Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

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I really wanted to love this one, but it ended up not working out for me. That does not mean I won’t be reading this author again in the future. This book showed a lot of promise, it just kept hampered I think by Mandanna not breaking this up into two novels. I really wanted to know more about Sera’s upbringing by her aunt and the Guild and spells she learned. Instead we in essence start the book mid-scene with people and places that don’t […]

Found family with a little magic

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

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I saw A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping (2025) by Sangu Mandanna on NPR’s Favorite Books List. Books with witches and whatnot are not usually my thing, but I’ve found some good books on NPR and I didn’t want to be too close-minded. So, I got the audiobook from my library for a low commitment read while commuting. If I had to describe this book in four words, I would say it is quiet, sweet, uplifting, and funny. At the beginning of the book, Sera Swan is a […]

So much parental drama to resolve

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

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I quite liked A Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches but I also struggled with most cozy fantasy I read last year, especially if it was an author’s second or third cozy fantasy. I’m happy to report that this novel was just as good as A Very Secret Society. You can read these two in any order – I believe they are set in the same universe but I am not sure if they even share any of the same characters. Sera Swan was once […]

Witches But in September

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

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BINGO: “Free” for the “G” because I don’t have a G book queued up and time’s a-running out. hot take it’s nice but a bit all over the place and I’m not certain I vibe with the ultimate message. Amusingly, this isn’t billed as #2 in a series even though it’s clearly a follow up to The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches which I remember enjoying. There’s a similar feeling to the world and to the magic–lots of vibes and feelings, less on the details of […]

Being Home Sick = Lots of Time to Read

The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

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cbr17bingo – TBR (for The City of Brass) and my 3rd BINGO The City of Brass This has been on my TBR for ages, and I’m glad I finally got to it. It’s a Middle Eastern-inspired historical fantasy that follows the POVs of Nahri, a con woman living in Cairo when we first meet her, and Ali, the younger son of the ruling family of Daevabad (the titular city of brass). While he doesn’t get his own POV chapters, Dara is another important character rounding […]

Magical found families are my cat nip

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

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After months of work stress, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches was exactly what I needed. This cozy fantasy romance introduces us to Mika Moon, an orphaned witch living in the UK. She meets every quarter in secret places with fellow witches of Britain. They’re not allowed to talk to each other except at these meetings, lest they be discovered and persecuted. Primrose, Mika’s guardian, is the de facto head of the witches who enforces these rules for the greater good. Much to Primrose’s […]



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