Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Whichever story you believe, my mother, Chang’e, became immortal. As did I.”

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

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A child of the Moon Goddess, and an immortal herself,  Xingyin grows up on the moon, with just her mother & their family servant/long time companion. For the most part, the three of them are happy, if isolated. Xingyin senses a grief in her mother that she can’t quite explain, and within herself she feels a growing sense to reach out … for something more. She can’t label it, and her mother has warned her against reaching for it, but the pull towards that other […]

But They Made Up Their Minds, If All Roads were Blind, They Wouldn’t Give Up Till They Died

She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper

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Brutal and beautifully written, Jordan Harper’s debut novel, She Rides Shotgun, hooked me before the end of the first chapter and was hard to put down even as I wanted to look away.  The body count is high but so was my investment in the main characters, eleven-year-old Polly McCluskey and her ex-con father, Nate. When Nate shows up at Polly’s school, Polly knows something is off because she thought her dad was still in prison.  What she doesn’t know is that her mom and […]

Reconstruction Reimagined

The Conductors by Nicole Glover

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I remember reading something about Nicole Glover’s novel before it came out and thinking, “That sounds funs.”  It did not disappoint.  The story is set in the Reconstruction of the 1870’s but this is a reimagining of historical events with magic as an important element.  Before the war, Hetty Rhodes, a former slave, was a conductor on the Underground Railroad using magic, smarts, and luck to bring other slaves north to freedom. Now that the Civil War has ended, Hetty and her husband, Benjy, are […]

cbr12bingo – Repeat (and TWO Bingos!)

Luster by Raven Leilani

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Raven Leilani has exploded into the scene like the chestburster in Alien. Fully-formed, unapologetic, covered in blood, and completely in control while annihilating the guts of a mediocre man. Luster has been racking up well-deserved accolades, and I truly cannot wait to see what she does next- although I am relieved that this is her debut, and there isn’t a back catalog waiting to destroy me hiding just out of view. Not only is her work fantastic, but it also allows me to knock two “bingos” (Money, […]

Almost right, but not quite…

Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis

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Axiom’s End is the debut novel of one of my favourite YouTube video essayists, Lindsay Ellis. Ellis is known for her retrospective analyses of classic Disney movies, her undying passion for Phantom of the Opera, and her obsession with dissecting the Transformers movies. She’s full of quips, insights, and feminist musings. I am a big fan of hers. But, as with Roxanne Gay’s ‘Bad Feminist’, my love of the author did not translate to love of the book. Axiom’s End, taking place in the year […]

I Don’t Care What Anyone Says, This Is Not a Romantic Comedy

You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle

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CBR 12 Bingo: Debut I’m still on my kick of wanting to read witty, contemporary romance, but honestly I’m starting to wonder if I have the same definition of “witty” or “funny” as other people. Just like The Hating Game and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, reviewers describe Sarah Hogle’s debut novel You Deserve Each Other as witty, funny, laugh-out-loud, etc. The thing is, witty banter and teasing, or even teasing that goes a little too far, are very different from being mean, and Naomi […]



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