Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Miss for me, hit for you?

Where Black Stars Rise by Nadia Shammas

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CBR16SweetChallenge #Exciting (excited to read, excited to share with others becuase this needs to be read/known about) The concept of mental health and representation of a not usually talked about community had great potential. However, the execution of Where Black Stars Rise did not work for me. Things were too abstract and messy for my eyes to focus and my “reader eye” lost the flow of things. I was not always sure where I was, who was who and what was what. For the right […]

Stories, food, cats and pride. Oh my!

A Story No One Has Ever Heard Before by Avi Steinberg

Boys Don't Fry by Kimberly Lee

How Mr. Silver Stole the Show  by Kate Klise

Pride: A Seek-and-Find Celebration: Adventure Through the History of the Queer Community by Diego Blanco

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CBR16SweetBooks #Binge Picture book binging is always a favorite activity of mine. I sat down at lunch one day and read four picture books from online reader copies. A Story No One Has Ever Heard Before by Avi Steinberg; Boys Don’t Fry by Kimberly Lee and illustrated by Charlene Chua; How Mr. Silver Stole the Show by Kate Klise and M. Sarah Klise on the illustrations and finally Pride: A Seek-and-Find Celebration: Adventure Through the History of the Queer Community illustrated by Diego Blanco, published by Epic Ink Books (due in mid/late April 2024). Well, I skimmed Pride and this is […]

Becoming a teenager are confusing but this is a nice start to help sorting things out

Cross My Heart and Never Lie  by Nora Dasnes 

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Ages ago I asked for a reader copy of Cross My Heart and Never Lie and was lucky enough to receive a copy.  However, in the crazy that is my life, I finally found time to read it, but like any book this was the right time. It turned into an interesting book that is in a diary format, which is familiar, as is the theme of growing up, coming of age and the stages we find ourselves in, in comparison to our friends, but it is all done in […]

Coffee, romance, and visions

Moonstruck, Vol. 1: Magic to Brew by Grace Ellis

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I was not “jumping up and down” over the graphic novel Moonstruck, Vol. 1: Magic to Brew, but it was interesting enough and I needed to keep moving through it. However, I either missed a panel or two, or some plot parts here and there, but the flow was not totally even, as there were a few bumps in continuity for me. However, there was the fun, colorful art (the bull character has really nice hair, the centaur is a hoot when they have something […]

Pirate Gal meets Damsel in a Beauty and Beast remake

The Pirate and the Porcelain Girl  by Emily Riesbeck and Nora J. Barna

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The Pirate and the Porcelain Girl by Emily Riesbeck and Nora J. Barna is a mixture of the novel Legends & Lattes by Baldree, a bit of Vox Machina, a smidgen of Guardians of the Galaxy (think Yondu) and “that other thing I can’t remember off the top of my head.”  There are mature themes (pirates, GLBTQ romance, disowning by family, religion, revenge), but the humor and a little mystery are combined to take the edge off of things. This story is familiar, as it is a “be […]

Book it to the library or your local indie bookstore

Nick and Charlie: A Heartstopper Novella by Alice Oseman

Class Act: A Graphic Novel by Jerry Craft

Squished: A Graphic Novel by Megan Wagner Lloyd

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What happens when you read three books (one young adult novella and two middle reader graphic novels) but none of them inspire you to write large expansive reviews about them? You combine them into one fun package. Now, that is not to say these books are not good, in fact they are delightful. One is a continuation of a beloved graphic novel series, Heartstopper by Oseman. In fact, so beloved it’s been adapted to the small screen. The other two are familiar themed, but fresh […]



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