Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Emmalita

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Lives in Austin, Texas. She/her. Loves reading books, writing about books and talking about books. On the CBR Board. May send you an email. Thinking about new challenges. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Emmalita's Quick Questions interview.)

Emmalita's Reviews:

Cooking at its best is an improvisational art form.

Heartland Masala: An Indian Cookbook from an American Kitchen by Jyoti Mukharji, Auyon Mukharji

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I fell in love with Heartland Masala while reading an early page where Auyon Mukharji talks about developing his roti rolling skills. He shares that in the time it takes him to shape one lumpy roti, his mother can make 10 perfectly round rotis with her eyes closed. But he persists in making roti, because the only way to get better at it is to do it. I annoyed my housemate by reading this section aloud to her. Because, exactly! To get better at cooking you […]

And isn’t that all anyone is looking for in a love story—a person to keep their heart safe?

Anywhere With You by Ellie Palmer

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Anywhere With You opens with Charlie’s husband announcing that he’s leaving her while she’s drinking through a novelty penis straw. The penis straw is significant, the soon to be ex-husband really isn’t, except as a concept. Charlie and her sister, Lauren, grew up in a chaotic household with a father who seemed to like the idea of his family better than the reality of being a parent. He uprooted them, abandoned them, and then returned to repeat the cycle. Their mother seems to have gone […]

“Life is all about feeling too many different things at the same time. But you don’t have to figure it out right now.“

Donut Summer by Anita Kelly

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Anita Kelly’s YA debut, Donut Summer, has murdered me with adorable and relatable. It is funny and sweet, and deals with some serious topics in ways that feel realistic and manageable. Penny Dexter is ready to be a little bit different this summer, working at Delicious Donuts instead of an environmental science internship, and Mateo della Penna is going to screw it all up for her by working at Delicious Donuts too. The two have a history of not being friends, but Penny has cataloged […]

He watched her while he played, too caught up in the melody to notice he was tumbling into something vast and endless.

August Lane by Regina Black

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Regina Black’s August Lane is a masterclass on redemption and forgiveness. There are generations of hurt people hurting people in August Lane and Luke Randall’s families. No one has hurt August more than her mother, JoJo Lane, and Luke, and they are both coming back to Arcadia, Arkansas looking for recognition, redemption, and another chance. Luke’s return is an opportunity for August to grab a future for herself. August Lane is messy and angsty. It’s not the fun kind of bonkers romance messy, it’s the […]

What do you call a family of Richards? A bag of Dicks.

No Body No Crime by Tess Sharpe

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Tess Sharpe’s No Body No Crime isn’t based on Taylor Swift’s “No Body No Crime,” but it’s a good song to have on the playlist while reading. There’s plenty of atmosphere here, but the book is more explosive than atmospheric. The violence piles up quickly, and so do the bodies and the missing people. This was such a fun read. I can’t talk much about what happens, because the fun is in discovering for yourself how a missing woman, a plane crash, and a car […]

Starts strong, fizzles in the middle

The Odds of Getting Even by Amanda Sellet

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Amanda Sellet’s The Odds of Getting Even was entertaining and frustrating in equal measure. The first few chapters made me laugh and then in the middle of the book, all the tension fizzled. The epilogue was a nice return to the beginning, so I’ll pick up more of Sellet’s books, but this one was a disappointment. Jean is an artist, but to make money, she’s a concierge at a stuffy resort in Hawaii. She is a madcap adventure waiting for an opportunity. Opportunity arrives when she […]



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