Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Is it magic or summer love?

Witchful Thinking by Celestine Martin

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Witchful Thinking introduces us to Freya Grove, a seaside small town in New Jersey. Kindhearted, curvy Black teacher Lucy has lived here her whole life, as have her sisters and cousins. She is a witch and has a little tea-reading business on the side. She is feeling unaccomplished with her high school reunion looming at the end of summer. She unexpectedly runs into her former crush and friend, Alex, who is a very handsome Black merman. His resurgence kicks her overthinking brain into high gear. […]

I don’t know what the excitement is all about. It’s not like sharks attack people or anything….

I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916: A Graphix Book by Lauren Tarshis and adapted by Georgia Ball

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I set myself two goals this year. One was to read a book a day (it averages out to that, but I actually didn’t read a book every day), and the second was to do 12 Cannonballs. As of this review I have 26 books to go… We’ll see! So, one of the ways I was trying to read a book a day was to do simple books. Not books that were simplistic (See Jane. See Dick. See Dick and Jane), but easier reads, fun […]

Jersey Girl

Death of a Dancing Queen by Kimberly G. Giarratano

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CW: This book has a tragic trans angle. I won’t spoil how and while I think the writer handled it well enough, it still touches on some worn tropes that could be hard for some. Please be warned. They say that if you like to write, write a book you’d want to read. I had no hand in writing Death of a Dancing Queen, obviously, but by-and-large this is a book I’d want to write: interesting PI character, well-described setting, villains of both the regular- and underworlds respectively. […]

A story of finding yourself

The Long Run by James Acker

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The Long Run is such a great story of two young boys finding their way and finding themselves along the way. Sandro is invisible in so many ways and he’s learned to protect his softness by keeping to himself, especially as his dad and brothers like to “pick on him” in a way that crosses from affectionate into toxic. Bash is having trouble deciding who he is and who he wants to be outside what those around him expect, and in the process has been […]

June 2022 Leftovers

The Cage by Bonnie Kistler

Gangsterland by Tod Goldberg

Gone 'Til November by Wallace Stroby

Cover Story by Susan Rigetti

Survivor's Guilt by Robyn Gigl

The Old Man by Thomas Perry

Iron Annie by Luke Cassidy

The Drop by Michael Connelly

The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy by David Nasaw

Barbed Wire Heart by Tess Sharpe

Amateur City by Katherine V. Forrest

Booth by Karen Joy Fowler

The Fury of Blacky Jaguar by Angel Luis Colón

He Kills Coppers by Jake Arnott

Lysistrata by Aristophanes

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I was dealing with work turmoil and on vacation for most of June so I didn’t get the chance to write as many in depth reviews as I’d have liked to. Which is a shame because some of these deserved a longer look; I just didn’t have the time or energy… The Cage **** I went back-and-forth on my review. I’ve been giving out a lot of 4-star reviews lately and considered docking the book for that reason since it’s very borderline. But the more I […]

Cute in a not eat your face way

Fly by Night by Tara O’Connor.

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Thanks to my holiday book exchange, I had a chance to pick up Fly by Night by Tara O’Connor.  I had started a sampler awhile back and thought it would be slightly on the slower side, but still it was a fascinating concept. Twin sisters, one who has gone missing, and spooky felt right.  And yes, it was not super-fast pace, but kept things moving. The idea of true supernature never came into play for those few pages, but it quickly does once you get […]



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