Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Columbian Mythology and Family Trauma

The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejía by Alexandra Alessandri

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Valentina, her brother Julian, and her father are hiking the Columbian jungle to track down a vampire. Well, that’s what her father’s doing. Valentina is along for the ride, trying not to be embarrassed about her father and brother’s belief in Columbian folk creatures, and taking the opportunity to practice her drawing. But during the trip, Valentina has a visceral premonition: “The earth is not happy.” She urges her family to leave, but they are caught in a violent earthquake. The kids and their dad […]

Happy endings are for grown-ups too

Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill

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I am now convinced that “cozy” basically means there will be tropes generally presented in an entertaining way, and that while drama of various sorts is an option, most all will be well in the end. Basically, happy endings are now allowed in “adult” fiction. Exhibit 1: Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill. I actually picked this up in an airport bookshop (the kind where you can return it within 6 months for a partial refund, but in my case, it was kind of an exchange, so […]

Cornwall – the unchanging landscape

Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper

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Many years ago I wrote a review for The Dark is Rising which is the 2nd book in the sequence of the same name by Susan Cooper. This book is the first in the sequence but as I recommended then often better to be read second. I reread this on a recent holiday to Cornwall because in visiting the Cornish fishing villages/towns I immediately felt that sense of place I have with this book. If The Dark is Rising is a book that takes you […]

How the legend might have started with books before lattes

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

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What’s cozy in the same way as a latte? Second-hand books. That’s what we get with Bookshops & Bonedust, and I’m down with that. This is a pretty good prequel, but it can be done as a stand-alone, and it also does a nice job of maybe setting up volume 3. The whole story starts with young and eager Viv getting ahead of herself and getting injured in a fight. The rest of her team leaves her behind to recover in middle of nowhere Murk, […]

Part 2 problems but not really that bad

Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

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Cozy streak incoming. First up: Apprentice to the Villain. This is definitely a part two, in that it’s still a good continuation of the story, but it focuses on developing the big problems to be resolved later. That means there is less character development, and a lot more emphasis on mutual pining, which really gets irritating. The general lack of clear communication causing misunderstandings and problems in romance is a main reason I don’t read a lot of that, because it’s so very avoidable. Do […]

The Thin Line Between Fantasy and Reality

Mary and the Birth of Frankstein by Anne Eekhout

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The year is 1812, and fourteen-year-old Mary Goodwin is living in pastoral Dundee, where she may find love but may find danger as well. The year is 1816, and eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley is living in rainy Geneva, where she may conceive of something that is strange and fearful and all hers, if she will allow herself to do it. I have still not read Frankenstein. (I keep meaning to! There’s just so many books to read!) But I am familiar with its plot, and the […]



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