Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Sweet tea in book form

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber

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With three days to go before vacation I had nothing lined up for my annual beach read. Thankfully, right before I left I received an ARC copy of Heather Webber’s new book Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe. Many of us are familiar with the source material of that is at the kernel of this novel. All you need to do is search the section of your brain that stores childhood nursery rhymes  and up will pop the following: “Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket […]

I Don’t Know What to Say

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

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This book floored me the other day. First off, thanks to Pajiba for highlighting this book in it’s best of the bunch year for 2018. The Best and Worst of Cannonball 10 article had this book as the best by Mrs. Smith Reads. It looked interesting based on her description, “Carmen Maria Machado’s collection of short stories is nothing short of perfection, and brings everything I was looking for in a year of reading mostly feminist, female-identified, and woman-positive fiction writers.” That sounded right up my alley […]

Not Enough Development of Main Character and Ending Was Disappointing

The Little Shop of Found Things by Paula Brackston

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Not too much to say here except that I have been reading Paula Brackston for years now and she’s either a hit or a miss I have found. This one just doesn’t rise up there to the other books of hers that I have read and loved (The Witch’s Daughter, The Silver Witch, and The Witches of the Blue Well). She chooses to do contemporary in this one, however, with the time travel aspect it definitely appears that Brackston was more focused on the historical […]

“A curtain was drawn back in every man’s inner theater and their storytelling minds got to work.”

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

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First things first, this book is a slow burn. I wish I would have known that going in, I would have started it sooner and read it over a longer time frame. The first half meanders along and nothing seems to be connected, and getting to know the main players is not a quick process. If you’re prepared for that going in, you will probably end up liking this book. And about halfway through, it picks up quite a bit, and keeps getting stronger until […]

Once Upon a Time…

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

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Yes! My soul needed a good magical realism book. It was crying out for it you guys. “Once Upon a River” delves into many characters but manages to thread the needle with keeping an eye on the main plot from beginning to end of this book. I absolutely loved “The 13th Tale” so I was looking forward to see what Setterfield did with this. She weaves stories, fairy-tales, and myths together to tie around the Thames River and the people who live alongside it. “Once […]

Way Too Light on World Building and Character Development

A Slice of Magic by A.G. Mayes

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  Please note this book will be released on January 25, 2019. Also note that I received this ARC from NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review. Well I was up for some magical realism because I definitely needed the distraction. Too bad that the story itself was pretty lackluster. You can’t promise me a magical pie shop and then not really show anything that magical. This book also seems to be trying for a cozy mystery theme which didn’t work at all. […]



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