Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“She wore a dress Ronan thought looked like a lampshade. Whatever sort of lamp it belonged on, Gansey clearly wished he had one. Ronan wasn’t a fan of lamps.” #CBRBINGO – Holiday

The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle, #2) by Maggie Stiefvater

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I’ve been holding off on reviewing this one for a couple of days because I wasn’t sure if I was going to round my 4.5 stars up to five or not. Turns out I’m not—for now. This series and its premise make me nervous. I know that most YA goes in for happy endings, but there’s always the occasional tragical one, and I’m nervous this is one of those. So, I’m sort of holding out to see how the last two books go. If it […]

Well, this series took an unexpected turn

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley

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CBR14 BINGO: Cozy, because these books qualify as cozy mysteries, what with all the murders happening in this small village, always being discovered by an 11-year-old detective When I first met Flavia de Luce in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, I wasn’t 100% sure whether I liked her. After a couple more books, I had warmed to her, because the girl can really grow on a person. By the time I picked up The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, I was curious […]

“My mother used to say that once you’ve made a choice, you have to act as though it’s been made forever. But I don’t know if I believe that’s true. Our lives aren’t decided by one choice, but by a series of small decisions that build up to pivotal moments. You can always make a different choice at the next juncture.”

The Ivory Key (The Ivory Key Duology, #1) by Akshaya Raman

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This is a book I definitely wouldn’t have picked up on my own, but it came as the second bonus book in my January Illumicrate box, so I thought why the heck not. And it was pretty good! Not great, but good. The book follows four estranged royal siblings in the made-up country of Ashoka who set off on a quest to find a magical item that will save their country. One of them is the ruler, one of them is in prison for killing […]

I found this Persian-inspired fantasy intriguing.

This Woven Kingdom (This Woven Kingdom, #1) by Tahereh Mafi

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I always try to go into books with an open mind and wanting to like them; it’s not fun for me to read books I don’t like. But even so, I haven’t had great luck with YA fantasy in the past so I mostly stopped reading it. For some reason, as a genre it’s particularly vulnerable to publishing trends and the resulting books often end up feeling the same as all the other books to me, even when having seemingly original sounding premises. Also, I’m […]

“I care about you, okay? I like you, even though you’re prickly as hell and looking at me like you wish I would vaporize, and you think ketchup is a vegetable.”

Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler

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Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for the ARC! It hasn’t affected the content of my review. I was slightly skeptical of this book going in, as I always am with YA these days, but I couldn’t resist the premise. I’m really glad I gave in to my impulse on this one, because this book was really cute, and surprisingly emotionally harrowing at the same time. The premise here is that Atherton’s star quarterback died in a drunk driving accident over the […]

“No one’s ever as alone as they might feel.”

Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min

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CBR14Bingo – Adapt: Santi has to adapt to a new town, a new school and new relationships. When someone reached out and asked if I wanted to review this book, it only took one look at the cover for me to say yes. It’s gorgeous, a little bit messy, and absolutely perfect for this book, which completely ripped my heart out and made me so happy it did. It’s a love letter to music, to anime, to queer found families and to Los Angeles. “Someone […]



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