Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I might have known it’d be fudge

Dorrie and the Wizard’s Spell by Patricia Coombs

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Dorrie, the little witch with her constantly bent hat and her mismatched socks and her cat Gink, lives with her mother Big Witch and Cook in their Victorian house. One day they go to the Bazaar to sell Big Witch’s odds and ends and potions and balms. While there, Big Witch disappears right from under Dorrie’s nose. She’s apparently been turned into a teacup, and unless Dorrie can get Wink the Wizard to reverse it, she’s going to have a teacup for a mother for […]

Be Witched

Cackle by Rachel Harrison

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Been a slow drip of reading to start the month. So slow that I keep forgetting I actually finished this book a week ago and have been putting off this review. I liked it when I finished it and seven days later, I find myself appreciating it even more. I’ve now read through Rachel Harrison’s whole catalog, save her short story collection. Not a big fan of reading short story collections but I may need to get to hers because she’s a fun writer and […]

Beautiful illustrations and engaging start to a magical manga: CBR14 Bingo “Rec’d”

Witch Hat Atelier, volume one by Kamome Shirahama

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CBR14 Bingo: “Rec’d” – This book was recommended by Darcy, one of my favorite booksellers at Mysterious Galaxy bookstore. My favorite independent bookstore is also doing book bingo this summer.  With Witch Hat Atelier I was able to cross off a bingo square about recommendations on both my Cannonball Bingo (Rec’d) and Mysterious Galaxy’s (Staff pick) bingo cards.  Happily that was the last square I needed to complete a Mysterious Galaxy bingo and now I get a 20% discount on a book at the store! […]

Humanizing a Goddess

Circe by Madeline Miller

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I bought Circe last year after it won a few awards. I finally read it because a friend from work read it and recommended it to me. We were both changing jobs so I wanted to read it while we still worked together so that we could discuss it. It was fantastic. It reminded me, thematically, of Grendel by John Gardner in that the premise is the book is the POV from a character that is considered an antagonist in a different, famous story. Like […]

Exhibit A of the Self-Fulfilling Title

The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner

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I could only praise this book is the way I would a bowl of Kraft dinner (or boxed mac and cheese for anyone that didn’t grow up with Canadians). If I really want cheesy noodles and Kraft is available, I’ll eat it. If the other options for a meal were meatloaf or fruitcake I would choose Kraft dinner, just like how I would definitely re-read The Okay Witch over other particular books. But here’s the deal: Do I actively crave or recommend Kraft dinner? NOPE. […]

A Short-Story Novel Hybrid

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The world and the characters in Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus: Beginnings are so much fun that it really annoys me how short the stories and the book are. To some extent, the two main characters are pretty standard. Lily is bookish, socially awkward, and talented with magic; she’s a wizard. Sebastian is friendly, good looking, a troublemaker, and has little magic talent, but he is a witch. This to me is a tradition buddy mystery-solving/adventure team. What makes them fun is their dynamic and […]



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