Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

This YA horror was more disturbing to me than some adult horror books I’ve read.

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

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It’s nearly always a good thing when one of your only complaints about a book is “I wanted more”. I say nearly, because I have read some stinkers where the main thing wrong was that the author didn’t actually do the work of fleshing out the world and the characters. Here, that’s not the problem. It’s pretty clear from reading this that the author did his work. It’s a concise YA horror story about a young man who can see ghosts (among other abilities), and […]

Spare yourself the disappointment, folks.

Meet Cute Club (Sweet Rose, #1) by Jack Harbon

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This did not make for a good reading experience. The only reason I’m not rating it one star is because there was nothing egregiously wrong with it, and because I didn’t hate it. Not exactly a lot going for it if that’s the best I have to say. This had an extremely cute-sounding plot, but the book was the opposite of cute. I honestly think this might be the most poorly written self-published book I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a lot because of my […]

Give this little sapphic sasquatch book a shot!

Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen

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This was weird and I kind of loved it. After seeing this cover I absolutely needed to read it, and that just goes to show you that sometimes you CAN judge a book by its cover. But before I get to what I liked about the book, I do want to nitpick a little, mostly with the marketing. This book is being billed as a “horror comedy” and while it’s most definitely horror, I don’t think it’s comedy. Unless you count satire as a subgenre […]

Witches, found family, and a big FU to transphobes.

Her Majesty's Royal Coven (Her Majesty's Royal Coven, #1) by Juno Dawson

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This was a lot more emotionally fraught than I expected it to be. And that ending 😩 I was hopeful going in to this that Juno Dawson’s first adult book, and first fantasy book would be good, because that premise sounded like so much fun. And while I was rewarded with a quality book that I really enjoyed reading, it really wasn’t all shits and giggles. Come for the 90s nostalgia, female friendships, a cool take on contemporary witches, and then leave heartbroken by the […]

“I’m tired of being the villain in the story. I never meant to be, and I don’t want to do it any more.”

Jackdaw by K.J. Charles

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My favorite of the Magpie books. I was surprised by this! The premise turned me off a little, which is why it took me so long to pick up. I’m not really a fan of “redeeming the bad guy” stories, but of course Charles pulls it off. And, as it turns out, Jonah wasn’t really a bad guy for what he did in the original trilogy. He was being coerced, very strongly. Our narrator isn’t Jonah Pastern, though, it’s ex-policeman Ben Spenser, who was left […]

“He kissed for his enjoyment and mine, and we staggered and stumbled our way to the ground, still kissing for the sheer glory of being alive, the wonder of finding a congenial soul in the world, and the very real prospect of being dead before the weekend.”

The Henchmen of Zenda by K.J. Charles

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This honestly might be five stars on re-read, but I’ve been handing out five star ratings like they’re candy, and I’ve come off my book high now. This is a strong 4.5 stars for now. Firstly, this is a retelling of The Prisoner of Zenda, a Ruritanian Romance/Adventure/Swashbuckler from the late 1800s, written by Anthony Hope. I’ve never read the original, but before diving into this I did read the detailed summary of the book and I’m really glad I did that, because it was […]



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