Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About crystalclear

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Crystalclear can usually think of something clever to say, except when she can't. She has a giant stack of unread books at home but will always find an excuse to buy/acquire/borrow another one. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: crystalclear's Quick Questions interview.)

crystalclear's Reviews:

Tech-free? Either a nightmare or a dream!

Unplugged by Gordon Korman

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Unplugged By Gordon Korman   Not gonna lie, I picked this up because there was a cute little lizard on the cover holding a power cord in its mouth.   Jett Baranov is the son of the emperor of the technological world.  Well, not really.  But his father owns a technology company that’s bigger than Google and Apple combined.  His mother works as a famous orthodontist for Orthodontists Without Borders and is often out of the country.  With a mostly absent mother, a work-obsessed father, […]

Some Audible Originals

Sweet Talk by Cara Bastone

What the Hex by Alexis Daria

The Magic Flower Shop by Gina Mayer

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Sweet Talk By Cara Bastone   This story was absolutely adorable and I loved it!     The main premise is that Elliot sends a voice message text at 2 a.m. to a wrong number.  JD (not her real name, but what she’s referred to for most of the story) is already awake to receive said voice text.  She responds, and they go back and forth before Elliot realizes that he hasn’t been talking to his sister.  JD knows who Elliot is immediately – she had […]

Sometimes YouTube leads to books!

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? by Caitlin Doughty

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Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? By Caitlin Doughty Caitlin Doughty is a mortician/funeral home director, and a YouTube content creator (but not the bad kind.)  She posts videos about death – her channel is called “Ask a Mortician.”  I’m not sure how the YouTube algorithm got me there, but one of Caitlin Doughty’s videos popped up on my recommended video list one day, and so I watched it.  And then I proceeded to binge watch most of her videos that weekend.  (That’s a LOT […]

I really liked this one. It’s silly, but fun!

Never Fall For Your Fiancée by Virginia Heath

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Hugh Standish, the Earl of Fareham, has a bit of a problem.  His mother is coming to visit, all the way from America, to meet his fiancée.  His fiancée who Hugh has entirely made up to stop his mother from matchmaking.  Hugh has created an entirely fictional fiancée named Minerva, and he’s about to get caught.  Or is he?   Hugh happens to come to the rescue of a young lady trying to claim her earnings from an advertisement she created illustrations for.  And just […]

This is a delightful middle-grade story, probably the start of a series, and I recommend it!

The Accidental Apprentice by Amanda Foody

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Barclay Thorne is an eleven-year-old orphan growing up in a small village called Dullshire.  He is apprenticed to a mushroom farmer, and he puts all that he has into his chosen profession.  Life is hard for an orphan boy in Dullshire, and there are a lot of rules to follow, many which are silly or excessive.  But one rule he is sure to follow: Never go into the Woods.  The Woods is where the Beasts are.  Beasts are dangerous.  And Beasts have magic, which is […]

Disappointed and Deceived

D: A Tale of Two Worlds by Michael Faber

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My main problem with this book isn’t the content.  I’m not sure what the author intended, but my issue with his work may have nothing to do with him at all, really.  It’s the categorization.  This is being advertised as an adult fiction.  It is not.  At least with the audiobook, this is firmly in the juvenile range for me.   The premise of the story is interesting, if a bit juvenile.  Our protagonist, Dhikilo, wakes up one morning and the letter “D” is gone.  […]



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