Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Can ambiguous social situations kindly go fuck themselves?”

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

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CBR11Bingo – Pajiba! This book was briefly reviewed on Pajiba here, seems we feel similarly! Leah Burke seems to be on an even keep as she navigates senior year, stepping closer to her future college career at the local state school, where she’ll even have her friend Abby there. But naturally things start to shake up, as tends to happen in senior year.  First, Abby and Nick break up. Abby doesn’t think their relationship can hold-up long distance, and Nick is heartbroken – as is […]

Dear Sweet Pea, Julie Murphy’s MG debut

Dear Sweet Pea by Julie Murphy

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CBR11Bingo – Own Voices! Holy poop, this is my 52nd review! I’ve officially cannonballed! Not that I’ll stop playing now, though. I am a huge fan of Julie Murphy’s YA books, so when I saw the ARC for her middle grade debut was available at Book Expo, I knew I’d be snapping it up both for my pleasure reading and for my work on the RI Middle School Book Award Committee! While I’d usually save my off-committee summertime for “anything but children’s books”, I decided […]

Instead of HBO, Read the Book

Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister by Anne Choma

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Bingo Review 5 (True Story): I was first very excited when I saw the tv ads for the new show Gentleman Jack, and then mildly irritated when I realized it was on HBO, which I do not have. I was then happy when I was browsing a bookstore for some travel reading and saw this paperback: Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister. Another good non-fiction read; this has really been a good year for that (at least for me). This book is based on Anne’s […]

“Happiness is not just an act of optimism – it is an act of defiance.” (CBR11Bingo)

Mrs. Martin's Incomparable Adventure (Worth Saga #2.75) by Courtney Milan

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Courtney Milan really is fantastic at writing novellas. Even the ones I don’t love are still fantastic reads. The Governess Affair is one of my favorite books, period, and A Kiss for Midwinter is one of the few books I’ve read more than once in the past several years. Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure ranks right up there with them. While the book is part of the Worth Saga books, it absolutely stands alone, which I can attest to because the only other book in the […]

Read this, it’s Important

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver

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I have to admit I was a little surprised to see a Pride display at the local Barnes and Noble that still had a copy of I Wish You All The Best. Also for the record, I really dislike the use of the word “important” to designate something genuinely meaningful that everyone should seek out, but this might be one of those titles which actually deserves that term in that sense. If you can’t imagine the struggle of someone who wants to come out but […]

“Now we have the opportunity to start over and try to do better this time around.”

The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Hutchinson, Shaun David

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Elena Mendoza is called “Mary” at school, because she was the product of a virgin birth and her classmates are cruel idiots. Other than that factoid, her life is fairly routine: a shitty first boyfriend, an unrequited crush on her beautiful classmate Freddie, a deadbeat stepdad and overworked mom, and now a typical teen job at the local Starbucks. Oh wait, except that Elena has also been hearing voices most of her life – voices from random otherwise inanimate logos, toys, and statues. And today, […]



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