Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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A burnt out Millennial medium and the ghost of her dead best friend solve crimes. Yes you should read it.

Grave Expectations (Grave Expectations, #1) by Alice Bell

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I knew as soon as I read the blurb for this one early in 2023 that it was going to be a book For Me. Sometimes I do turn out to be wrong about these things, but in this case I was very much right. I had such a good time with this book. (And I’ve had ridiculously good luck with mysteries this year, most of which are having fun with the traditional mystery format/genre). The premise here is that Claire is a thirty-something down-on-her-luck […]

“He laughs and laughs. My, how he laughs.”

The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle by T.L. Huchu

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Ropa should be on cloud nine, helping organize the Society of Skeptical Enquirers’ biennial conference and hobnobbing with all the bigwigs of Scottish magic. But when she’s left scrambling to investigate a politically charged theft, she begins to wonder if the world of magic is more trouble than it’s worth. This is the third book in the Edinburgh Nights series, which follows teenage ghostalker Ropa as she investigates magical crimes in a politically uneasy Scotland. In this book, we seem to shift from the individual […]

This isn’t an eighties sitcom. I can’t casually accept an orphan into my house for comic relief.

The Sunken Mall by K.D. Edwards

Scenes from Quarantine by K.D. Edwards

Scenes from the Holidays by K.D. Edwards

The Great Atlantean Battle Royalchemy by K.D. Edwards

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These are a series of novellas meant to fill in gaps between the three books in the Tarot Sequence. I’m reviewing them because it gives me an excuse to share more epic quotes from my favorite new characters. The Sunken Mall I had started to pull on my magical sight when Ciaran spotted a convenience store pharmacy combo behind us called CVS. He pointed and said, “You will leave that store alone in particular. I called dibs. Anything with a -cet after it goes in […]

Land of the Rising Sun

Ancient Tales & Folklore of Japan by Richard Gordon Smith

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Smith, a Victorian traveller to Japan, compiled into this book a number of folktales that he heard from the people around him while there. I have always been interested in mythology and folklore. My great-grandmother used to tell me stories from Hindu mythology when I was four or five (though unfortunately her versions are now lost to the sands of infantile amnesia), and throughout elementary school I branched out to Greek and Norse mythology as well. I’m not sure why I love fairytales and folklore […]

“In her spare time, she looked to books or the stars for company”

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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Caseopea Tun is basically treated as a servant by her grandfather, cousin, and extended family because her mother ran away and made an ill-advised marriage. Caseopea suffers the indignities mainly because her tyrannical grandfather has promised to leave her some money once he dies. However, during another turbulent row with her spoiled cousin Martín, he reveals that their grandfather has no intention of leaving anything to Caseopea. She feels furious and rebellious, which leads to her opening the forbidden chest at the bottom of her […]

Warfare of soccer at Bull Run Regional Park (and other stuff)

Team Photograph by Lauren Haldeman

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What the flaming monkey toots did I just read? Or more accurately, took me a few days to read. Team Photograph is an artist’s interpretation of Lauren Haldeman’s experiences and feelings. When I first finished the online (though currently available) reader copy, I was thinking, “Is Team Photograph a memoir? An attempt at purging the feelings she has about death? Is it a commentary on war and the resulting death that will haunt people if they are aware of it? Or is it just a […]



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