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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|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->reviews of books about to be published]].<!-- Kerry Watts -->{{Frontpage|-author=Tom Percival| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Wrong Shoes|rating=5[[image:1786817926.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786817926/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Confident Readers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Heartlands (D I Jessie Blake) by Kerry Watts]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] The story had begun some twenty years earlier when two boys raped and killed Sophie Nicholl. Jack Mackay Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in- hand job on the face of it - from a decent family, but he was the ringleaderbuilding site and had an accident. Daniel Simpson was a followerThrow into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, but he still raped Sophie and he could have stopped what happened but didnWill'ts life seems bleak in every direction. Sophie's body was found in And yet, he still has a shallow grave by an enthusiastic cocker spaniel a few days later and the boys were arrestedtiny amount of hope. He is good at art, tried and sentenced clings to five years in a young offenders institution. There were those who thought that the sentence was too lenientmoments of joy when he is drawing, even for fifteen-year-old boys and Sophie's elder brother, Tomthat feel like a light at the end of a long, was one of thesedark tunnel. He wasn't going to let the matter rest. [[Heartlands (D I Jessie Blake) by Kerry Watts|Full Review]]|isbn=1398527122}}<!-- Hitchcock -->{{Frontpage|-author=Sylvie Cathrall| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=5[[image:1788004388.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788004388/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=[[The Boy Who Flew by Fleur Hitchcock]]Stig Abell|rating=4|genre==Crime[[image:4.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]   Athan Wilde earns some money to supplement Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his family's meagre income by working for Mr Chen who is both mentor and friend. Mr Chen's wonderful imagination and sense of rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the future has led him to create some fantastic inventions for making of his life easier with his vet girlfriend, Livia and work less back breaking. His latest endeavour is something on an entirely different level, however - it's her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a.... ''flying machine''! Imagine that! [[The Boy Who Flew by Fleur Hitchcock|Full Review]] <!lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-- David Hewson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|grid and relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is the future she wants for herself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on the back burner.}}{{Frontpage[[image:178029106X.jpg|linkisbn=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178029106X/ref1786482126|title=nosim?tagThe Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=thebookbag-21]]Elly Griffiths|rating=4.5|genre=Crime| stylesummary="verticalBuilders were demolishing an old house in Norwich -align: top; textthe site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments -align: left;"|===[[The Savage Shore by David Hewson]]=== [[image:4starwhen they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway. There was no skull.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Reggio, in Calabria Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It's a strange placedifficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, closer to Africa than Rome that she is pregnant with his child as Emmanuel kept reminding himselfa result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. He was an illegal immigrant and like most Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of his kind he was simply looking for a way to earn a decent living with a little dignitysickness. Back in Nigeria he was an independent man and now he is no better than the monkey who sits in a cage on the bar he tends. }}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The area is ruled by the MafiaDevil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4. Further afield there are the Camorra and the Cosa Nostra, but here it5|genre=Crime|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the 'Ndrangheta and Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the local boss other. But Davie Hardie is known as Lo Spettro - the ghost - as struggling in prison and he's rarely seen, but he's one of prepared to tell the Bergamotti clanpolice where the body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, but even that's not their real name. [[The Savage Shore by David Hewson|Full Review]] <!-- Cara Hunter -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0241283493he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. 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.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241283493/ref=nosim Not much to ask, is it?tag=thebookbag The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded -21]]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=[[No Way Out by Cara Hunter]]===Crime[[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the end of the Christmas holidays and Felix House in an elite area of Oxford was on fireinvestigation ground to a halt. Two children were dragged from the inferno: oneNow, her mother, a toddlerHelena, was pronounced and her father are dead at the scene and the otherin their bed. Initially, it looks like a boy on straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the cusp positioning of his teens, died in hospital some days later. But where were the parents? Were their bodies in what remained of the house that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and which was being steadily cleared, or had they left the children at home alone? For her boss DI Adam Fawley it's one of his most disturbing casesJosh Derwent suspicious. He's still not got over the death of ''his'' son What looked as though it was going to be an open-and there's every sign that his marriage -shut case is on the rocksnow a complex double murder. For his team itKerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's just a heartbreakingdisappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, exhausting caseUna Burt) are less convinced. [[No Way Out by Cara Hunter|Full Review]]}}<!-- Reeves -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=0571379877| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet[[image:1788312201.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788312201/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; textEdward Jevons is a working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-align: left;"|===[[Women of Westminster: The MPs Who Changed Politics by Rachel Reeves]]=== [[image:5starclass friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert's a theatre director.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics He's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him. Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and Society|Politics and Society]] he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Most men in Robert'Women in Westminster have changed s position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he's not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the culture two of politics and the perception of what women can do''them kissing in a dark passageway.}}{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan |title=Leave No Trace''Women of Westminster: The MPs Who Changed Politics'' chronicles the battles the 491 women who have been elected over the course of the past century have fought and highlights their victories. It |rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=When a man is remarkable that found crucified on the history top of female Members of Parliament began a hill in 1918Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the same year in which women were first given case alongside her sidekick, the right to vote but a decade before all women were given suffrage on equal terms with menAI detective Lock. Although Constance de Markievicz was the It's their first female elected to Parliamentlive case together, it was only in 1919 having previously been very successful with several cold cases. 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 Nancy Astor became the first women draws a lot of unwanted attention to take her seat in the House of Commons and pave their AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to solve the way for women of the future. It was not long after case in 1924 that time, or will Kat find herself taken off the first female MPcase and, Margaret Bondfieldpotentially, was appointed into out of a cabinet position and since then women MPs have endeavoured to fight gender inequality and campaign for female rightscareer?|isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4. Within 100 years there has been 5|genre=Thrillers|summary=Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a gradual revolution quarter of change in politics and to date Britain has been led by two female Prime Ministersa century. However, such great landmarks have overshadowed the other female MPs whose early achievements Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which have paved is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the way for subsequent women politicians, are consistently overlooked. In ''Women free spirit of Westminster: The MPs Who Changed Politicsthe group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it' Rachel Reeves brings the forgotten stories into the spotlight s going to document the history of British female political history from 1919 to 2019end in tragedy. [[Women of Westminster: The MPs Who Changed Politics by Rachel Reeves|Full Review]] <! We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-- Erskine -->|-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0241636604| styletitle="widthThe Trading Game: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson[[image:1786074923.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786074923/ref=nosim?tag5|genre=thebookbag-21]] Autobiography| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; textIf you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-align: left;"|===[[The Chemical Detectiveby Fiona Erskine]]=== [[image:4stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Dr Jaq Silver is There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a brilliant scientist facility with a healthy social life who loves her work and lifenumbers which most of us can only envy. Whilst she is haunted by her past she won't let it define her He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. When she becomes entangled in It was his ability at what was, essentially, a mysterycard game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a mystery that could tie to some of the most horrific weapons on Earth, she doesntrader.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035021803|title=The Antique Hunter't hesitate and jumps straight in. We follow Jaq as she travels the world digging deeper and deeper into a rabbit-hole of intrigue and betrayal, never compromising and always seeking the truths Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3. From 5|genre=Crime|summary=It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the ski slopes English country village where she grew up. She's back now because of Eastern Europea request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the sunny climes of Portugal and even making a visit least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to that most glamourous of locations… rainy Teeside… this is a true thrillerthe village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. After the split, she worked in a cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the love of her life, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced. [[The Chemical Detectiveby Fiona Erskine|Full Review]] <!-- Varenne -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0857058738.jpg}}{{Frontpage|linkisbn=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0857058738/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] AllTomorrowsFutureCover| styletitle="vertical-alignAll Tomorrow's Futures: top; text-align: left;"Fictions that Disrupt|author===[[Equator by Antonin Varenne Benjamin Greenaway and Sam Taylor Stephen Oram (translatorEditors)]]|rating=5|genre==Science Fiction[[image:3.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]], [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] It strikes me that nobody can speak well of the Wild West outside the walls of a theme park. Our agent to see how bad it was here is Pete Ferguson, who bristles at the indignity of white man against Native 'Indian', who spends days being physically sick while indulging in a buffalo hunt, and who hates the way man – and woman, of course – can turn against fellow man at the bat of an eyelid. But this book is about so much more than the 1870s USA, and the attendant problems with gold rushes, pioneer spirits and racial genocide. He finds himself trying to find this book's version of Utopia, namely the Equator, where everything is upside down, people walk on their heads with rocks in their pockets to keep them on the ground to counter the anti-gravity, and where, who knows, things might actually be better. But that equator is a long way away – and there's a whole adventure full of Mexico and Latin America between him and it… [[Equator by Antonin Varenne and Sam Taylor (translator)|Full Review]] <!-- Collins -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1408888335.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408888335/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[All the Invisible Things by Orlagh Collins]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]   Vetty, her dad, and her little sister are about to move back to London and Vetty can't wait. The family has been staying with Aunt Wendy since the death of Vetty's mother several years ago. With the girls older and Aunt Wendy getting married, it's time to get back to their lives. Vetty, mostly, is looking forward to reconnecting with Pez. She and he were inseparable - spending all their time together and knowing each other inside out, without the need for words. Vetty could do with a friend like that right now, as her inner feelings of difference get ever stronger... [[All the Invisible Things by Orlagh Collins|Full Review]]<!-- Dahl -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1912374439.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1912374439/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Courier by Kjell Ola Dahl and Don Bartlett (translator)]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime (Historical)|Crime (Historical)]] Nazi-occupied Oslo, 1942. There, I've given the game away. For in a book that centres around a murder, I've told you who did it – the Nazis, surely? Well, that certainly has to remain to be seen in this volume, which splits its time between one of war, when a young woman sees her father arrested, and their store condemned as Jewish, and rushes to her best friend to help – not knowing she will never see her alive again, and the late 1960s, when great consternation is being felt. In this timeline, a maverick agent is back in town, one who might have been fingered for murdering that female victim, even though she and he lived together with their baby as a young family, except he was thought by all to have died in the War… [[The Courier by Kjell Ola Dahl and Don Bartlett (translator)|Full Review]] <!-- AMS -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1408711265.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408711265/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall Smith]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Long-time followers of The Bookbag will know I'm a die-hard fan of AMS. So you can imagine my excitement at reading a brand new book in a brand new series, described by the author himself as Scandi Blanc (as opposed to Scandi Noir)! Here we meet a new detective named Ulf Varg, who works in the Department for Sensitive Crimes, solving those crimes that perhaps fall outside the usual police parameters. This particular book deals with crimes including someone who is stabbed in the knee, the disappearance of an imaginary boyfriend, and a case of potential werewolves. They're the crimes that perhaps nobody else would bother to deal with, and I rather enjoyed them, especially the stabbing where you find that actually, you identify with the person who committed the crime, rather than the victim. [[The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall Smith|Full Review]] <!-- Lingane -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:B07NV8NY4Y.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07NV8NY4Y/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Rose, the Night, and the Mirror by Mark Lingane]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]  Julian's family are getting pretty fed up with his perma-student status. They feel that the maths PHD candidate should start earning some money. To that end, they have managed to find him a job tutoring the children of a highly regarded politician. Julian bowls up at their strange, austere mansion with little in the way of expectation. Victor, the politician is not at home. But Esis, his wife, is. A beautiful but isolated woman, Esis shows little interest in her children and not much more in Julian. She directs him towards his room, the library in which he will teach the children, and the kitchen, whose chefbot will provide him with food. [[The Rose, the Night, and the Mirror by Mark Lingane|Full Review]]  <!-- Brandi -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789550122.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789550122/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Into the River by Mark Brandi]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Two boys, Ben and Fab, are growing up in a small town in Northern Australia in the late 80's. They do all the normal things that boys of that age do - go yabbying (fishing), play cricket, fight their battles at school and think about girls. Their family lives are different; Ben comes from a happy home, whilst Fab is the son of Italian immigrants who clearly have little money, and has a father who is very violent. Yet despite their differences, they are fiercely loyal to each other. So far, so normal. But with the arrival of a new neighbour for Ben, a man called Ronnie, things begin to change. Ronnie wants Ben to come over to do some odd jobs for him, and both Ben and Fab are increasingly uncomfortable about this. [[Into the River by Mark Brandi|Full Review]] <!-- Clark -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:034901082X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/034901082X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[In The Full Light of the Sun by Clare Clark]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] In 1930's Berlin, three people obsessed with art find themselves swept up into a scandal. Emmeline, a wayward young student, Julius, an anxious middle-aged art expert, and Rachmann, a mysterious art dealer, live in the politically turbulent Weimar Berlin, and soon find themselves whipped up into excitement over the surprise discovery of thirty-two previously unknown paintings by Vincent Van Gogh. Based on a true story and unfolding through the subsequent rise of Hitler and the Nazis, the discovery of the art allows these characters to explore authenticity, vanity and self-delusion. [[In The Full Light of the Sun by Clare Clark|Full Review]] <!-- Ireland -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789090873.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789090873/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Dread Nation by Justina Ireland]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:Horror|Horror]] ''Two days after I was born … the dead rose up and started to walk on a battlefield in a small town in Pennsylvania called Gettysburg '' Dread Nation narrates the unconventional life of Jane McKeene who was born days before the dead began to walk the streets. An event which in interrupting the civil war between the states altered American history forever. In the changed world, minorities are forced into conscription and under the new Native and Negro Re-education Act children are placed in combat schools where they are trained extensively to destroy the dead once and for all. For Jane and other girls like her, there is however the opportunity for a better life by being employed as an attendant. With deadly capabilities and perfect etiquette, attendants protect those higher in society and are valued above all else. [[Dread Nation by Justina Ireland|Full Review]] <!-- Arnold -->|-| style=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1789016525.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789016525/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[Betrayed by Geoffrey Arnold]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]] In an extension of the story begun by Geoffrey Arnold in ''Ripped Apart'', he continues to tell the story of the Quantum twins. Born on a parallel world, these genetically identical twins interfered with an experiment and were hurtled through space-time to our earth - and a series of adventures ensued in the following books. When we rejoin them in ''Betrayed'' we find Tullia struggling to adapt to life in the bush - adopted by a Bushman family and made part of a tribe. Twin Qwelby however, is not doing so well - shocked by the violence on the earth. Rescued by an old friend, he then tries to help a girl called Xaala - but her ulterior motives may well prove to drive a wedge between the twins as they try to reconnect... [[Betrayed by Geoffrey Arnold|Full Review]] <!-- Pamela Brookes -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1949471004.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1949471004/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Dog on a Log Chapter Books: Step 1 by Pamela Brookes]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dyslexia Friendly|Dyslexia Friendly]], [[:Category:Emerging Readers|Emerging Readers]] What do you do when your child has dyslexia and you need books which will help them to achieve the wonder that is reading? You can risk buying early readers, but the sounds in the book might not be the ones you've been working on and encountering words which are just too challenging can have more of a negative effect on the young dyslexic than a child without that problem. You need to be able to buy books at a reasonable price which concentrate on what you've been working on, without anything else being thrown into the mix. You need a story which engages the young mind and you need stages which progress steadily through the learning process without there being any large jumps. Some online support and games wouldn't go amiss, either. Reading - and ''learning'' to read - should be a pleasure. It should be ''fun''. [[Dog on a Log Chapter Books: Step 1 by Pamela Brookes|Full Review]] <!-- Kazan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0749024801.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0749022132/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Phoenix of Florence by Philip Kazan]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] Deep in the Tuscan countryside of fifteenth century Italy, Onoria survives a massacre that destroys her family and home. Alone in the forest, she meets a band of soldiers who, believing her to be a boy train and develop her – and the determined Onoria becomes a mercenary – desperate to avoid any situation in which she may feel vulnerable again. Along the way, she meets ex-soldier Celavini, whose journey to Florence sees him investigating two brutal murders. As he digs further and uncovers links to his own family history, Celavini must revisit the past he shares with Onoria, in the hope that they can lay the ghosts ''Opening up new ways of their shared history to rest, before it's too late... [[The Phoenix thinking about the shape of Florence by Philip Kazan|Full Review]] <!-- Watson and Hagan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1526600862.jpg|link=http://wwwthings to come.amazon.co.uk/dp/1526600862/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|''

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=[[Watch Us Rise 3.5|genre=Thrillers |summary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by Renee Watson 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|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 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 Ellen Hagan]]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:Teens{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the Dead|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|Teens]] 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.''

Jasmine Within 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 Chelsea go 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 high school steward revolved around letters and administration rather than spells and potions. When her grandmother suddenly dies, Ellie's cousin Audra becomes the Briar Witch, the town's leader, and Ellie takes her place beside her. As challenges come her way left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to communicate with the dead, putting her at the heart of a maelstrom of chaos. Reeling from one family secret to another, Ellie must decide who to trust and determine what to do as the Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is under threat.|isbn=1803364548}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529900360|title=The Ghost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=It hadn'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 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 excellent reputationItalian 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 put on his father's life. When he was seventeen he took the opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and was convinced this was the job for him. Before long, he was at Liverpool University. It places strong emphasis on extra curricular activities hadn't - as with so many students - been his dream since he was a child. If anything, he'd wanted to be a professional footballer.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0861541774|title=A Nye of Pheasants|author=Steve Burrows|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=DCI Domenic Jejeune's close friend and former colleague, Danny Maik, has taken a short holiday in Singapore to meet up with an old ally, Guy Trueman. Maik was involved in a street brawl - he would later maintain that he was facing a man armed with a knife - and 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 pupils are encouraged .}}{{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 join clubs all the online apps in providing a more personal, tailored service. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and associationslook after the business, as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a while. But Jasmine Katie is fed 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 drama group because sheabilities, and there's always typecast 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 'long, cosy afternoons in front of the fire' variety. The projects are divided by the loudtime they'll take to complete - less than five hours, five to ten hours, "hysterical" roles (Jasmine 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 black having a terrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed. Oh, and resents someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the angry black woman trope)thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the very last person to deserve all this bad luck. And Chelsea He is fed with poetry club because a nice person. A really nice person. So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the only poetry it ever covers was written by men 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 will certainly take care of Benny's enemies, if he, Benny, and Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out who lived exactly they are.|isbn=1662500491}}{{Frontpage|author=Adam Stower|title=Murray and died years agoBun|rating=4. So5|genre=Confident Readers |summary=Murray is supposed to be a humble, tidy and friendly cat, along with friends Isaac one who is able to sleep and eat and eat and sleep and Nadine, they start well, whatever takes his fancy next of the two. But he's a bad magician's cat, so his favourite bun has been turned into a new group hyperactive sticky rabbit called Write Like Bun, and the catflap they both use can chuck them out, not into the regular back garden, but into a Girlworld of frightening adventure and whiffs. [[Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson This time round it drops them into a Viking land, where a troll hunter is expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was, to be honest, but he's turned up and Ellen Haganhe'll have to do…|isbn=0008561249}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0C47LV1PC|title=Fragility|author=Mosby Woods|Full Review]]rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Can you make a ''Yo birthing person'' joke? And if you could, is the question should you make it? Or is the question if you did, would it land? The catch is that the answer for both could well be.... no.

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