Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Featured Review Archive

These reviews, which were promoted in CBR social media, on our homepage, and in Pajiba Love, appear below by review publication date, not by date featured.

 

‘Hill House is vile, it is diseased’: People may be haunted, but Hill House being the way it is probably didn’t help

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

by 7 Comments

“Fear and guilt are sisters” — this simple declaration comes mid-way through Haunting of Hill House as Eleanor and Theodora decide to go wandering out in the middle of the night. Author Shirley Jackson appears at first glance to be portraying both women as either emotion, as they are locked in a sort of childish standoff, so fixated on remaining engaged in their emotions that they don’t seem to notice that they were traipsing out of Hill House at night — at night! — into […]

A warm squishy hug!

Nav’s Foolproof Guide to Falling in Love by Jessica Lewis

by 1 Comment

[Nav’s Foolproof Guide releases April 29, 2025] I’ve been following Jessica Lewis’ books since her debut, and I was so excited to see what she’d do with a romance. Suffice to say I was not disappointed! Nav’s Foolproof Guide to Falling in Love feels like a warm squishy hug and builds the tension between Nav and Gia so wonderfully. Nav doesn’t believe in love, especially not anything lasting after her mom left “for space” three years earlier, but her best friend Hallie loves to fall […]

“Never be afraid to be honest and stand up for what is right…. Just remember to balance your courage with wisdom.”

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M Draper

by 2 Comments

Stella by Starlight is a work of youth lit by Sharon M Draper, who also wrote Out of My Mind (now a Disney+ movie). Draper has a knack for writing from the perspective of young girls on the outside. In Out of My Mind, the main character has a disability that affects her mobility and her ability to speak, but it doesn’t stop her from pushing forward for herself and her community. In Stella by Starlight, Stella is a Black 5th grader in rural 1932 […]

Where’s The Abyss When You Need It?

Murder on Canvas by Aaron Ben-Shahar

by 5 Comments

Normally, I like reading. Curling up with a book and a strong cup of tea is how I like to end my days usually. Reading makes me happy. This book, however, made me regret not only learning how to read, but that there are light sources in the world that I can read by. My mother once hurled a book across a room she was so disgusted by it; I want to hurl this one into the sun, a black hole, or the abyss, whichever […]

I Mean Sure, But Also No

The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins

by 38 Comments

Best for: No one. Seriously. The concept – the very very basic, simple, concept, is something I think many people could find helpful. But the other 299 pages of this 300 page book don’t make up for it. In a nutshell: Professional self-help writer Mel Robbins claims to have discovered a concept that her daughter is responsible for specifically (and that various philosophical and religious groups have been pitching for centuries) and then spends a lot of time providing some okay and some awful examples […]

Injured In A Scrimmage | Jean Moreau and The Sunshine Court

The Sunshine Court by Nora Sakavic

by 1 Comment

I read the ‘All For The Game’ series at the end of 2024, and instantly became captivated by the world within. Messy, full of gaping plot holes, and in some parts entirely nonsensical, and yet you cannot look away. Or stop thinking about it. Or stop loving the characters and their love for each other. The Sunshine Court – the first book in a second trilogy – is more polished and thought-out, but loses none of the charm and dramatics that make ‘All For The […]



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