Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Who Killed Annabelle Cartwright? Or, Surrounded by Narcissists.

The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen

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The media is calling it the Crime of the Decade – Georgia Cartwright, the glamorous eldest daughter of a wealthy South Carolina family, has been accused of murdering her younger sister. Whether it was jealousy – Annabelle was the biological daughter, while Georgia was adopted – or pure insanity is up for debate. But just to be safe, Georgia is being kept in the locked ward of a psychiatric facility while she awaits her trial. Mandy is reading about the crime in the news when […]

Quest for courage

Hupo and the Wonder Thief by Billy Partridge

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I enjoyed the book Hupo and the Wonder Thief by Billy Partridge. There is something about this dog-like critter (they say they are a dog-rabbit combo) and his quirky personality. Now, to boil it down, he is a lot. And I mean a lot. He might be physically smaller in size, but there is a big amount of wonder that fills him. He loves learning, exploring, being himself and sharing that with others. However, the city he lives in is not the most open to […]

My comfort read

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season 10, Vol. 2 by Jeremy Whitley

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As a reader, especially one that specializes in children’s and young adult reads, I like to think I mix my genres up, or at least my subjects. I know I have been on a graphic novel kick for several years now, but they come in all shapes and sizes and subjects so I can find almost anything I am in the mood for. And ages ago I found a My Little Pony (contemporary) collection of several stories. It was My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic […]

A Cozy Mystery That Will Make You Drool

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutano

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Vera Wong may be an old lady, but that doesn’t mean she’s slowed down. She’s up every morning before the sun rises to take her daily walk and send her grown son a good morning text. (Just to make sure that he’s up and ask whether he has a girlfriend yet.) He doesn’t often text her back, but that’s ok, because Vera has things to do. She owns and operates Vera Wang’s World Famous Teahouse in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown, and has to […]

Honey I Shrunk the Sleepover and found a magical artifact

Forsynthia V02: The Shrink Ray Sleepover by Rachel DiNunzio

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A while back, I found Forsynthia V01: Rise of the Cupcakes  by Rachel DiNunzio in an online reader copy. I was blown away. I thought it was one of the most fun, cute, silly, adorable, graphic novels I had seen. It was “spooky” as we had to fight attacking cupcakes, but it was sweet (not just because of the cupcakes) but because it was funny, clever and the family dynamic was perfect. The sisters get along. The parents are modern and caring (if maybe a […]

“In my shoes, a walking sleep / And my youth I pray to keep”

Heatstroke (2020) by Hazel Barkworth

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Heatstroke (2020) is clever–cleverer than its cover, certainly cleverer than its title. I remember that the review blurbs on the covers of Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects (2006) and Megan Abbott’s Dare Me (2012) signposted how terrifying teenaged girls can be–and this is certainly a thing, the way teenage girls are inscribed with contradictions of power and anxiety, and Heatstroke does deal with that–but I remember thinking, well, it’s actually the mother that is fairly fucking monstrous in Sharp Objects, and parental figures are pretty absent […]



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