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.

 

“Zahra and I were complete; we were the sun and the wind, the sky and the earth, life and death, above the world and untouchable.”

The Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee

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I was a big fan of Fonda Lee’s Green Bone Saga, so when I stumbled on this novella, I was thrilled! In the sprawling Green Bone Saga, Lee crafted a dynasty in which 10s of key actors loved and hated and fought and died over several countries and thousands of pages. In The Untethered Sky, Lee narrows the scope to a single girl and her bird – well, never her bird, but the bird that she tends. I didn’t read the blurb on this book, […]

“What I did know was that I had hit upon a truth of womanhood; however blameless a life we led, the passions and the greed of men could bring us to ruin, and there was nothing we could do.”

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

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I’ve had a run of bad luck the past few years where the first book I pick to read ends up, at worst, pretty terrible, and at best, readable but not enjoyable. Unfortunately, Ariadne by Jennifer Saint falls into the latter. Since I spent a lot of 2023 reading and rereading Greek Mythological retellings (thank you Natalie Haynes and Madeline Miller among others), I honestly thought this would be a shoo-in as an easy read, my return to CBR, and jump starting my reading for […]

A Journey of Survival and Self-Discovery With A Complex Character

The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem

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This is not a hero’s story. Author Sara Hashem says in a video that Sylvia is going to be a divisive character because she makes terrible choices, but I’m not sure I agree with that. She makes human choices. She makes selfish choices informed by her trauma. Her choices aren’t that of a hero but that of someone trying to survive. No, I didn’t always like her choices and how at times they convey a lack of empathy or connection to others, but I also […]

Freaky, Funny, and Frustrating (In a Good Way)

Parasol Against the Axe by Helen Oyeyemi

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Every time I think that I may have Helen Oyeyemi figured out she hits me with another blast of wild magic. She often deals in the inner workings of fairy tales, but this time she has taken on a fairy tale of a city: Prague. We’ve all heard of the (super played out trope) of “New York City IS a character!”, but Prague is in charge here. Prague may be driving the theoretical bus, but Thea, Hero, and a cast of bizarre folks including a […]

Napoleonic Europe Weren’t No Fairy Tale

The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth

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The Wild Girl is a fictionalized narrative of the life-long relationship between Dortchen Wild and the Brothers Grimm.  Kate Forsyth has pieced together her version of events from the actual documents of the Grimms and the Wilds, filling in the blanks with inspiration from the Brothers Grimm collection of fairy tales.  We know that the Wilds and the Grimms were neighbors, that Dortchen was the source for many of the Grimm’s most famous fairy tales, and that she and Wilhelm married, but unconventionally late in their […]

Fun & Delightful Black Sapphic Romance

A Little Kissing Between Friends by Chencia C. Higgins

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I feel like I’ve been waiting for this book forever, so as soon as I got approved for an arc I had to immediately jump in. And I am so glad I did! I’ve loved Chencia’s books since I read Wolves of West Texas, and seeing her story-telling grow and develop is just amazing. A Little Kissing Between Friends is such a delight of a book and had me laughing constantly. The friendship between Jucee and Cyn is so wonderful, and I also love how […]



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