Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


The things people do for their siblings

The Starter Ex by Mia Sosa

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I have tendency to forget character names rather quickly, even if I mostly retain plot. As a result, I kept wondering if this novel was going to be a sequel to When Javi Dumped Mari. After all, the cover art had the same feel and style, and even though The Worst Best Man and The Wedding Crasher are in the same universe, they aren’t listed as a series. Vanessa absolutely could have been one of Mari’s friends whose name I had forgotten. Turns out, unless […]

Life After the Golden Child

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez

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Julia Reyes is 15 when this novel opens, and her older sister Olga has just died in an accident that Julia partially blames herself for. Olga seemed to be the perfect Mexican daughter; she wanted to stay home with family, was content with community college, helped their mother out. Julia, on the other hand, wants to leave home to go to college and become a writer, has a rocky relationship with her mother, and chafes against the restrictions her parents (especially her mother) place on […]

Contemporary romance round up – summer reads

Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan

Along Came Amor by Alexis Daria

When Javi Dumped Mari by Mia Sosa

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Both Kennedy Ryan and Alexis Daria released the final novels in their latest romance trilogies in May of this year. I enjoyed both but they focused on very different types of characters (oddly enough, it was a flip between the characters they focused on in the second novel – so for Primas of Power, we get the cousin that always did the right thing and played by the rules in book 3 while Skyland explored that character in book 2, and Skyland focuses on the […]

Jello-Coated Updo

Barely Floating by Lilliam Rivera

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Nat is an amazing swimmer, and the pool is her favorite place to be. She’s not afraid to boast about it, or even challenge the older boys to swim races, but she has to be loud and proud. She’s a fat Latina in an sport known for its skinny white athletes. One day, she learns about a local artistic swimming team (formerly known as synchronized swimming). She had no idea that swimmers could not only be strong and fast, but glamorous and creative. Nat adores […]

Poetic feels

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

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The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo is a coming of age story written in poetic verse. Xiomara Batista attends Catholic high school and forced by her mom to attend catechism classes. Her mom has a very strict idea of what her daughter should be. Boys are definitely off limits. Thus, she pours all her teenage angst into her prized notebook. Also lots of feelings about her classmate named Aman. It’s only when she joins the poetry club does she begin to find her voice. Unfortunately, she […]



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