Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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A lot to unpack in this short, supernatural mystery

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

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There is nothing in this book that I relate to. I am not a 16-year old, gay, black, male. And I definitely don’t see ghosts or ghouls. But Jake is and does. And as extraordinary as he is, he still deals with all the other ordinary things a teenager deals with. So Jake’s life is…complicated…to say the least. Jake’s ordinary life concerns living in the shadow of his big brother, growing apart from friends, and getting to know the cute new student at his school […]

This YA horror was more disturbing to me than some adult horror books I’ve read.

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

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It’s nearly always a good thing when one of your only complaints about a book is “I wanted more”. I say nearly, because I have read some stinkers where the main thing wrong was that the author didn’t actually do the work of fleshing out the world and the characters. Here, that’s not the problem. It’s pretty clear from reading this that the author did his work. It’s a concise YA horror story about a young man who can see ghosts (among other abilities), and […]

Probably should have given up the ghost

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

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cbr14bingo Minds Level 2  At first The Taking of Jake Livingston was enjoyable. There was enough familiar to make it comfortable, but new enough to not be the same-old-same-old. Even a couple of clichés could be forgiven for they did move the story along. Then there were the clichés that bogged it down. Then the ending (SPOILER) where our narrator walks away free of any consequences from his actions. What could have been something different turned into the same old thing. I was rooting for […]



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