Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"

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===[[Dead Memories (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons]]===
  
===[[Fierce Fragile Hearts by Sara Barnard]]===
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[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]]
 
 
[[image:4.5starjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]
 
 
 
It's two years since Suzanne hit rock bottom. She's had extensive therapy and a stint with a lovely foster family. And now she's eighteen and must leave the Looked After system. Suzanne is apprehensive but excited. She's found herself a job, a bedsit has been rented, and she's about to return to Brighton, the only place she's ever felt truly at home, and to Caddy and Rosie, her two best friends.  [[BOOK by AUTHOR|Full Review]]
 
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Someone is recreating every traumatic event in Kim Stone's past, starting with the death of her twin when she was six years old.  Some of the events, or at least the details of them, are not public knowledge, but whoever is behind this has a wealth of information and is using it to evil intent.  That might seem bad enough, but the brutal truth of the matter is that people - innocent people - are dying so that these dramas can be recreated.  Stone probably - well, certainly - shouldn't be on the case, but who has better knowledge of what happened to her than she does?  If her boss can just turn a blind eye to the effect it's having on her for long enough, she can sort it out...  Or can she? [[Dead Memories (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons|Full Review]]
  
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===[[Atomic Habits by James Clear]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Popular Science|Popular Science]], [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]]
 
 
 
I've said this before but there are some books that you seek out, some books that you stumble across and some books that drop into your life because you really MUST read them, like, right now!  ''Atomic Habits''  is in the last category. [[Atomic Habits by James Clear|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Marked for Death by Tony Kent]]===
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===[[Out of the Dark by Gregg Hurwitz]]===
  
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]]
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The death of a retired Lord Chief Justice would have made the news: his crucifixion dominated it and Detective Chief Inspector Joelle Levy of the Met's Major Incident Team was the person whose job is was to find his killer.  She never thought that it would be easy: the Lord Chief Justice had been making enemies in the course of his work for over half a centuryIt seems unreasonable to suggest that the crucifixion of retired solicitor Adam Blunt might have given her a ray of hope, but surely two such grisly killings cannot be random?  All that's needed is to find out what connects the two cases. [[Marked for Death by Tony Kent|Full Review]]
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1997.  Evan Smoak is 19 years old ''trained up, mission ready. And yet untested.'' He's in a foreign city on an officially unofficial mission, which he executes with all the impeccable training that his youth beliesEvan Smoak is Orphan X. [[Out of the Dark by Gregg Hurwitz|Full Review]]
  
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===[[Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan]]===
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===[[Watching You by Lisa Jewell]]===
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[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]]
  
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]]
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A teenage boy spies on a teenage girl from his bedroom window. Down the road, a woman is convinced she knows a man in the village and that he is following her. Meanwhile, a young woman has moved back home after some time abroad, and develops a fascination with her new neighbour. The man's wife, meanwhile, engages the services of the young woman's husband in some work around the house. Oh, and that teenage boy? He's her son. And the woman with the conspiracy theories? She's the mother of the girl he's spying on. Plus, the man she thinks is out to get her is the woman's husband (and is also the new headteacher at her daughter's school). Whichever way you look at it, there's a lot of watching going on in this book. [[Watching You by Lisa Jewell|Full Review]]
  
Tilda returns to Brighton, to tidy away the remains of her mother's life after her death. Whilst there, she returns to the Paradise hotel, a haven for eccentrics and misfits. A place where people can be themselves, and let go of thoughts that torment them elsewhere. Little wonder that Tilda cannot forgive her mother for banishing her as a child, from this place of wonder. With the help of Queenie Malone, caring, and gregarious, Tilda begins to pick apart the tricky and uncertain relationship she had with her sometimes cruel and distant mother. [[Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan|Full Review]]
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===[[Lark by Anthony McGowan]]===
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===[[Fish Seeking Bicycle by Kate Cooch]]===
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dyslexia Friendly|Dyslexia Friendly]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]
 
  
I'll warn you first.
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[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]]
  
This is the fourth and last story about Nicky and Kenny. Try not to cry before you've even read the first page.
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This novel is set about a hundred years into the future. The world has been decimated by nuclear conflict and what's left of the old United States is run from Center City. Women run this world and it is very proud of having defeated the old patriarchy. Men must behave appropriately and deferentially at all times and, if they don't, are medicalised to keep their baser instincts under control. And if that doesn't work, they're sent to work camps, away from open society, or even worse: expelled to the wilderness beyond the Central Authority's borders.   [[Fish Seeking Bicycle by Kate Cooch|Full Review]]
  
Things have got tense at home - again - for Nicky and his learning-disabled brother Kenny. Their mum is coming to visit - the mum who abandoned them a long time ago. They haven't seen her for years and the impending visit is stirring up a lot of uncomfortable feelings. And Nicky's girlfriend has ended things. To take their minds off it all, Nicky and Kenny plan a day out, trekking across the moors. But it doesn't go to plan and an accident puts both boys - and their dog, Tina, in terrible danger. [[Lark by Anthony McGowan|Full Review]]
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===[[The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley]]===
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===[[Home Workout for Beginners: 6 Week Fitness Program with Fat Burning Workouts for Long Term Weight Loss by James Atkinson]]===
  
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]]
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[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]]
  
To begin with we don't know a great dealWe know that there's a body and before too long we know that Doug, the gamekeeper, doesn't think it was an accidentYou get the feeling that Doug knows about these things.  Three days earlier there had been nine travellers on the train: however you cut that one, the seating is going to be awkwardSomeone is going to be left on their ownThe highland lodge is stunning though, but these people who don't usually get outside the M25 find it difficult to realise exactly what ''isolated'' really meansIn this case it means that it's an hour's drive to the ''road'' and that's when the weather's good.  But this new year, the weather definitely ''isn't'' good.  This is serious snow. [[The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley|Full Review]]
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James Atkinson has all the qualifications which you need in a workout instructor and he looks the partHe's been actively involved in the health and fitness arena for more than twenty years and he spent nine years as a member of 9 Parachute Regiment, Royal EngineersHe has another qualification which means a lot to me: he's been on the other sideThere was a time when he was overweight and not particularly strongAs a child he was slow to developThis means that he ''understands'' what it's like and he knows how his clients feel: it's much more helpful than the twenty-something who was born super-fit and with an attitude problem. [[Home Workout for Beginners: 6 Week Fitness Program with Fat Burning Workouts for Long Term Weight Loss by James Atkinson|Full Review]]
  
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===[[Tadcaster and the Bullies by Richard Rutherford]]===
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===[[Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics and companies behind the new anti-aging treatments by Adrian Cull]]===
  
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Emerging Readers|Emerging Readers]]
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[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]], [[:Category:Popular Science|Popular Science]]
  
In some ways it was a gentler time: video games were around, but children usually went outside to enjoy themselves.  They flew kites and went sledging if there was snow aroundTim and Mary's great-grandfather started a business in 1899 so our story is probably set in the nineteen seventiesSomething which hasn't changed, unfortunately, is bullying and two lads are making life miserable not just for Tim and Mary but for other children who gather in the playgroundTim's probably about ten - just at the stage where he's beginning to feel responsible for his younger sister, who's two years younger than him, but he's not yet at the stage where he knows how to deal with bullies. [[Tadcaster and the Bullies by Richard Rutherford|Full Review]]
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For many years now I've (half) joked that I intended to live forever and that so far, it was working out OKTime has passed though and although I'm a great deal fitter and healthier than most people of my age there were a few nagging health problems which were tipping my life out of balanceIt was time to look for a new approach and as so often happens, the reviewing gods brought me the book I needed.  ''Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics and companies behind the new anti-aging treatments'' seemed like the answer to my problems - only you get so much more than just 101 tips. [[Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics and companies behind the new anti-aging treatments by Adrian Cull|Full Review]]
  
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===[[I Can't Tell You Why by Elaine Robertson North]]===
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===[[The City In The Middle Of The Night by Charlie Jane Anders]]===
  
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]]
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[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]
  
When we first meet Dani she's about to get an offer that would appear to be all too easy to refuse. She's Alex Cambridge's agent and the indications are that he's about to make the big time.  He's good looking, charismatic and appealing - well, he's an actor so that's part of the spec - but his suggestion that he and Dani should start a relationship is hedged by a statement that he's got no intention of leaving his wife and three children. So, what's in it for Dani?  No, there's no need to answer that. Dani understands the situation all too well and tells him so. [[I Can't Tell You Why by Elaine Robertson North|Full Review]]
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January is a dying planet. It wasn't exactly pleasant to begin with. One half is scorching sunlight, pure, blazing heat, and totally uninhabitable. The other half is pure darkness and ice, where a creature can freeze to death in seconds, and totally uninhabitable. In the middle is a brief twilight that is barely survivable. Life is a knife-edge, stray too close to one side you die, to close to the other, you die and yet the heat from the sun and the water from the ice are necessary for life. Life for the inhabitants of January is long, and hard, and arduous, will anything ever change? [[The City In The Middle Of The Night by Charlie Jane Anders|Full Review]]
  
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===[[Exit Day: Brexit; An Assassin Stalks the Prime Minister by David Laws]]===
  
===[[Little Bird Flies by Karen McCombie]]===
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[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]]
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]  
 
  
Bridie, or Little Bird as she prefers to be known, is a crofter's daughter living on the remote Scottish island of Tornish. Life is hard but often happy even though Little Bird struggles with the disability of a wasted arm and leg and often misses her mother, who died some time ago. Despite this, Little Bird has a warm and loving father, sisters to watch over her, a good friend in Will and a laird for whom she is a particular favourite. Little Bird knows every inch of her windswept, savagely beautiful island.   [[Little Bird Flies by Karen McCombie|Full Review]]
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At the time of my writing this, there is one thing uniting Britain, and this is hatred of 'Brexit'.  Not just Brexit, but use of the word 'Brexit'. Yes, people hate the people that instigated it then disappeared, and/or the people who just can't seem to get their fingers out and complete it, but they also hate the use of the word. This biggest turn-off has made people who have never so much as tutted in their life slam down their tea-cups in high dudgeon and leave the room until it's safe to return, when all mention of it has subsided.  I mention this in relation to this book because it is partly about Brexit, but because it too seems to get to the actual Brexiting in a very protracted manner.  Just as we have to wade through dirges from Europe to get anywhere, it seems, so the reader of this book has to get through a lot from Europe before the title's theme really arises. Here, at least though, the author's delaying tactics are much more forgiveable. [[Exit Day: Brexit; An Assassin Stalks the Prime Minister by David Laws|Full Review]]
  
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===[[The Dragon's Harvest by Jason F Boggs]]===
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===[[The Hidden by Mary Chamberlain]]===
  
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]
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[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]]
  
Young Nelson Jones was a young and gifted military cadet in the fascist new world order called the 'New Era'. As his experiences led him on a path of conflict and self-discovery, he became a changed man. Picking up 20 months after the events of ''The Devil's Dragon'', Nelson is on an expedition to uncover the mystery of the sungates, when a terrible secret leads to horrifying discoveries for all involved.  Meanwhile, the humans and the Aesini fight for their very existence, as Nelson's nemesis, Major Ira Billis, finds a terrifying new ally in a quest to restore the New Era to glory. As Nelson and his friends race against the clock in order to defeat this new threat, they find themselves facing a power beyond imagination… [[The Dragon's Harvest by Jason F Boggs|Full Review]]
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When Barbara Hummel arrives, determined to identify the mysterious woman whose photograph she has found among her mother's possessions, Dora and Joe find their worlds upended – and are swiftly forced to confront their pasts. Revisiting their time on the Channel Islands during World War II, Dora remembers a time when she concealed her Jewish identity, and Joe, a Catholic Priest, remembers a time when he hid something very different. In this story of love, loss and betrayal, it remains to be seen whether a speck of light can diffuse the darkest shadows of war… [[The Hidden by Mary Chamberlain|Full Review]]
  
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===[[Painting Snails by Stephen John Hartley]]===
  
===[[Whiteout (Red Eye) by Gabriel Dylan]]===
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[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]]  [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]], [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]]
  
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]],  [[:Category:Horror|Horror]]
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It's very difficult to classify ''Painting Snails'': originally I thought that as it's loosely based around a year on an allotment it would be a lifestyle book, but you're not going to get advice on what to plant when and where for the best results. The answer would be something along the lines of 'try it and see'. Then I considered popular science as Stephen Hartley failed his A levels, did an engineering apprenticeship, became a busker, finally got into medical school and is now an A&E consultant (part time).  I found out that there's an awful lot more to what goes on in a Major Trauma Centre than you'll ever glean from ''Casualty'', but that isn't really what the book's about.  There's a lot about rock & roll, which seems to be the real passion of Hartley's life, but it didn't actually fit into the entertainment genre either.  Did we have a category for 'doing the impossible the hard way'?  Yep - that's the one. It's autobiography. [[Painting Snails by Stephen John Hartley|Full Review]]
  
Are you up for a sleepless night or two? If so, read on!
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Charlie is on a school trip, skiing in the Austrian mountains. He's not having much fun. A miserable home life has given Charlie a bad attitude reputation and he's not a popular kid. Charlie tends to go off by himself - not always a safe thing to do if you're staying in a ski resort - and this is what brings him into contact with one of the ski guides, Hanna. Hanna herself doesn't have the happiest backstory and this forms a connection between them. [[ Whiteout (Red Eye) by Gabriel Dylan  |Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Completely Perfect: 120 Essential Recipes for Every Cook by Felicity Cloake]]===
 
  
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Cookery|Cookery]]
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===[[The Haven: Book 1 by Simon Lelic]]===
  
It's a novel concept for a cookery book: these are not Felicity Cloake's recipes but the best ones she found to do a particular job - the job of delivering the best meal, the ''Completely Perfect'' meal of the title. Think of it as the equivalent of a comparison site for when you want to renew the car insurance and then taking the best elements out of each recipe to make perfection.  There's nothing cutting edge here: it's the sort of food which we've been eating for decades and probably will be for decades to come.  There's a reason for that: roast chicken followed by apple crumble ''works'' and providing that you don't have a vegetarian or a vegan at table, it's a meal which is unlikely to do other than go down well. [[Completely Perfect: 120 Essential Recipes for Every Cook by Felicity Cloake|Full Review]]
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[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]
  
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When Ollie and Nancy, the police officer tasked with guarding our young hero, are abducted in the middle of the night, things take a dangerous turn. Rescued by Dodge, Ollie is taken to the Haven, a secret underground community based in a network of underground tunnels that the London above ground knows nothing about. Here, children work together to battle great evils. And there is an immediate enemy to fight. Ollie would have been the hundredth victim of Maddy Sikes had he not been rescued. And Maddy intends to destroy the city.  [[The Haven: Book 1 by Simon Lelic|Full Review]]
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===[[The Man Who Came to London by A S Cookson]]===
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===[[The Things That are Lost by Alan Kennedy]]===
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
 
 
 
''In 1948, the first set of Caribbean nationals arrived in Great Britain on a ship called "Empire Windrush". They struggled to find housing. They worked as labourers. They faced open discrimination, forcing them to quickly form their own community. Decades later, Freddy makes the same journey.''
 
 
 
''Does he find a place to live? Does he face stereotypes? Has Britain moved forward?''
 
 
 
Freddie arrives in London in the early 2000s, answering the call for teachers. He thinks about his own Jamaican education, based on the British system, and the way he was taught English nursery rhymes and about the River Thames. He thinks about the love of cricket and football, shared by both countries. And he thinks of the generations of the diaspora who came before him. Freddy does well in his job in East London but he does have to face down some stereotypical attitudes from his pupils - all Jamaicans smoke weed, don't they? Everybody knows that! [[The Man Who Came to London by A S Cookson|Full Review]] 
 
  
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The final novel in Alan Kennedy's WW2 trilogy sees Captain Alex Vere taken off active duty and banished to Scotland, providing trade craft spy training. It's stifling and suffocating and feels as much like a prison to Alex as anything the Germans would provide. And where is Justine? Alex hasn't seen her since he went to ''that'' disastrous meeting with John Cabot, instigator of the disinformation campaign, and returned to find her missing. A failed mission is one thing but no Justine is quite another. Alex can't get Justine out of his head. Has she left the service? Does she know too much? Is she even still alive?  [[The Things That are Lost by Alan Kennedy|Full Review]]
===[[Red Snow by Will Dean]]===
 
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Life in the small town of Gavrik is trying to return to normal, following the grim events of [[Dark Pines by Will Dean|Dark Pines]]. As Tuva prepares to move on from both the death of her mother and her small hometown, she is drawn into another dark investigation. One suicide, and one murder. Are they connected? With black liquorice coins covering the murdered man's eyes, the hashtag #ferryman starts trending, and the local people stocking up on ammunition. With only a fortnight to investigate before moving to the South, Tuva is further troubled by a blizzard that descends on the town, cutting Gavrik off from the larger world. Desperate to stop the killer, Tuva must go delve deep into the heart of the community – but who's to say the Ferryman will let her go? [[Red Snow by Will Dean|Full Review]]
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===[[Katalin Street by Magda Szabo]]===
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===[[Song of the Dead (DI Westphall) by Douglas Lindsay]]===
  
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[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]]
  
This is a story about the past. A specific past, certainly, in the form of pre-war Budapest, but also a story about how that past can impact on the present and the future. In this book, the first of three Magda Szabó wrote on the same theme between 1969 and 1987 and now newly translated and reissued, we witness a heart-rending nostalgia for happier days, guilt about those who did not survive, and a dogged but doomed determination to cling to long-gone times, feelings and experiences which mark the here and now, staining and warping it into another, subtler misery. [[Katalin Street by Magda Szabo|Full Review]]
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A man walked into a police station in Estonia. He told a tale of having been held prisoner, used as a donor for organ harvesting and sperm donation. X-rays and medical examination bear out this part of his story, but this man, or the man he says he is - John Baden - died twelve years ago.  His body was identified by his partner, Emily King and by his parents - and then the body was buried.  So, who is this man?  DI Ben Westphall is sent to Estonia because of his background in MI6, but that brings some baggage with it too.  Westphall cannot, will not, get on a plane.  His last experience of flight was more than enough for one lifetime. [[Song of the Dead (DI Westphall) by Douglas Lindsay|Full Review]]
  
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===[[The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden]]===
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===[[A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison]]===
  
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]]
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[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]
  
''The Winter of the Witch'' is the conclusion of the story following Vasya, Vasilisa Petronova, as she negotiates her way towards her destiny through the world of medieval males and the Catholic Church's perception of witchcraft. The story picks up directly from the action in the second novel, [[The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden|The Girl in the Tower]], and as a reader too much is lost if you haven't read this at the very least. My advice would be to read all three. The first two novels are beautiful and lyrical with extraordinary characters and a wonderful balance of magic and action. This final novel, however, is an absolute triumph. [[The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden|Full Review]]
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''No Widdershins girl has ever been able to leave Crowstone. If we do, we'll die by the next sunset. ''
  
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''A Pinch of Magic'' follows three sisters – Betty, Fliss and Charlie – who have lived on the isle of Crowstone, infamous for its surrounding marshes and the neighbouring inescapable prison, for their entire lives. The middle sister, Betty, has longed for adventure for as long as she can remember and she is determined that nothing and no-one will prevent her from seeing everything that the world has to offer. But in setting out to do just that, she and her sisters discover a deadly curse which has haunted their family for generations. From their ancestors, as well as a lifetime trapped on Crowstone, they have each inherited a magical object – an old carpet bag, a set of wooden nesting dolls and an antique handheld mirror – all of which are more than meets the eye and could possibly be the key to their problem. [[A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison|Full Review]]
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===[[Never Tell by Lisa Gardner]]===
  
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[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]]
  
Ro Snow spends her time at school trying to pass under the radar.  She doesn't want anyone to notice her, because then they might start asking questions, or they might want to be friends, and she can't have any friends because she can't ever have anyone come over to her houseYou see, Ro's mum is a hoarder, and their whole house, with the exception of Ro's bedroom, is an ever-growing mound of rubbish and paper, and Ro lives in fear of social services finding out and taking her away. [[Paper Avalanche by Lisa Williamson|Full Review]]
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Evie Carter's husband was shot dead in his own home and she was found with the gun in her handsWas this a domestic dispute which had got out of hand?  Was it pregnancy hormones running rampant?  Detective D D Warren recognised Evie immediately.  It might have been sixteen years ago, but there's no mistaking the teenager who had accidentally shot and killed her father: 'a tragic accident' everyone said, as there was no doubt about the love the two had for each other.  D D had no worries at the time, but just how many gun accidents can one woman have - or is Evie about to get away with murder again? [[Never Tell by Lisa Gardner|Full Review]]
  
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===[[The Midnight Hour by Benjamin Read and Laura Trinder]]===
  
===[[The Boy in a Turban by Joseph Hucknall]]===
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[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]]  
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After a big blow-up fight with her mum, Emily is left alone with her dad.  Her mum has gone away on some strange job (even though Emily didn't think her mum even ''had'' a job) and so she is not quite sure what is going on.  Things turn even stranger still when her dad goes off to find her mum, and then doesn't come back. She heads out to investigate and discovers a strange, secret world called the Midnight Hour, which seems to be London during Victorian times, and is full of magical beings (and monsters!)  What were her parents doing here?  And will she be able to find them and rescue them, so her life can go back to normal? [[The Midnight Hour by Benjamin Read and Laura Trinder|Full Review]]
  
You might not think that Georgian London contained many black people. But it contained more than you think. You may have heard of Francis Barber, the black African slave who became the friend of lexicographer Samuel Johnson and was a beneficiary of his will. ''The Boy in a Turban'' tells the story of a fictional black character, James, in Georgian London. James, then Quaccoe, is brought to the capital from a Jamaican plantation by a ship captain who wanted a servant for his two daughters.    [[The Boy in a Turban by Joseph Hucknall|Full Review]] 
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===[[Gallowstree Lane by Kate London]]===
  
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[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]]
  
Named after two famous female explorers, Amelia Hester McLeod loves to listen to stories of exciting adventures, but when it comes to being brave herself she finds it very difficult.  She lives on a small Scottish island with her dad and her grandad, and spends her time daydreaming about where her adventurous mother might be off exploringWhen her mum had lived with them, she had home-schooled Amelia, and her dad and grandad tried to continue that for a whileBut now her dad has decided it's time for Amelia to go to school on the mainlandAmelia is afraid - afraid of having to make new friends, afraid of being picked on because of her problems with reading, and afraid of what's happening to her since she went and made a wish on a mysterious rock in the sea… [[Lightning Chase Me Home by Amber Lee Dodd|Full Review]]
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Spencer was just fifteen years old when he stepped out into a London Street and asked a complete stranger for help, begging him not to let him die.  The stranger was an off-duty paramedic but even his skills were insufficient to save Spence.  Just one of those things you might, think.  Tragic, but teenage boys seem to be getting stabbed on the streets of London all the time.  His friend Ryan was with Spence when he was stabbedIt was Ryan who called the ambulance on the paramedic's instruction, sobbing as he held the phoneBut Ryan wasn't prepared to accept that it was just one of those things.  He wanted revenge. [[Gallowstree Lane by Kate London|Full Review]]
  
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===[[Dead Heat (A Harry Radcliffe Mystery) by Glenis Wilson]]===
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===[[How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship by Ece Temelkuran]]===
  
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]]
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[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]], [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]], [[:Category:History|History]]
  
Of course it wasn't champion jackey Harry Radcliffe's fault, but that didn't stop him feeling guiltyHis attempts to solve the murder of prostitute Alice Goode had left his estranged wife, Annabel and her partner, Sir Jeffrey in danger and it was Harry who had urged them to get away as quickly as possible for the sake of themselves and their unborn child.  It would be quite a while before he woke in hospital to find that Jeffrey and Annabel had been involved in a serious car accident.  It looked as though Jeffrey would be in a wheelchair for life and Annabel had lost the baby.  On top of that there was horsebox driver John Dunston's apparent suicide. [[Dead Heat (A Harry Radcliffe Mystery) by Glenis Wilson|Full Review]]
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A little while ago a friend asked me if I thought that we were living through what in years to come would be discussed by A level history students when faced with the question ''Discuss the factors which led to...''  I agreed that she was right and wasn't certain whether it was a good or bad thing that we didn't know what all 'this' was leading to.  I think now that I do knowWe are in danger of losing democracy and whilst it's a flawed system I can't think of a better one, particularly as the 'benevolent dictator' is as rare as hen's teeth. [[How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship by Ece Temelkuran|Full Review]]
  
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===[[All the Lonely People by David Owen]]===
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===[[A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel]]===
  
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]
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Kat and Wesley are both loners, looking for places to fit in. Kat finds this with online communities, where she feels like she can be her true self - a feminist, an activist, someone who isn't scared to speak out. Wesley's desire to feel a sense of belonging sees him fall in with an altogether nastier crowd. Bullies, trolls, extremists. When he pulls the final trigger on a violent, targeted online bullying campaign, Kat is forced to delete her entire online presence. Bereft of everything that represented her identity, Kat's physical self starts to fade as well. As the entire world slowly forgets that Kat ever existed, only Wesley seems to remember the girl whom he erased. Wesley is faced with a choice: get sucked further into a sinister alt-right movement or help Kat to stop them. [[All the Lonely People by David Owen|Full Review]]
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''They needed someone to blame, and I was the only available scapegoat. Their daughter was my best friend. Playing the scapegoat was the least I could do under the circumstances.'' Seventeen year old Hannah Gold was born mature – or so her parents tell her. She has dined in fancy restaurants, explored the most sophisticated corners of the globe and lived a life of luxury. [[A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel|Full Review]]
  
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===[[Keep Your Health and Fitness For Life: Don't Let Age Be A Barrier by Stuart Roberts]]===
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===[[When You Read This by Mary Adkins]]===
  
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]]
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[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
  
My birth certificate might suggest a higher figure, but I know that I'm only 42.  I learned a long time ago that I could retain that feeling by keeping my life in balanceThis meant eating sensibly, getting quality sleep and having regular exercise which I enjoyed.  There was an added bonus too: I was juggling four chronic conditions and living this way meant that I could keep three of them in the background.  Then a silly mis-step meant that the hip problem flared upThe only way I could get more than an hour or two asleep was to take pain relief and the duodenal ulcer started to complainBecause I was masking symptoms I didn't dare to exercise - and the black dog of depression prowled along behind me. [[Keep Your Health and Fitness For Life: Don't Let Age Be A Barrier by Stuart Roberts|Full Review]]
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Smith Simonyi and Iris Massey worked together for four years, during which time Iris left her husband at the altar on their wedding daySmith, meanwhile, relied on Iris, but his attention was on making enough money to cover his mother's nursing home fees in Wisconsin, running the branding agency in New York and losing money gambling when the pressures got too much for himHe was devastated when Iris developed a terminal cancer and died at the age of thirty threeHe was surprised too when he discovered that Iris had been writing a blog in the last six months of her life and her final request of Smith is that he gets the blog published as a book. [[When You Read This by Mary Adkins|Full Review]]
  
 
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Revision as of 14:43, 17 February 2019

The Bookbag

Hello from The Bookbag, a site featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - fiction, biography, crime, cookery and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of author interviews, and all sorts of top tens - all of which you can find on our features page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the recommendations page.

There are currently 16,084 reviews at TheBookbag.

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Reviews of the Best New Books

Read new reviews by category.

Read the latest features.

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Dead Memories (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Crime

Someone is recreating every traumatic event in Kim Stone's past, starting with the death of her twin when she was six years old. Some of the events, or at least the details of them, are not public knowledge, but whoever is behind this has a wealth of information and is using it to evil intent. That might seem bad enough, but the brutal truth of the matter is that people - innocent people - are dying so that these dramas can be recreated. Stone probably - well, certainly - shouldn't be on the case, but who has better knowledge of what happened to her than she does? If her boss can just turn a blind eye to the effect it's having on her for long enough, she can sort it out... Or can she? Full Review

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Out of the Dark by Gregg Hurwitz

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Thrillers

1997. Evan Smoak is 19 years old trained up, mission ready. And yet untested. He's in a foreign city on an officially unofficial mission, which he executes with all the impeccable training that his youth belies. Evan Smoak is Orphan X. Full Review

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Watching You by Lisa Jewell

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Thrillers

A teenage boy spies on a teenage girl from his bedroom window. Down the road, a woman is convinced she knows a man in the village and that he is following her. Meanwhile, a young woman has moved back home after some time abroad, and develops a fascination with her new neighbour. The man's wife, meanwhile, engages the services of the young woman's husband in some work around the house. Oh, and that teenage boy? He's her son. And the woman with the conspiracy theories? She's the mother of the girl he's spying on. Plus, the man she thinks is out to get her is the woman's husband (and is also the new headteacher at her daughter's school). Whichever way you look at it, there's a lot of watching going on in this book. Full Review

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Fish Seeking Bicycle by Kate Cooch

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Fantasy

This novel is set about a hundred years into the future. The world has been decimated by nuclear conflict and what's left of the old United States is run from Center City. Women run this world and it is very proud of having defeated the old patriarchy. Men must behave appropriately and deferentially at all times and, if they don't, are medicalised to keep their baser instincts under control. And if that doesn't work, they're sent to work camps, away from open society, or even worse: expelled to the wilderness beyond the Central Authority's borders. Full Review

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Home Workout for Beginners: 6 Week Fitness Program with Fat Burning Workouts for Long Term Weight Loss by James Atkinson

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Lifestyle

James Atkinson has all the qualifications which you need in a workout instructor and he looks the part. He's been actively involved in the health and fitness arena for more than twenty years and he spent nine years as a member of 9 Parachute Regiment, Royal Engineers. He has another qualification which means a lot to me: he's been on the other side. There was a time when he was overweight and not particularly strong. As a child he was slow to develop. This means that he understands what it's like and he knows how his clients feel: it's much more helpful than the twenty-something who was born super-fit and with an attitude problem. Full Review

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Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics and companies behind the new anti-aging treatments by Adrian Cull

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Lifestyle, Popular Science

For many years now I've (half) joked that I intended to live forever and that so far, it was working out OK. Time has passed though and although I'm a great deal fitter and healthier than most people of my age there were a few nagging health problems which were tipping my life out of balance. It was time to look for a new approach and as so often happens, the reviewing gods brought me the book I needed. Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics and companies behind the new anti-aging treatments seemed like the answer to my problems - only you get so much more than just 101 tips. Full Review

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The City In The Middle Of The Night by Charlie Jane Anders

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Science Fiction

January is a dying planet. It wasn't exactly pleasant to begin with. One half is scorching sunlight, pure, blazing heat, and totally uninhabitable. The other half is pure darkness and ice, where a creature can freeze to death in seconds, and totally uninhabitable. In the middle is a brief twilight that is barely survivable. Life is a knife-edge, stray too close to one side you die, to close to the other, you die and yet the heat from the sun and the water from the ice are necessary for life. Life for the inhabitants of January is long, and hard, and arduous, will anything ever change? Full Review

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Exit Day: Brexit; An Assassin Stalks the Prime Minister by David Laws

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Thrillers

At the time of my writing this, there is one thing uniting Britain, and this is hatred of 'Brexit'. Not just Brexit, but use of the word 'Brexit'. Yes, people hate the people that instigated it then disappeared, and/or the people who just can't seem to get their fingers out and complete it, but they also hate the use of the word. This biggest turn-off has made people who have never so much as tutted in their life slam down their tea-cups in high dudgeon and leave the room until it's safe to return, when all mention of it has subsided. I mention this in relation to this book because it is partly about Brexit, but because it too seems to get to the actual Brexiting in a very protracted manner. Just as we have to wade through dirges from Europe to get anywhere, it seems, so the reader of this book has to get through a lot from Europe before the title's theme really arises. Here, at least though, the author's delaying tactics are much more forgiveable. Full Review

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The Hidden by Mary Chamberlain

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction

When Barbara Hummel arrives, determined to identify the mysterious woman whose photograph she has found among her mother's possessions, Dora and Joe find their worlds upended – and are swiftly forced to confront their pasts. Revisiting their time on the Channel Islands during World War II, Dora remembers a time when she concealed her Jewish identity, and Joe, a Catholic Priest, remembers a time when he hid something very different. In this story of love, loss and betrayal, it remains to be seen whether a speck of light can diffuse the darkest shadows of war… Full Review

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Painting Snails by Stephen John Hartley

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Autobiography, Lifestyle

It's very difficult to classify Painting Snails: originally I thought that as it's loosely based around a year on an allotment it would be a lifestyle book, but you're not going to get advice on what to plant when and where for the best results. The answer would be something along the lines of 'try it and see'. Then I considered popular science as Stephen Hartley failed his A levels, did an engineering apprenticeship, became a busker, finally got into medical school and is now an A&E consultant (part time). I found out that there's an awful lot more to what goes on in a Major Trauma Centre than you'll ever glean from Casualty, but that isn't really what the book's about. There's a lot about rock & roll, which seems to be the real passion of Hartley's life, but it didn't actually fit into the entertainment genre either. Did we have a category for 'doing the impossible the hard way'? Yep - that's the one. It's autobiography. Full Review

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The Haven: Book 1 by Simon Lelic

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Confident Readers

When Ollie and Nancy, the police officer tasked with guarding our young hero, are abducted in the middle of the night, things take a dangerous turn. Rescued by Dodge, Ollie is taken to the Haven, a secret underground community based in a network of underground tunnels that the London above ground knows nothing about. Here, children work together to battle great evils. And there is an immediate enemy to fight. Ollie would have been the hundredth victim of Maddy Sikes had he not been rescued. And Maddy intends to destroy the city. Full Review

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The Things That are Lost by Alan Kennedy

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews General Fiction

The final novel in Alan Kennedy's WW2 trilogy sees Captain Alex Vere taken off active duty and banished to Scotland, providing trade craft spy training. It's stifling and suffocating and feels as much like a prison to Alex as anything the Germans would provide. And where is Justine? Alex hasn't seen her since he went to that disastrous meeting with John Cabot, instigator of the disinformation campaign, and returned to find her missing. A failed mission is one thing but no Justine is quite another. Alex can't get Justine out of his head. Has she left the service? Does she know too much? Is she even still alive? Full Review

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Song of the Dead (DI Westphall) by Douglas Lindsay

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Crime

A man walked into a police station in Estonia. He told a tale of having been held prisoner, used as a donor for organ harvesting and sperm donation. X-rays and medical examination bear out this part of his story, but this man, or the man he says he is - John Baden - died twelve years ago. His body was identified by his partner, Emily King and by his parents - and then the body was buried. So, who is this man? DI Ben Westphall is sent to Estonia because of his background in MI6, but that brings some baggage with it too. Westphall cannot, will not, get on a plane. His last experience of flight was more than enough for one lifetime. Full Review

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A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Teens

No Widdershins girl has ever been able to leave Crowstone. If we do, we'll die by the next sunset.

A Pinch of Magic follows three sisters – Betty, Fliss and Charlie – who have lived on the isle of Crowstone, infamous for its surrounding marshes and the neighbouring inescapable prison, for their entire lives. The middle sister, Betty, has longed for adventure for as long as she can remember and she is determined that nothing and no-one will prevent her from seeing everything that the world has to offer. But in setting out to do just that, she and her sisters discover a deadly curse which has haunted their family for generations. From their ancestors, as well as a lifetime trapped on Crowstone, they have each inherited a magical object – an old carpet bag, a set of wooden nesting dolls and an antique handheld mirror – all of which are more than meets the eye and could possibly be the key to their problem. Full Review

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Never Tell by Lisa Gardner

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Crime, Thrillers

Evie Carter's husband was shot dead in his own home and she was found with the gun in her hands. Was this a domestic dispute which had got out of hand? Was it pregnancy hormones running rampant? Detective D D Warren recognised Evie immediately. It might have been sixteen years ago, but there's no mistaking the teenager who had accidentally shot and killed her father: 'a tragic accident' everyone said, as there was no doubt about the love the two had for each other. D D had no worries at the time, but just how many gun accidents can one woman have - or is Evie about to get away with murder again? Full Review

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The Midnight Hour by Benjamin Read and Laura Trinder

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Confident Readers

After a big blow-up fight with her mum, Emily is left alone with her dad. Her mum has gone away on some strange job (even though Emily didn't think her mum even had a job) and so she is not quite sure what is going on. Things turn even stranger still when her dad goes off to find her mum, and then doesn't come back. She heads out to investigate and discovers a strange, secret world called the Midnight Hour, which seems to be London during Victorian times, and is full of magical beings (and monsters!) What were her parents doing here? And will she be able to find them and rescue them, so her life can go back to normal? Full Review

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Gallowstree Lane by Kate London

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Crime

Spencer was just fifteen years old when he stepped out into a London Street and asked a complete stranger for help, begging him not to let him die. The stranger was an off-duty paramedic but even his skills were insufficient to save Spence. Just one of those things you might, think. Tragic, but teenage boys seem to be getting stabbed on the streets of London all the time. His friend Ryan was with Spence when he was stabbed. It was Ryan who called the ambulance on the paramedic's instruction, sobbing as he held the phone. But Ryan wasn't prepared to accept that it was just one of those things. He wanted revenge. Full Review

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How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship by Ece Temelkuran

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Politics and Society, Autobiography, History

A little while ago a friend asked me if I thought that we were living through what in years to come would be discussed by A level history students when faced with the question Discuss the factors which led to... I agreed that she was right and wasn't certain whether it was a good or bad thing that we didn't know what all 'this' was leading to. I think now that I do know. We are in danger of losing democracy and whilst it's a flawed system I can't think of a better one, particularly as the 'benevolent dictator' is as rare as hen's teeth. Full Review

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A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews Teens, General Fiction

They needed someone to blame, and I was the only available scapegoat. Their daughter was my best friend. Playing the scapegoat was the least I could do under the circumstances. Seventeen year old Hannah Gold was born mature – or so her parents tell her. She has dined in fancy restaurants, explored the most sophisticated corners of the globe and lived a life of luxury. Full Review

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When You Read This by Mary Adkins

link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews General Fiction

Smith Simonyi and Iris Massey worked together for four years, during which time Iris left her husband at the altar on their wedding day. Smith, meanwhile, relied on Iris, but his attention was on making enough money to cover his mother's nursing home fees in Wisconsin, running the branding agency in New York and losing money gambling when the pressures got too much for him. He was devastated when Iris developed a terminal cancer and died at the age of thirty three. He was surprised too when he discovered that Iris had been writing a blog in the last six months of her life and her final request of Smith is that he gets the blog published as a book. Full Review