dreamer, but even that is written poetically. Here are some of the descriptions in which her prose really stood out to me: “The old […]

This duology will rock you!

Godly Heathens by H. E. Edgmon

Merciless Saviors by H. E. Edgmon

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I read HE Edgmon’s debut, The Witch King and immediately knew he was an author to keep an eye on! And his newest duology, The Ouroboros, shows so much growth and development as an author and story teller. Godly Heathens is currently available, and I’d recommend this duology more for older teens than a crossover audience, especially as there is significant violence and gore throughout (content notes are provided in the front matter). Merciless Saviors releases April 16, 2024. Logistics out of the way, let […]

“Most of us can hide our greatest hurts and longings. It’s how we survive each day. We pretend the pain isn’t there, that we are made of scars instead of wounds.”

King of Scars (King of Scars #1) by Leigh Bardugo

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CBR Bingo – On The Road I don’t read a lot of YA but a good friend of mine and many members of the CBR community have raved about Bardugo’s world, so I’m in for the long haul. If you’re new to it, a piece of advice. I was told to ignore chronological order when beginning because the Six of Crows duology is so much better than the original Shadow and Bone trilogy. I was skeptical but heeded that advice and I’m glad I did […]

Some Deserving Demises Literal and Otherwise

All of Our Demise by Amanda Foody, Christine Lynn Herman

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It took me a while to get into All of Our Demise; it’s part two of what’s basically the Tri-Wizard tournament mixed with the Hunger Games. There’s magic in this world, but the more powerful high magic is controlled by a select group. There are seven families, who once a generation send a champion into a tournament from which only the winner emerges alive, and whoever said winner represents gets to control the high magic for the next generation. In the second volume, the first […]

Do I like YA fantasy again???

This Vicious Grace (The Last Finestra, #1) by Emily Thiede

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Thanks to Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Young Readers, and NetGalley for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the content of my review. Well, this was an impulse request on NetGalley, and despite some complaints (mostly centered around this being a debut, I think), overall I did like this and I will be reading the sequel. The premise here is that our main character Alessa is a Chosen One, but she’s kinda sucky at it, and she’s lonely and miserable. She is the Finestra (Italian for “Window,” which […]

Another solid work from Charlie N Holmberg

Spellbreaker by Charlie N. Holmberg

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In Victorian England, magic leaves traces: runes, smells, and even sounds, and Elsie Camden has the rare ability to not only perceive these vestiges of magic but to undo the magic behind them, though she cannot perform any magic herself. Elsie is employed by two people: a stonemason who can perform only the most basic spells and a mysterious cadre of people trying to equalize the world. It is with this group, The Cowls, that Elsie uses her unregistered and illegal skills to undo unjust […]



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