Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I am exhausted.

Bunny by Mona Awad

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I watch them tug at him with a fury that no doubt they put into their graduate school applications. An endlessly entitled fury that will drive them toward the shiny pretty things of this world and not stop until they have claimed them. ― Mona Awad, Bunny CBR16 Bingo: Rage I did not finish this book. I enjoy complicated, messy, unlikeable characters. But the only person I could stand was the poet whom everyone ostracized. Maybe that was the point all along. Samantha Mackey (Smackie) […]

“Sometimes it didn’t matter if you broke. You kept going. You weren’t given a choice.” (Bingo)

When a Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

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4.5 stars CBR16 Bingo: Dun Dun (From pretty much the first chapter, where Cordelia is “made obedient” there is a creeping sense of dread all the way through this novel) Cordelia knows her mother isn’t like other mothers. Other mothers can’t take over your limbs and puppet you, or force you to stay still and motionless for hours or days on end. Other mothers permit doors that can be closed in the house and let their daughters have friends. Other mothers don’t have a magical […]

Keep thinking that I’m just a silly old woman. It will make it easier for me to do whatever I’m going to do to stop you

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

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I’m going to confess, I know I’m in for a good time if I pick up a fantasy novel and the protagonist is an older lady with a bit of life experience under the belt. Someone who’s seen some things. One of the very best examples of this is the main character from A Paladin of Souls (Although giving her name might spoil other books in the series), several protagonists in the Divine Cities series, and the of course, T. Kingfisher has made this a […]

This story is “…not (about) my race, not the color of my skin, we’re talking about my economic class, my lack of privilege and my big ole brain.” But it is about race for privilege….and advantage and…. well you know

Chupacabra: Tales Of Blood & Ink by Matthew Medney, Kyle Faehnrich

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Chupacabra: Tales Of Blood & Ink by Matthew Medney, Kyle Faehnrich and editor Steve Orlando is a horror graphic novel for older readers. It has a strong aged 15/16 and up tone, but also reads quickly. The violence is not subtle, but not necessarily gratuitous either. Yet, there are places that sometimes went for the, “Ooooh-kaaay, what was that?” and “WHY was that?” It has a typical graphic novel/comic look. It is dark, crowded, sometimes the action blends in and can’t be easily “read” or […]

Werewolf Pack Dynamics

Full Shift by Jennifer Dugan, Kristen Seaton

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So imagine if you were a female teenage werewolf, who felt like an outsider even among your pack.   And imagine if you happened to think you were making a supernatural connection with your crush, a girl you’ve known since grade four, but it turned out to be a bit of a miscommunication.  And imagine what if your dad had passed away (being a werewolf, does not exempt people from death) and you are trying to deal with that?  On top of all that what if […]

The Navajo Lens

Shutter by Ramona Emerson

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I have always pursued good character-driven crime fiction. Yes, plotting is important and necessary to a good story but as I’ve said many times, I need a reason to care about what’s going on. The less I care about the characters, the less I’ll care about what’s going down. This is why whodunits rarely do it for me: they’re too focused on the mystery to make me care about who killed who. Shutter is not a tightly-plotted novel and that might bother some readers but I was so […]



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