Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Magical foodie middle grade~

Just a Pinch of Magic by Alechia Dow

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Gosh. This was such a delightful book, full of yummy food, new friendships, and so much magic! I keep wanting to read Alechia Dow’s books because the themes are always exactly my jam, but I struggle with scifi, so when I saw she had a contemporary fantasy middle grade coming out, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it! Wini is from a family of Food Enchanters, but the small town she lives in all seems to hate her because her mother cast a […]

What Is “The Apocalypse” Anyway But Another Series of Bad Days, Or Same As It Ever Was, Or It’s Irrelevant

You Feel It Just Below the Ribs by Jeffrey Cranor & Janina Matthewson

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I can’t really explain it, but You Feel It Just Below the Ribs is a near five star book. I rated it 4.5 stars on Storygraph and I’m not quite sure why I didn’t rate it a 5. I want to… there’s something… but I want to. But I won’t. Because there’s something on the tip of my tongue or on the cusp of catchable thoughts that maybe I can’t articulate. Or maybe I’m just that much of a hard ass. There are a few things […]

Queer as Folk(tales)!

Tales From Beyond the Rainbow by Pete Jordi Wood

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In pursuit of the idea that queer people have always existed (and therefore will persist), Pete Jordi Wood has put together this gorgeous collection of folk and fairy tales that earlier folklorists chose to “clean up” or dismiss. Tales From Beyond the Rainbow: Ten LGBTQ+ Fairy Tales Proudly Reclaimed is a darling little book with big important stories. While earning his folklore degree, Pete found a Danish folktale “The Dog and the Sailor” that felt undeniably queer. He self-published his translation of the tale, and […]

For Vampires, Every Night is that Time of the Month

Vampire Menstrual Syndrome: The First Cycle by S.C. Hunter

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Full disclosure here, I absolutely did choose this book for its cover. And its title. I saw the author posting about it on TikTok and and when she offered up some advance copies, I was immediately in. But of course, I am an epic procrastinator, so I just finished reading it in time for its publication date, which is today, Friday the 13th. Happy birthday, Vampire Menstrual Syndrome! (Or would that be unbirthday?) I need to admit that I made some assumptions about what this […]

Gay-Lesbian Solidarity

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

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CBR 15 Bingo – Queer Lives: Both the main characters in this book are queer, and one of the major plot-lines concerns itself with what must change in society for them to live their lives openly. Hundreds of years after the time of Arthur Pendragon, his descendent Arthur Delacey is betrothed to Gwen, the princess of England. If only she wasn’t more interested in the only female knight in the realm; if only he wasn’t more interested in her brother… I picked up this book because […]

My Kind of Western

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

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This novella has been sitting on my kindle forever and I don’t know why it took me this long to read it but I’m so glad I finally did! I think I’ve talked before about my struggles with short fiction, I always want more. This one wasn’t any different. I don’t know if reading any of Gailey’s other novellas would help clear up some of the background on this story. It’s set in a dystopian America torn apart by war with most people reduced to […]



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