Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About narfna

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Good evening, everyone. I'm Leslie Monster, and this is Nightline. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: narfna's Quick Questions interview.)

narfna's Reviews:

“The magic is not in the ceremony of pouring the tea or the sharing of the cup. It is in the connection, the brief joining of souls. The tea leaves are a channel, the ingredients the signposts.”

A Magic Steeped in Poison (The Book of Tea, #1) by Judy I. Lin

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A Magic Steeped in Poison is a YA fantasy that follows Ning, who is an apprentice teamaker (shennong-shi) in a world where teamaking is magic. She was an apprentice to her mother, but one day accidentally brews the tea that poisons and kills her. Her sister did not die, but is gravely ill and fading fast. Amidst a rash of poisonings across the country, and Ning’s frantic attempts to cure her sister, the government announces that they are looking for the greatest shennong-shi in the […]

I can’t think of a title for this review.

Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron

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This was fine. I don’t have much to say about it. I never really formed an emotional attachment to the characters, but it was a good enough time while reading. This is a speculative romance where the main character (Isla, just had to look it up) has recently relocated to St. Louis from Chicago after the death of her mother, and she starts getting text messages from a man who says he is her husband . . . from the future. DUN DUN DUN. Only, […]

I have a mental block about this book and it defeated me.

Miss Wonderful (The Carsington Brothers, #1) by Loretta Chase

by 2 Comments

I first tried to read this book several years back on e-book, which I had checked out from the library. I had it out for months and never got past a third of the way through. I resigned myself to trying again later. Later came in March of this year because I wanted to get back into Loretta Chase, and this book was standing in my way. I got my hands on a physical copy and commenced reading. I started from the beginning, and things […]

An extremely thought provoking read, with an excellent audiobook.

Who Gets Believed? When the Truth Isn't Enough by Dina Nayeri

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Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audio ARC. It hasn’t affected the content of my review. This is a book that many, many people right now could benefit from reading and thinking very hard about, and then reflecting extra super hard about their life choices. (I am not excluded from this!) I clicked “Request” on NetGalley for this one on an impulse, and I’m glad I did. The topic seemed interesting and relevant, and that turned out to very much be the case. […]

Come for Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace, stay for PAN (Practical Automaton Number One).

My Imaginary Mary (Mary, #2) by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton & Jodi Meadows

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Still not as good as the first Lady Janie book. A lot of this made no sense, and anachronisms were flying around willy-nilly, but I had a good time. My Imaginary Mary is what you get when you mix light fantasy (there are fairies! and Mary Godwin (Shelley) is one! (different kind of fairy than you’d expect)), alternate history (what if Mary met Ada Lovelace?), and a truly ridiculous sensibility (they invent the name Peter Pan for some reason?) with egregious unconcern for historical accuracy. […]

Taking the easy joke here, this book made me want to die inside.

Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg

by 2 Comments

I had a hard time deciding between one and two star rating for Dying Inside, as it was well written and the literary voice was engaging. But I found this to be vile. A sexist, racist, masturbatory exploration of a really cool concept. Dude took the laziest option and tried to be profound with it. Ick. Thanks a lot, TBR Jar! Anyway, as you can see, I ended up at 1.5 stars rounded up, because I am willing to extend some leeway for all the positive […]



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