Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


“I was born and raised in San Francisco, which explains my willingness to stay in a city that’s historically been full of people who insist on trying to kill me at the slightest provocation.”

Once Broken Faith (October Daye #10) by Seanan McGuire

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Having survived the events of the last book, Toby decides a relaxing night is in order, or as relaxing of a night one can have hosting a sleepover for a bunch of Fae teenagers. All’s well and good until Arden comes over asking for a favor: the conclave to discuss whether or not the Elf-shot cure Walther invented in the last book is approaching, and High King Aethlin has forbidden the use of the cure until after the decision is made. Arden doesn’t want to […]

“Be sure you include a gift card for Tim Hortons,” he said. “That’s how we say ‘sorry for killing your firstborn son’ in Canada.”

A Red-Rose Chain (October Daye #9) by Seanan McGuire

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I appreciate any book that starts out with teleporting Manx hounds, which is how this one starts out. Toby, Tybalt, Quentin, and Danny (the troll cab driver that has been assisting and ferrying Toby around since Rosemary and Rue) are sent to subdue a pack of Mauthe Doog that have been attacking mortals in Muir Woods, close to Arden’s knowe. (Seeing as my first cat was a Manx, I have a soft spot for anything from the Isle of Man, including their teleporting answer to […]

“I don’t like parties. Someone always tries to assassinate someone I actually like, and there are never enough of those little stuffed mushroom caps.”

The Winter Long: (Toby Daye #8) by Seanan McGuire

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This was the sort of situation that called for a certain amount of terror. This is the book where everything turns. What starts out with Arden throwing a party to celebrate her ascension to the throne of the Kingdom of the Mists (and Toby finding in Arden someone who hates parties about as much as she does), goes south when Toby returns home to find Simon Torquill on her porch. Because when the man who turned you into a fish for fourteen years and put […]

Going to San Francisco

The White Van by Patrick Hoffman

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Read as part of CBR17 Bingo: red cover And so I now come full circle to Patrick Hoffman’s catalog. Hoffman is a quality over quantity writer. Every 3-4 years, we are gifted with a new book of his that functions as a soup-to-nuts examination of how criminal justice works in America. A massive drug shipment in Every Man a Menace. Corporate espionage in Clean Hands. The war against white supremacists in Friends Helping Friends, which came out this year and is one of the best things I’ve read in 2025. […]

“For I was indeed a student of human nature, as every orphan and hooker and unwanted kid must be.”

Vera by Carol Edgarian

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CBR 17 Bingo: Family – Central to Vera’s story is a desire for a family in which she can truly belong, and her outside status with both her birth mother and her foster family. Vera has always lived under the shadow of a great secret – though raised as the younger daughter in a Swedish household, she is actually the daughter of San Francisco’s greatest madams. In the aftermath of the great earthquake of 1906, these worlds come tumbling together. I remember it was a […]

“I am the sea witch. I am the tide you fear and the turning you can’t deny. I am the sound of the waves running over your bones on the beach, little man, and I am not amused at finding you on my doorstep.”

Chimes At Midnight (Toby Daye #7) by Seanan McGuire

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Is there any time in your life when you do not feel the need for caffeine? Sure. Sometimes I’m asleep. I think Seanan McGuire has this need to balance a book where Toby’s life goes reasonably well for most of it with a book where she gets kicked in the teeth for a large chunk; last book was happy, so now here comes the steel-toed boot. What happened? she breathed, staring at me. I got hit in the face with a pie, I said. Mags […]



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