Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

The other hockey romance

Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy by Faith Erin Hicks

by Leave a Comment

Back in 2023 Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy by Faith Erin Hicks came out. It seemed to not get the attention that other graphic novels by her seemed to get. Or at least, I didn’t see the push for it. Which is sad, since it is a fun book with romance, theater, hockey, and how it relates to life. Hicks weaves an interesting story together that gets you thinking. There were a couple of bumps in the flow for me, but overall, it was a […]

Prose, poems and stories

A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe by Mahogany L. Browne

by Leave a Comment

While there are a lot of new titles out there, I needed to catch up on some older titles. Books, I keep “meaning to read” and never get around too. I picked up A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe by Mahogany L. Browne. I thought it was a book in verse, but it is more short essays and diary entries. Or as if someone is interviewing the narrator and they are just replying to questions.  Still, it was short and figured […]

1984 meets Dictatorship meets Spies meets one screwed up world

The Shadower by Peter Hoey and Maria Hoey

by Leave a Comment

When a book is a real gut punch, I can have a hard time writing a review that does that feeling justice. How do I tell others (in writing therefore, not using facial expressions) how I got a sick feeling in my stomach? How I was shocked, amazed, happy, sad, confused, and had a full understanding of things sometimes all at once? When I started The Shadower by Peter Hoey and Maria Hoey I didn’t think I would have that issue, but by the end […]

Fairy tales don’t always have a happy ending

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

by Leave a Comment

I have mixed feelings about Kristin Hannah. Sometimes, I like her stuff (The Great Alone), sometimes I can’t stand it (Comfort & Joy), and sometimes I’m in the middle (The Women). I think this one falls squarely in the middle, too. Just before Christmas, Evan Whitson, the family patriarch, falls ill and dies. On his deathbed, he extracts a promise from his daughters – award-winning photographer and wanderer Nina and the stalwart, type-A Meredith – to really learn about their mother, the cold and distant […]

OCD at its best….

Ariel Crashes a Train by Olivia A. Cole

by Leave a Comment

My vacation would have had a few more reads covered if it was not for Ariel Crashes a Train by Olivia A. Cole. This is not because the book is bad. It is an interesting theme, it is well written and it can capture your attention as you wonder “what is next,” but it’s terribly slow paced for me. The first half is the build up to a quick reveal and then the rest is more of the beginning only with people trying to help […]

Neshama would make a good name for a perfume

Neshama by Marcella Pixley

by Leave a Comment

Marcella Pixley’s poetic prose novel, Neshama, is one of those books I would have loved as a kid and good for the 10 and up crowd. However, as an adult, there were a few bumps. The themes are good: being yourself, standing up for yourself and forgiveness, but first, I’ve read several middle grade readers and a lot of books with the theme so it was a bit repetitive. That is why if you’re new/newish to the middle grade coming-of-age story it works perfectly. As […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo