Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

“He kissed for his enjoyment and mine, and we staggered and stumbled our way to the ground, still kissing for the sheer glory of being alive, the wonder of finding a congenial soul in the world, and the very real prospect of being dead before the weekend.”

The Henchmen of Zenda by K.J. Charles

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This honestly might be five stars on re-read, but I’ve been handing out five star ratings like they’re candy, and I’ve come off my book high now. This is a strong 4.5 stars for now. Firstly, this is a retelling of The Prisoner of Zenda, a Ruritanian Romance/Adventure/Swashbuckler from the late 1800s, written by Anthony Hope. I’ve never read the original, but before diving into this I did read the detailed summary of the book and I’m really glad I did that, because it was […]

“You have to make the best of whatever story you were born into, and if your story happens to suck ass, well, maybe you can do some good before you go.”

A Mirror Mended (Fractured Fables, #2) by Alix E. Harrow

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So is this the last one of these then? It was a really good ending, if so. It’s been five years since we last saw Zinnia Gray, and she’s spent that time hopping from world to world, fixing fairytales, and helping princesses, sometimes realizing they don’t need help at all. But Zinnia is beginning to realize she’s running from her own life. She hasn’t spoken to Charm or Prim (who are now married) in six months. She’s avoidance denialing. That’s when she’s pulled through a […]

A really good anthology! Emmalita and andtheIToldYouSos were not kidding.

Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices by Eds. Swapna Krishna and Jenn Northington

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This is one of the best anthologies I’ve ever read. If you like Arthuriana, this is a must read. If you like anthologies just for the variety, this collection is a winner. I don’t think I will ever give an anthology five stars, because I’ve yet to find one where I like every story, but this one comes pretty close. There were only two stories in here I didn’t like. What makes Sword Stone Table so great is that the authors chosen really had their creativity flowing. […]

the great 2022 Bingo Catch-Up!

Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby

A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djeli Clark

From Hollywood, With Love by Scott Meslow

The Companion by E.E. Ottoman

My Mother, She Killed Me, My Father, He Ate Me by Kate Bernheimer

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It wouldn’t be CBR Bingo without me frantically catching up on everything I read but was too distracted to write about, now would it? Square: Cold – Fool Moon – DNF This is it, folks- my first DNF in YEARS! I just couldn’t do it. I started this book way back in JANUARY, and despite multiple formats and multiple tries, I just can’t do it. I know there’s a mythical “it gets better” carrot hanging out past the fourth entry, but I just don’t have […]

“I was born on the full moon under an auspicious constellation, the holiest of positions—much good it did me.”

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

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I think it was probably a little unfair of me to go into this one with super high expectations as I almost did, thanks to the Circe comparisons, so luckily I curbed those as best I could before I actually started the book. That turned out to be a very good idea. I think going in with no expectations is probably the best way to experience this one. I was also almost completely unfamiliar with the Ramayana before reading this book, and that held until about […]

“The greater the desire, the greater the suffering, and now she desired greatness itself.”

She Who Became the Sun (The Radiant Emperor, #1) by Shelley Parker-Chan

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I was a weeny and put off writing a review of this because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say about it, and now it’s been a month since I finished. I feel like I’ve told you this story before. Coincidentally, this is a retelling! I didn’t pay too much attention to the specific plot of this one before reading it, other than the keywords “historical” and “Mulan” and “retelling”. This is why you shouldn’t pay attention to other people sometimes. It is historical, […]



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