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===[[Murder at the Manor Hotel (Melissa Craig 4) Friends Like These by Betty RowlandsSarah Alderson]]===
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:CrimeThrillers|CrimeThrillers]]
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 pantomimeLife in London isn’t always glam, especially if you’re young and underpaid. It wasn't a traditional panto, but For Lizzie it’s all a spoof for the birthday party bit of a local millionaire, to be held on Halloweenbalancing act. It's got all the hallmarks of She has a mystery ''and'' a pantomime and nice home but it looks as though cast and audience are all technically belongs to her room-mate’s parents. She works in for a good the entertainment industry, but her job itself is probably not one you’d covet. She doesn’t have much spare time with the rehearsals being held in a luxury hotel, but that’s because she’s been working through some self-improvement. If they could only see her now. WellAnd, well, actually, they were until one member of the cast turns up dead in the cellar at the bottom of can, although there’s a steep flight lot less of stairsher to see than there once was. What was he doing there But yes, she doesn’t really have much time for the past and why is the hotel manager acting so strangely? people from it. [[Murder at the Manor Hotel (Melissa Craig 4) Friends Like These by Betty RowlandsSarah Alderson|Full Review]]
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===[[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 Malice 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-alignMalmo: left;"|===[[Under the Ice (DCI JansenInspector Anita Sundstrom) by Rachael BlokTorquil MacLeod]]===
[[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 was embarrassing when a covering of snowleading Malmo business man was kidnapped, but this belies particularly as the atmosphere: police didn't know anything about it until the body of man was discovered afterwards, tied to a young girl has been found frozen park bench in the local lakea cemetery. DCI JansenHe was coy about how much ransom was paid, but it was sufficient that he's only lead comes from Jenny Brennan - but can you put any credence on statements made by d felt the sleep-deprived mother pain of a four month old child, particularly one who claims to the digital transfers. That would have seen visions? Can you believe her statements that she's been sleep-walking in bad enough, but a second businessman was snatched soon afterwards and the middle of the night when she pressure on Inspector Anita Sundström and her colleagues was to find evidence that the police have missed? When another girl goes missing the tiny city is in melt-down businessman ''and for Jenny it all seems close '' to homecapture the kidnappers before they took anyone else. Far too close Worse was to homecome though when an investigative journalist was found murdered in his flat. Was one of his victims the murderer, or was it someone he was about to expose? [[Under the Ice Malice in Malmo: (DCI JansenInspector Anita Sundstrom) by Rachael BlokTorquil MacLeod|Full Review]]
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===[[The Light Between Worlds Vera Magpie by Laura WeymouthSolomon]]===
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:TeensGeneral Fiction|TeensGeneral Fiction]] 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''I have murdered three husbands.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]''
When DakAs an opening line that must take some beating, but Vera's dad dies very suddenlytelling us the truth. The first two husbands, Gary and Harry were abusive, but Larry was a treasure, from a heart attackkeeper, and it's difficult to understand why Vera would have killed him, Dak is left feeling lost particularly when she was likely to get found out very quickly and alonenow she's in prison with a mandatory life sentence. His mum Her only friend is lost inside her own griefShirley, a lesbian, struggling but Vera's not one to take care let herself be a victim. She's not keen on having a sexual relationship with Shirley (she wouldn't risk the security of herself, let alone care her life in prison for Dak, and so he escapes to the local aquarium - somewhere that both he and his dad had loved. But then he discovers that actuallysake of a fling), his dad has turned into a clownfish but she is keen on getting an education and is living at the local aquarium! What will Dak do when the aquariumshe's future is studying for a degree in question, and he may potentially lose his dad all over again? English Literature. [[Clownfish Vera Magpie by Alan DurantLaura Solomon|Full Review]]
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===[[The Whisperer by Karin Fossum]]===
[[image:4star.jpg|link===Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[Only the Ocean by Natasha Carthew :Category:Crime|Crime]]===
[[imageWhen we first meet Ragna we can't understand what's going on. She's talking to Inspector Konrad Sejer and it's obvious that she's being held in custody because of a crime which she admits she's committed. Only, as we hear about Greta's life it seems that she's more sinned against than sinning. After a botched operation on her vocal chords she can't speak above a whisper and to add insult to injury she's been left with a horrible scar across her throat. She's done her best to make a go of her life though:5starshe enjoys her work in a shop and has learned ways of coping with the difficulties of communicating with people.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:TeensThe Whisperer by Karin Fossum|TeensFull Review]]
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 Rachel Abbott -->
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===[[Two Dark Reigns And So It Begins by Kendare BlakeRachel Abbott]]===
[[image:4.5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:TeensCrime|TeensCrime]], [[:Category:FantasyThrillers|FantasyThrillers]]
We know there's something very strange going on as soon as we join the story: we begin by hearing how it'You cannot put on a costume s going to end and become something elsethat someone must die. You are But that's just a queen of Fennbirn islandhint: for the time being we're with two police persons. Stephanie'' Following on from [[Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake|Three Dark Crowns]] s the sergeant and its sequel [[One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake|One Dark Throne]]she has Jason, the probationer with her in the squad car, but Stephanie doesn't like where they'Two Dark Reigns'' each of the Goddess' daughters have their own battles to fightre heading. All her life The house is stunning, Katharine has dreamed but the last time she was here it was because there was a dead body at the bottom of being the great Queen stairs to the island of Fennbirn deservespool. Having won This time there's been a 999 call with a woman screaming for help: the omens are not good and when they enter the crown thoughhouse they find two tangled, she is facing trial after difficult trial and murmurs of dissent and revolution grow louder on blood-soaked bodies in the streets each and every daybed. And without evidence They both look dead, but one of her sistersthem moves - it' death does anyone but herself s Evie Clark and the old queens buried under she confesses to killing her skin, believe she is the one true Queen? partner. [[Two Dark Reigns And So It Begins by Kendare BlakeRachel Abbott|Full Review]]
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===[[The Drop: A Spark of Light Slough House Novella by Jodi PicoultMick Herron]]===
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General FictionThrillers|General FictionThrillers]]
The Center is When you've done a job for any length of time, the last remaining abortion clinic in memory, the state instincts of Mississippi it stay with you and is the source of great controversy when it comes they're impossible to the Pro-Life versus Pro-Choice debateforget. It is at The Center where one manwas the same with Solomon Dortmund, George Goddarda retired spy: when he watches a woman making a drop he knows exactly what he's seeing and he passes this on John Batchelor, takes it upon himself to get revenge for the loss man charged with looking after the retired spooks. Bachelor has problems of his grandchild, in own: the form of closest he comes to a mass-shooting. What arises home is a novel that details the lives back seat of his car and he's run out of people whose sofas he can commandeer for the remaining hostages, as well as other characters central to the storynight. One of these characters The best he can do with Solomon's problem is Hugh McElroy, a hostage negotiator called in to help deflate pass it on the situation, who soon discovers someone else and hope that his sister and daughter, Wren, happened to be at they'll deal with it/solve the clinic that dayproblem/quietly forget about it. [[The Drop: A Spark of Light Slough House Novella by Jodi PicoultMick Herron|Full Review]]
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===[[Gentleman Jack Kingdom of the Blind (DI Yates 7Chief Inspector Gamache) by Christina JamesLouise Penny]]===
[[image:3.5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]]
The investigation into It came as something of a surprise when Armand Gamache was named as liquidator in the thefts estate of farm machinery has been going on for months and it's getting DI Tim Yates down: a woman he can't see where to go nextd never met. It's almost Another villager from Three Pines is also a relief when Jack Fovargueliquidator, agricultural entrepreneur and local celebrity but the third is assaulted in a stranger to them both. The mystery deepens when the street, but no one can understand why Fovargue will is so reluctant to help read: given that the police with their enquiries, or to press charges, particularly when deceased was a police officer was also assaultedcleaner it seems unlikely that she would have had the millions which she bequests at her disposal. Yates Then a body is then diverted found. That's not Gamache's only problem though: one of his protégées, Amelia Choquet, has been expelled from the police academy for drug dealing, and the enquiry into the investigation incident which followed led to his suspension as the discovery head of the headless body of a woman Sûreté in a canal near Lincoln: it's an interesting case but the downside Quebec is that dragging on and the senior investigating officer outcome is DI Michael Robinson. They're contemporaries but Robinson is bumptious and inclined to taking credit for other people's effortslooking increasingly ominous. [[Gentleman Jack Kingdom of the Blind (DI Yates 7Chief Inspector Gamache) by Christina JamesLouise Penny|Full Review]]
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===[[The Knitter's Dictionary: Knitting Know-How from A Clean Death to Z by Adriaan VerheulKate Atherley]]===
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:ThrillersCrafts|ThrillersCrafts]], [[:Category:CrimeReference|CrimeReference]]
Three very different men meet in the jungleI've been knitting for well over sixty years, led there by fatefollowing patterns of varying complexity with success. Davey sees conspiracies everywhere I've knit Aran sweaters, Oliver seeks answers about socks by the death of his father, dozen and Captain Christmas leads I'm currently knitting blankets for a community of armed men, women charity to sell. There hasn't been an occasion when I've been stuck and children, hidden far from justice in the forestpeople have often come to ''me'' for help when ''they've'' been stuck. As the three men are brought together, the events could cause each Would a knitter's dictionary really be of any help to lose something me? I was surprised by just how much I got out of consequence: maybe illusion, maybe conviction, and maybe, just maybe, life itself… it. [[The Knitter's Dictionary: Knitting Know-How from A Clean Death to Z by Adriaan VerheulKate Atherley|Full Review]]
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===[[Be Your Higher Self by Samesh Ramjattan]]===
[[image:4star.jpg|link===Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[Beyond Thought by Chris Dhladhla:Category:Spirituality and Religion|Spirituality and Religion]]===
[[imageThere are a lot of self-help books about:4starit's one of the most thriving sections of the average bookshop, but it's not always easy to find the book you need.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] Samesh Ramjattan has addressed this problem in ''Be Your Higher Self'', a book which allows us all to make sense of our place in the world, as most of us only glimpse our true potential and few people ever achieve it. Even with hard work and dedication, obstacles present themselves and it's difficult to understand why or how they can be overcome. Ramjattan offers us a guide to the spirit world, the chakras, karma and reincarnation as well as information about the age of Aquarius and the ego. It's a slim book - just 128 pages - so can it provide us with the answers we seek? [[:Category:LifestyleBe Your Higher Self by Samesh Ramjattan|LifestyleFull Review]]
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 Laura Solomon -->
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===[[Where the Truth Lies (DI Ridpath) Black Light by M J LeeLaura Solomon]]===
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:CrimeGeneral Fiction|CrimeGeneral Fiction]]
DI Thomas Ridpath - call him Ridpath Jim is a university student and, as the saying goes, he doesnhasn't think Tom or Thomas suits him - looked got his troubles to have a promising future in CID until seek. His father committed suicide when he was forced to take extended sick leave nine months ago. Heyoung and somehow he's back, but the word ''cancer'' leaves people doubting how well you never really are, or are going managed to stayconnect with his step-father. Perhaps it His younger brother would be better kindly described as having learning difficulties: if you were being honest you'd just say that he quietly retired? His wifewas very difficult, Polly, would like to see but Jim does his best with and for him in a desk job. Ridpath would like to be back Jim's in front-line policinglove with a woman, but she finds him repulsive and you can understand why: the looks, the attitude, the (lack of) conversational ability and the clothing all that's available leave a lot to him is a secondment for three months as Coroner's Officerbe desired. If Despite all that's how ithe's got not about to sit back and allow his life to be, then drift: he'll do s actually writing ''two'' novels and he reads excerpts from these to his friends in the best job he canpub. [[Where the Truth Lies (DI Ridpath) Black Light by M J LeeLaura Solomon|Full Review]]
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===[[Tales of Love and Disability Redemptor Domus by Laura SolomonGamelyn Chase]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] I've always believed that less-able writers produce longer books: it takes a great deal of skill and talent to write a short story which holds the reader and keeps them coming back for more. There are far too many collections of short stories which are all too easy to put down and forget after you've read a couple of pieces. I've recently read a couple of novellas by Laura Solomon - [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Marsha's Deal]] and [[Hell's Unveiling by Laura Solomon|Hell's Unveiling]] and enjoyed them, so I was intrigued to see what she could do with an even shorter form. [[Tales of Love and Disability by Laura Solomon|Full Review]] <!-- Frances Brody -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0349414327.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0349414327/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===A young boy arrives at an exclusive faith school on the scenic North Wales coast, sent far from his family in the Far East. As the boy travels to the school, a family tragedy causes the boy to arrive at the school a vulnerable orphan, with an uncertain future. Plunged into a school full of danger and betrayal, the boy is seen as a trophy by friends and enemies alike. With them locked into their scheming and plotting, it comes to the boy to attempt to clean up the pit of filth that the school has become. [[A Snapshot of Murder (Kate Shackleton Mysteries) Redemptor Domus by Frances BrodyGamelyn Chase|Full Review]]===
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime (Historical)|Crime (Historical)]] Even detectives need a break and for Kate Shackleton, photography gives her the mental relaxation which she needs. When the local Photographic Society proposed an outing, Kate was keen to take the opportunity to visit Haworth and Stanbury, not least because the deeds of the Brontë Parsonage are being handed over so that it can become a museum and her parents will be there for the event. What could be better than seeing her family, witnessing a momentous event and having the opportunity to take photographs of the setting for ''Wuthering Heights''? Nothing could go wrong. Or could it? [[A Snapshot of Murder (Kate Shackleton Mysteries) by Frances Brody|Full Review]]<!-- Harrold Sendker -->
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===[[The Long Path To Wisdom by Jan-Philipp Sendker]]===
[[image:4star.jpg|link===Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]], [[The Afterwards by A F Harrold and Emily Gravett:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]===
[[imageOn my travels around the world, I have a tendency to end up in any bookshop that is selling English-language books, and while I buy as many second-hand escapist tales as the next person, what I'm really looking for is the 'local' – the cookbook maybe, the maps definitely, but above all:5starthe folk tales. If I ever get to Burma, I won't need to hunt, I can read before I go.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident ReadersThe Long Path To Wisdom by Jan-Philipp Sendker|Confident ReadersFull Review]]
''Tell them what The Afterwards is about, they said.''<br>''Hopefully you know this, but...''<br>''It's a book with friendship in it.''<br>''It's a book with death in it.''<br>''It's a book with betrayal in it.''<br>''It's a book with love in it.''<br>''It's a book with a cat in it.''<br>''That's what I know.''<br>''That's what I can tell you.''<br>''That'll do me.'' To be honest, I'd be surprised if that wouldn't do you, too.[[The Afterwards by A F Harrold and Emily Gravett|Full Review]]<!-- Vanston Julia Jones -->
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===[[Pebble (Strong Winds series) by Julia Jones]]===
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link===Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[Santa Goes on Strike by Jem Vanston:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]===
[[imageLiam isn't ''quite'' the youngest in a large family:4starhe doesn't have the distinction of being the baby anymore and he doesn't have the ''heft'' of his older brothers and sisters.jpg|link=Category He's rather like one of the pebbles on a large shingle beach:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] part of the mass but easily overlooked as an individual. So when he starts having problems with his sight no one really takes any notice. He doesn't want to bother his mother as she's heavily involved in the Luminal Festival and when he asked his elder step-sister, Anna, if she'll take him for an eye test, she puts him off. In fairness she's got important exams and Liam's convinced that it's just a case of getting spectacles, but Liam's eyes are changing in a rather strange way. [[:Category:For SharingPebble (Strong Winds series) by Julia Jones|For SharingFull Review]]
 Something's gone horribly wrong. It's Christmas Eve and everything is very busy in Santa's grotto. The presents are all ready and waiting to be loaded onto the sleigh and the reindeer are itching to get going. But Santa? Santa is just not in the mood. He is tired of delivering the latest toys to children who only play with them for five minutes. He wishes people would remember what Christmas is really about - a time for families to come together for love and friendship and goodwill to one another. [[Santa Goes on Strike by Jem Vanston|Full Review]]<!-- Keeley Hall -->
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===[[So Many Doors by Oakley Hall]]===
[[image:4star.jpg|link===Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Crime (Historical)|Crime (Historical)]], [[The Coming of the Spirits by Rob Keeley:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]]===
[[image:4starVassilia Caroline Baird, known to all as V, is dead. Jack sits in his cell refusing to talk to the lawyer tasked with his defence. Starting at the murderous finale, Hall skillfully weaves together the stories of his key players, in a tale of love spanning decades and states, marriages and tragedies.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] By the time the truth is revealed, V will be dead but who else will lose their life? [[:Category:Confident ReadersSo Many Doors by Oakley Hall|Confident ReadersFull Review]]
 In Victorian England, young Edward Fitzberranger is about to be infected with scarlet fever and die. Further back still in time, Sir Francis Fitzberranger is about to marry Tina, the love of his life. In the modern day, Henry and Luke are getting on with life. And in an alternate timeline, Ellie is working for a resistance movement and struggling under a Britain ruled by the Nazis... [[The Coming of the Spirits by Rob Keeley|Full Review]]<!-- Wilson Anderson -->
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===[[The Fraternity of the Estranged: The Fight for Homosexual Rights in England, 1891-1908 by Brian Anderson]]===
[[image:5star.jpg|link===Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:History|History]], [[:Category:Reference|Reference]], [[Snowglobe by Amy Wilson:Category:Biography|Biography]]===
[[imageOriginally passed in 1885, the law that had made homosexual relations a crime remained in place for 82 years. But during this time, restrictions on same-sex relationships did not go unchallenged. Between 1891 and 1908, three books on the nature of homosexuality appeared. They were written by two homosexual men:4starEdward Carpenter and John Addington Symonds, as well as the heterosexual Havelock Ellis. Exploring the margins of society and studying homosexuality was common on the European Continent, but barely talked about in the UK, so the publications of these men were hugely significant – contributing to the scientific understanding of homosexuality, and beginning the struggle for recognition and equality, leading to the milestone legalisation of same-sex relationships in 1967.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[The Fraternity of the Estranged:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]The Fight for Homosexual Rights in England, [[:Category:Teens1891-1908 by Brian Anderson|TeensFull Review]]
Jago doesn't like Clementine. He knows there is something different about her and he doesn't like it. And he never lets her forget it. Clementine knows she's different too, and that the difference is magic. And as much as she tries to ignore it, Clementine's magic is getting stronger. So when Jago's bullying gets too much, it's not really surprising that Clem loses control of it and gets herself suspended from school. [[Snowglobe by Amy Wilson|Full Review]]<!-- Haig Amy Patricia Meade -->
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===[[Cookin' The Books (Tish Tarragon Mystery) by Amy Patricia Meade]]===
[[image:4star.jpg|link===Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[The Truth Pixie by Matt Haig and Chris Mould:Category:Crime|Crime]]===
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]Tish Tarragon is working towards opening her literary cafe, [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] Poor old Truth Pixie. SheCookin's cursed! She can't speak unless it's The Books, when the opportunity to tell cater for the truthLibrary fundraiser comes her way. You might think this is It's a bit of a good thing because telling lies poisoned chalice, in more ways than one, as the head of the library committee, Binnie Broderick is baddifficult. In fact, right? But sometimes when she's poisoned at the truth isnmeal Tish has catered, there's no shortage of suspects. It't nice and sometimes a white lie is okay and sometimes its not just that she feels herself to be superior (she's better a Darlington, you see), but that she actively goes out of her way to say nothing at allmake life difficult for anyone she encounters. You The town might be heaving a collective sigh of relief (except not want to attract the attention in front of the school bully by calling him mean and nastysheriff, for example, or you obviously) but Tish is worried that the fact that Binnie died face down in a meal she'd prepared might mean that people will not want be all that keen to tell someone that you think their brand new haircut looks awfulcome to her cafe once it's opened. [[Cookin' The Truth Pixie Books (Tish Tarragon Mystery) by Matt Haig and Chris MouldAmy Patricia Meade|Full Review]]
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===[[Jess Castle and the Eyeballs of Death A Step So Grave (Dandy Gilver) by M B VincentCatriona McPherson]]===
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Crime(Historical)|Crime(Historical)]]
Dr Jess Castle, the self proclaimed failure of Dandy Gilver and family had made the prestigious Castle family has returned home arduous journey to the sleepyWester Ross, idyllic chocolate box town of Castle Kidburybut Dandy had mixed feelings even when they arrived. Rather than being delighted, her They were there to meet the family are suspiciousof Mallory, especially her father, the judgeson Donald's fiancee. Luckily for Jess, she doesn It wasn't have that Dandy thought Donald to try too hard be rather ''young'' at twenty three to dodge her familybe contemplating matrimony, but that Mallory was rather ''old''s suspicions as for him at thirty. There was also a series niggling worry because Donald wasn't the sharpest pin in the cushion. All the doubts had faded into insignificance though when they arrived at Applecross: they might have come to celebrate the fiftieth birthday of gruesome local murders are taking place and thatLady Lavinia, Mallory's all anyone is talking about. Jess accidentally finds herself in mother, but it soon became obvious that Donald was smitten by the thick of mother rather than the investigation, daughter. Dandy and Hugh were considering whether or not they should try to her delight finds put an end to the engagement when the news arrived that she can actually be usefulLady Lavinia had been found dead. But with the small population dwindling and the sense of danger moving ever closer to home, has Jess made a grave mistake getting involved? [[Jess Castle and the Eyeballs of Death A Step So Grave (Dandy Gilver) by M B VincentCatriona McPherson|Full Review]]
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===[[Nothing Lasting Empire of Sand by Laura SolomonTasha Suri]]===
[[image:3.5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Horror|Horror]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]]
We never know Mehr is a girl trapped between two cultures. Her father comes from the man's name ruling classes of the empire but lether mother's call him ''Boyo''. It's what his mother used to call himpeople were outcasts, not least because he found it annoyingAmrithi nomads who worshipped the spirits of the sands. When we first meet Boyo his mother is aliveCaught one night performing these forbidden rites, if not ''living'' as most people would understand it. She spends her days watching daytime television and drinking. Housework Mehr is a foreign country. When she dies shebrought to the attention of the Emperor's not missedmost feared mystics, firstly because she'd spent a couple who force her into their service by way of years in a mental hospital, but mainly because her ghost continues to haunt Boyo. She wants him to achieve something in his life: what she has in mind is that he could be a famous arsonistan arranged marriage. [[Nothing Lasting Empire of Sand by Laura SolomonTasha Suri|Full Review]]
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