Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

great book, you’re probably already halfway to reading it

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

by 7 Comments

First Note: READ THE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS that’s all I have to say for now. Also that there’s less (marginal? Confused-and-not-meant?) transphobia than you might think, read with a clear heart and no armor! Full Review: I’ve had a great little back and forth with llamareadsbooks over my note from above re: the transphobia in this book. The point of discussion is basically around Gracewood (the male lead) and how much he sinks before he starts the well-trod-by-male-leads-in-romances apology tour to prove himself worthy of the female lead, […]

the challenges of an author’s back catalogue

The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles

by 1 Comment

CW: suicides (in the past), suicidal actions/ideation (but it’s made clear that it’s a curse which is making the character feel that way), homophobia, mentions of assault, mentions of incest, magic which saps a character’s life energy, and also some magical manipulation of emotions which I found hard to get behind Bereft of Will Darling, I thought I’d give Charles’ back catalog a perusal. While I really enjoyed this novel, there’s a central premise that I felt it hard to get over. As such, I’ve […]

finale (for now)

Heartstopper Volume 4 by Alice Oseman

by Leave a Comment

CW: quite a few, scroll all the way down here https://aliceoseman.com/extras/conten… To finish up my review of this delightful series, which will be finishing later this year with a fifth and final volume: things have gotten rough but I think the relationship at the core of these volumes (Charlie/Nick) lacks the strength to handle the weighty issues that Oseman is contemplating. I will freely admit that I have a bit of bias around stories that involve 16-17-18 year olds having Big Weighty Decisions, but in this […]

things do take a turn for the worse

Heartstopper Volume 3 by Alice Oseman

by Leave a Comment

CW: homophobia, reference to past transphobia as before, but newly we have eating disorders, reference to past self harm, past bullying As you can tell from the content warnings, things are getting serious and not in a cute “will you be my boyfriend” sort of way. Charlie has deep seated demons that are coming to light, and Nick has his issues as well. Before we get there, though, there’s a fun jaunt to Paris (because this is a UK based school, in case you forget, […]

make sure you queue up this volume after the first

Heartstopper Volume 2 by Alice Oseman

by Leave a Comment

Herein we have the finale of the Charlie/Nick happy times story (spoiler alert: they get together). This takes us through the second part of the TV series [from after the kiss to when Nick comes out to The Queen his mom]. Much has been written about Heartstoppers being part of the “next generation” of mainstream queer stories–in a nutshell, these are stories not about coming out as queer, but about what happens afterwards. There are century if not millennia of stories about heterosexual relationships, with all sorts […]

hop on the heartstoppers is over for now but I’m obsessed train!

Heartstoppers Volume 1 by Alice Oseman

by Leave a Comment

CW: mild homophobia from clearly delineated villain characters, briefly mentioned past transphobia (I think, it might have been in a later edition) Yes, I did read this after watching the Netflix show. If you haven’t, what are you waiting for? I think it’s basically a test for androids to see if you find it adorable or EXTRA adorable. First, a public service announcement: you cannot get just this edition, or you will be bereft as it ends on a cliffhanger (if you’ve watched the show: [it […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo