Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A Fragment of Murderbot

Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy by Martha Wells

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OK, I’m going for a Martha Wells two-fer today. And I’m going to start of with the shorter story. I have to give mu thanks to  faintingviolet here because if I hadn’t read their review, I would not have known this had been released.  And I thought I kept up pretty well with most things related to Murderbot But even though this short story is, well, short, (a fragment of a story even)  it made me very happy because it focuses of Peri/ART. Told from […]

“Lies are as dangerous as a sword. They can cut to the bone.”

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

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I am so torn about the rating of The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton. Part of me was won over by the interesting world Clayton created where people are born alike, with red eyes and grey skin, and hair the texture of straw. What is considered “beauty” – a variety of skin tones, hair colors and types, and body shapes – does not come naturally unless they are a Belle. The Belles have the ability through their arcana (think natural magic ability) to change people’s appearances, but not their own. All varieties are considered various degrees of beautiful, but of course like […]

“It’s better to be interesting than likable”

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

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Buzzword Title Challenge 25: Truth and Lies CBR17 Bingo: Review (this was very favourably reviewed by Pooja, Narfna and Chairbrarian) Five years ago, Lucy’s best friend Savvy was murdered and Lucy was found wandering along the road, absolutely covered in Savvy’s blood. Unfortunately, Lucy also had a pretty severe head wound, which resulted in amnesia, and can’t remember anything about the night in question, before or after the murder took place. There wasn’t enough evidence to convict her, but most people in her home town […]

And the Rose Goes Oh No

Here For the Wrong Reasons by Annabel Paulsen and Lydia Wang

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Read as part of CBR17 Bingo: review. I read this based on the review here.  My journey into sapphic romance continues with this fun little number. Also, before I begin, the women who co-wrote this apparently fell in love each other while writing it, which is the most adorable thing ever. And in the last romance I read, the writers were a wife-wife team. So maybe I have a thing? Or maybe it’s just coincidence. Either way, I don’t follow The Bachelor or shows like […]

King is once more Hip to the Jive

The Institute by Stephen King

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Historically, King is at his best building stories with complex worlds, high stakes, many moving parts, and a cast of characters. In many cases, his tales are told through the eyes of a child. The Dark Tower, IT, and The Body are all a testament to King’s uncanny ability to get into the mind of a child and face overwhelming challenges from a tweenager perspective. But, in recent years, I’ve felt that King’s ability to connect with the younger generation is slipping. For a 72 […]

How ‘The Ruins’ Ruined My Week

The Ruins by Scott Smith

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There can be something so unrelentingly creepy about killer plants. Pop culture is peppered with terrifying flora, from the shambling Triffid menace to the murderous Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors. As a kid, I remember being endlessly fascinated by an episode of Seaquest DSV featuring an invasive carnivorous cutting that nearly sank the submarine and killed all the crew. So when I picked up a copy of The Ruins, I noted with excitement the paperback cover adorned with thick green vines and blood […]



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