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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--><!-- Lelic -->Tom Percival|-title=The Wrong Shoes| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|5[[image:B07GXSB6N2.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444947605/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Confident Readers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Haven: Book 1 by Simon Lelic]]=== [[image:4starWill's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] When Ollie and Nancy, He is bullied because he has 'the police officer tasked with guarding our young herowrong shoes', are abducted in he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the middle most basic of the night, things take a dangerous turn. Rescued by Dodgelike food, Ollie is taken to and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the Havencollege, was working a secret underground community based cash-in -hand job on a network of underground tunnels building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the London above ground knows nothing aboutfact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in every direction. Here And yet, children work together to battle great evilshe still has a tiny amount of hope. And there He is an immediate enemy good at art, and clings to fight. Ollie would have been the hundredth victim moments of Maddy Sikes had joy when he not been rescued. And Maddy intends to destroy is drawing, that feel like a light at the cityend of a long, dark tunnel. [[The Haven: Book 1 by Simon Lelic|Full Review]]isbn=1398527122}}<!-- Kennedy -->{{Frontpage|author=Sylvie Cathrall|-title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"5|genre=Science Fiction[[image:0993202349.jpg|linksummary=http://www.amazon.coThere are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise.uk/dp/0993202349/refAnd this is one of them.|isbn=nosim?tag=thebookbag-210356522776]]}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008517061| styletitle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Death in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre===[[The Things That are Lost by Alan Kennedy]]===Crime [[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]  The final novel in Alan Kennedy's WW2 trilogy sees Captain Alex Vere taken off active duty and banished to Scotland, providing trade craft spy trainingFormer Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. It's stifling There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and suffocating and feels her daughter Diana, as much like moving in together would mean a prison lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to Alex as anything the Germans would provide. And where is Justine? Alex hasn't seen her since he went to ''that'' disastrous meeting move in with John Cabot, instigator of the disinformation campaign, and returned Livia or does Livia move to find Little Sky despite her missing. A failed mission reservations about whether or not this is one thing but no Justine is quite another. Alex can't get Justine out of his head. Has she left the service? Does future she know too muchwants for herself and her daughter? Is she even still alive? [[The Things That are Lost by Alan Kennedy|Full Review]] For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on the back burner.}}<!-- Douglas Lindsay -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1786482126| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths[[image:1473696917.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473696917/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; textBuilders were demolishing an old house in Norwich -align: left;"|===[[Song of the Dead (DI Westphall) by Douglas Lindsay]]=== [[image:3site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway.5star There was no skull.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] A man walked into a police station in Estonia Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. He told a tale of having been held prisoner, used as a donor for organ harvesting and sperm donation. X-rays and medical examination bear out this part of his storyIt's difficult as Ruth knows, but this manNelson doesn't, or the man he says he that she is - John Baden - died twelve years ago. His body was identified by pregnant with his partner, Emily King and by his parents - and then child as a result of the body was buriedone night they spent together some three months ago. SoHer condition will be obvious before long, who is this man? DI Ben Westphall not least because Ruth is sent prone to Estonia because sudden bouts of his background in MI6, but that brings some baggage with it toosickness. Westphall cannot, will not, get on a plane. His last experience of flight was more than enough for one lifetime. [[Song of the Dead }}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (DI WestphallD S Max Craigie) by Douglas Lindsay|Full Review]]author=Neil Lancaster <!-- Michelle Harrison --> |rating=4.5|-genre=Crime| stylesummary="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1471124290It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police.jpg|link=http://www Neither side likes or has any respect for the other.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471124290/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison]]=== [[image:4But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] ''No Widdershins girl has ever been able to leave Crowstone. If we do This person, he promises, we'll die by is someone big and it will be worth the next sunsetpolice doing what he wants. '' ''A Pinch And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of Magic'' follows three sisters – Bettyhis sentence and to get an early parole date. Not much to ask, Fliss is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and Charlie – who have lived on she's even prepared to do the isle of Crowstone, infamous for its surrounding marshes other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and the neighbouring inescapable prison, for their entire livesanyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening. The middle sister, Betty, has longed for adventure for as long as she can remember and she is determined that nothing and no-one will prevent her from seeing everything that }}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008405026|title=A Stranger in the world has to offer. But in setting out to do just that, she and Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her sisters discover a deadly curse which has haunted their family for generationsbed one summer night. She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt. From their ancestors Now, as well as a lifetime trapped on Crowstoneher mother, they have each inherited a magical object – an old carpet bagHelena, a set of wooden nesting dolls and an antique handheld mirror – all her father are dead in their bed. Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the positioning of which are more than meets the eye bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and could possibly be the key to their problemher boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. [[A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison|Full Review]] <! What looked as though it was going to be an open-and- Lisa Gardner -->|-| style="widthshut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0571379877[[image:1780897715.jpg|linktitle=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1780897715/refThe Kellerby Code|author=nosim?tagJonny Sweet|rating=thebookbag-21]]3.5|genre=Crime| stylesummary="verticalEdward Jevons is a working-align: top; textclass young man, obsessed with his upper-align: left;"|===[[Never Tell by Lisa Gardner]]=== [[image:4class friends, Robert and Stanza.5star Robert's a theatre director.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] He's also self-obsessed, demanding, [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Evie Carterhandsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him. Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and he's husband was shot dead in his own home and she was found with the gun in her handsdrunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Was this Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a domestic dispute which relationship had got out of hand? Was it pregnancy hormones running rampant? Detective D D Warren recognised Evie immediately. It might have been sixteen years ago, begun between them but therehe's no mistaking the teenager who had accidentally shot and killed her fathernot like most men: 'a tragic accident' everyone said, as there was no doubt about the love Edward is left to stumble upon the two had for each otherof them kissing in a dark passageway. D D had no worries at the time, but just how many gun accidents can one woman have - or is Evie about to get away with murder again? [[Never Tell by Lisa Gardner|Full Review]]}}{{Frontpage<!-- Read -->|author=Jo Callaghan|-title=Leave No Trace| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"4|genre=Crime[[image:1911490907.jpg|linksummary=http://www.amazonWhen a man is found crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock.co It's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases.uk/dp/1911490907/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;" But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. 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|isbn=1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=[[The Midnight Hour by Benjamin Read and Laura Trinder]]==Christie Watson|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers[[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] After a big blow-up fight with her mumOlivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, Emily which is left alone with her dada bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Her mum has gone away on some strange job (even though Emily didn't think her mum even ''had'' a job) Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the group and so she is not quite sure what is going onbecomes a GP. Things turn even stranger still when her dad goes off to find her mum, When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and then doesnit't come backs going to end in tragedy. She heads out to investigate and discovers a strange, secret world called We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the Midnight Hour, which seems to consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be London during Victorian timesan eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This time, and is full of magical beings (and monsters!) What were her parents doing here? And will she be able to find them and rescue them, so her life can go back to normal? [[it's their teenage children who are involved.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0241636604|title=The Midnight Hour by Benjamin Read and Laura TrinderTrading Game: A Confession|Full Review]]author=Gary Stevenson|rating=4.5<!-- Kate London -->|-|genre=Autobiography| stylesummary="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[If you were to bring up an image:1786497956.jpg|link=http://www.amazonof a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson.co.uk/dp/1786497956/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-21]]  | style="verticalstripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright -align: top; textextremely bright -align: left;"|===[[Gallowstree Lane by Kate London]]=== [[image:4starand he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy.jpg|link=Category:{ 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 Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.}}{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:CrimeFrontpage|isbn=1035021803|Crime]]title=The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L MillerSpencer was just fifteen years old when he stepped out into a London Street and asked a complete stranger for help, begging him not |rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to let him diethe English country village where she grew up. The stranger was an off-duty paramedic but even his skills were insufficient to save Spence. Just one She's back now because of those things you mighta request for help from her beloved aunt, thinkCarole. TragicFreya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, but teenage boys is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to be getting stabbed on say the streets of London all the time. His friend Ryan was with Spence when he was stabbedleast. It Arthur was Ryan who called the ambulance on reason why Freya had not been back to the paramedic's instructionvillage: Arthur, sobbing she feels, let her down badly. Even though they were in business together as he held antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the phoneprofession she loved. But Ryan wasn't prepared to accept that it After the split, she worked in a cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the love of her life, who was just one of those thingsmurdered) and Freya and James have now divorced. He wanted revenge. [[Gallowstree Lane by Kate London|Full Review]] <!-- Ece Temelkuran -->}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover| styletitle="widthAll Tomorrow's Futures: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Fictions that Disrupt[[image:0008294011.jpg|linkauthor=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008294011/ref=nosim?tagBenjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Science Fiction|summary===[[How ''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship by Ece Temelkuran]]=== [[image:4come.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]], [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]], [[:Category:History|History]] A little while ago a friend asked me if I thought that we were living through what in years to come would be discussed by A level history students when faced with the question ''Discuss the factors which led to...'' I agreed that she was right and wasn't certain whether it was a good or bad thing that we didn't know what all 'this' was leading to. I think now that I do know. We are in danger of losing democracy and whilst it's a flawed system I can't think of a better one, particularly as the 'benevolent dictator' is as rare as hen's teeth. [[How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship by Ece Temelkuran|Full Review]] <!-- Schienmel -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0349003289.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1492667242/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] ''They needed someone to blame, and I was the only available scapegoat. Their daughter was my best friend. Playing the scapegoat was the least I could do under the circumstances.'' Seventeen year old Hannah Gold was born mature – or so her parents tell her. She has dined in fancy restaurants, explored the most sophisticated corners of the globe and lived a life of luxury. [[A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel|Full Review]] <!-- Mary Adkins -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473673313.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473673313/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[When You Read This by Mary Adkins]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Smith Simonyi and Iris Massey worked together for four years, during which time Iris left her husband at the altar on their wedding day. Smith, meanwhile, relied on Iris, but his attention was on making enough money to cover his mother's nursing home fees in Wisconsin, running the branding agency in New York and losing money gambling when the pressures got too much for him. He was devastated when Iris developed a terminal cancer and died at the age of thirty three. He was surprised too when he discovered that Iris had been writing a blog in the last six months of her life and her final request of Smith is that he gets the blog published as a book. [[When You Read This by Mary Adkins|Full Review]] <!-- Cooper -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1529102464.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529102464/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Day We Met by Roxie Cooper]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] This is an epic love story spanning ten years of 'will they, won't they'. Stephanie and Jamie are 'meant to be'. When they meet on an art course they have an instant strong connection but both are with other people. However, what I loved was that it's not a 'typical boy meets girl, falls in love and lives happily ever after' story. In fact far from it, without wanting to give too much away, the ending was both refreshingly unexpected and achingly poignant. [[The Day We Met by Roxie Cooper|Full Review]] <!-- Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1848993609.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1848993609/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Good Mood Food: Unlock the Power of Diet to Think and Feel Well by Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]], [[:Category:Cookery|Cookery]] I thought I was getting a cookbook: I liked the idea of a series of recipes which would make me feel happy. For once this isn't a case of 'if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is' - it's a case of getting something which could change your life for the better - for good - rather than a quick fix. [[Good Mood Food: Unlock the Power of Diet to Think and Feel Well by Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona|Full Review]] <!-- Jameson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0241349176.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241349176/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Last by Hanna Jameson]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]] Jon Keller is in a hotel in Switzerland in the remote countryside when the world ends. He has no idea if his family is alive, he has no idea what's going on in the nearest city, or if the nearest city has been obliterated. Shocked, amid the mass hysteria and exodus, Jon decides to stay at the hotel rather than attempt to get to the airport and home. He's not alone, twenty other people also stay and gradually form a small community. One day, when helping the hotel manager, Jon finds the body of a girl deemed to have been killed before the world ended. The community descends into a deep mistrust as Jon becomes fixated on finding this girl's killer and finding the truth about what is possibly the last community on earth. [[The Last by Hanna Jameson|Full Review]] <!-- d'Eramo -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1782273883.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1782273883/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Deviation by Luce d'Eramo and Anne Milano Appel (translator)]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] For those of you who have read books of life in the Nazi camps – and of course, for those of you who have not – this can be considered a next step. It begins, after all, with someone escaping Dachau and fleeing her work assignment during a bombing raid, and you'd not blame her one minute, as her career was deemed to be cess-tank cleaner and sewage unblocker by the Germans. In Munich, she stumbles on help to get her to what seems to be a camp for non-native civilians to look for work, or company, or transport elsewhere, either official or otherwise. But then the next chapter sees her going back into the camp next to Dachau once more, and by then eyebrows are being raised. [[Deviation by Luce d'Eramo and Anne Milano Appel (translator)|Full Review]] <!-- Alok Tripathy -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1729621953.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1729621953/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Fast-track the I.T Journey - How to move from Supplier to Partner by Alok Ranjan Tripathy]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]] So, what brought me to this book? As the owner of a small business and a buyer of IT services I should be the senior partner in the relationship with my suppliers, but I've frequently found myself the junior partner and I've regularly been let down by them. I needed to know where I could improve that relationship and, by looking at the situation from the supplier's point of view, what steps I needed to take. Alok Tripathy's book looked as though it might provide help and possibly some of the answers as to how my suppliers could better help me. [[Fast-track the I.T Journey - How to move from Supplier to Partner by Alok Ranjan Tripathy|Full Review]] <!-- Kemmerer -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1408884615.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408884615/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] Harper's life is pretty disastrous at the moment, through no fault of her own. Her mother has cancer and not long to live. Her father has scarpered but not taken his debts with him. And her brother is forever getting into trouble. But Harper soldiers on nonetheless, despite coping with her own cerebral palsy. One day, she sees an attempted abduction of young girl and intercedes, only to find herself kidnapped in the girl's place. But even an imaginative girl like Harper couldn't have guessed where she was being taken... [[A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer|Full Review]]   <!-- Teresa Heapy and Katie Cleminson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1910989339.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910989339/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Loved to Bits by Teresa Heapy and Katie Cleminson]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] ''Loved to Bits'' is the heartwarming story of a boy's love for his bear. Bear's adventures with boy take him to all kinds of places and together they fight and defeat every obstacle put in their way, from the jungle to the sea. Inevitably mishaps occur on the way . The loss of an arm, a leg, an ear or an eye are nothing to Stripy Ted who shrugs off all injuries with a cheery ''don't worry, I've got one more''. But boy loves him just as he is and won't hear of him being mended. His place, after all, is in Boy's bed. [[Loved to Bits by Teresa Heapy and Katie Cleminson|Full Review]] <!-- Cohen -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1409179826.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1409179826/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Louis and Louise by Julie Cohen]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] What would you be like, right now, if you'd been born a different gender? Would it simply be a matter of genetics, and your life would still have unfolded in the same way? Or would the way you had been raised affect who you became in life? This latest novel by Julie Cohen looks at all of the above, covering the stories of Louis and Louise, born on the same day, to the same parents, but in one storyline Lou is a boy, and in the other a girl. Does it really make a difference, the gender box that is ticked when we arrive in this world? We all know that men and women are treated differently, but this story really highlights how things have been in the past, how they still are, and prompts you to think about how they could be... [[Louis and Louise by Julie Cohen|Full Review]] <!-- Lewis -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:019274948X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/019274948X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Closest Thing to Flying by Gill Lewis]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Semira is an Eritraen refugee, living in the UK with her mum and Robel, a man who controls their money, their food, and their every move in the UK. He threatens them that if they don't do what he says, they'll be sent home. One day, Semira finds herself buying an old hat on a market stall, strangely drawn to the bird that decorates the hat. When she takes it home she discovers there is an old diary hidden inside the hat box, written by a young girl called Hen over 100 years ago. Semira finds herself caught up in Hen's story, finding in it an escape from her own life that is full of hunger and loss. She finds that she is challenged by the girl in the diary, to speak up in her own life and fight for her place in the world. [[The Closest Thing to Flying by Gill Lewis|Full Review]] <!-- Elly Griffiths -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786487292.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786487292/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| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"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 Stone Circle List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|summary=It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (Dr Ruth GallowayA 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|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 - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the Nazi occupation by Elly Griffiths]]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:Rosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks. Mira, 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.|isbn=0008664730}}{{Frontpage|author=James Sherwood Metts|title=Planet Storyland|rating=4.5star5|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.jpgJust 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.|linkisbn=Category:{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:Crime{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the Dead|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|Crime]]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.''

DCI Harry NelsonWithin 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 life 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 complicatedunder 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 two oldest daughters are either living away from home or really should beassertions that there were only open-and-shut cases which didn't need the help of a psychologist only worked for a while. Finally, it was Robin, Delaware's partner, who nudged Milo into asking for help again. His youngest daughter She knew that the involvement was conceived something that the man she loved needed. The next case did look simple, though. Two lovers were murdered in the swimming pool of a (very) brief affair (letremote 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 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 it 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 onevet and was convinced this was the job for him. Before long, he was at Liverpool University. It hadn't - as with so many students -night stand: therebeen 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 more emotion 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 their relationship) a street brawl - he would later maintain that he was facing a man armed with archaeologist Dr Ruth Gallowaya knife - and he killed a Ghurka. MichelleInitially, Nelsonhe 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's wifet 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. 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, knows about Kate thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. Katie has been very understandingno experience in running a business, or in match-making, but then 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'' gives us a collection of knits from toys to blankets. Some will be quick knits - others are of the matter 'long, cosy afternoons in front of her affair with 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 black policeman which shereally weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it'd rather not have 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 discuss with her daughtersdeserve all this bad luck. He is a nice person. A really nice person. Nelson knows about So fortunately for Benny it and knows turns out that the baby which Michelle 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 about going to delivertake care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's enemies, could be Timif he, Benny, and Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny'swild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are.|isbn=1662500491}}{{Frontpage|author=Adam Stower|title=Murray and Bun|rating=4.5|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. ThatBut he's a lot 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 cope with - and thatbe honest, but he's before turned up and he gets 'll have to workdo…|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. [[The Stone Circle (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths|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?