Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A fun read, but possibly too light-hearted

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

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3.5 stars Twenty years before the events in Legends & Lattes, Viv is a young and relatively inexperienced mercenary, who gets badly injured fighting undead monsters while hunting for a powerful necromancer. Her mercenary band leave her in the quiet and mostly empty seaside town of Murk to heal up and recuperate. She worries that the group are going to leave her there, but thankfully, to take her mind off her fears, she encounters the local bookshop owner, who manages to persuade her (Viv has […]

A cozy fantasy about grief.

House of Frank by Kay Synclaire

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A cozy fantasy about grief and found family, and the first book I’ve read from the relatively new publishing experiment, Bindery Books. I would read further books from this author for sure, but I also think this one was pretty flawed. I actually think it needed at least one more round of edits, if not two. I have no idea how Bindery’s editing process works in comparison to traditional publishers, but this needed to be worked over for clarity, both in the writing itself (some sentences […]

Time loops that feel like fairyland.

The Last Hour at the End of the World (The Echo Archive, #1) by Melissa Caruso

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Thanks to NetGalley, Hachette Audio, and Orbit for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. Firstly, this is way more fantasy than it is sci-fi, for those who want the proper expectations. There are time loops and parallel universes, but they function on what feels like magic much more than science. And this is a book with a fantasy heart. Feeling blah right now, so here’s the (truncated) blurb: Kembral Thorne is spending a few hours away from her newborn . . […]

Samantha Allen brings her delightfully weird mind to romance.

Roland Rogers Isn't Dead Yet by Samantha Allen

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Thanks to NetGalley, RBmedia, and Recorded Books for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. If you too are a fan of Samantha Allen’s previous lesbian Sasquatch-related work, well, I actually have no idea if you will like this or not. It’s completely different. Instead of horror, we’ve got romance, instead of reality TV satire, we’ve got an aging movie star coming out of the closet (while being a ghost). And the “sex” in this . . . you’ve just got to […]

A companion to find creative and personal freedom

The Companion by E.E. Ottoman

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The Companion by E.E. Ottoman is a queer historical romance featuring a trio of trans characters. Madeline is invited to stay with Victor as his companion. The city and the literary scene of 1949 haven’t been kind to a woman like her. Victor comes off as intense, writing the day away in his secluded room. He is sometimes short but always adamant about welcoming her in his unique way. His home is big enough for them to write in separate corners without disturbing each other. He […]

A time warp Ikea

Finna by Nino Cipri

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Finna by Nino Cipri was another Lawless Book Club read back in January. In this science fiction novella, we meet Ava and Jules who work at an Ikea-inspired furniture store called  LitenVärld. They’ve recently broken up and are having issues navigating their work and now-only friendship status. Ava is anxious and unsure of what she wants from anything. Jules is Black and non-binary and more zen about the break-up. They’ve worked through much of their trauma and can’t force Ava to figure herself out. Before […]



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