Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Twisty mystery and snarky humor

Cry Wolf by Charlie Adhara

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“Dreams change. People change. Please just don’t stop giving me the chance to change with you.” I absolutely adore this series! Five books in, Oliver and Park feel like old friends, and I know to expect a good twisty mystery, lots of snarky humor, and a steamy and sweet relationship between them. This series can’t be read out of order, and this review will contain spoilers for previous books. “Ignorance and influence are rarely as unrelated as they should be. You have a lot more […]

How they get you.

The Project by Courtney Summers

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Overall, this was a great book. I read it super fast, and found it very compelling in multiple ways. I did have two pretty big problems with it, though, so it’s not getting that five star rating I thought it might when I was halfway through. This is only my second Courtney Summers book, my first being her previous novel, Sadie, which I liked but didn’t love (I did the audio and thought the production was horrendous, which definitely affected my feelings towards the book). […]

Baby’s first cozy mystery. I guess I’m Baby in this metaphor.

Death By Dumpling (A Noodle Shop Mystery, #1) by Vivien Chien

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I have slightly mixed feelings on this one, but overall I enjoyed it! I think this might actually be my first true cozy mystery, although I’ve read books that you might stretch to fit into that genre, like the Inspector Gamache books, but the cozy part is only a small part of that series. As far as I understand it, a true “cozy mystery” involves very little stress on the part of the reader, usually takes place in a small town with eccentric villagers, heavily […]

I Wonder Indeed

And Sometimes I Wonder About You by Walter Mosley

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I understand that as readers, we bring our own perceptions and biases to books in ways authors do not intend. Such is the exchange between creator and those indulging their creation. I genuinely try to connect with what writers are saying in books despite my own bullcrap. I hate it when readers/reviewers talk about reading or watching something and say “I’m just going to pretend its this instead.” But with Walter Mosley’s Leonid McGill series, I can’t help it. In the early aughts, Mosley turned […]

This book is like a golden poppy growing from the manure of the last 12 months. Its existence makes me smile.

Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz

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I was surprised when I heard that Anthony Horowitz was releasing a sequel to Magpie Murders, one of the most delightful books I read in 2019. That mystery-within-a-mystery was clever, well-constructed, and utterly entertaining, but how could Horowitz plausibly make that format work again using the same characters? To my tremendous joy, Horowitz has constructed an equally triumphant (maybe even better?) sequel. At the start of Moonflower Murders, former publisher Susan Ryeland is living in Crete, trying to succeed in the boutique hotel business along […]

Urban Blues

Paper Gods by Goldie Taylor

Violent Spring by Gary Phillis

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I read two great gritty urban mystery reads this past week. Both uniquely told in their own way but both addressing the politics and social systems of Atlanta and Los Angeles respectively in a way that I found compelling… Paper God (TW and minor spoiler: Book has a trans character in which a threat of violence is implied and a tragic love story is involved. Nothing happens to them but it’s also not the most trans-positive story) I’ve read a lot about Atlanta this past […]



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