Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Paging Mary Sue. Paging Mary Sue to the Tarot Academy

Tarot Academy 2: Spells of Breath and Blade by Sarah Piper

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We are still in the midst of a pandemic, so I think we all need some fun, light-hearted reads to keeps spirits high. I figured that the second installment in the Tarot Academy books would be that fun read. It became difficult to finish this book though on account that my eyes were constantly rolled to the back of my head. Where the first book in this series created an interesting and well-explained magical system that was balanced well with the romance parts of the story, […]

From Reality Star to Kick Butt Author!

Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth by Judd Winick

Hilo V02 Saving the Whole Wide World by Judd Winick

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Do you ever look at a book and think, “Well that’s not going to be for me?” Then one day, you find it on the library shelves (or in my case the website and I could put in a request for curbside pickup) and you didn’t want to waste your five-limit book allotment, so you pick it up? And did you then ask yourself, “Why did I wait so long to read this?” Okay, I might have been in the right humorous mood, but I […]

cbr12bingo – Red!

Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch

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Every entry into Rivers of London starts with a splash; we are always diving head-first, sometimes literally, into rivers of blood. Every delightful cover, all done by Patrick Knowles, is a map with a big, red, bloody “X” marking the spot. Every cover is a map, every map is filled with teensy tiny detail, and every seemingly unrelated sketch or nursery rhyme lyric builds together into the marvelous mess that is London. I love his minute details; I feel like I’m looking at a Where’s Waldo illustration for […]

Ever get the feeling that you’re being watched?

The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch

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Well, my library is being watched at least. I keep reading myself in circles; themes from one book bleed into another; people, places, statements, snippets of songs- this year is becoming one giant, roiling, swirling brew of a book. Peter Grant and the Falcon Family (tm tm tm!) are back in London, up to their necks in the Thames and sinking fast. Luckily, the river is full of gods who are just as willing to save them as they are to let them drown. Last […]

A refreshingly complete story to start a magical series

The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith

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Elena is a toad, though she knows she knows that she should be a witch. Thus starts The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith. Elena breaks the curse on herself and returns to her home, Chateau Renard, a famed vineyard in France. What she finds is that her home has been sold to a lawyer-turned-winemaker who, instead of relying on a vine witch to support and augment the growth, harvest, and fermentation of grapes into wine, relies on science to create his wine to disappointing […]

I was prepared to eye-roll through this entire thing– I couldn’t put it down though

Tarot Academy 1: Spells of Iron and Bone by Sarah Piper

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Magic is real, and the world knows it. Unfortunately for the witches and mages, magick is also illegal, and Stevie just performed powerful magick on a non-magical person. Powerful enough that he died. Stevie must now go into hiding at the magical academy that previously threw out her parents for their heretical views. When she arrives at the academy she starts her journey to master her magick (which is largely based on the Tarot) in order to complete the work that her mother started and […]



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