Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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“I’ve found a place where I can breathe.” — A lovely romance manga!

In the Twilight of Our Adolescence by Waka Hayashi

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In the Twilight of Our Adolescence is a real gem of a book, touching and thoughtful about growing up and the difficulties of adolescence, especially when you feel different to everyone else. There are three linked stories in the collection and one stand-alone. The three stories follow Tanahashi and Nakagawa, two junior high school boys, as they navigate becoming friends and potentially something more. Tanahashi has always respected Nakagawa’s ability to not care what others think. Even though Tanahashi is popular and good at sports, […]

An adorable YA romance from Talia Hibbert

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert

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For our Hot Fun in the Summertime Cannon Book Club, we read Highly Suscipious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert. I also read it for Happily Everyone After book club at The Ripped Bodice.  This was Hibbert’s first foray into YA/Young Adult romance. Published by Joy Revolution, an imprint run by Nicola and David Yoon, they strive to publish diverse stories that celebrate joy. We meet Celine and Bradley in their last year of high school. They are both overachieving Black British teens whose families are […]

“If You’re Not Happy, Maybe Ask Yourself If It’s Worth It”

Sacred Heart by Liz Suburbia

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Spoilers below: I’ve reread this book a few times over the seven years since it came out (I actually think I read her other work before this was published, so I was familiar with her style beforehand). It’s the kind of book where you enjoy it and it raises more questions than it answers. The ending reveals a little of what’s been going on, but way more is left up to your imagination. In the hands of another author, this might grate or feel cheap, […]

Maybe it’s a holy freaking huge awesome deal

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I am not a quick reader, but I blazed through Becky Albertalli’s Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda in one sitting. I haven’t seen the movie yet and didn’t know much about the book before I saw it while browsing bookstores on a recent trip, but I’m really glad I read it. The story begins as teenage Simon is blackmailed by a fellow student who inadvertently read Simon’s email exchange with another boy Simon knows only as Blue. They’re both closeted and want to keep […]

I Wanted You to Love Me Like You Used to Do

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I first read Eleanor and Park a few years ago. A friend had asked me to join her at a reading by Rainbow Rowell, so I read this in preparation. Eleanor and Park is the perfect introduction to Rowell, and just a wonderful book in general. Probably most of you know the story by now. Two teenagers–Eleanor, a misfit with a terrible home life, and Park, an average Joe who feels alienated from his family and classmates, meet, connect, and eventually fall in love. Teen […]

My vitriol was a guiding light through this teenage romance.

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I’ve got three books I need to review before this one, but none of the others had the impact on me that this book did (even though they were all objectively better, I think). First: three-fourths of this book is terrible. I don’t mean bad, I mean it was a grapefruit-sized pustula seeping boric acid. I hate-read this book. I wanted misery to befall the characters so that I could feel something other than hate. This book was so bad, I contemplated not even writing […]



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