Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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“Just because you don’t experience prejudice in your everyday doesn’t stop it existing for the rest of us.”

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T J Klune

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Bingo: Queer Lives;  Passport: Sweet weird It’s no spoiler to say that it was obvious how this book was going to end right from the start, or at least from the moment in protagonist Linus Barker’s train journey when “the gray darkness gave way to a bright and wonderful blue like Linus had never seen before”. Linus is a caseworker in the drab and regimented Department in Charge of Magical Youth, an inspector of orphanages for children gifted, or afflicted, with traits of myth and […]

The Question of Soulmates

Wolfsong by T.J. Klune

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The thing about Wolfsong is that it’s a keen example of the best thing about paranormal romance as a genre: it’s a way to explore a deep corner of human nature by coming at it sideways, through a fantasy concept that magnifies the details. This one, in particular, is about what it might mean to have a soulmate. People give this book some flak for the age gap – and I see that, and it didn’t need to be quite this wide, but I can […]

“A werewolf is courting me with a dead rabbit. There’s nothing subtle here.”

Wolfsong (Green Creek, #1) by T.J. Klune

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So I’ve had this book on my TBR for a while, even before Klune got a traditional publishing deal and the The House in the Cerulean Sea broke out, but I didn’t bite the bullet and actually decide to read it until I saw that this gorgeous edition was being released in September 2022. I did end up ordering the Waterstones edition with the gorgeous sprayed edges, and I have no regrets (except for when my copy arrived completely ruined from water damage, but they […]

I feel like I should have loved this book.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

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Well, this is an awkward review to write. I know that this book is widely beloved, but I just…didn’t love it. It was FINE! I wasn’t mad at it! But something about it failed to sufficiently warm the cockles of my cold, dead heart. This is my second T.J. Klune, and I didn’t love Under the Whispering Door, either. But people told me that I would like this one more. And I did, just not a lot more. I actually feel like if I had […]

Calling it a warm hug is still the best description I’ve heard of this book

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

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This book has been recommended to me a lot. The last of which earlier this month when I faced the fear and anxiety that mark the start of a reading slump. Nothing I picked up was sticking. Nothing made me want to read, and someone told me to push through with this, which I had on hold from the library. And it was just what I needed. This book has been described to me repeatedly as a warm hug, and I am going to have […]

“He startled when a tear slipped down his cheek. “Do I have a choice?” “In life? Always.” “And in death?” She shrugged. “It’s a little more … regimented.”

Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune

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In one word: lovely I first read T.J. Klune last year when I came across the heartwarming, lovely, funny, romantic queer fantasy “House in the Cerulean Sea.” It was one of my top 3 best books of last year, so my expectations for this book were high: astronomical even. I am delighted to report that I equally loved the heartwarming, lovely, funny, romantic, queer fantasy “Under the Whispering Door.” If that pile of adjectives gets you jazzed, run, don’t walk to your nearest library or […]



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