Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“I deserve to be seen. To be noticed. To be heard. To be treated like a human.”

Starfish by Lisa Fipps

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This is a very good novel told in free verse poems from the point of view of Ellie, who is about to enter sixth grade and whose best friend is moving away. She is fat and her mother is determined for her to lose weight by any means necessary, and she keeps pushing Ellie to get weight loss surgery. Ellie is also bullied at school for being fat and then the bullying continues at home by her mother and brother. Her sister also joins in […]

Love couldn’t solve everything, but without love, there was nothing to solve.

40-Love by Olivia Dade

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Swooooooooon. Just swooooooooning allll over the place on this one. When a rogue wave strips Tess Dunn of her bikini top, desperate, half-naked times call for desperate, please-cover-me-kids-are-coming-closer measures. Enter Lucas Karlsson, AKA that flirty Swede in the water nearby. When he prevents her bare buoys from being exposed to fellow vacationers, even an ocean can’t drown the sparks that fly. Tess and her best friend have saved up to take a two week vacation at a luxury beach resort and celebrate Tess’s 40th birthday. […]

“Can ambiguous social situations kindly go fuck themselves?”

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

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CBR11Bingo – Pajiba! This book was briefly reviewed on Pajiba here, seems we feel similarly! Leah Burke seems to be on an even keep as she navigates senior year, stepping closer to her future college career at the local state school, where she’ll even have her friend Abby there. But naturally things start to shake up, as tends to happen in senior year.  First, Abby and Nick break up. Abby doesn’t think their relationship can hold-up long distance, and Nick is heartbroken – as is […]

Dear Sweet Pea, Julie Murphy’s MG debut

Dear Sweet Pea by Julie Murphy

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CBR11Bingo – Own Voices! Holy poop, this is my 52nd review! I’ve officially cannonballed! Not that I’ll stop playing now, though. I am a huge fan of Julie Murphy’s YA books, so when I saw the ARC for her middle grade debut was available at Book Expo, I knew I’d be snapping it up both for my pleasure reading and for my work on the RI Middle School Book Award Committee! While I’d usually save my off-committee summertime for “anything but children’s books”, I decided […]

“This wasn’t my first rodeo in Unrequited Land. In fact, I had a season pass.”

To Be Honest by Maggie Ann Martin

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CBR11Bingo – Summer Reads! Savannah’s older sister is off to college, and she’s not sure how she is going to survive without her. Ashley has always been the peacekeeper between Savannah and her mother, especially since their parent’s divorce and their mom’s follow-up stint on a reality show called “Shake the Weight.”  Since mom’s return home, she keeps pushing her new “healthy” lifestyle on her daughters, and Savannah has no interest in following the philosophy of the body-shaming show that body-snatched her mother. Plus, it’s […]



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