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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-->Tom Percival<!-- Suri -->|title=The Wrong Shoes|-rating=5| stylegenre="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Confident Readers[[image:0356512002.jpg|linksummary=http://wwwWill's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways.amazon.co.uk/dp/0356512002/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Empire He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of Sand by Tasha Suri]]=== [[image:4starthings like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]] Mehr is a girl trapped between two cultures. Her father comes from the ruling classes of the empire but her mother Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's people were outcastslife seems bleak in every direction. And yet, Amrithi nomads who worshipped the spirits he still has a tiny amount of the sandshope. Caught one night performing these forbidden rites He is good at art, Mehr is brought and clings to the attention moments of the Emperor's most feared mysticsjoy when he is drawing, who force her into their service by way that feel like a light at the end of an arranged marriagea long, dark tunnel. [[Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri|Full Review]]isbn=1398527122}}<!-- Laura Solomon -->{{Frontpage|-author=Sylvie Cathrall| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=5[[image:B077969HN8.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077969HN8/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Science Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008517061|title=Death in a Lonely Place|author=[[Alternative Medicine by Laura Solomon]]=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=Crime [[image:4.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] Laura Solomon's publisher describes Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the short stories in ''Alternative Medicine'' as ''black comedy with a twist future of surrealism''. I'm rather glad that I didn't see this until ''after'' I'd finished reading his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, as I'm not normally moving in together would mean a fan lot of either, but I've come compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to two conclusions Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is the book: what future she wants for herself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the publisher says is correct - present and I really enjoyed itputting the future on the back burner. }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786482126|title=The comedy is not ''too'' black and the surrealism is gentle and perhaps best described as a twist or flick of reality when you were least expecting itJanus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4. Your comfort zones are going to be invaded in the nicest possible way. [[Alternative Medicine by Laura Solomon|Full Review]] <!-- Gardner -->5|-genre=Crime| stylesummary="width: 10%; verticalBuilders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-align: top; textfive 'luxury' apartments -align: center;"|[[image:1785656341when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway.jpg|link=http://www There was no skull.amazon Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson.co.uk/dp/1785656341/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Count It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of 9 by Erle Stanley Gardner]]===the one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.}}[[image:4{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4.5star.jpg5|linkgenre=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] summary=It''The Count of 9'' is a hardboiled detective story written in s unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the 1950spolice. It revolves around the detective duo of Donald Lam Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and Bertha Cool as they attempt he's prepared to solve tell the police where the theft body of priceless Bornean artefacts. However, their case quickly turns into something darker - an impossible murdera missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. [[The Count of 9 by Erle Stanley Gardner|Full Review]] <!-- Mandeville -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0751571695This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date.uk/dp/0751571695/ref=nosim Not much to ask, is it?tag=thebookbag-21]]   The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"0008405026|title=A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=5|genre=[[Every Colour of You by Amelia Mandeville]]===Crime [[image:4.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Zoe believes in adding life to years as well as It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the investigation ground to lifea halt. Her world Now, like her namemother, Helena, is bursting with life and colourher father are dead in their bed. She is the sort of girl who would sing Initially, it looks like a rainbow if she could. Tristan (or straightforward murder/suicide but there''Tree'' as she calls him) is s something about the opposite. Fresh out positioning of hospital following a prolonged stay in a psychiatric unit, he sees a world the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to be an open-and-shut case is now a grey placecomplex double murder. [[Every Colour of You by Amelia Mandeville|Full Review]] <!-- Quintin Jardine --> Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=0571379877| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet[[image:1472238931.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472238931/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="verticalEdward Jevons is a working-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Cold Case (Bob Skinner) by Quintin Jardine]]=== [[image:4class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza.5star Robert's a theatre director.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Bob Skinner left the police service in Scotland when it was amalgamated into one unit. He didn't believe in it then s also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and he doesn't now entitled and many serving officers would agree with uses Edward to run errands for him. He might be retired but Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and he's hardly idle: drunkenly confided how he's contracted feels to spend one day a week working for a media group, but usually gives more. His family - six children now - is important to him. Robert. ThereMost men in Robert's the occasional private commission, although he stops short of calling himself position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a private investigator, relationship had begun between them but he's just been presented with not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a problem which it's difficult to refusedark passageway. It's not the problem that's the difficulty - it's }}{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=When a man is found crucified on the person who is asking for helptop of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock. Sir James Proud was Skinner's predecessor as Chief Constable and heIt's their first live case together, having previously been approached by very successful with several cold cases. But when there is a blogger who feels that he has evidence that Proud was involved in second body found crucified a famous murder for which few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a man was convicted. He subsequently committed suicide whilst in prison - potential serial killer and went to his death denying a very high profile case that he was guiltydraws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. [[Cold Case (Bob Skinner) by Quintin Jardine|Full Review]] <!-- Samesh Ramjattan --> Will they be able to solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?|-isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson[[image:1789015200.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789015200/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Thrillers|summary===[[Be Your Higher Self by Samesh Ramjattan]]=== [[image:4starOlivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Spirituality Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and Religion|Spirituality and Religion]] There are a lot trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of selfthe group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-help books about: fuelled party and it's one of the most thriving sections of going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the average bookshopthree friends. This time, but it's not always easy to find the book you needtheir teenage children who are involved. Samesh Ramjattan has addressed this problem in ''Be Your Higher Self'', a book which allows us all to make sense }}{{Frontpage|isbn=0241636604|title=The Trading Game: A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson|rating=4.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=If you were to bring up an image of our place a city banker in the worldyour mind, as most you're unlikely to think of us only glimpse our true potential and few people ever achieve itsomeone like Gary Stevenson. Even A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with hard work and dedicationviolence, obstacles present themselves poverty and it's difficult to understand why or how they can be overcomeinjustice. Ramjattan offers us a guide There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the spirit world, the chakras, karma and reincarnation as well as information about the age London School of Aquarius and the egoEconomics. It's a slim book Stevenson is bright - just 128 pages extremely bright - so can it provide and he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with the answers we seek? [[Be Your Higher Self by Samesh Ramjattan|Full Review]]Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.}}<!-- Lisa Regan -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1035021803| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller[[image:B07H2ML6LB.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07H2ML6LB/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Her Final Confession (Detective Josie Quinn Book 4) by Lisa Regan]]=== [[image:3It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up. She's back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Detective Josie Quinn Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is no longer Chief of Policedead and the circumstances seem suspicious, but in many ways that's something of a reliefto say the least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: Arthur, although it does mean that she doesn't quite have the autonomy that she hadfeels, let her down badly. It also means that Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the other detectives have a habit of calling her 'boss'man or pursue the profession she loved. It's After the autonomy bit that strikes home though when split, she has to watch worked in a fellow officer being arrested for a cold-blooded murder, but what other conclusion can you come to when the officer goes missingcafe, her vehicle met and phone are off married James (on the radar and there's rebound from the body love of a young man in her driveway? Josie Quinn can't believe that Gretchen - the woman she brought onto the Denton police force - could be guilty of such a crime, but she life, who was murdered) and Freya and Noah Fraley are not going to James have much time to prove now divorced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Gretchen is innocent, Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Gretchen doesn't seem inclined to help them. [[Her Final Confession Stephen Oram (Detective Josie Quinn Book 4Editors) by Lisa Regan|Full Review]] <!-- Roy Lewis -->|-rating=5| stylegenre="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Science Fiction[[image:B07K6L4QKQ.jpg|linksummary=http://www.amazon''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.co.uk/dp/B07K6L4QKQ/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Woods Murder by Roy Lewis]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Jenny Carson was just nine years old when she was murdered whilst taking a shortcut through Kenton Woods. Her father blamed lawyer Charles Lendon for her death - not that he thought he was physically responsible, but because Lendon had refused to allow the local children to use his driveway as a shortcut to school, forcing them to cut through the woods if they were late. Lendon wasn't a popular man - he would say that lawyers never are - partly because of his attitudes, but his incessant womanising had made him a lot of enemies. When Lendon was murdered a couple of months after Jenny's death, there was no shortage of suspects. [[The Woods Murder by Roy Lewis|Full Review]]<!-- Betty Rowlands -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:B07GX7KGVR.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07GX7KGVR/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Murder at the Manor Hotel (Melissa Craig 4) by Betty Rowlands]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Melissa Craig should have been getting on with writing her latest mystery novel but she'd been sidetracked into working on the script for a pantomime. It wasn't a traditional panto, but a spoof for the birthday party of a local millionaire, to be held on Halloween. It's got all the hallmarks of a mystery ''and'' a pantomime and it looks as though cast and audience are all in for a good time with the rehearsals being held in a luxury hotel. Well, they were until one member of the cast turns up dead in the cellar at the bottom of a steep flight of stairs. What was he doing there and why is the hotel manager acting so strangely? [[Murder at the Manor Hotel (Melissa Craig 4) by Betty Rowlands|Full Review]] <!-- Hamilton -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1447281322.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1447281322/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Salvation by Peter F Hamilton]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]] Apparently the term ''space opera'' was coined in 1941 as a pejorative. It was borrowed not from the high-brow musical art form, but from the common or garden 'soap opera'. It related to a particular kind of science fiction which the coiner (one Wilson Tucker) described as a ''hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn, spaceship yarn''. It would be fifty years later before the term started to be re-appropriated to cover – if still the same themes of distant futures, military conflict, heroism and a simplistic set of values – more literary, more expansive works. The term is now taken as compliment. [[Salvation by Peter F Hamilton|Full Review]] <!-- Susan Fletcher -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0349007640.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0349007640/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[House of Glass by Susan Fletcher]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] Clara suffered from ''Osteogenesis imperfecta'': these days it would probably be called brittle bone disease and whilst there is still no cure, treatments have advanced. At the beginning of the twentieth century it meant that Clara was confined to her home, living life through a window and the tales her mother, Charlotte, brought home. Both became far too knowledgeable about bones and the sounds they made on breaking. Charlotte would ''list bones like continents''. Clara would only escape the house after her mother's death - of a tumour at the age of thirty nine - and in her wanderings discovered Kew Gardens. Her growing knowledge of tropical plants led to the offer of a job stocking a newly-built glass house at Shadowbrook in Gloucestershire. [[House of Glass by Susan Fletcher|Full Review]] <!-- Rachael Blok -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1788547993.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788547993/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Under the Ice (DCI Jansen) by Rachael Blok]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It's eleven days to Christmas and the cathedral city of St Albans is looking particularly festive with a covering of snow, but this belies the atmosphere: the body of a young girl has been found frozen in the local lake. DCI Jansen's only lead comes from Jenny Brennan - but can you put any credence on statements made by the sleep-deprived mother of a four month old child, particularly one who claims to have seen visions? Can you believe her statements that she's been sleep-walking in the middle of the night when she find evidence that the police have missed? When another girl goes missing the tiny city is in melt-down and for Jenny it all seems close to home. Far too close to home. [[Under the Ice (DCI Jansen) by Rachael Blok|Full Review]] <!-- Weymouth -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1911490036.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1911490036/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Light Between Worlds by Laura Weymouth]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] Five years ago Evelyn, Philippa and James Hapwell escaped to the safety of their air raid shelter as bombs fell all around the streets of London. In the terrifying darkness waiting for their parents to join them, Evelyn prayed to be anywhere else. A plea that was answered by The Woodlands. One moment in grey London and the next surrounded by a rich green forest, the three children were transported from one world trapped in war, to another on the brink of its own. [[The Light Between Worlds by Laura Weymouth|Full Review]] <!-- Durant -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1406374628.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1406374628/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Clownfish by Alan Durant]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] When Dak's dad dies very suddenly, from a heart attack, Dak is left feeling lost and alone. His mum is lost inside her own grief, struggling to take care of herself, let alone care for Dak, and so he escapes to the local aquarium - somewhere that both he and his dad had loved. But then he discovers that actually, his dad has turned into a clownfish and is living at the local aquarium! What will Dak do when the aquarium's future is in question, and he may potentially lose his dad all over again? [[Clownfish by Alan Durant|Full Review]] <!-- Carthew -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1408868601.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408868601/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Only the Ocean by Natasha Carthew ]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  Kel Crow lives with a heart defect that could kill her at any time. Her only hope is to escape the floodridden, waterlogged Cornish world she lives in, to leave her drug-running family far behind, and get to America with enough money for an operation. She has a plan: stowaway on a ship, kidnap a rich girl, exchange the girl for enough money for the journey to America and the surgery that will change her life. [[Only the Ocean by Natasha Carthew |Full Review]]<!-- Blake -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1509876499.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509876499/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Two Dark Reigns by Kendare Blake]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]] ''You cannot put on a costume and become something else. You are a queen of Fennbirn island.'' Following on from [[Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake|Three Dark Crowns]] and its sequel [[One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake|One Dark Throne]], in ''Two Dark Reigns'' each of the Goddess' daughters have their own battles to fight. All her life, Katharine has dreamed of being the great Queen the island of Fennbirn deserves. Having won the crown though, she is facing trial after difficult trial and murmurs of dissent and revolution grow louder on the streets each and every day. And without evidence of her sisters' death does anyone but herself and the old queens buried under her skin, believe she is the one true Queen? [[Two Dark Reigns by Kendare Blake|Full Review]] <!-- Picoult -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1444788124.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444788124/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] The Center is the last remaining abortion clinic in the state of Mississippi and is the source of great controversy when it comes to the Pro-Life versus Pro-Choice debate. It is at The Center where one man, George Goddard, takes it upon himself to get revenge for the loss of his grandchild, in the form of a mass-shooting. What arises is a novel that details the lives of the remaining hostages, as well as other characters central to the story. One of these characters is Hugh McElroy, a hostage negotiator called in to help deflate the situation, who soon discovers that his sister and daughter, Wren, happened to be at the clinic that day. [[A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult|Full Review]] |-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1784631345.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1784631345/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Gentleman Jack (DI Yates 7) by Christina James]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] The investigation into the thefts of farm machinery has been going on for months and it's getting DI Tim Yates down: he can't see where to go next. It's almost a relief when Jack Fovargue, agricultural entrepreneur and local celebrity is assaulted in the street, but no one can understand why Fovargue is so reluctant to help the police with their enquiries, or to press charges, particularly when a police officer was also assaulted. Yates is then diverted into the investigation which followed the discovery of the headless body of a woman in a canal near Lincoln: it's an interesting case but the downside is that the senior investigating officer is DI Michael Robinson. They're contemporaries but Robinson is bumptious and inclined to taking credit for other people's efforts. [[Gentleman Jack (DI Yates 7) by Christina James|Full Review]] <!-- Adriaan Verheul -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0692047697.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0692047697/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Clean Death by Adriaan Verheul]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Three very different men meet in the jungle, led there by fate. Davey sees conspiracies everywhere, Oliver seeks answers about the death of his father, and Captain Christmas leads a community of armed men, women and children, hidden far from justice in the forest. As the three men are brought together, the events could cause each to lose something of consequence: maybe illusion, maybe conviction, and maybe, just maybe, life itself… [[A Clean Death by Adriaan Verheul|Full Review]] <!-- Dhladhla -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1720812675.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1720812675/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Beyond Thought by Chris Dhladhla]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] Have you ever felt trapped by your own thoughts? That your mind is so busy processing what's going on in the world around you that you just can't catch a moment and simply ''be''? Or that the outside world just won't stop pressing in upon an inner life that you'd like to be more peaceful? [[Beyond Thought by Chris Dhladhla|Full Review]] <!-- M J Lee -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:B07HYQ99YV.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07HYQ99YV/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Where the Truth Lies (DI Ridpath) by M J Lee]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] DI Thomas Ridpath - call him Ridpath as he doesn't think Tom or Thomas suits him - looked to have a promising future in CID until he was forced to take extended sick leave nine months ago. He's back, but the word ''cancer'' leaves people doubting how well you really are, or are going to stay. Perhaps it would be better if he quietly retired? His wife, Polly, would like to see him in a desk job. Ridpath would like to be back in front-line policing, but all that's available to him is a secondment for three months as Coroner's Officer. If that's how it's got to be, then he'll do the best job he can. [[Where the Truth Lies (DI Ridpath) by M J Lee|Full Review]] <!-- Laura Solomon -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:9386897504.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/9386897504/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|genre=General 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 - to anyone.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1398524085|title=Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci French|rating=5| stylegenre="verticalCrime|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 -align: top; textstrangely -align: left;"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=[[Tales We tend to think of Love Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, New York, in December 1923 and Disability 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 - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the Nazi occupation by Laura Solomon]]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 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 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}}{{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}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the Dead|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|Short Stories]]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.''

IWithin a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of the Briar've s, a family of witches who protect the town and the wider world from the Darklands. Though she has always believed that lesswished for magic, Ellie Briar is the first non-able writers produce longer books: it 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 great deal maelstrom of skill chaos. Reeling from one family secret to another, Ellie must decide who to trust and talent determine what to do as the Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to write survive, is under threat.|isbn=1803364548}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529900360|title=The Ghost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=It hadn't 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't need the help of a psychologist only worked for a short story 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 heir to an Italian shoe empire and she is married to an extremely rich man and it's not the Italian. But which holds of them was the primary target?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529395224|title=Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The 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 reader opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and keeps them coming back was convinced this was the job for morehim. Before long, he was at Liverpool University. There are far too It hadn't - as with so many collections 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 Pheasants|author=Steve Burrows|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=DCI Domenic Jejeune's close friend and former colleague, Danny Maik, has taken a short stories which are 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 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 death 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 too easy .}}{{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 put down all the online apps in providing a more personal, tailored service. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and forget look after youthe business, as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a while. Katie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh. And so begins this 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 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''ve read gives us a couple collection of piecesknits from toys to blankets. ISome will be quick knits - others are of the 've recently read a couple long, cosy afternoons in front of novellas the fire' variety. The projects are divided by Laura Solomon the time they'll take to complete - [[Marshaless 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 Deal by Laura Solomonme being picky.}}{{Frontpage|author=Dean Koontz|title=The Bad Weather Friend|rating=4.5|genre=Paranormal|Marshasummary=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 Deal]] 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 delivery to his house is a new friend, a bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. Spike is going to take care of Benny, and [[Hellwill certainly take care of Benny's Unveiling by Laura Solomonenemies, if he, Benny, and Harper (a 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|genre=Confident Readers |Hellsummary=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 Unveiling]] 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 enjoyed whiffs. This time round it drops theminto a Viking land, so I where a troll hunter is expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was intrigued , to see what she 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 do with an even shorter formwell be.... no. [[Tales of Love and Disability by Laura Solomon|Full Review]]

<!-- 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?