Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A Well Drawn Fantasy World

A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos

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A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos is the first in a quartet of of fantasy YA novels called The Mirror Visitor Series.  Thankfully, somebody decided this book was good enough to be translated from the French for us American readers. The story is set in a future world where people live on different Arks. Family members on each Ark share a special power. Ophelia lives on Anima and is gifted with the power to travel through mirrors and to “read” objects. This ability allows her […]

So much left unsaid

Somewhere in France: A Novel of the Great War by Jennifer Robson

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Historical fiction is one of my “go-to’s” when I need something to read, and fiction about WWI is usually grim but compelling. Pat Barker’s Regeneration Trilogy is brilliant, as is the classic All Quiet on the Western Front. WWI lit and films bring home the terrifying reality of trench warfare and its horrifying psychological impact on soldiers who endured it. Somewhere in France looked interesting to me because it centers on the experiences of a young woman, an ambulance driver at the front. Author Jennifer […]

“Sometimes I just feel left behind. Like I have no story worth telling.”

Bloom Where You're Planted by Darby Baham

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First off, this isn’t at all what you’d expect from a category romance. It’s much more fiction with strong romantic elements, as a good chunk of the book is Jenn figuring out the rest of her life. With that being said, it’s a thoughtful and sweet book about figuring out what you really want from life. While this is the second book in a series, I read it as a standalone. On the surface, Jenn has it all: a great group of friends, a long-term […]

Longing for the sound of an electric guitar

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

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I finally put this on my reading list after one of the CBR13 happy hours. Someone mentioned that Emily St. John Mandel had a new book coming out that they were looking forward to, and somehow I pulled that thread and made my way back to Station Eleven. I had been aware of it before that conversation, yet the blurb had never struck my fancy, likely because I have a very complicated relationship with dystopian fiction. Frankly, and as has been noted on this site […]

In this life, you just never know what’s around the bend, be it a dead man or your next date.

The Maid by Nita Prose

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A lot of folks raved about this book. Not trying to sound all contrary, but I do not understand what the appeal is here. I am vexed. The plot is pretty easily summarized. Molly, a neuroatypical woman, was abandoned by her mother who suffered from drug addiction. She is raised by her grandmother and follows in her footsteps, when she graduates from high school, and becomes a maid. Extremely disciplined and focused on cleanliness, Molly is perfectly cut out for her occupation at a high […]

Strangers with shared memories.

We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange

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My book club’s selections tend to skew towards generational turmoil and great cover art. This method has yielded some good ones and some clunkers. This one? Well, it falls somewhere in the middle. The Brennans are an upper middle class family living in a commuter town north of New York City. Both the mother and father are Irish immigrants who carved out a suburban white picket fence life for their four children: Denny the popular athlete, Jackie the senstive artist screw up, Sunday the dependable […]



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