Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Are you always a smartass?’ Nope. Sometimes I’m asleep.”

Blood Rites (Dresden Files #6) by Jim Butcher

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All right people. I am here to crawl out beneath 8 (!) unwritten book reviews. Woof! I’m not sure if I’ve ever been this behind before in my history as a Cannonballer. Why the hiatus? Well, I am working on writing my own book (!!) and thinking I should prioritize THAT writing over THIS WRITING but spoiler, I haven’t done great at either. So I’m going to refocus and remember that practicing writing IS working on my book (just from sideways) so book reviews “count” […]

a perfect blast of nostalgia from the paranormal past…until the last 30 pages blows it all up

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

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A losing field hockey team is sweating themselves half to death. They are being pummeled by every other group on campus; a collection of high school teams from allover New England living the exciting existence of a pre-college summer program. They haul their broken bodies back to the dorms of the UNH campus, exhausted physically and spiritually. The goalie is DONE with this exhaustion. She wants, needs, and expects more for both herself and her beloved team. She, like many teen girls before and after, […]

“The world is a dangerous place, full of people who don’t trust each other. This is why I am staying up in this tree.”

Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link

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Stranger Things Happen is Kelly Link’s first collection of short fiction, but- PLOT TWIST: it was the only book of hers that I had yet to read. Oops! I suppose….stranger things HAVE happened. Link writes like the  girl in the back of homeroom who is weird, yes, but also cool and intimidating. She’s probably wearing black and writing allover her arms with a ballpoint pen. She knows a lot and she is not afraid to drop reference after reference and allusion after allusion- she doesn’t care […]

“We’re not in Ghost Busters! This is real life!”

Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega

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I did not read Ghost Squad when I was young, as it did not yet exist! This is a 2020 release, and I feel that I would have liked it very much when I in third/fourth grade. There’s magic, monsters, hijinks, and plenty of cat-content that would have kept me giddy throughout. I worried at first that this tale might be “heavy” for a middle-grade reader; it starts with some genuine adult anxieties and perils. We open with the financial woes of Lucely’s father- the bank is […]

“Choose a new path, a new adventure.”

Wonderstruck by Allie Therin

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I have loved this Prohibition-era paranormal series since the moment we first met Rory, and I was a little worried going in because I knew this was the third and final book. How would the entire situation with Baron Zeppler be taken care of? Whose side are Gwen and Ellis really on? What about the relationship hiccups between Rory and Arthur? And, most importantly to me, would Arthur ever take Rory to his beloved Italy? And yes, all these questions are answered and more. “It’s […]

Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn, and caldron *shrug*

The Factory Witches of Lowell by C.S. Malerich

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When I first saw this title pop up on Tor’s Instagram, I clicked “want to read” on goodreads as quickly as humanly possible. Working girls forming a union? Witchcraft is involved? A real-life New England mill city? Sisters doing it for themselves? Hell yeah, sign me up! There are Mill Girls woven into the tapestry of my family history, and I am a child and life-long resident of New England. My husband was living steps from the mills of Lowell when we met, and we […]



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