Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I really wanted to like this one; I really, really tried.

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow

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It’s 1893, and the witchways are gone from the world. There is no more big magic: no more calling of storms, no curing of plagues, no blessings on fields and pastures. But a little magic still exits. Women still charm the wrinkles out of shits, bewitch bread from burning in the oven, or enchant a needle to be threaded on the first attempt.  Though she has been living with just her abusive father for the last several years, Juniper Eastwood, a wild and ferocious independent […]

Two sisters, one folklore and a sea monster

The Daughters of Ys by M.T. Anderson

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I love M.T. Anderson and First Second books. However, there was something “off” about this graphic novel by Anderson, The Daughters of Ys. I am not sure if it was because I had such high hopes, or if the story was not organized, or that it was a folktale that I was unfamiliar with, but there were holes in it for me. I do like the idea of this folktale. The start of the tale is a flashback. There is a king who almost did […]

This could have been so much better…

Pay the Piper by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple

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Callie is a reporter for her school newspaper, and has landed a backstage pass to interview the band that’s playing in town, Brass Rat.  This is a big deal for Callie, who is only 14 and has wildly over-protective parents, which is strange given the names they saddled their children with.  These paranoid adults have given their children names that guarantee they will have difficulties in life.  I present to you: Marsepolus, Calcephony, and Nickelodeon.  In an era with cell phones, they named their youngest […]

Vocab bonus: this book taught me the fun word ‘graunched’

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

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Non-review babbling: Back in the Before Times, my husband and I made friends with a retired couple who were regulars at a breakfast place we loved. You know how geek calls to geek, so our passing hellos and smiles quickly grew into book recommendations and story swapping and lots and lots of coffee. They’re delightful, and I miss breakfasts out and socializing and finding new readers/friends. SIGH. Anyway, this was a book that would never have made it on my radar, but my breakfast buddy […]

Frozen Meets Fiddler on the Roof

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This was a highly entertaining mashup, drawing from several familiar sources, but with very much its own unique story to tell.  The fairy tale influences range from The Snow Queen to Rumpelstiltskin but with the addition of Tsarist Russia’s history with its Jewish population tossed in too.  But the core of the story has to do with three very different women who are each unwillingly matched up with a husband who is repulsive to them, and the means they each take to solve their dilemma. […]

Dreamy but Derivative (also CANNONBALL!)

And I Do Not Forgive You: Stories & Other Revenges by Amber Sparks

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These stories have been told before. Most are fairly clever fairy tales retold, some are veiled retellings of myth and history, and a few are sparkling new. They have been told before in the sense that they are retellings, but they have also been told before in the sense that other authors have done these before, and done them better. It was difficult to find the author’s voice; reading the collection felt less like one author’s work and more like an anthology of the who’s […]



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