Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Save the world and work the family food truck

 Mabuhay! A Graphic Novel by Zachary Sterling

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We know the surface story, but there are several fun twists and turns in Mabuhay! A Graphic Novel.  What I mean is, we know sibling issues, how as kids our parents are always embarrassing us, that we are trying to make friends while dealing with bullies and trying to fit in. And one will not be able to do that when your parents own a food truck called The Beautiful Pig and you are in the smelly pig mascot costume. Or if  your kid sister is just […]

The Hellmouth May/May Not Be Located in Kentucky Thanks to Miner Barons

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

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Let’s get it out of the way for the CBR Bingo this is row 2, column 1: Dwelling. My rating on Storygraph is 3.5 and we don’t have have decimals and fraction ratings here, but this isn’t something I’d rate a 4. In that case, I’m CBR rating it a 3. I tagged Starling House #StrangerThings and I also tagged it #GothicRomance and #MiningCountry and, in sum, that’s how I’d describe the genre and even plot of this book. This is one I wasn’t sure I’d stick […]

“The pit was full of bones and her hands were full of wires”

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

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4.5 stars #CBR15 Passport Challenge: Books I already own CBR15 Bingo: Violence 15-word-review: Princess Marra has to complete three impossible tasks to kill her brother-in-law. A quest follows. Longer review: Marra, the youngest princess in a small, rather insignificant kingdom, who has spent half of her life in a convent and so is almost, but very significantly not, a nun, has been set three impossible tasks by a dust-wife (a magic-wielding woman who can communicate with the dead). She must spin thread out of nettles […]

Pregnancy Blues

Beware the Woman by Megan Abbott

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First and foremost: if pregnancy and/or pregnancy loss triggers you in any way, give this one a hard pass. The best thing that can be said about Beware the Woman — another great tale from the great Megan Abbott — is that you can easily classify it in multiple genres. Domestic suspense, noir, even horror. This is definitely a book about body horror and the horror of women living under the shadow of patriarchal violence. It is so many things but most of all, it’s a helluva […]

Vampires as in Monsters and Vampires as in Monsters-But-Anglos

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Canas*

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*Note: My alt key and other shortcuts for the “enye” tilde over the “n” of the author’s name is not functioning but her name is Isabel Canas pronounced “Can-yas”. This is the first time I’ve been a person to review a book for the first time on Canonball Read break out the champagne. Vampires of El Norte is an upcoming title from Isabel Canas* and it looks like this is her lane. It’s a great lane. Historical fiction with horror elements – if not fully […]

A Woman is a Mule, or “What’s in that trunk, Adelaide?”, or a Novel of Second Chances

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

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I met Victor LaValle at a literary fest a few years ago. While handing him a copy of The Changeling, which was his latest novel at the time and the book I had just finished reading, I said to him, “I feel like I’m the person you’re writing these books for. You’re writing these books for me.” And I meant it then and I mean it now. There’s a point at which LaValle started writing the books he knew he was meant to write (he has […]



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