Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

This book is like reading an entertaining action movie

The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold by Ally Carter

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4.5 stars Thank you to Avon and Netgalley for this ARC. My opinions are my own. Official plot summary: Ten years ago, they joined the CIA. Six years ago, he left the game. Five years ago, they fell in love. One year ago, she ran out into the cold with absolutely no intention of ever coming back. And two minutes ago, they woke up, bloody and bruised and handcuffed together in the dark. They don’t know where they are. They don’t know how they got […]

“Did you miss me?” His voice sounded like hot tea with lots of sugar. “Yes. But I can reload and try again.”

The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold by Ally Carter

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You know the meme, “some men will literally (fill in the blank) instead of going to therapy”? That’s Alex. Alex would rather cut herself off from everyone and everything to become a spy and spend years in deep cover than go to therapy. And you know I love her for it. She is competent and a mess. If you read The Blonde Identity (and you should read it if you haven’t), you know that Alex’s identical twin sister, Zoe, had no idea Alex was an operative […]

If Matt Damon Weren’t Actually a Spy

The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter

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Bingo Square: Europe. (Bingo with History; Bodies, Bodies; Adulthood; Edibles) A woman wakes up in the middle of the night in Paris with no memory of who she is. But people are trying to kill her and by process of elimination she figures she’s a spy. But her attempts to fight back don’t go that well, maybe her muscle memory isn’t all that? Then she meets Mr. Hot Guy who fills her in. She’s actually the identical twin sister of a spy who’s gone rogue, […]

Fun world, solid structure and writing, stop after two “Whys”

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter

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When you’re a student at a school for spies, which is disguised as a tony all-girls academy, and by the way your mom is the headmistress … falling for a townie is a little tough. I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You is the first in a series about the students at Gallagher Academy — the Gallagher Girls. I’m not sure if all the books in the series focus on the same protagonist (Cammie, the daughter of the headmistress), but […]

“The door opens with a rusted jingle, and an animatronic Santa insults my moral virtue three times. Ho, ho, ho.”

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I definitely borrowed this book based solely on the presence of a short story by Rainbow Rowell, but I’ve read books by some of these other authors, too — David Levithan and Gayle Forman (Forman’s story in this was one of my favorites). And I know Holly Black’s name (The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, which I will eventually get around to reading, I promise!). Basically, if you like young adult fiction, you’ve probably read at least one of these authors. And you should probably read this, […]

Just writing this makes me want to go and listen to Miss Piggy singing “Five Gold Rings….ba-dum-dum-dum”

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Usually, I review my 52 books and then take a break for the rest of the year. And after this review, I plan to do so. But since this is a holiday-themed book, I figured I would write something up. My True Love Gave to Me is a book of short stories, all Christmas themed. The stories are written by an all-star team of YA champions: Holly Black, Ally Carter, Matt de la Pena, Gayle Forman, Jenny Han, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Myra McEntire, Rainbow […]



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