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<metadesc>Book review siteExpert, with books full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, biographynon-fiction, crime, cookery and children's books & self-published books plus author interviews and & top tens.</metadesc><h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>Hello from The Bookbag, a site featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - [[:Category:Fiction|fiction]], [[:Category:Biography|biography]], [[:Category:Crime|crime]], [[:Category:Cookery|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 [[:Category:Interviews|author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[features]] page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the [[Book Recommendations|recommendations]] page.

Reviews by readers from all the many walks of literary life. With author interviews, features and top tens. You'll be sure to find something you'll want to read here. Dig in! Find us on [[File:facebook.gif|link=https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk|alt=Facebook]] [https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk '''Facebook'''], [[File:twitter.gif|link=http://twitter.com/TheBookbag|alt=Follow us on Twitter]] [http://twitter.com/TheBookbag '''Twitter'''], [[File:instagram_classic_logo.png|link=https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/|alt=Follow us on Instagram]] [https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/ '''Instagram'''] and [[File:LinkedIn.png|link=https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-bookbag-1b12a264/|alt=LinkedIn]] There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews ]] at TheBookbag.

==Reviews of the The Best New Books==

'''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].{{Frontpage|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingauthor="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--> <!-- Duffy -->Tom Percival|-title=The Wrong Shoes| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|5[[image:1786697645.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786697645/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Confident Readers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Me MamWill's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. Me Dad. Me by Malcolm Duffy]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]   He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes'It was the day , he has the clocks went back. Thatwrong shoes because his dad can's when I decided to kill him.t work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can' ''I'' is fourteent work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-yearin-old Dannyhand job on a building site and had an accident. ''Him'' is Danny Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's stepfather Callumlife seems bleak in every direction. Up until And yet, he still has a year agotiny amount of hope. He is good at art, it was just Danny and Mam. They lived in a damp, cold council flat and didn't have much money clings to sparethe moments of joy when he is drawing, but things were pretty good. Danny and his Mam got on well, they saw that feel like a lot light at the end of their lovely extended family, and Danny not only had mates but even a girlfriendlong, Amydark tunnel. But a lot has changed. They're now living in Callum's posh house and Danny gets holidays and plenty of Christmas presents. Great, right? [[Me Mam. Me Dad. Me by Malcolm Duffy|isbn=1398527122}}{{Frontpage|author=Sylvie Cathrall|Full Review]]title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep<!-- Forman -->|rating=5|-genre=Science Fiction| stylesummary="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}{{Frontpage[[image:Forman_Lost.jpg|linkisbn=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471173720/ref0008517061|title=nosim?tagDeath in a Lonely Place|author=thebookbag-21]]Stig Abell|rating=4| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Crime|summary===[[I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman]]=== [[image:5starFormer Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[ There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a lot of compromise:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] ''I Have Lost My Way'' tells the story of three individuals who have each lost something important does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to them leading move in with Livia or does Livia move to them losing their way. Freya has lost Little Sky despite her voice, Harun has lost his love and Nathaniel has lost everything. However, these three elements do reservations about whether or not give justice to this is the extent of what each character has lost. In this expertly written novel, Gayle Forman writes about how these three dissimilar individuals each came to lose what was most important to them, causing them to all meet one fateful day future she wants for herself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in New York Citythe present and putting the future on the back burner. [[I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman|Full Review]]}}<!-- Santorella -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1786482126| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths[[image:1788038096|rating=4.jpg5|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788038096/refCrime|summary=nosim?tag=thebookbagBuilders were demolishing an old house in Norwich -21]]  | style="verticalthe site was going to hold seventy-align: top; textfive 'luxury' apartments -align: left;"|===[[Dyed Souls by Gary Santorella]]=== [[image:4when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway.5star There was no skull.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] The USADr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It's difficult as Ruth knows, early 1980s. Charlie (or Charles, if hebut Nelson doesn's feeling belligerentt, and he often that she is) is being taken back to pregnant with his home by his drop-outchild as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, slutty mother. The home not least because Ruth is called a Cottage, and while the book doesn't guide us prone to understand it perfectly, it seems to mean he has a private room in a large self-contained bungalow, on a gated compound with round-the-clock adult supervisionsudden bouts of sickness. There's a paddock with horses for the kids to ride, their own school – and all the adults are armed with Thorazine to calm the kids down}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4. Charlie, despite his obvious bookish intelligence, 5|genre=Crime|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling to get to grips with why in prison and how he's ended up prepared to tell the police where he the body of a missing person isburied and who was responsible for her death. This person, but it must have something to do with his single parent mother being violenthe promises, is someone big and it will be worth the fact police doing what he wants. And what he wants is no longer allowed to stay with be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his grandfathersentence and to get an early parole date. This book Not much to ask, is a slightly woozy look at his thoughts, as he tries it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to build a relationship do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with a girl in a different Cottage, and work out his lot. He certainly has a lot on his plate for a thirteen-year-oldhim is kept well away from what's happening. [[Dyed Souls by Gary Santorella|Full Review]]<!-- Sigurdardottir -->}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=0008405026| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey[[image:1473621569.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473621569/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="verticalIt's sixteen years since nine-align: top; textyear-align: left;"|===[[The Reckoning by Yrsa Sigurdardottir old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and Victoria Cribb (translator)]]=== [[image:4the investigation ground to a halt.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] [[The Legacy: Children's House Book 1 by Yrsa Sigurdardottir Now, her mother, Helena, and Victoria Cribb (translator)|Last time]]her father are dead in their bed. Initially, this series opened with it looks like a plot that derailed straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the careers positioning of both its leads – Huldar the policeman, bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and child psychologist Freyjaher boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. Demoted and stuck with a kind of love/hate connection, they are left staring into space for want of something What looked as though it was going to happenbe an open-and-shut case is now a complex double murder. Huldar can even find some gruesome human remains Kerrigan is convinced that the police have been tipped off about, but still isnexplanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent't allowed to investigate thems boss, so he settles for the drudge work involved in a threat found left in a school's time capsuleUna Burt) are less convinced. Even Freyja can be persuaded to stop twiddling her thumbs and help him out}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0571379877|title=The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=3. It's the nature of these books that we know both plots will be connected somehow – but how, we will be asking, will either relate to the prologue, where 5|genre=Crime|summary=Edward Jevons is a working-class young girl was snatched ten years agoman, and what is obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert's a modern family under threat theatre director. He's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to do with anything? [[The Reckoning by Yrsa Sigurdardottir run errands for him. Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and Victoria Cribb (translator)|Full Review]]<!-- Child -->|-| style="widthhe's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he's not like most men: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0356510700.jpg|link=http://www.amazonEdward is left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway.co.uk/dp/0356510700/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage| styleauthor="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Jo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre==[[Everything About You by Heather Child]]===Crime[[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]]When a man is found crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]] In DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the futurecase alongside her sidekick, your social feed is your entire existence. A.I. is here and it is all around youthe AI detective Lock. It fills your fridge's their first live case together, it keeps up to date having previously been very successful with your friends and fulfils your wishesseveral cold cases. It But when there is also stealing your jobs anda second body found crucified a few days later, possibly, loosening your grip on reality. Freya Kat is unexpectedly given suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a beta testing version of the latest smart specs, glasses which give her all the information she'll ever need, right in front very high profile case that draws a lot of her eyes by barely thinking about it, complete with a personality unwanted attention to guide hertheir AI Future Policing project. The problem is that Will they be able to solve the personality on case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the glasses is that case and, potentially, out of her missing and presumed dead sister. Freya is thrown and unsettled by this. Her mum tells her to stop using them or at the very least to reset them to a different personalitya career?|isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4. But Freya just can't do this. Hearing her sister's voice again is like she's right there5|genre=Thrillers|summary=Olivia, Laura and although she knows this is just Ruby's data, part Anjali met on the first day of Freya can't believe that it can be this accuratemedical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, it can't which is a bonus when you aim to be this Rubya cardiothoracic surgeon. Is it just possible that something more Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is feeding this personality than Rubythe free spirit of the group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they's data? [[Everything About You by Heather Child|Full Review]] <!re at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty- Schimmelpfennig -->five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=0241636604| styletitle="widthThe Trading Game: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson[[image:0857057014.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/0857057014/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Autobiography| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[One Clear Ice-Cold January Morning at the Beginning If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of the Twentysomeone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-First Century by Roland Schimmelpfennig stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and Jamie Bulloch (translator)]]=== [[image:4starinjustice.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] First, forgive me if I don't refer to this book There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with its full title oftennumbers which most of us can only envy. It's pointedly precise, accurate, and rather ungainly – when in fact the book it describes has only the former two attributes in any quantity. What happens in January is He also realised that a wild wolf walks across the frozen river separating Poland and eastern Germanymost rich people expect poor people to be stupid. Which means that, when the book starts properly It was his ability at what was, mid-Februaryessentially, it has had time to get a lot closer to Berlin – within 80 kilometrescard game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, to be precise, for that is the road marker where one of our main characters sees itthis turned into permanent employment as a trader. He is trying }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035021803|title=The Antique Hunter's Guide to get back to work in Berlin for the first time in a month, and Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to be with his girlfriend, not knowing she has had an infidelity while he was awaythe English country village where she grew up. Also fancying the bright lights and big city are She's back now because of a teenaged pair of love-birdsrequest for help from her beloved aunt, the boy Carole. Freya's former mentor and girl next door to each other in an eastern villageCarole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, who flee an unhappy lot on the off-chance of a better one. You just know there is a chance that these characters – human dead and lupine alike – are sucked into one combined narrativethe circumstances seem suspicious, but you won't know quite what that will entail…[[One Clear Ice-Cold January Morning at to say the least. Arthur was the Beginning of reason why Freya had not been back to the Twenty-First Century by Roland Schimmelpfennig and Jamie Bulloch (translator)|Full Review]] <!-- David -->|-| style="widthvillage: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:034900305XArthur, she feels, let her down badly.jpg|link=http://www Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. After the split, she worked in a cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the love of her life, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.amazon.co.uk/dp/034900305X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=5|genre=[[Stranger by Keren David]]===Science Fiction[[image:5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] Astor, Ontario, 1904. Emmy and her friend Sadie are walking along when a bloody and bruised boy staggers out ''Opening up new ways of thinking about the forest clutching a pistolshape of things to come. Sadie runs off terrified. But something about the boy draws Emmy. She knows, deep inside, that he is not a danger. She kicks the pistol into the grass and cradles the boy until help arrives. Who is he? How has he been living? And will the townsfolk accept him?[[Stranger by Keren David|Full Review]]<!-- Banks -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Banks_W.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/ISBN/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[W by John Banks]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] On the slopes of Mt Hood in Oregon, an 1000-year old Viking is discovered frozen - three thousand miles further west than any previously known Viking exploration. Josh Kinninger is inspired by the Viking discovery - three personal catastrophes having left him angry, unmoored and with his world in turmoil. Beginning a journey westward, he's filled with a desire to wreak vengeance on the individuals he finds morally corrupt. [[W by John Banks|Full Review]] <!-- Curran -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1683690133.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690133/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] You are a lass of twenty eight. Plucky, penniless and in Regency era London the race is on to find a suitable suitor - or else doom yourself to life as an eternal spinster. Along your journey you'll be accompanied by Lady Evangeline Youngblood - a fiesty noble eager to save you from a life alone, and fired by a rogueish sense for adventure. When it comes to suitors though, you'll have to make the ultimate decision between witty, pretty and wealthy Sir Benedict Granville, wholesome, rugged and caring Captain Angus MacTaggart, or the mad, bad and terrifyingly sexy Lord Garraway Craven. With orphans, werewolves, long lost lovers and ancient Egyptian artifcats along the way, it's clear this isn't going to be an easy decision... [[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris|Full Review]]<!-- Clover -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0008265836.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008265836/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Rory Branagan Detective by Andrew Clover and Ralph Lazar]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Emerging Readers|Emerging Readers]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Ten-year-old Rory Branagan isn't just a normal kid. He's a detective and he has a mystery to solve – why did his dad disappear when he was three? Rory doesn't know where to start but, then, Cassidy moves in next door and he discovers he has an accomplice who is full of ideas. This is just as well as they soon discover a very serious crime: Corner Boy's dad has been poisoned and is at risk of dying but no-one else will believe he's in danger. It's up to Rory and Cassidy to uncover the truth and save a life. [[Rory Branagan Detective by Andrew Clover and Ralph Lazar|Full Review]]  <!-- Green -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0192758454.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0192758454/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[To the Edge of the World by Julia Green]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] Jamie loves his new island home. He likes the school and he has even made some friends. But, with his history of being bullied, Jamie knows that he has some fears to conquer if he wants to follow his grandfather in the traditional island occupation of boat builder. His fear of the sea in particular. And this is what draws him to Mara, a strange, wild, independent girl who can handle a boat with aplomb. But Mara has her own demons and an approaching show down with the island authorities because of them...[[To the Edge of the World by Julia Green|Full Review]] <!-- Marc Stigter and Sir Cary Cooper -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1472938062.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472938062/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Boards That Dare: How to Future-proof Today's Corporate Boards by Marc Stigter and Sir Cary Cooper]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]] I wasn't optimistic when I started reading ''Boards That Dare''. I feared that I would encounter new ways of minimising tax liabilities, of getting as much as possible out of employees whilst paying them the legal minimum and constant reminders that the ''shareholders'' own the company and of the necessity of maximising their return. In the event I was only a few pages in before I discovered that I couldn't have been more wrong, that we were looking at ways of future proofing the company. I began to feel hopeful... [[Boards That Dare: How to Future-proof Today's Corporate Boards by Marc Stigter and Sir Cary Cooper|Full Review]] <!-- Guilin -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1338045628.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1338045628/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Invasion (The Call, Book 2) by Peadar o Guilin]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] We already know that the Aes Sidhe are back. And in their quest to win back Ireland from humankind, they have placed a magical seal around the entire island. At some point during adolescence, every teenager is transported to the Sidhe realm, that grey, colourless land to which they were banished thousands of years before. If they can evade the vengeful faerie kind for a full day (just three minutes in the human world) then their lives are spared, although they are often sent back with horrific mutilations. Fewer than one in ten children survive. [[The Invasion (The Call, Book 2) by Peadar o Guilin|Full Review]] <!-- Kent -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1788038681.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788038681/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Catchers in Pirates, Thieves, Zombies and Magic by Stuart J Kent]]=== [[image:2star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Meet the Catchers – a mix of young and old, magical and human, smart and, er, less smart. It's their job to round up Fabulous Beasts, and right from the get-go they have a job on their hands in this, the second book to contain their adventures. Colin, the older and magical (if not completely smart) one, is tasked with a recovery mission by a friend who boasted about having a wonderful lion griffin, only for it to vanish. Well, wouldn't you, if you were a lion griffin called Muffin? Either way, we know the adventure is going to include more than that simple task implies, as the extended title of the book suggests, but is it any good? Is it rock bottom on the pile of juvenile fantasy reads, or does the combination of Pirates, Thieves, Zombies (both tame and wild) and Magic make this particular Muffin top? [[The Catchers in Pirates, Thieves, Zombies and Magic by Stuart J Kent|Full Review]]<!-- Hepworth -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473674239.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473674239/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Family Next Door by Sally Hepworth]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Pleasant Court is a cul-de-sac a few minutes from the beach in Melbourne. Kids play in the street and it's the sort of place people aspire to. Certainly that's how the families who live there feel and there's a good sense of community. Ben and Essie are glad that Essie's mother is living next door as Essie had a mental breakdown three years ago when her first daughter was having difficulty sleeping. Mia's come through that stage, but now there's Poppy, who's been the perfect baby for the first six months of her life, but is just starting to be difficult. Ben, in particular, is pleased that he can rely on Barbara to keep an eye on the situation whilst he's out at work. [[The Family Next Door by Sally Hepworth|Full Review]] <!-- Goddard -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0593076362.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0593076362/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Panic Room by Robert Goddard]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Don Challenor is a down on his luck estate agent who gets tasked to sell a house in Cornwall and upon meeting the live-in cleaner, Blake, finds his life utterly turned upside down. A simple sales job gets increasingly complex with the addition of a witch, professional heavies and a mysterious panic room. Intrigue builds on intrigue and what started fairly simply becomes something far more complex. [[Panic Room by Robert Goddard|Full Review]] |-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0192758748.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0192758748/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Horace & Harriet Take on the Town by Clare Elsom]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Emerging Readers|Emerging Readers]] When Harriet, aged seven and a quarter, decides to go to Princes Park to practise 'Going to the Park on Her Own' (i.e. with her Grandad walking at least thirty steps behind) she can't believe her eyes. The statue of Lord Commander Horatio Fredrick Wallington Nincompoop Maximus Pimpleberry the Third (or Horace for short) starts to move. He not only moves but stamps his foot, shouts something that would get him in serious trouble with Harriet's mum, and climbs down from his pillar. Understandably Harriet can't resist following and quickly finds herself dragged all around the town as Horace searches for a new – and more suitable – home. His sights are firmly set on the Mayor's mansion and it, therefore, falls to Harriet to persuade him that there must be a better alternative. Sadly, Horace's visits to the museum, cinema, train station, playground, bank and library all cause mayhem. Luckily, however, a competition in the park reveals the perfect answer. [[Horace & Harriet Take on the Town by Clare Elsom|Full Review]] <!-- Wills -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1911167022.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1911167022/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Gillie Can Share by Sarah-leigh Wills]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] Gillie the rabbit is baking cookies with Daddy. We might think they look most appetising (they're shaped liked carrots and rabbits, you know) but Gillie is really taken by the way that they smell. Lips are being licked. Does she dive in and eat them? No, she doesn't There are eight cookies. Two - a carrot and a rabbit - are for Grandma and Gillie hops off to deliver them. Another two are for Grandpa and then there are two for Mummy. Now there are just two left and Daddy gives them to Gillie, but Gillie is a kind, generous and thoughtful rabbit and whilst she eats one cookie, a rather scrumptious looking rabbit is offered to the reader. I wanted to hug her! [[Gillie Can Share by Sarah-leigh Wills|Full Review]]<!-- Henley -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1787196607.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1787196607/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Reckless Obsession by Dai Henley]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It was several years since DCI Andy Flood's wife had been murdered, but he'd not come to terms with it. His daughters were coping reasonably well, not least because his mother had moved in after Georgina's death and she ran the home and looked after the girls. Flood's real problem was that the Met had moved the murder to cold case status. He couldn't believe that they'd do this when the murder of the wife of one of their own was unsolved, but ''he's'' determined not to give up on the case. Each evening when he's finished work he goes into his study and works on the statements from the case, looking for any inconsistencies. [[Reckless Obsession by Dai Henley|Full Review]]<!-- Bonnefoy -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1910477524.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910477524/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]''

I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.}}{{Frontpage|author=Sunny Singh|title=Hotel Arcadia|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers |summary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|isbn=086154742X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529153298|title=The List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=5| stylegenre="verticalGeneral Fiction|summary=It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though. Women have been disappearing. Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking -align: top; textto anyone.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1398524085|title=Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci French|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=Charlotte Salter was expected at her husband's fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but - strangely - her husband, Alec, is not. Shortly afterwards, Etty and Greg, find the body of Greg's father, Duncan Ackerley, in the river. It was an easy assumption for the police to make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when he couldn't stand the guilt. The Salter children are not convinced but there's little else they can do but get on with their lives and wonder about what really happened.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035906708|title=Diva|author=Daisy Goodwin|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=We tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, New York, in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas' to make it more manageable in the States. When she was back in Athens -align: left;"supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the Nazi occupation by a mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of her preference for her elder sister, Jackie.}}{{Frontpage|author=Christopher Edge|title=Black Hole Cinema Club|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=[[Lucas and his friends are all booked in for a movie marathon at their local cinema, a place that has the nickname of 'The Black Sugar by Miguel Bonnefoy Hole'. All big movie fans, they're looking forward to lots of exciting films, and many, many snacks! However, as the movie starts, they very quickly realise that something about this new film format is very different, and they are swept up into an adventure they couldn't even imagine. But as they lurch from one film genre to the next, can they figure out what on earth is going on? Will they ever get back to the cinema, and to their real lives?|isbn=1839942738}}{{Frontpage|author=Rachel Greenlaw|title=Compass and Emily Boyce (translator)]]Blade|rating=3.5|genre=Teens|summary=''I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.''

[[image:4starRosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks.jpgMira, like her mother before her, is one of the seven who swim out to survey the ruins – rescuing any survivors and any treasure that lies within. But when the Council Watch lays a trap to end the wrecking, they capture the island's leader and Mira's father. Desperate to save him from death, Mira makes a bargain with a wreck survivor who is as charming as he is secretive and with only coordinates to guide her, she sets off in search of a family secret that lies buried deep in the sea. With only nine days to unearth what might save her father, as her journey takes her from the watched streets of foreign islands to the heart of the smuggler's territory, Mira must be determined to stop at nothing to save the future of her home and the ones she holds most dear.|linkisbn=Category:{0008664730}}{{Frontpage|author=James Sherwood Metts|title=Planet Storyland|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary= Things have been a bit sticky for the Earthlings. AI and automation have been proceeding apace, often replacing jobs they're paid to do and other tasks that took time to accomplish. Just as they were beginning to get used to all this technological change and starting to think of other, new ways to spend time, along came an awful pandemic. Life was pretty much shut down and, along with it, all the many daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily.|isbn=1736128426}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:{{Frontpage|author=Matthew Tree|title=We'll Never Know|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Timothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to be different from his father, a drunk and chronic underachiever whose dreams of being exceptional at any of his artistic passions all failed miserably and who had endless crises of self confidence. So Tim applied himself to his studies, cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and set himself high but achievable ambitions.|isbn= B0CVFXPGP8}}{{Frontpage|Literary Fiction]]author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the Dead|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|summary='' There's a part of me that wants to keep this just to myself for however long I can. This secret magic of my own, all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while.''

Miguel BonnefoyWithin a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of the Briar's , a family of witches who protect the town and the wider world from the Darklands. Though she has always wished for magic, Ellie Briar is the first non-witch to be born into her family for generations and as such since she was young, her training as a steward revolved around letters and administration rather than spells and potions. When her grandmother suddenly dies, Ellie's cousin Audra becomes the Briar Witch, the town's leader, and Ellie takes her place beside her. As challenges come her way left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to communicate with the dead, putting her at the heart of a maelstrom of chaos. Reeling from one family secret to another, Ellie must decide who to trust and determine what to do as the Briar witches'legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is under threat.|isbn=1803364548}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529900360|title=The Ghost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=It hadn'Black Sugart been Lt Milo Sturgis's fault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he felt responsible and even after Alex recovered, Sturgis was reluctant to ask for his help on difficult cases. His assertions that there were only open-and-shut cases which didn' is t need the help of a psychologist only worked for a sensual epic chronicling three generations while. Finally, it was Robin, Delaware's partner, who nudged Milo into asking for help again. She knew that the involvement was something that the man she loved needed. The next case did look simple, though. Two lovers were murdered in the swimming pool of a remote property in Bel Air. He was the Otero familyheir to an Italian shoe empire and she is married to an extremely rich man and it's not the Italian. But which of them was the primary target?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529395224|title=Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The tale begins Secret Life of a Vet|author=Sion Rowlands|rating=3.5|genre=Animals and Wildlife|summary=Siôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally. His father was a GP and Rowlands didn't want to follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on his father's life. When he was seventeen he took the opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and was convinced this was the disappearance job for him. Before long, he was at Liverpool University. It hadn't - as with so many students - been his dream since he was a child. If anything, he'd wanted to be a professional footballer.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0861541774|title=A Nye of Captain Henry MorganPheasants|author=Steve Burrows|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=DCI Domenic Jejeune's treasure close friend and former colleague, Danny Maik, has taken a short holiday in Singapore to meet up with an old ally, Guy Trueman. Maik was involved in a street brawl - he would later maintain that he was facing a man armed with a knife - and then illustrates he killed a Ghurka. Initially, he faced a charge of manslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested that he might have planned to murder the man. Now he could be facing the power this treasure holds over peopledeath penalty. Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to help as any interference from another police force could provoke a diplomatic incident and wouldn't help Danny at all.}}{{Frontpage|author=Alexander McCall Smith|title=The Perfect Passion Company|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=The Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and operating as an alternative to all the online apps in providing a more personal, tailored service. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the business, as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a while. Multiple people become obsessed Katie is coming out of a break up with finding a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh. And so begins this fabled treasure that new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. Katie has no experience in running a business, or in match-making, but Ness has become an urban legend full confidence in her abilities, and there's always her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand…|isbn=1846976596}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0811771741|title=InstaKnits for Baby|author=Melissa Leapman|rating=4|genre=Crafts|summary=Melissa Leapman's ''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a collection of knits from toys to blankets. Some will be quick knits - others are of the town 'long, cosy afternoons in which front of the fire' variety. The projects are divided by the time they'll take to complete - less than five hours, five to ten hours, ten to twenty hours and more than twenty hours. All the projects are attractive, modern and useable. I perhaps show my age when I wonder about 'social-media-worthy projects' but that's me being picky.}}{{Frontpage|author=Dean Koontz|title=The Bad Weather Friend|rating=4.5|genre=Paranormal|summary=Benny is having a terrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed. Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the very last person to deserve all this bad luck. He is a nice person. A really nice person. So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the story delivery to his house is a new friend, a bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to help him since Benny is setclearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. [[Black Sugar by Miguel Bonnefoy Spike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's enemies, if he, Benny, and Emily Boyce Harper (translatora waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure)can figure out who exactly they are.|isbn=1662500491}}{{Frontpage|author=Adam Stower|title=Murray and Bun|rating=4.5|Full Review]]genre=Confident Readers |summary=Murray is supposed to be a humble, tidy and friendly cat, one who is able to sleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of the two. But he's a bad magician's cat, so his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and the catflap they both use can chuck them out, not into the regular back garden, but into a world of frightening adventure and whiffs. This time round it drops them into a Viking land, where a troll hunter is expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was, to be honest, but he's turned up and he'll have to do…|isbn=0008561249}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0C47LV1PC|title=Fragility|author=Mosby Woods|rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Can you make a ''Yo birthing person'' joke? And if you could, is the question should you make it? Or is the question if you did, would it land? The catch is that the answer for both could well be.... no.

<!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->''Fragility'' is set as the city of Portland, Oregon, cautiously begins to emerge from the restrictions imposed during the covid pandemic}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529431735|title=The Winter Visitor|author=James Henry|rating=4|genre=Crime|}summary=It's February 1991 and Essex is bitingly cold, which made Bruce Hopkins' return all the more surprising. He'd been exiled on the Costa del Sol as a wanted drug smuggler for a decade. The return has come about because he's had a letter from his ex-wife, saying that she's ill and hasn't long to live. It's hard to feel any sympathy when Hopkins is abducted, stripped to his underwear and sent to a watery grave in the boot of a stolen Ford Sierra. Is it a warning from a Spanish gang or a problem closer to home?