Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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“I can be brave. I can be anything for noodles.”

Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

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4.5 stars Buzzword Title Challenge 25: Water words Scarlett Vandermeer is struggling, both with her academic subjects at Stanford and her diving. While physically fully recovered from a bad accident a year ago, Scarlett has a block that prevents her from even attempting the type of dive that had her hospitalised and having to go through several surgeries to fix her broken body. She needs to get her grades up if she wants to get into med school, and she has reluctantly agreed to go […]

Teamwork ain’t always dreamwork

Control Freaks by J.E. Thomas

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The novel Control Freaks by J.E. Thomas has been said to be (via the publisher description) “What if Louis Sachar’s Wayside School were a little less wacky (but is as funny).” I am not sure if that fits this story, but I would say “What if a book that deals with super smart kids was set in middle school, where STEM is the core and things are a bit wacky.” And the students include: one who is called The Shark, one who is always changing […]

“And then, Rue, I met you. And you casually cracked my life into before and after you.”

Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

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Rue Siebert has never wanted a relationship, she’s finds men to hook up with on dating apps and has a strict rule about one night only. When her latest date is interrupted by her drunken brother and the night doesn’t end the way she expected, she breaks her rule and gives the guy her phone number. Nevertheless, she doesn’t expect to see him again. Unexpectedly, she sees him again as soon as the next morning, when he is part of the venture capitalist firm, which […]

“Children, set the table. Your mother needs a moment to herself.”

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

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#CBR15 Passport Challenge: Books recommended by friends Elizabeth Zott is a chemist struggling to be taken seriously by her male colleagues at a lab in the 1960s. She never completed her degree because her academic advisor raped her, but her lack of degree in no way means she’s not intelligent. Despite her brilliant mind, her male co-workers either treat her as nothing more than a lab assistant or steal her research and present it as their own. The one exception to this is Calvin Evans, […]

CBR15 Bingo: Getaway

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

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4.5 stars CBR15 Bingo: Getaway (I don’t see a good way to fill the South America square) For this review, I resurrected Mrs. Julien’s romance review template from way back in 2013. I’ve tweaked it, but the major framework is still there. Love, Theoretically is a romance of the enemies to lovers AND I’m scared and unworthy of love: Hero meets heroine. He is the disapproving older brother of the man who is paying her to be his fake girlfriend. He thinks she’s a librarian, […]

“I love you, I think, and you are my home”

Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

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CBR14 Bingo: Mind (Bee, as well as Ms. Hazelwood herself, is a neuroscientist and there’s a whole lot of brain science happening in the book) Bee Köningswasser, a young pink-haired neuroscientist, is offered pretty much her dream job on a NASA project and accepts joyfully. Her excitement is cut short when she realises that while she’s the lead on the neuroscience part, her nemesis from grad school, Levi Ward, is the engineering lead on the same project. Nevertheless, Bee can feel herself wasting away in […]



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