Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Instead of being afraid, I could become something to fear.

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

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I was in the mood for escape and The Folk of the Air series really delivered for me. It is a flawed series, and I’ll mention a bit of that as I look at the individual books, but I found it a delicious treat at the end of some pretty long days. The Cruel Prince, the first book in the series, introduces us to Jude, Taryn, Vivienne, Cardan, and other key players who feature throughout the trilogy. Jude, Taryn, and Vivi are children when we […]

Cannonballing with teenage murder detectives.

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1) by Holly Jackson

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I was so pleasantly surprised by this one. It was an excellent choice to be reading on my birthday* to make up for the fact that my body is slowly succumbing to the forces of entropy. *Which was now over a month ago, whoopsie. I’m wary with YA these days, especially contemporary YA, because I want a good story and good characters, not plot gimmicks and sensationalism, and books that are read by people like I used to be as a teenager (no discernment whatsoever). […]

Harimad-sol, Laprun Minta

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

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Harry Crewe is a young girl with a peculiar sense of placelessness. After she is orphaned, she comes out to the colony of Daria to be with her brother. Here, she finds her destiny – or perhaps her destiny finds her – when she is abducted by Corlath, king of the Hillfolk of Damar. This is probably the most accessible of McKinley’s work, but her lush prose shines throughout, and there is a real sense of old-fashioned adventure as Harry is swept away into a […]

Angsty teens figuring themselves out and it’s actually interesting

Dark Rise by C. S. Pascat

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I know C.S. Pascat from the Fence comics, a lighter queer romance set in a boys school fencing team. This is no that, mostly. Dark Rise is a chosen one story in which there is a secret organization fighting a secret battle to stop the great evil of the past from coming back. This is a standard fantasy scenario; what keeps things interesting is that no one with one or two exceptions is exactly who they think or say at the beginning. Will needs to […]

After the Hero’s Quest Ends

So This Is Ever After by FT Lukens

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After defeating the Vile One as the prophecy foretold, Arek has somehow ended up as king – and now he must find someone to wed if he is to survive his eighteenth birthday. And his first choice, his best friend and mage Matt, obviously doesn’t like him back. I was very excited by the idea of this book – the Chosen One having to settle down after fulfilling his prophecy and now actually getting on with the business of governing his newfound kingdom. However, though […]

Let’s not go back there again

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

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Join us now through May 21 for the #CannonBookClub Discussion of Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a multi-award winning young adult novel that takes on several heavy topics and does so admirably. Set in early 1950’s San Francisco, the story’s protagonist Lily Hu is a teenager with big dreams. Yet she faces a number of formidable obstacles related to her race, sex and sexual identity. Through Lily, Malinda Lo shows the reader how dangerous it […]



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