Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the Yay for YA Discussion About YA Books Now  

I was not expecting to feel personally victimised by a Rainbow Rowell novel

Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell

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This may be a 3.5 star book, but I’m not actually sure right now. Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for this ARC. My opinions are my own. This book is out on April 14th. Cherry’s husband, Tom, is in Los Angeles, working on turning his web comic-turned extremely successful graphic novel, Thursday, into a movie. His semi-autobiographical comic, which happens to have a caricatured version of Cherry in it, who is called Baby. Now that there are multiple trailers, even complete strangers recognise […]

Slow Dance…Slow Burn

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

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Confession: I’ve been in a reading slump. Like, for a long time. And usually Janet brings me out of my slump with a shot of Stephanie/Ranger/Morelli throuple-ness around the holidays, but Janet didn’t publish a book this year. She’s also the one who gets me to at least write one review. Aside: Will this year be the year I write more than one? Who knows? Probably not. Anyway. I didn’t realize how much I missed Rainbow until I read Slow Dance. This is just a […]

A Fresh Take on Magic, Mystery, and Love

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

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I’ve had my eye on this book for a while. A YA story with a school of magic, magicians, and vampires? I’m in. I had heard that the idea for the book started as Harry Potter fanfiction so I was curious to see how that turned out. Simon is the Chosen One who is being tutored by The Mage in order to be the best wizard the world of mages has ever seen (sound familiar?). His nemesis and roommate, Basilton “Baz” Grimm-Pitch is an undercover […]

An Ode to my High School Crush

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

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I’ve read a number of books by Rainbow Rowell and always enjoyed them. She writes quiet, introspective, romantic, young-adultish novels with atypical protagonists. So, when I saw that Rowell had a new book out, Slow Dance (2024), I put it on hold immediately. Not surprisingly, I enjoyed this novel. It had well-written, flawed, believable characters, and a similar feel to her other books. Cary, Shiloh, and Mikey are best friends in high school. But Cary and Shiloh have a special bond. He drives her home every […]

“I know you’re out of practice, Shiloh, but the point of bringing men home isn’t to argue with them.”

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

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4.5 stars Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Plants or flowers on the cover Cary and Shiloh were best friends in high school. They saw each other every day, told each other everything, and were utterly inseparable. Everyone thought they were in love and would end up together, but by graduation, they’re still just friends. Both come from unstable family environments and dream of getting out of Omaha. Shiloh is going to college to become an actress and Cary has joined the Navy. Once Cary finishes boot […]

And cbr16-BINGO is its name-o

Fangirl, Vol. 1: The Manga by Rainbow Rowell

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Thank you to the person (I have forgotten your name! Sorry!) that said the Fangirl novel by Rainbow Rowell would work for the cbr16bingo Fanfic category! I knew that I could probably read that as it is a young adult and I like young adult reads, so win-win! However, while looking for it, I found that it comes in a manga format as well. I like graphic novels, but manga is not really my go-to choice. But I want to read more manga and this […]



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