Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

It’s Important to Have the Occasional Existential Crisis About Trust. Probably.

A Trial of Sorcerers by Elise Kova

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On it’s face, Trial of Sorcerers is basically just about what happens when you send the various elemental benders from Avatar: The Last Airbender through the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Which is fun! But actually a vehicle for a VERY different story. Because inside of the framing plot device, Trial of Sorcerers is fundamentally a story about trust. Our core is this: Years ago, a disastrous Carrie-style incident caused our heroine to lose control of her magic and kill someone. It was an accident. It was still manslaughter. […]

“There has never been a moment when I didn’t notice you. I can’t stop noticing you – and I should.”

Shucked by Kate Canterbary

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4.5 stars Sunny DuJardin is just about to open a vegan cafe in her hometown of Friendship, Rhode Island, but keeps butting heads with the man who tormented her in much of her adolescence and early teenage years. Beckett Loew has had to take a leave of absence from his high-powered business job in Singapore to return to Friendship to try to figure out the total mess his flakey parents have made with the family’s oyster restaurant. His father and many of the senior management […]

Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?

Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by BROM

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Connecticut, 1666. An ancient spirit is awoken in the darkness of the wood, fed by blood and the prayers of the wild spirits name him Father and Slayer. They lure a clumsy farmer into a cave to feed him to the spirit, making young Abitha a widow. Abitha already doesn’t fit into the Puritan community with her outspoken ways and questioning of the rules. Having grown up in London, Abitha was sold by her drunken father and married off to a stranger, who thankfully turns […]

“We never thought of ourselves as witches….For this was a word invented by men, a word that brings power to those who speak it, not those it describes.”

Weyward: A Novel by Emilia Hart

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Weyward is a novel about three women in three different time periods but from the same family line — the Weyward women. It is a story of women who don’t fit, who are “wayward,” and as such are feared and abused. Yet this is also about women who find their strength in that which sets them apart and who learn to love and empower themselves as a result. There are some supernatural elements to this story, and while I think that adding the supernatural to […]

Beautiful book whether you’re a baking newbie or a pro

What’s For Dessert: Simple Recipes for Dessert People by Claire Saffitz

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Cbr15bingo Guide, Bingo BLACKOUT Last year I reviewed Claire Saffitz’s first cookbook Dessert Person, giving it two thumbs up. Her second collection, What’s For Dessert, is another great collection of recipes organized in a way that is super helpful to the baker, whether novice or pro. As I pointed out in that earlier review, I am not exactly handy in the kitchen but I do like baking. The biggest obstacle I run in to is that half of my household is gluten/casein/soy free, which can […]

A fun read in the run-up to Halloween

The Ex-Hex by Erin Stirling

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Heartbroken after discovering that the gorgeous young man she’d spent all summer with may in fact have a “betrothed” back in Wales, Vivienne “Vivi” Jones gets very drunk and weepy and she and her cousin light some candles and throw together a curse, to make Vivi feel better. They think nothing of it, until nine years later, when Rhys Penhallow, Vivi’s ex, and descendant of Graves Glen’s founding father returns to charge the ley lines. Suddenly there are murderous plastic toy skulls, a talking cat, […]



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