Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

1880s romance and human rights

Renegade Girls by Nora Neus and Julie Robine

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When I started the Nora Neus and Julie Robine graphic novel, Renegade Girls, I was not enjoying it. Things felt too simple, romanticized, not original and terribly slow paced. I already knew the ending. Or so I thought. Granted, there was the obvious ending (if you are paying attention) but things did not take the obvious path to get there. We have a realistic look at the troubles of the factor workers and we see the ugly but it is not gratuitous. In fact, if […]

It’s the end for Haru

Haru Book 3: Fall by Joe Latham

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In volume three of this series, Haru Book 3: Fall, our hero Haru must follow one of the last troupes of mythology and the journey of the hero. Haru is a non-binary blue-colored bird (with a younger sibling, a pig best friend, and a ghost robin mother) that has in volumes one (Spring) and two (Summer), traveled and fought the evil of the land, but in three we must take the trip to the Afterlife to be reborn. Joe Latham’s characters continue the journey started […]

One for Pride, both for romance

Amy's Big Brother by BonHyung Jeong

Carousel Summer by Kathleen Gros

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Amy’s Big Brother by BonHyung Jeong and Carousel Summer by Kathleen Gros are two recent graphic novels I read for the middle school aged (10 to 14) reader. Amy’s Big Brother was read via an online reader copy (though it is currently available) and Carousel Summer was read via a finished copy.  Both stories are similar with their interesting stories of siblings, middle school, and life lessons, but also tackle different things, too. One of those is that while they both have a love interest […]

Gettin’ some lovin’

Young Men in Love: New Romance by Various

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Young Men in Love: New Romance by Anthony Oliveira, Joe Glass, Matt Miner (these two are highlighted as they are the ones in the email that included an online reader link), Luciano Vecchio, Bradley Clayton, Ilias Kyriazis, David Brame, Josh Cornillon and various others, came to me via an email from A Wave Blue World and Diamond Book Distributors. The email itself (which I assume was sent via a mailing list) was from Jesse who has sent other emails for the books they rep. And […]

Calvin and Hobbes or Jackson and Irwin adventures?

Jackson's Wilder Adventures V02 Dentistry and Dreams, by Sarah Davidson

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I found a series awhile back that I thought was one of the best I had read. It was Jackson’s Wilder Adventures by Sarah Davidson. It was clever and unique. A young boy, Jackson, and his Calvin and Hobbesesque Hobbes, called Irwin the Thylacine, were the perfect narrators. Davidson mixed time travel in a Dr. Who manner with fun educational facts. Granted, there is no actual Tardis (and/or fill in your favorite doctor), just an old cardboard box, but the adventures were as fun. We […]

“I am sick of roses, and I am horny for revenge”

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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This review has been a long time in coming. I borrowed Harrow the Ninth on Libby back in February and made it 60 percent of the way through before the app stole it back (one advantage of physical books is that you can keep them way past their due date and just pay them back later, instead of the library yoinking them away through your phone). After two and a half agonizing months on the waiting list, I finally got it back last week and […]



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