Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Lesbians in Seattle, an entire genre I think

Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur

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There are a couple of tropes that I just…cannot with, and this one unfortunately falls squarely within one of them: the very very short “relationship” / “hooking up” from ages ago that neither character has ever forgotten. It seems lazy, in my mind, because most of the time it feels like the author wants the emotional fallout of a long relationship without the work that goes into figuring out why two people who had a legitimate breakup might end up together again. Usually in life […]

You say tomato, I say you like her.

The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett

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Amy is emotionally constipated and bossy. Sophie dives into love too quickly and is still coming to terms with being bi. Amy hired Sophie to be head chef when she opened her restaurant Amy & May’s in Boston. She had watched Sophie on a reality cooking competition show called Pop-Up Kitchen. Sophie didn’t win, but she did wind up with the producer, Paul, as a fiancé and she was a fan favorite. But things aren’t going well. Amy & May’s is struggling financially and Sophie […]

“I think I’d been looking for it all my life a storm in my body to match the one in my head.”

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

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In one word: Unnerving First things first. We gotta talk about this cover. FRIGGIN. GASP. From art to font, the whole thing is perfection. It really captures the tone of the book, as nature and puberty coalesce into a diseased nightmare for the students of the Raxter School for Girls. When the Tox breaks out the girls are quarantined, and a year and a half later, they are no closer to answers, and their numbers are dwindling. We follow a trio of friends, Hetty, Byatt, […]

Lily was struck by how duplicitous a song could be, as if multiple languages were hidden within the lyrics.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

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What struck me the most about Last Night at the Telegraph Club was how separate Lily Hu is from the world around her. She is a watcher. She pays attention to the details of what happens around her as she tries to understand who she is in relation to the world. Only when she is with Kath do the details become fuzzy and she fully engages. Towards the end of the book, I thought a lot about a conversation I had with my mother when […]

A three for one deal

Kind Like Marsha: Learning from LGBTQ+ Leaders by Sarah Prager

Cinderelliot: A Scrumptious Fairytale by Mark Ceilley and Rachel Smoka-Richardson

Dolls and Trucks Are for Everyone by Robb Pearlman (

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These titles, Kind Like Marsha: Learning from LGBTQ+ Leaders by Sarah Prager (and illustrated by Cheryl Thuesday), Cinderelliot: A Scrumptious Fairytale by Mark Ceilley and Rachel Smoka-Richardson (illustrated by Stephanie Laberis) and Dolls and Trucks Are for Everyone by Robb Pearlman (illustrated by Eda Kaban) are the perfect trio. Each one different, but each dealing with the themes of GLBTQ+ movers and shakers, being yourself and the “should” and “should nots” when it comes to toys, games, playing and more. They are clever, but not […]

Beautiful story of sexual identity awakening and first love

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

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And then she asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: “Have you ever heard of such a thing?” Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a beautiful glimpse into a moment in time of a sexual identity awareness and first love, amidst the Red Scare of McCarthyism in 1950’s San Francisco.  Sexual feelings awaken for the first time within Lily Hu but everything she has been taught says it […]



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