Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The East German Harry Potter for goth kids

Krabat by Otfried Preußler

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One of my favourite books in middle school, reread it here in my exile at my mum’s place and while it clearly is for children (well..), it’s as deliciously dark as I remember. In the early 18th century, Krabat, a 14-year old Wendish beggar boy (check out what that people is, you’re in for a cool history/ethnology lesson) finds himself called to a lonely mill in the middle of the woods. He starts an exhausting apprenticeship, where the mysterious miller doesn’t just teach him and […]

Frightville Population a few supernatural stories

Frightville V01 Don’t Let the Doll In by Mike Ford

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Once upon a time I picked up this semi-spooky looking book called Frightville V01 Don’t Let the Doll In by Mike Ford. Several years later I picked it up off my foot as it was among the books that had just fallen on said foot. Thankfully, the books were lightweight and thin. After reading, I concluded this book is more of a 2.5 (possible 3 if I factor in nostalgia factors) than an actual 2. The reason for the lower score, is that this is […]

“It’s not because–they don’t want me. They want someone who’s going to cast death spells on their enemies. And if I gave them that, I wouldn’t be me anymore, so I might as well not go live with a bag of dicks.”

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

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Picking up immediately after the end of A Deadly Education, The Last Graduate is a gripping read that starts with El holding the cryptic note from her Mum and ends on a terrific cliffhanger.  At one of Novik’s events for the book release she did apologize for both books one and two ending on a cliffhanger.  When she set out to write A Deadly Education she envisioned it ending where The Last Graduate does.  Novik is a writes as she goes author, not a big outliner/planner.  While […]

A Plague of Monsters and maybe Magic

The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giebrecht

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I have to honest and admit that I did not read this  thoroughly, more like slow skimmed. The Monster of Elendhaven was described as “dark”, “humorous”, “rotten with magic”; these descriptors match some things I’ve read and enjoyed. This novella is most definitely more the ‘dark’, as in horror. The setting is Elendhaven, somewhere around the North Pole, where some sort of seriously nasty plague caused by a magic eruption of some sort that either kills people or essentially mutates the survivors. Being a sorcerer […]

Some Audible Originals

Sweet Talk by Cara Bastone

What the Hex by Alexis Daria

The Magic Flower Shop by Gina Mayer

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Sweet Talk By Cara Bastone   This story was absolutely adorable and I loved it!     The main premise is that Elliot sends a voice message text at 2 a.m. to a wrong number.  JD (not her real name, but what she’s referred to for most of the story) is already awake to receive said voice text.  She responds, and they go back and forth before Elliot realizes that he hasn’t been talking to his sister.  JD knows who Elliot is immediately – she had […]

Get me to the church (or whatever location the fae get married) on time

When Sorrows Come by Seanan McGuire

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CBR13 Bingo: Flora (there are a number of trees in the background and Toby appears to be holding a rose in her left hand. She also has a belt of roses on her dress) Spoiler warning! This is book 15 (!) in the ongoing October Daye series. So very much not the place to start. There will be spoilers for previous books in the series in this review, although I shall try to avoid any big ones for the contents of this current book. Rosemary […]



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