Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Half-Baked Alaska

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

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Thirteen year old Leni doesn’t have the most stable of backgrounds. Her mother, who had her at age fifteen, does the best she can. Her father is a Vietnam vet who spent years in captivity and is drowning his PTSD in alcohol and harebrained get-rich-quick schemes that are invariably abandoned halfway through. It’s the 1970s; the Flower Power movement is in the last of its heyday when Leni’s father receives a letter from the father of a fallen comrade that he’ll give him his son’s […]

I ain’t no fortunate son

The Women by Kristin Hannah

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I have never actually read any Kristin Hannah before but this was the selection for the month for a book club I am in – I know The Nightingale was very popular at one point but I think I just hit the point of wondering how many more World War II novels we needed right around the time it came out? But I also get the the appeal – because World War II, at least from an American perspective, is one that is easy to […]

“The women had a story to tell, even if the world wasn’t quite yet ready to hear it, and their story began with three simple words. We were there.”

The Women by Kristin Hannah

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In five words: Vietnam War, Friendship, Dire, Uplifting The amount of people that have told me to read this book is high considering it just came out in February. What tipped me over the edge to get it ASAP was the recommendation from a person who generally hates historical fiction and said this was the best BOOK they had ever read. Full stop. That got my attention, so rather than wait for who knows how long for this literary hot potato, I ventured to an […]

A series of books that I personally did not enjoy

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

Partners in Crime by Alisha Rai

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen

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Is this some wild teen PSA? ^^ this the original review that I wrote in mild exasperation after reading this book. I actually had this on an older TBR that I never got around to finishing, so in the middle of waiting for some new books to load I was more than happy to finally pick it up. But GOOD LORD this book is just one heavy handed lesson in what happens when you do [insert any number of things that they told you not […]

“Some stories don’t have happy endings. Even love stories. Maybe especially love stories.”

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

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I’ve had The Nightingale (2015) by Kristin Hannah hanging over my head for quite some time, but I never got around to it. Then my brother bought me The Great Alone–also by Kristin Hannah–one Christmas, which I eventually read, and loved. This only increased my anticipation for The Nightingale, so I had high expectations when I finally started reading it. There are a number of good things about this book. For a long book, it was a pretty quick read. I admire that Hannah focused this WWII story on […]

“The things your parents say and the things your husband doesn’t say become a mirror, don’t they? You see yourself as they see you, and no matter how far you come, you bring that mirror with you.”

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

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In one word: Dogged This was precisely the book I needed to read while in the clutches of a chilly and downright RUDE Midwestern spring. Spring is my least favorite of the seasons, and this year it’s earning its rank at the bottom of the list. It is April, and it is STILL cold, and I STILL have to wear a jacket, and I STILL can’t lounge in my hammock, but, real talk, these are only inconveniences.  The weather isn’t to my liking?! Oh heavens, […]



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