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.

 

Inside A Serial Killer’s Fantastically Disturbing Life

Blood on Snow by Jo Nesbo

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I saw the person with a gun first and I felt obligated to read the blurb. As expected, forbidden fantasies between the hire-to-kill Olav and his boss’s wife, Corina, who – WTF? – Olav has been sent to kill for having an intimate affair with her stepson. This story was translated by Neil Smith from Norwegian to English. Buckle up because this plot is wild! SPOILERS AHEAD Olav Johansen is our philosophical main character. He’s a bit of an odd duck, with layers of personality […]

“So if you don’t mind, I need your stupid brain and maybe a reassuring glasses cleaning or two.”

Slayers: A Buffyverse Story by Amber Benson

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of my favorite shows of all time. Full stop. So I was immediately curious about this new spin on an old favorite, capitalizing on our cultural zeitgeist for multiverse properties. Why Buffy? Why not! When I learned that the series was written by Amber Benson, i.e., the actress who played fan favorite Tara? Take my money, Audible. And they did. I saw a three-star review of this story that started with “I never watched Buffy but…” Let me go ahead […]

“I think you’ll find ‘in heat’ only applies to dogs. De Niro is a man, an acting man”

The Clementine Complex by Bob Mortimer

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Hey y’all long-time-no-see! I’ve missed this so! Much like our trusty narrator Gary, I also script entire conversations with local squirrels when I walk through town. I have a regular rodent repartee while walking to the bookstore (I KNOW!) every day.  Unlike Gary, I have not been pulled into a conspiracy involving novelty print socks, a shady detective agency, an elderly hacker, and a corn-cob shaped USB dongle. This certainly isn’t a complaint; I am quite happy in my lane at the moment and I […]

Ending the year with a cozy fantasy prequel

Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree

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Last Winter Solstice, at our family book exchange, I received Legends and Lattes and adored everything about it!  Fortunately the follow-up book came out in time for my family to get it for me this year.  Bookshops and Bonedust is a prequel to Legends and Lattes and delivers an equally excellent story. When it was announced that Bookshops and Bonedust would be a prequel, I assumed that it would be about when Viv discovers coffee.  I was pleasantly surprised that this is not that book.  In Legends and Lattes, […]

perhaps this will be the year of expanded worlds both IRL and fictional (yes, I mean maybe I’ll finally get around to the Cosmere)

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson

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Was just speaking to my friend (and soon to be author!!!) about Sanderson–I’ve given her a copy of The Final Empire, knowing that I myself took ages (and two reads) to actually read it. Despite the fact that I’m a casual Cosmere reader at best (as in, I’ve only read the Mistborn books + the various secret projects #1-3), there was so much I could say to recommend him to her. Do you want an author who’s learned and grown over time, becoming more progressive and […]

Bittersweet Coming of Age Manga

The Golden Sheep Vol. 1-3 by Kaori Ozaki

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Reading this was a good way to start the new year. The Golden Sheep is a three volume series that follows Tsugu as she returns to her childhood town after her parents get divorced. She is excited to reunite with her three childhood friends and get back to their previous closeness. However, while she’s been away dynamics have shifted and her reappearance riles things up. Tsugu expects things to have remained the same, but the friendship between the two boys (Yuushin and Sora) has turned […]



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