YA – Page 29 – Cannonball Read 17

Stop reading after book two! Is my advice.

Five Dark Fates (Three Dark Crowns, #5) by Kendare Blake

February 22, 2021 by narfna Leave a Comment

This is the final book in the Three Dark Crowns quartet, which was originally supposed to be a duology, but money, what are you going to do, oh right, trick a bunch of teens (and adults, coughcough) into buying your book series. Yeah, sorry all fans of this series and the author (I’m sure you’re lovely) but I hated this. It doubled down on everything I disliked from books one through three (especially three), and downgraded what I liked (the premise, the worldbuilding). It also […]

Is there a non-Prom way to get a crown?

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

February 18, 2021 by wicherwill Leave a Comment

I really wanted to like this a lot more than I did, unfortunately. A gay-verging-on-bi WOC lead discovering herself and chasing her dreams in high school? It’s definitely up there on the list and I was pretty excited when it came off of hold. The issue was that the main premise never stopped feeling incredibly contrived, to the point of distraction. And while I acknowledge the need for some driving force to get Liz to do all the things she did, there’s enough emotional heft […]

“Thanks, Shah Rukh”

My So-called Bollywood Life by Nisha Sharma

February 9, 2021 by esme 4 Comments

Nisha Sharma’s My So-called Bollywood Life is a light, breezy YA romance with Bollywood movies as the not terribly well woven thread through the book. The protagonist is Winnie Mehta, an ambitious high schooler who is co-chair of the school film club. She is recovering from a broken heart because her ‘soulmate,’ who she believes was destined for her because of her horoscope (which identified her soulmate down to the first letter of his name), betrayed her. Despite the horoscope and the periodic dance sequences […]

A super fun YA love story.

Super Fake Love Song by David Yoon

January 22, 2021 by bonnie Leave a Comment

At the bookstore, I glanced at the inset of this novel and shrugged. Frankly in Love was great, but it felt like a fluke. Could David Yoon make another fake setup work? Yes, my friends. He totally did. Instead of a fake-dating scenario, we have a nerdy boy trying to impress a pretty girl by faking being in a metal band (like his older brother) and hiding his nerdy modeling habit and SFX video-making by dressing like a rockstar (again, like his brother). Of course, […]

Proof that prequels can absolutely work if you have the right story.

Concrete Rose (The Hate U Give, #0) by Angie Thomas

January 19, 2021 by narfna 3 Comments

To be quite honest with you, not only do I feel this is an excellent prequel (a rare beast in and of itself), I may actually have liked this one better than it’s predecessor, The Hate U Give. I will hold off on stating that for certain as I haven’t read that book since it was first published, so my memories of it aren’t the freshest. But this book was great! Prequels CAN be done, if you have an author that isn’t scrambling to justify […]

A world-building amuse-bouche

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

January 12, 2021 by esme Leave a Comment

This is a delightful amuse-bouche of a book! I haven’t really read novellas before, but I really enjoyed how Nnedi Okorafor sketched a fascinating ‘working’ world (well, universe) in just a few pages. The brushstrokes created a lovely, multisensorial universe and a few interesting characters that I assume are more fleshed out in other works. Texture and smell and color and sensation were all integral to the story. Binti, the heroine, comes from an isolated desert community, and, at 16, she runs away from home […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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