Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

enjoyable book made great by an unorthodox ending

The Falling in Love Montage by Ciara Smyth

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Original quick review: Hard to review this book without major spoilers, and I was behind on reviews. Tl;dr it’s a classic 4 star / Book I Recommend combo, which is my way of basically creating a 4.5 star category. Color me utterly shocked that it landed a really tricky ending which feels true to the characters, their drives and their histories! More fulsome review: There’s a lot going on in this book, which I assumed was a simple story in the vein of many that […]

Not actually LGBTQ Grease, but fun nonetheless

Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales

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I just wish more books about adults were written with the sort of joy that YA authors infuse in their work. Because I am an adult, and I want adult scenarios that have this sort of vibe. There’s a lot in this book that I really enjoyed–Ollie’s relationship with his niece/nephew, his sense of self and confidence, his ability to make the best of a new situation. The book definitely clipped by, and I was happy to see that we avoided the whole “Ollie is […]

FULL of heart and love

The Extraordinaries by T.J. Klune

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I will say–and this is a big thing–that there’s some jarring tonal issues with our current day given that Nick’s father is a cop. The cops in this story are in the vein of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, full stop, but there’s still something shaky about a book in which the police show up often and are extra super good. This book will definitely loose readers as a result of this, and I think that’s fine. It made me vaguely uncomfortable throughout, but in this way that […]

A standalone, excellently plotted scifi with adult queer characters? <3 <3 <3

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell

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Strong content warnings, from the author: https://everinamaxwell.com/content-wa… Many many thanks for the dual recommendations! llamareadsbooks and CoffeeShopReader both! Might I even consider this a five star book? We’ll call it 4.5 stars for now and re-evaluate at a future point. Edited to add yeah I didn’t even get more than 250 words into this review before realizing absolutely this was a great book. This is the book you want to pick up and read when you’re wondering what to read next. You’re not committing to a series–I can 100% guarantee you that […]

“The space between two shores is the ocean and being caught in between feels like drowning.”

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

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A new forever favorite! If you like your fairy tales dark, and reading other cultural versions of them, read this book! If you like your graphic novels lush, detailed, and darling, read this book! If you like compelling family stories, immigrant stories, and queer characters, read this book! In the forefront of Trung Le Nguyen’s graphic novel is the story of a middle schooler named Tiên who is quietly dealing with coming out and his crush on a friend.  Alongside that is his mother’s story, […]

Some Fencing but More Personal Stuff

Fence Volume Four Rivals by C.S. Pascat, Johanna the Mad

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So there was a YA novel that kind of tells the same story as volume 4 of the graphic novel Fence Volume 4 Rivals; one the one hand, few surprises, on the other, it wasn’t the EXACT same story, just the same kind with similar character development (at least for some characters). I’m reasonably sure the comic series was first, and that the novelization might be by another author. The basic premise is reasonably common: sports story (high school fencing team) + hate/rival to friend/something […]



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