Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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The Haunting of Rookward House is my new favorite Darcy Coates novel

The Haunting of Rookward House by Darcy Coates

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The Haunting of Rookward House is a creepy horror novel and it’s the first book in a while to actually scare me. Main character Guy is down on luck. He’s living with his mom and unable to find a job. While helping Mom clean out the attic, he discovers the deed to Rookward House, which Mom doesn’t really remember inheriting. Mom seems a bit ditsy. Guy immediately decides that selling Rookward House is the answer to their problems as it will give them enough money […]

“Men are everywhere. If I ran away from here, there would be more men all over the world.”

Dead Girls by Abigail Tarttelin

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Wow. I tell you what, wow. That’s a reference to the 1997 animated film Anastasia that I am pulling out now as a special occasion, because this book deserves it. I mean, wow. So before I get to why I’m wowing all over this review, the plot: It’s spring 1999 in a small English countryside village. Eleven year-old Thera and Billie have been best friends (“best, true, forever friends”) since before they were even born. Thera and Billy are imaginative, playful, and clever, and right […]

The Slowest Thriller Ever Written

A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine

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A long time horror fan, I stumbled my way into thrillers and suspense last year, and became quite hooked. The anxious feelings, wondering what was lurking in a dark hallway (or on the next page), was chilling and delightful. The comparative lack of blood and guts, of which I have become less a fan, also delightful. So as my algorithm in Amazon updated to suggest more suspense, and I signed up for a newsletter or three dedicated to the thrill and suspense genre, Barbara Vine’s […]

I really need half stars on this one.

Sadie by Courtney Summers

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Firstly, I’m nearly certain that I would have given this four stars unreservedly had I not done the audio version. YMMV, obviously, on all books. But here, the audio really pulled me out of the story. I’ll explain. So this book is about bad things that happen to girls, and it’s split into two parts that alternate every other chapter. The first is a fake podcast with a host who is trying to track down the missing 19 year old, Sadie Hunter, after a family […]

Sis Boom Bah

Dare Me by Megan Abbott

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I wanted to read this one in advance of watching the new show, which I’ll now make every available effort to do because the book itself would make for a good translation to visual media. And it helped me understand why I like Megan Abbott so much. I’ve been going through Abbott’s catalogue for most of the last few years but it wasn’t until I read Dare Me that I realized why I like her so much. Abbott is a very sensual writer. She’s good at filling […]

GET OUT OF THERE!!!

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

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Jules Larsen just needs a break.  On the same day, she loses her job and comes home to her boyfriend having sex with another woman on the couch.  Up to her eyeballs in college loan debt and nowhere to live, she’s elated when she sees an ad on Craigslist offering $4000 a month to stay in the Bartholomew, a very fancy NYC apartment building that caters to the rich and famous as an apartment sitter.  When she’s shown the space she’s also told the rules:  […]



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