Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Strong Succession vibes in Maclean’s new contemporary

These Summer Storms by Sarah Maclean

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4.5 stars CBR17 Book Bingo: Family Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for this ARC. My opinions are my own. Alice Storm hasn’t had any contact with her family for five years, since she went public with some unsavoury company secrets and her father disowned her. Now her larger-than-life father, Franklin Storm, is dead, and she has to return to the family’s private island off Rhode Island to pay her respects. She isn’t planning on staying past the funeral, but it seems even in death, […]

She has a secret

Ellie Has a Secret by Amelia Bothe

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While I enjoyed Amelia Bothe’s Ellie Has a Secret, (due mid-August 2025) for the story, I mostly enjoyed the illustrations. The story itself is not new (which is about a child having a secret that makes the “tummy wobbles” happen), but the illustrations really grabbed my attention. They are not overly colorful, but do not lack in that area either. They are detailed, but not overly so. Sometimes they can be a bit busy, but it does not distract or take away from the experience. […]

I wish that top image was mine (thanks internet) but the review is mine

Brume: The Dragon Awakens by Jérôme Pélissier

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Brume: The Dragon Awakens by Jérôme Pélissier, illustrated by Carine Hinder Due September 2025   Read via an online reader copy.  What it is about: Magic, mischief and mystery. Well, there is more than that. Like Brume herself. She is a (publisher says feisty, I say down right bratty at times) young girl who is convinced she can do magic. She wants to be the village witch now that the old village witch has gone missing for several years. She is a child found in […]

Sisters, secrets and dog catchers

Ruff Day (Sixth-Grade Shape-Shifter) by Steven Scott

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Ruff Day (Sixth-Grade Shape-Shifter) by Steven Scott and illustrated by Lavinia Brandizi is due in August 2025. And in fact, perhaps the whole series is. It is possible then that when reading my online reader copy I was not starting with book one. This would make sense as there are several pieces of information that are missing and are only “filled in” as almost sidebars and/or to explain to someone when they find out the secret of our main character. The premise is that our […]

I was sixteen. I lived inside of myself way more than I lived inside of this town.

Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson

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I started grabbing everything I could find and I had no idea what other people thought was good or what was important. And so I almost never told anyone what I liked because I was terrified that they would tell me how stupid it was. Every single thing that you loved became the source of both intense obsession and possible shame. Everything was a secret. ― Kevin Wilson, Now Is Not the Time to Panic Frankie is a sixteen-year-old girl with three feral older brothers […]

The Bookwork and the Rugby player

Brielle and Bear: Volume 1: (A Graphic Novel) (Once Upon a Time University) by Salomey Doku

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Maybe Brielle and Bear: Volume 1: (A Graphic Novel) (Once Upon a Time University) is not a pure 4, but it is a silly, fun, “meet cute” romance that has a bit of potential to be a smidgen darker and that potential gives it a slight boost over. Based on Beauty and the Beast (Brielle=Belle; Bear=Beast), this fairy tale follows the (so far) 10 rules of fairy tales. All the elements of falling in love, learning about each other and more are wrapped up in […]



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