Difference between revisions of "Forthcoming Publications"

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=='''25 APRIL'''==
=='''9 OCTOBER'''==
 
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1406389331
+
|author=Sylvie Cathrall
|title=In the Key  of Code
+
|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep
|author=Aimee Lucido
+
|rating=5
|rating=4
+
|genre=Science Fiction
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.
|summary=Emmy is moving with her parents halfway across America, to follow her father's dreams of a big break in his music career. She leaves behind her friends and her school in Wisconsin, and moves to California, knowing only what she has heard in songs. Her struggle to settle into her new life, make friends and feel happy and confident again, is agonisingly told in a way we can all relate to. There are many new opportunities and setbacks, taking the reader on a rollercoaster of emotions, but it isn't until Emmy joins a coding class using computer language that she begins to feel she might have a chance to feel like she truly belongs.
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|isbn= 0356522776
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
=='''9 MAY'''==
=='''17 OCTOBER'''==
 
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|author= Karina Sainz Borgo and Elizabeth Bryer (translator)
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|author=Tom Percival
|title= It Would Be Night in Caracas
+
|title=The Wrong Shoes
|rating= 4
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|rating=5
|genre= Literary Fiction
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|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=  ''It Would Be Night in Caracas'' illuminates the everyday horrors of modern day Venezuela. It begins with the death of Adelaida Falcon's mother and chronicles Adelaida's coming to terms with her new solitude in this world and her attempts to escape it. Danger stalks the shadows and, in a society where the establishment is crumbling, who can you turn to?
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|summary=Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in every direction.  And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope.  He is good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.
|isbn=0062936867
+
|isbn=1398527122
 
}}
 
}}
 +
=='''23 MAY'''==
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=0349423067
+
|author=Onyi Nwabineli
|title=The Body on the Train (Kate Shackleton Mysteries)
+
|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself
|author=Frances Brody
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
+
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=From Christmas to Easter a train ran from Leeds City Station to King’s Cross, arriving before dawn so that the forced rhubarb it carried could be taken to Covent Garden. In early March 1929 one of the porters who was unloading the boxes discovered the body of a man, stripped naked and with no means of identificationScotland Yard hit a dead end and called on the services of Kate Shackleton in the hope that her knowledge and connections in Yorkshire would give them the lead they neededKate immediately found herself hamstrung: Commander Woodhead remembered her as a child and could not come to terms with the fact that she was now a woman experienced in dealing with murder.  He was reluctant to give her all the information which the police held.
+
|summary=Anuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-mother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gainNow Anuri is in her twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and to get her life back, suing her step-mother to take down the content about her.  Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them for doing so.  Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the new focus of Ophelia's online empireCan she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?
 +
|isbn=0861546873
 
}}
 
}}
=='''19 OCTOBER'''==
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=='''6 JUNE'''==
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1925820025
+
|author=Kieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton
|title=Once, I was Loved
+
|title=Dungeon Runners: Hero Trial
|author=Belinda Landsberry
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=For Sharing
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|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Tock, the toy rabbit, is in a box of toys going to the charity shopHe realises that he's not wanted any more, but muses that it wasn't always this way''Once'', he says, ''I was loved''.  And he tells us of all the children who have loved him over the years.
+
|summary=Meet Kit.  Like most of the people in his world, it seems, he is an avid fan of Dungeon Running – the sport where a team of warrior, mage and healer enter specially prepared, century-old, magical mazes, and race to the exit, perhaps bothering with the treasure or the big bad and the points they grant you along the wayUnfortunately for Kit, the only thing he's seen of the latest race on the inn TV equivalent is that one team has been retired, eaten, and a new trio of questors is neededPossibly very unfortunately indeed for Kit, he has taken to the goading from the token bully of his world and stumbled into declaring he'll enter as a teamWhat chance does this friendless, muscle-free-zone have in actually managing that, and how could he possibly hope to succeed?
 +
|isbn=1839945184
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
=='''13 JUNE'''==
=='''24 OCTOBER'''==
 
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1542015421
+
|isbn=1635866847
|title=The Royal Baths Murder
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|title=The Lavender Companion
|author=J R Ellis
+
|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci
|rating=3.5
+
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
+
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=When Damian Penrose was murdered there was no shortage of suspects: he was a deeply unpleasant manIn fact the only surprising thing was that there wasn't more of a queue waiting to do the dirty deedWhat was a bit of a headline maker was that Penrose was a crime writer and that he was strangled in the midst of Harrogate's crime writing festival.  He went for a swim at the Royal Baths and never returned, his body being found by the receptionistDCI Jim Oldroyd was the man tasked with investigating the crimeIt would not be the only death, and it was only because of the quick actions of his sergeant, Andy Carter, that Oldroyd's was not one of them.
+
|summary=It's strange, the things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for youBefore I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepageI don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally.  (There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of itNotes in the margins are sanctioned.  You get to fold down the corners of pagesYou suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem.  I ''loved'' this book already.
 
}}
 
}}
  
{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15"
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=='''4 JULY'''==
 
 
=='''29 OCTOBER'''==
 
 
 
<!-- Meg Cabot and Cara McGee -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:1401286208.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1401286208/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
 
===[[Black Canary: Ignite by Meg Cabot and Cara McGee]]===
 
 
 
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]], [[:Category:Graphic Novels|Graphic Novels]]
 
 
 
Meet Dinah Lance. Frustrated that her policeman father will not allow her to try and follow in his footsteps, and seemingly lumbered with being a cheerleader at school, she is desperate to find her voice. But it's actually more a case of her voice finding her, as when she gets frustrated or plain dissed at school her vocal outcry can shatter glass better than any opera singer. You could almost call it a weapon, or a power. But in order for her to call herself a superhero, there has to be a whole path of steps for her to take – one of which will be into her past… [[Black Canary: Ignite by Meg Cabot and Cara McGee|Full Review]]
 
 
 
|}
 
{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15"
 
 
 
=='''31 OCTOBER'''==
 
 
 
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=B07X6GLQ3Q
+
|author=Max Boucherat
|title=See Them Run
+
|title=The Last Life of Lori Mills
|author=Marion Todd
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Crime
 
|summary=D I Clare Mackay is still relatively new to St Andrew's: she was previously at Maryhill Rd station in Glasgow.  She's left quite a lot behind including a relationship that wasn't going anywhere after Tom failed to support her when the chips were down. She also left a nasty situation, of her own making but not her fault, and St Andrew's is a fresh start.  Not long into the job she's faced with a hit and run death and there's little doubt that it wasn't accidental - the card with the number five suggests murder.  Andy Robb was married to Sandra.  You could say that they had an open marriage but there seemed to be a lot of the 'open' and very little of the 'marriage' left - on both sides, but would she want him dead?
 
}}
 
 
 
{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15"
 
<!-- Ben Brooks -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:1786540991.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786540991/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
 
===[[The Impossible Boy by Ben Brooks]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]
 
 
 
''Oleg and Emma entered their den to find a cardboard spaceship standing where they usually sat. Slowly, the front door opened. Smoke billowed out. And out stepped a boy, dressed in a long coat with an even longer scarf, wound around his neck.''
 
 
 
 
 
''"My name's Sebastian Cole," the boy said, "But you already know that."''
 
 
 
And indeed they do. Ever since the summer, when their friend Sarah's mother had moved her away, Oleg and Emma have been unable to find a new friend to take her place. [[The Impossible Boy by Ben Brooks|Full Review]]
 
<!-- Peter F Hamilton -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:1447281357.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1447281357/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
 
===[[Salvation Lost by Peter F Hamilton]]===
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]
 
 
 
In the twenty-third century, humanity is enjoying a comparative utopia. Yet life on Earth is about to change, forever. Feriton Kane's investigative team has discovered the worst threat ever to face mankind – and we've almost no time to fight back. The supposedly benign Olyix plan to harvest humanity, in order to carry us to their god at the end of the universe. And as their agents conclude schemes down on earth, vast warships converge above to gather this cargo. Some factions push for humanity to flee, to live in hiding amongst the stars – although only a chosen few would make it out in time. But others refuse to break before the storm. As disaster looms, animosities must be set aside to focus on just one goal: wiping this enemy from the face of creation. Even if it means preparing for a future this generation will never see. [[Salvation Lost by Peter F Hamilton|Full Review]]
 
 
 
<!-- Caroline Scott -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:1471186393.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471186393/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
 
===[[Photographer of the Lost by Caroline Scott]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]], [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]]
 
 
 
May 1921.  Edie receives a photograph through the post. There is no letter or note with it.  There is nothing written on the back of the photograph.  It is a picture of her husband, Francis.  Francis has been missing for four years.  Technically, he has been "missing, believed killed" but that is not something that a young widow can believe.  She hangs on the word 'missing', disbelieving the word killed. [[Photographer of the Lost by Caroline Scott|Full Review]]
 
 
 
|}
 
{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15"
 
 
 
=='''3 NOVEMBER'''==
 
 
 
<!-- Eoin Colfer -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:0008324859.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008324859/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
 
===[[Fowl Twins by Eoin Colfer]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]
 
 
 
Relax, everyone – our old friend Artemis may be off planet, but the baddies aren't getting away with skulduggery any time soon because they now have not one but two members of the Fowl family to contend with. Those cute little twins are now eleven (and, frankly, cute no longer) and in this, their first independent adventure, they meet a troll and without even trying manage to make two deadly enemies: a nobleman obsessed with immortality whatever the cost (to other people), and an unusual interrogator-nun. The boys are chased, kidnapped, arrested and even killed (though not for long), all with the help of one trainee fairy. [[Fowl Twins by Eoin Colfer|Full Review]]
 
 
 
|}
 
{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15"
 
=='''7 NOVEMBER'''==
 
<!-- Keret -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:1609809319.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1609809319/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
 
===[[Long-Haired Cat-Boy Cub by Etgar Keret, Aviel Basil and Sondra Silverston (translator)]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]
 
 
 
One day a boy is in the zoo with his father, when the man gets called away on urgent business.  The boy isn't hustled into a cab and taken home first, though, no – he's given hot dog money, and taxi money, and told to just stick around on his own and enjoy himself.  Well, it's no surprise that the orphan-for-an-afternoon sensation the lad feels doesn't make him happy, and so he thinks of a species name for himself, and curls himself up into an empty cage, as if he were a new exhibit.  And it's then the drama begins… [[Long-Haired Cat-Boy Cub by Etgar Keret, Aviel Basil and Sondra Silverston (translator)|Full Review]]
 
 
 
|}
 
 
 
{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15"
 
=='''12 NOVEMBER'''==
 
<!-- Claire North -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:williamabbey.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0316316849/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
 
===[[The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North]]===
 
 
 
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]]
 
 
 
When William Abbey fails to prevent the lynching of a young boy in 1880's South Africa, he finds himself cursed by the grieving mother. A naïve English Doctor, he slowly learns the weight of the curse upon him, as the shadow of the dead boy begins to follow him across the world. Never stopping, always growing – it crosses oceans and mountains in pursuit of William. As he finds himself unable to resist speaking the truths that he hears in others, he also learns that the dark shadow is deadly – and seeks to kill the one he loves the most… [[The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North|Full Review]]
 
|}
 
 
 
{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15"
 
 
 
=='''14 NOVEMBER '''==
 
<!-- Gardner -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:1786695227.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786695227/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
 
===[[Invisible in a Bright Light by Sally Gardner]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]
 
 
 
The beginning of this excellent story will leave the reader more than a little confused: who is the man in the green suit, what is the Reckoning, and why are rows of people in a cave?  But stick with it – Ms Gardner is very cleverly letting us experience the same disorientation as our heroine. We watch in dismay as the strange man, who seems to have no eyes, does his best to persuade her to answer his questions. But for some reason Celeste, despite her bewilderment, remains wary and gives nothing away. [[Invisible in a Bright Light by Sally Gardner|Full Review]]
 
 
 
<!-- Holliday -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:1912374854.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1912374854/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
 
===[[Violet by S J I Holliday]]===
 
 
 
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]]
 
 
 
I've never been but understand that travelling is all about meeting new people and forming instantaneous bonds with people in often chance situations. Well that's exactly what happens when the two main/only characters meet in a travel agency in Beijing - Carrie is unsuccessfully trying to get a refund on an extra ticket for the Trans-Siberian train and Violet is trying to unsuccessfully buy a ticket for the same sold-out journey. As the two team up, travelling through Mongolia, Serbia and into Russia, it could've been the start of a beautiful friendship but this a thriller after all so it quickly becomes a tale of obsession, manipulation and toxic friendships. [[Violet by S J I Holliday|Full Review]]
 
 
 
<!-- Will Carver -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:1912374838.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1912374838/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
 
===[[Nothing Important Happened Today by Will Carver]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
 
 
 
Nothing Important Happened Today is a dark, twisted, difficult read. Stories about cults often are, but this is different; it's written with a sense of style that is quite unlike anything I've read before. I can't remember ever having read a novel with such an odd, distinctive narrative voice. While a slim and relatively small book, the slow-moving nature of the plot makes it feel far larger than its 276 pages. [[Nothing Important Happened Today by Will Carver|Full Review]]
 
 
 
|}
 
 
 
{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15"
 
 
 
=='''21 NOVEMBER'''==
 
{|class-wikitable" cellpadding="15"
 
<!-- Ariel Dorfman and Chris Riddell -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:1609809378.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1609809378/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
 
===[[The Rabbits' Rebellion by Ariel Dorfman and Chris Riddell]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]
 
 
 
We're in the realm of the rabbits, only the foxes and wolves have taken over.  King Wolf, His Wolfiness, has declared the rabbits don't exist, but the pesky birds have spread rumours from awing that the bunnies are in fact still around.  Demanding a propaganda spree, King Wolf orders a humble monkey to be his official portrait photographer, but whatever the poor innocent monkey prints out in his darkroom there is a distinct leporine hint.  Can King Wolf succeed in proving himself victorious, can the rabbits show their continued existence to all who need to know of it – and what can the poor monkey caught in between do? [[The Rabbits' Rebellion by Ariel Dorfman and Chris Riddell|Full Review]]
 
|}
 
 
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Innosanto Nagara
 
|title=M is for Movement
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|summary=Set in Indonesia, in the not too distant past, this is a story about social change.  Dealing with some difficult issues, such as political corruption and nepotism, the book is neither boring nor preachy.  It educates gently, with vibrant, challenging illustrations, and it portrays how social movements need people who will try, even when it seems that they will fail.  The message is a positive one; that in an increasingly uncertain world, we do still have the power to instigate change.
 
|isbn=1609809351
 
}}
 
 
 
|}
 
{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15"
 
 
 
=='''9 JANUARY 2020'''==
 
 
 
<!-- Sarah Alderson -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:1473681847.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473681847/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
 
===[[In Her Eyes by Sarah Alderson]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]]
 
 
 
Ava lives a charmed life, but those things sometimes rub other people up the wrong way. One evening she returns from a night out with a friend, and before she can finish her bedtime routine, her home, and her life, are under attack: masked men have broken in and are demanding money from her husband, while her young daughter cowers beside him. In the scuffle than ensues, Ava is hurt, badly. When she wakes up in hospital she can barely remember what happened, but she knows it was life-changing. With her daughter still fighting for her life in a room down the corridor, Ava has a lot to contend with as she tries to recover, wills her daughter to recover, and attempts to piece together what happened and why. [[In Her Eyes by Sarah Alderson|Full Review]]
 
 
 
|}
 
 
 
=='''23 JANUARY'''==
 
 
 
{{Frontpage
 
|isbn=0241985110
 
|title=All the Rage (D I Fawley)
 
|author=Cara Hunter
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
+
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=A very beautiful, but extremely distressed teenage girl was picked up by a minicab driver on the outskirts of Oxford.  She didn't want to go to the police station or the hospital: she just wanted to be taken homeThe driver wasn't so certain though - and after dropping the girl at home he went to the police, which is why DI Adam Fawley found himself talking to Faith Appleford and her motherBoth were adamant that this was nothing more than an April Fool's joke which had gone wrongNo crime had been committed and Faith didn't want to take the matter any furtherFawley and his team weren't prepared to leave it at that and they began investigating.  What they found strange was that Faith Appleford didn't seem to have much of a history.
+
|summary=We meet Lori on the first evening she's got the house to herself – no neighbour to pop in, babysitter poorly, mother at work, just an avidly rule-breaking eleven year old, on her lonesomeWhat could possibly go wrong?  Snuggled in a blanket fort, she has one main intention, and that is to log on to Voxminer, the world-building, critter-collecting game that is a hit in Lori's worldBut first Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn't find herself entirely on her own, and then she finds something even more spookyFor the server she and her bestie and nobody else should be able to enter shows signs of tamperingWhen malevolent eyes spark up on her phone screen, and her safe place in the game has been doctored – well, where is a girl to turn?
 +
|isbn=0008666482
 
}}
 
}}
 
 
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You can work your way through the newest review, category by category, starting [[Newest Animals and Wildlife Reviews|here]].
 
[[Category:Non-Fiction]]
 
[[Category:Non-Fiction]]
 
[[Category:Fiction]]
 
[[Category:Fiction]]
 
[[Category:Children's Books]]
 
[[Category:Children's Books]]

Latest revision as of 09:18, 8 April 2024

25 APRIL

0356522776.jpg

Review of

A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

5star.jpg Science Fiction

There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them. Full Review

9 MAY

1398527122.jpg

Review of

The Wrong Shoes by Tom Percival

5star.jpg Confident Readers

Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. Full Review

23 MAY

0861546873.jpg

Review of

Allow Me to Introduce Myself by Onyi Nwabineli

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

Anuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-mother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gain. Now Anuri is in her twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and to get her life back, suing her step-mother to take down the content about her. Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them for doing so. Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the new focus of Ophelia's online empire. Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time? Full Review

6 JUNE

1839945184.jpg

Review of

Dungeon Runners: Hero Trial by Kieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton

4star.jpg Confident Readers

Meet Kit. Like most of the people in his world, it seems, he is an avid fan of Dungeon Running – the sport where a team of warrior, mage and healer enter specially prepared, century-old, magical mazes, and race to the exit, perhaps bothering with the treasure or the big bad and the points they grant you along the way. Unfortunately for Kit, the only thing he's seen of the latest race on the inn TV equivalent is that one team has been retired, eaten, and a new trio of questors is needed. Possibly very unfortunately indeed for Kit, he has taken to the goading from the token bully of his world and stumbled into declaring he'll enter as a team. What chance does this friendless, muscle-free-zone have in actually managing that, and how could he possibly hope to succeed? Full Review

13 JUNE

1635866847.jpg

Review of

The Lavender Companion by Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci

4.5star.jpg Lifestyle

It's strange, the things that make you immediately feel that this is the book for you. Before I started reading The Lavender Companion, I visited the author's website and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepage. I don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally. (There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it. Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I loved this book already. Full Review

4 JULY

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Review of

The Last Life of Lori Mills by Max Boucherat

4.5star.jpg Confident Readers

We meet Lori on the first evening she's got the house to herself – no neighbour to pop in, babysitter poorly, mother at work, just an avidly rule-breaking eleven year old, on her lonesome. What could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in a blanket fort, she has one main intention, and that is to log on to Voxminer, the world-building, critter-collecting game that is a hit in Lori's world. But first Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn't find herself entirely on her own, and then she finds something even more spooky. For the server she and her bestie and nobody else should be able to enter shows signs of tampering. When malevolent eyes spark up on her phone screen, and her safe place in the game has been doctored – well, where is a girl to turn? Full Review

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