Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About esme

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Loves to read. Loves to travel. Doesn't get to do either enough.

esme's Reviews:

She had been meant to die, yet she’d cut her way out of that fate and back to the world she loved.

The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey

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With this review, I will finish my 1/4 CBR, so I am feeling very proud right now! I read The Widows of Malabar Hill some time ago – I mentioned sitting by the side of a lake in northern North Dakota in a previous review, and that is where I read this, as well. However, I had read quite a bit by Sujata Massey before – she had a series about a biracial detective, Rei Shimura, which often featured travel to Japan, and had pretty […]

Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

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I read this book earlier this year as I sat by a lake in northern North Dakota. Now it is gray and chilly here in Memphis, but I still have the flavor of reading Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman, in my mind – sun setting late, a few leisurely boats motoring by, and a hummingbird hitting the nectar for the last time. Seraphina is a ungainly young woman living in the kingdom of Goredd. She has a knack for music and mathematics and lurking at the […]

I can see a better time When all our dreams come true

The Stonekeeper's Curse by Kazu Kibuishi

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Amazingly, I only discovered that I could download graphic novels to my library app a few weeks ago, and my son and I have been tearing through some pretty good ones since then. He mentioned that they read the first book in the Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi, The Stonekeeper, at school, so we sought the second one. Thus, I went into reading this book with an 8 year old’s synopsis of the first book. Briefly, Emily has inherited a stone amulet that confers power, […]

Got brass in pocket Got bottle I’m gonna use it Intention I feel inventive

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

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Wow, that was a tremendous letdown. I really ate up the first, say, third, of the City of Brass, and then slowly watched the wheels come off. The premise is terrific. Nahri is a conwoman and healer living in Cairo and scraping by because of her skill at picking up languages and her remarkable healing (both herself and others) prowess. Little bits of backstory emerge in a fairly organic way: she is an orphan who grew up on the streets, she is ‘odd’ in some way […]

My revenge is just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side.

Blood Sisters: Vampire Stories by Women by Paula Guran, editor

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As a reminder, I was really interested in reading vampire fiction before Halloween, and this book of short stories, cobbled together by Paula Guran, was a really wonderful sampler. There are about 25 stories ranging in eras from the early 1600s with Catherine of Aragon and Henry VII, vampire slayers, to a dystopian future where teenagers decide to ‘just do it’ and become vampires to rush the inevitable. The anthology is organized by era and showcases a wide variety of world-building concepts, tones, geographies, and […]

Thank you so much Dome’Loki

by 6 Comments

Last week had some real ‘kick-in-the-teeth’ moments, so I was so thrilled to have a glorious start to my Monday. First, I got my Book Exchange ’21 book from Dome’Loki, and it looks fantastic! I haven’t read it, the cover is gorgeous, I think Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a terrific story teller, and I have something new to curl up with tonight! Thank you thank you thank you, and have a happy, relaxing holiday, Dome’Loki. In addition, I got a gorgeous holiday card from Katie who […]



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