Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I wish we didn’t need books like this

Stolen Colors: A Story About Body Safety and Consent by Patel Khushboo and Tara Anand

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The due in March 2026 picture book, Stolen Colors: A Story About Body Safety and Consent by Patel Khushboo with Tara Anand’s illustrations was read via an online reader copy. And it was another WOW book. Which thankfully I have had a lot of recently as I was on a slow slump on not loving the books I was reading. We start off with a young girl who loves to paint, but that is taken away from her when her teacher assaults her. We follow […]

“There’s no world where I exist without you and I don’t want there to be one.”

In a Rush by Kate Canterbary

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This was an ARC sent to me by the author. My opinions are my own, and I loved the book so much that I pre-ordered a copy as soon as I’d finished reading it. Emmeline “Emme” Ahlborg catches her boyfriend, the man she was hoping was going to propose to her, in the act, sleeping with another woman (when Emme shows up on his doorstep with home-cooked food). She’s devastated, and what’s worse, he’s a groomsman in the wedding of her best friend (to whom […]

Surviving middle school is hard

Just Beyond #1 The Scare School by R.L. Stine, Nichole Matthews and Kelly Matthews

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R.L. Stine, Nichole Matthews and Kelly Matthews adapted Just Beyond #1 The Scare School into a graphic novel format. Or I am assuming it was a novel first, then a graphic novel. However, regardless of which came first (or didn’t come out) this is an old school RL Stine story. The theme is classic: We start with a couple of kids in “unusual clothing” (cue the “not from our world”) and how they are being chased by a robotic monster. We then see who lives […]

Team-building in the woods wouldn’t be my jam either

(Trust) Falling for You by Charish Reid

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Nowhere Book Bingo: A novella Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: The Great Outdoors Yolanda Watson tries her best to be an engaging and motivating English professor, she is well-liked by both her colleagues and her students. However, writing grant applications are not her strongest suit and she is upset that she lost out on a generous grant that could have helped a lot of her disadvantaged students. Samuel Morris knows he’s not popular, and doesn’t particularly try to be either. He believes in working hard, following […]

It’s not nice to spy on people hiding in the woods

What We Saw: A Thriller by Mary Downing Hahn

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cbr15bingo: Nostalgia: For the days when I first read this author, a young kid with no adult problems! When I was asked who my favorite author was as a kid, usually I would say Mary Downing Hahn. I had others (Walter Dean Myers, R. L. Stine, Christopher Pike, to name a few), but she was always one. Then, as an adult a gal I met via pen palling said she liked her too, so we bonded over our like of this author.  And when I […]

The racing striped and helmeted tortoise

Hurry, Little Tortoise, Time for School by Carrie Finison

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I am not always a fan of “the turtle or tortoise or snail comes in last because they are slow” stories.  (I still cringe at the end scene in Monsters University where the snail-monster-student gets to class after the year has ended.) Now, I do not necessarily want them to be first, (Tortoise and the Hair is great, just not all the time), I want to see other animals have the distinction of being last, or the slow one. I mean, we all have a […]



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