Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“You’re a creep. And to be honest, you kinda like being a creep…Don’t you?” — Phantom of the Opera YA Graphic Novel Romance Retelling!

Please Be My Star by Victoria Grace Elliott

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Please Be My Star is a YA romance retelling of Phantom of the Opera, with Erika being a shy, self-described creepy teenage girl and Christian being a handsome popular guy. Erika has moved to a new school and decides she wants to write and direct a one act play as part of the One-Act Stage Festival. She ends up with Christian, handsome, charming, and upright, as the star of her play. He’s enthusiastic about the role and his friends join as actors and tech for […]

My First Manga… Ever

My Special One, Volume 1 by Momoko Koda

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The Read Harder Challenge is living up to its name this year for me… pushing me out of my comfort zones and into areas I have not read in a long time or in the case of My Special One at all. My sister read manga when we were growing up and I just never saw the allure (it probably had a lot to do with my lack of reading comics, something she also did). The task was specifically to read a manga or manhwa […]

A cyberpunk space adventure romance

City of Shattered Light by Claire Winn

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City of Shattered Light by Claire Winn is a YA science fiction story set in space. Asa has been bred to take over her father’s tech empire. They excel at creating weapons and advances in AI technology. When her sister’s brain is used for an experiment, she flees with it to find her a new body. She crosses paths with Riven who has a rag-tag crew living in the slums and taking freelance jobs for the syndicates. One job is to catch Asa, but things get […]

An adorable YA romance from Talia Hibbert

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert

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For our Hot Fun in the Summertime Cannon Book Club, we read Highly Suscipious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert. I also read it for Happily Everyone After book club at The Ripped Bodice.  This was Hibbert’s first foray into YA/Young Adult romance. Published by Joy Revolution, an imprint run by Nicola and David Yoon, they strive to publish diverse stories that celebrate joy. We meet Celine and Bradley in their last year of high school. They are both overachieving Black British teens whose families are […]

A trio of romances featuring a rockstar, small town angst, and magical cooking

Midnight Duet by Jen Comfort

Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn

Basil and Oregano by Melissa Capriglione

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CBR15 Passport Challenge: New to you Authors – Jen Comfort, Kate Clayborn, and Melissa Capriglione Midnight Duet by Jen Comfort is a gender-flipped remix of Phantom of the Opera. Erika Greene seemingly had it all when taking on a lead Broadway role. She was a bit of a minx and slept with someone’s boyfriend, which led to a production light falling on her. She retreats to her family’s dilapidated opera house in Paris, Nevada, and vows to become a better person. She had a decent plastic surgeon […]

As lovely as a book about imminent death can be

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

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I cannot tell you how you will survive without me. I cannot tell you how to mourn me. I cannot convince you to not feel guilty if you forget the anniversary of my death, or if you realize days or weeks or months have gone by without thinking about me. I just want you to live. ― Adam Silvera, They Both Die at the End I guess I could call this energy freedom. No one will be around to judge me tomorrow. No one will […]



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