Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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The Book of the Phoenix-a great work by a new favorite author

The Book of the Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor

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I first heard of the works of Nnedi Okorafor through a friend who attended a writing workshop with her many years ago but this is the first work of hers that I have read. And I loved it but it is a complicated, dense work. The story begins in Africa. The world has been devastated by some calamity and this older man is seeking shelter to avoid an unusual storm. In a cave, he finds computers that provide him with a recording of the woman […]

The Water Dancer – a brilliant novel

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

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Since I know Ta-Nehisi Coates was writing the Black Panther comic for a couple of years, and the blurb I read about this book was that it was about a young man with extraordinary abilities, I thought it would be a more action oriented style of novel. I could not have been more wrong. Yes, the main character, Hiram Walker, does possess an ability he calls conducting, but it is used very infrequently in the story as he really does not learn how to use […]

I really need half stars on this one.

Sadie by Courtney Summers

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Firstly, I’m nearly certain that I would have given this four stars unreservedly had I not done the audio version. YMMV, obviously, on all books. But here, the audio really pulled me out of the story. I’ll explain. So this book is about bad things that happen to girls, and it’s split into two parts that alternate every other chapter. The first is a fake podcast with a host who is trying to track down the missing 19 year old, Sadie Hunter, after a family […]

Full Throttle – Another good short story collection from the Kings

Full Throttle by Joe Hill

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I have enormous respect for authors who step out of their comfort zone to try new things in their writing style. Joe Hill has always done that and this collection is no different. Most of the stories work but unfortunately some fell flat to me. When one takes chances, that is invariably a result, but as a reader I respect the effort and it makes me want to read more of that author going forward. There are two stories Joe wrote with his Dad, Stephen […]

Short reads to finish off my reading year (and help me to finally complete my double Cannonball)

Night of the Scoundrel by Kelly Bowen

The Monsters We Deserve by Marcus Sedgwick

A Match Made for Thanksgiving by Jackie Lau

A Second-Chance Road Trip for Christmas by Jackie Lau

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Night of the Scoundrel by Kelly Bowen Rating: 4 stars In this novella which concludes Kelly Bowen’s The Devils of Dover series, we finally find out more about the mysterious King, who has been popping up in Bowen’s books for a long time. A shadowy London crime lord with connections to smuggling, art forgery, theft and all sorts of other untoward business, he is not a man to cross. He discovers that a man he believed to be dead, a man who ruined his childhood and set him […]

Julie Anne Long’s return to historical romance is more successful than Lisa Kleypas’

Angel in a Devil's Arms by Julie Anne Long

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Official book description: He has devil’s blood in his veins. At least, that’s always been the legend. How else could the Duke of Brexford’s notorious bastard son return from the dead? The brutal decade since Lucien Durand, Lord Bolt, allegedly drowned in the Thames forged him into a man who always gets what—and who—he wants. And what he wants is vengeance for his stolen birthright…and one wild night in Angelique Breedlove’s bed. Angelique recognizes heartbreak when the enigmatic Lord Bolt walks into The Grand Palace […]



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