Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“All authority is fiction.”

The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei

by Leave a Comment

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. This was an enjoyable mystery/sci-fi/thriller set in space. It doesn’t do anything new to the genre (really of either mystery or sci-fi) but it is a good example of both kinds of stories, and it has likable characters you want to root for. It’s also pretty queer! Only people who have uteruses are allowed on the mission to colonize another planet, because space/fuel limitations mean not that many […]

There’s a universe where I can still eat gluten and dairy. I find this comforting.

Self-Portrait With Nothing by Aimee Pokwatka

by 2 Comments

I’m so glad I picked this little book up against my normal inclinations. The cover makes it look like serious lit-fic, but it absolutely isn’t. This is a light sci-fi/speculative book about a woman named Pepper who was adopted as a baby but whose biological mother, Ula Frost, is a famous reclusive portraitist who is said to be able to pull her clients’ doppelgängers out of her paintings from alternate universes. When Ula seemingly disappears, Pepper is contacted by lawyers and made executor of her […]

I liked this upon finishing it five months ago . . .

The Luminaries (The Luminaries, #1) by Susan Dennard

by Leave a Comment

. . . but I have since had almost everything about it fall out of my head. Had I written this review right after finishing like a good little reviewer, it would have been four stars, but I think the fact that it hasn’t stuck with me and I had to look up so much in order to even write this paltry review is definitely working against the book, and I’ve bumped it down to 3.5 stars, rounded down, as a result. Also I remembered […]

This book got canceled because of its author’s online behavior, but I think we should be reading it anyway.

Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing by Lauren Hough

by 11 Comments

I just need to write this review. It just needs to happen. I read the book back in APRIL and it is now August. I’ve been letting the whole THING around this book and it getting canceled and review-bombed get to me. This was a book club pick for one of my in-person book clubs, and my friend Alison who picked it definitely picked it in part because it was a controversial book and she likes drama. If you’re not aware of the drama surrounding […]

Cozy mystery set in the 1920s with an agoraphobic heroine and a tiny dog named Presley.

The Socialite's Guide to Murder (Pinnacle Hotel Mysteries, #1) by S.K. Golden

by Leave a Comment

I liked this, but not enough to buy the second book. I will be librarying it, thank you, mostly because there are a couple of elements I’m curious to see how they play out. It’s really a classic case of had a good time while reading it, but wouldn’t be upset if I couldn’t ever read another in the series. This takes place in 1958 in NYC at the fictional Pinnacle Hotel, where our main character Evelyn has lived since the age of six, when […]

“Happiness is a garden walled with glass: there’s no way in or out. In Paradise there are no stories, because there are no journeys. It’s loss and regret and misery and yearning that drive the story forward, along its twisted road.”

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

by 2 Comments

In another time or another headspace, I might have given this five stars. If I ever re-read, I probably will. Unfortunately, my brain was just not in the mood for a long, measured, thoughtful, historical literary fiction novel when I read this back in April (!). I should probably have done the audiobook instead. (Anyone know if it’s any good? I’ve never heard of the narrator before.) *Have I EVER been in the mood for a Margaret Atwood? 🤔 I somehow managed to read The […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo