Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Kind of scary if you think too much about it

Life Ever After by Carla Grauls

by Leave a Comment

Life Ever After By Carla Grauls   I picked this up for free at some point as an Audible Original, and I thought it would work for the Machinery Bingo square.  It’s short, less than 2 hours, and I wanted to “get it over with” to move on to other things.  At first, I thought it was all going to be some spoken word commentary on society or something like that.  The opening does feel very spoken word.  But then we move into the main […]

How others see you and how you see yourself can be very different

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

by Leave a Comment

Stargirl Jerry Spinelli   I didn’t read Jerry Spinielli growing up, which I guess might seem odd because he was writing books for my age group.  I read one of his middle grade books a few years ago, but this was the first one aimed at teens.  I’d heard about it, and there’s a movie now, so I figured I would give it a shot.   I’m not sure when this book is supposed to take place.  We know where, the fictional town of Mica, […]

Tech-free? Either a nightmare or a dream!

Unplugged by Gordon Korman

by 1 Comment

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

by Leave a Comment

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 […]

I read the first book in this series back in 2012

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner

Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner

Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

by Leave a Comment

CBR13 Bingo: Old Series (the first book in the series came out in 1996. The first book in this review came out in 2010 – it’s taken a long time for Whalen Turner to complete it) A Conspiracy of Kings Rating: 3.5 stars Sophos, the heir to Sounis, is rusticating with his mother and sisters, having been sent away from his uncle’s court for generally being considered a disappointment. He keeps ignoring his tutors and weapons training, which turns out to be a problem when […]

My general feelings for this book can be summed up as UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Red Mars (Mars Trilogy, #1) by Kim Stanley Robinson

by Leave a Comment

I think I am allergic to Kim Stanley Robinson. Loved the idea behind this book, extremely disliked the execution. I tried reading 2312 years back, and similarly, any cool tingly science feelings I got from that book (which if I’m remembering right, starts with a moving, mechanized city on Mercury) was completely murdered by the boring as hell characters and lack of emotional through-line. I just remember the boredom with that one, but here I was not only bored but frustrated and annoyed by KSR’s attempt […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo