Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

A cozy romance about found family

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches: A Novel by Sangu Mandanna

by Leave a Comment

Cbr18bingo Refuge. The main characters hide away in a mansion, away from prying eyes The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is a novel about misfits and found family. While witches, witchcraft, and persecution are at the center of the story, several other characters have also found themselves on society’s periphery. The question is, is the purpose of life to find ways to survive or is it to find ways to really live? The novel is set in contemporary England and witches are still around. […]

Bingo catchup post

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

Stolen Focus by Johann Hari

by Leave a Comment

Fetter was raised to be a weapon. From a young age, his mother has groomed him to one day assassinate his father, the messianic cult leader known as The Perfect and Kind. She even severed Fetter’s shadow, rendering him practically weightless. As a teenager, Fetter decides he doesn’t want to be a weapon and heads to the city of Luriat to live an unassuming life. However, he isn’t able to avoid upheaval for long. He attends a support group for failed Chosen Ones (they’re fairly […]

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

by 5 Comments

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

by Leave a Comment

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

by Leave a Comment

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

by Leave a Comment

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 […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo