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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 , the charity shop 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.

<!—Megan E O'Keefe -- Linda Jones -->

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===[[Velocity Weapon Deadwood Hall by Megan E O'KeefeLinda Jones]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science FictionConfident Readers|Confident Readers]] The last thing Sanda remembers is her gunship explodingIn late December Dylan Beaumont and his sister Emily were on their way to spend the week before Christmas at their grandfather's house. She expected to be recovered by salvage-medics It was snowing heavily and to awaken you could sense that their parents were becoming annoyed at the bickering in friendly hands, patched-up and ready to rejoin the fightback of the car. Instead she wakes up 230 years later, on a deserted enemy starship called The Light of Berossus Emily was rather brusque with her nine-year- or, as he prefers to call himselfold brother's behaviour, but then that'Beros your prerogative when you're a grown-up eleven year old. Bero tells Sanda The snow was getting heavier and the war is lost. That journey longer when Emily opened the entire star system is deadcar window just a couple of inches. But is that the full story? After all There was a dreadful smell and Dylan saw a horrible, in snake-like figure clawing at the vastness of space, anything is possible car window. . . [[Velocity Weapon Deadwood Hall by Megan E O'KeefeLinda Jones|Full Review]]

<!-- Parker Denzil Meyrick -->

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[[image:4star.jpg|link===Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[The Chessmaster's Secret by Mary Parker:Category:Crime|Crime]]===

[[image:4starFew government trade missions arrive by luxury liner, but the cruise ship ''Great Britain'' is berthed in Kinloch harbour and on board are high-powered international delegates. It's hard to avoid the suspicion that it's not ''entirely'' about work as the billionaires, entrepreneurs and their civil service minders tour the country, golfing and sightseeing with their entourage of security personnel. It's an event which DCI Daley hopes will pass quickly, particularly as his formal uniform is far too tight for comfort, but it's not long before one of the crew members and a local bird watcher go missing.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident ReadersA Breath on Dying Embers (DCI Daley) by Denzil Meyrick|Confident ReadersFull Review]]

Belle and Joe travel to London in 1944, towards the end of World War II. Orphaned evacuees, they haven't had a good time of it - especially Joe, who is a sensitive child and was badly bullied. Meeting them is Uncle Griff, a kindly man, but one without much money. He is more than happy to have the children stay during the school holidays. Uncle Griff owns the ''Shop of Mechanical Marvels'' and the children love all the old things it contains. Uncle Griff hopes to restore it to profitability and bring some wonder back into London's bombed out streets. [[The Chessmaster's Secret by Mary Parker|Full Review]] <!-- Rob Walker James -->

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===[[The Art of Noticing: Rediscover What Really Matters to You Starlight Watchmaker by Rob WalkerLauren James]]===

[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:LifestyleDyslexia Friendly|LifestyleDyslexia Friendly]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]

The curse put on reviewers This is that we get to read through a book which is really better dipped intodyslexia-friendly, or read gradually and thoughts allowed to be provoked. And so it was with ''The Art of Noticing''science fiction novella for young adults. It's a simple premise: tells the pace tale of modern life Hugo, an unwanted and rapidity rather lonely android, who makes a living for himself mending time-travel watches. When one of technological advances means his clients demands that we are constantly overwhelmed and distracted. Rob Walker wants us his broken watch be mended, Hugo realises there is a mystery to be able solved, and is only too ready to steal our attention backhelp. He gives us An exciting journey of discovery unfolds, which takes Hugo out of his thoughts on various areas drab attic workroom and into a scary adventure with some amazing new friends, exploring regions of our lives and then provides 131 exercises the planet never before known to help us recover our attentionexist. [[The Art of Noticing: Rediscover What Really Matters to You Starlight Watchmaker by Rob WalkerLauren James|Full Review]]

<!-- Lesley Thomson Stuart MacBride -->

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===[[The Playground Murders Cold Granite (Logan McRae) by Lesley ThomsonStuart MacBride]]===

Rachel Cater DS Logan McRae is just back from a year's sick leave after he was having an affair with her boss, Chris Philips, an auctioneerattacked by a killer. It was, she told her mother, love at first sightHe's just about OK and he's supposed to be easing himself back into the swing of the job in a gentle way - until three-year-old David Reid's body is discovered in a ditch. Her mother was more sceptical He'd been missing for some time and wondered why, if it had been love at came as no surprise that he was dead but he's the first sight, it had taken him so long of several child murders. To add to do anything about itthe complications the police even have a body but no child reported missing. StillA serial killer, more than anythinga child killer and abuser, she wanted her daughter is on the loose in Aberdeen and the press are missing no opportunity to be happybay for blood. That was what Rachel wanted too and it was why she went As if that wasn't bad enough there seems to the Philips' family homebe a leak from within Force Headquarters: a local journalist, Colin Miller, determined to have it all quickly finds out in the open. Instead she was stabbed fifteen times. Her lover was convicted of her murdereverything that's happening. [[The Playground Murders Cold Granite (Logan McRae) by Lesley ThomsonStuart MacBride|Full Review]]

<!-- Dare Angela Marsons -->

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===[[The Billion Pound Lie by Bill Dare]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:ThrillersCrime|ThrillersCrime]]

Can you imagine what it would be like to win a billion pounds? The UKThere's biggest ever lottery winners were a couple from Ayrshire, who won a £161 million EuroMillions jackpot a few years ago. That's so much money prologue and we know that it landed them on the Sunday Times Rich List of the UKwe's thousand most wealthy peoplere dealing with someone who is very disturbed. So a billion pounds. That's a lot, right? Can you imagine it? What would you do? Would you try to remain anonymous? And, if you didThe descriptions are horrifying, how would this affect your relationships with your nearest and dearest? What it would be like? How could you keep your friends and family from knowing that you were now one but worst of all is the richest people in coldness of the country? killer. [[The Billion Pound Lie Child's Play (D I Kim Stone) by Bill DareAngela Marsons|Full Review]]

<!-- Vaughn Chiang -->

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===[[Across the Void Exhalation by S K VaughnTed Chiang]]===

[[image:4star5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]]

Sea epics? So 20th centuryOver the past twenty-eight years Ted Chiang has published fifteen science fiction short stories. These magnificent stories have won twenty-seven major science fiction awards so if you are a science fiction fan it is likely that you have already come across some of the work by Ted Chiang. Try I cannot speak highly enough of this collection of short stories, they are so wide ranging in their themes and so beautifully written, Chiang has written an absolute masterpiece of a space epiccollection. If you come across Chiang's work before, take this opportunity to do so now. Trust me; your imagination will be grateful. [[Across the Void Exhalation by S K VaughnTed Chiang|Full Review]]

<!-- McLean Lawrence -->

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[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] ==[[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]]Rose, [[:Category:General Fiction|General FictionInterrupted by Patrice Lawrence]]===

When Tikka Molloy was eleven and one-sixth years old, the Van Apfel sisters disappeared. In the long hot summer of 1992, in an isolated suburb of Australia surrounded by Bushland, the girls vanished during the school's Showstopper concert at the riverside amphitheatre. Did they run away? Were they taken? While the search for the sisters united the small community, they were never found. Returning home years later, Tikka must make sense of that strange moment in time – of the summer that shaped her, and the girls she never forgot[[image:4star. jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[The Van Apfel Girls are Gone by Felicity McLean:Category:Teens|Full ReviewTeens]]

Rose and her brother Rudder have recently escaped from cult-like fundamentalist Christian sect, the Pilgrims, along with their mother. While Mum works endless hours at agency cleaning jobs trying to keep the rent paid on their tiny flat, Rose and Rudder are trying to navigate the worldly world. It's not easy when everything is new and the rigid rules you've always lived by are suddenly missing. [[Rose, Interrupted by Patrice Lawrence|Full Review]]<!-- Stowell Kate Atkinson -->

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===[[The Dragon in the Library by Louie Stowell and Davide Ortu Started Early, Took My Dog (IllustratorJackson Brodie)by Kate Atkinson]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]]

[[image:4I guess that most of us have made the odd impulse purchase but Tracy Waterhouse, security chief at the Merrion Centre in Leeds, blew most people's ideas of an impulse purchase out of the water one morning.5star Seeing a known prostitute dragging a toddler through the shopping mall whilst cursing at her, Waterhouse followed the woman and bought the girl for £3000. The difficulty of a purchase like this is knowing what to do next and Tracy's humdrum life is replaced with one of stress, fear and an overwhelming love for four-year-old Courtney.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]Started Early, [[:Category:Emerging ReadersTook My Dog (Jackson Brodie) by Kate Atkinson|Emerging ReadersFull Review]]

It is the start of the summer holidays and Kit has plans<!-- Chloe Daykin -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0571349439.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co. These plans involve climbing treesuk/dp/0571349439/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Fire Girl, getting muddy and being outsideForest Boy by Chloe Daykin]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers]] Maya has to escape. Her friends, Josh and Alita, She's on the other hand want run in a country she doesn't know and has no idea who to go trust. Raul is escaping too - travelling back to the libraryhis home where a terrible tragedy happened, ready to stir up trouble. Kit hates reading and can't see When their paths collide in the point middle of books at all but is very reluctantly persuaded to go with the others jungle, the sparks begin to the local libraryfly. Once there As modern world corruption meets the children meet the librarian magic and Kit makes an incredible discovery; the librarian is a wizard! Even more incrediblylegends of ancient times, Kit is a wizard too and she and can Maya draw on her friends have an important task. They must save hidden light to find the library…and save way through to the world! truth? [[The Dragon in the Library Fire Girl, Forest Boy by Louie Stowell and Davide Ortu (Illustrator)Chloe Daykin|Full Review]]

<!-- Stuart MacBride Angela Marsons -->

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===[[All ThatChild's Dead Play (Logan McRae 12D I Kim Stone) by Stuart MacBrideAngela Marsons]]===

[[image:5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]]

It seemed like a good idea. Logan There'Lazarus' McRae was back at work after s a year off sick. Heprologue and we know that we'd been stabbed in the line of duty and recovery had been slow: he still had some painre dealing with someone who is very disturbed. His first case was to be a simple one - just to ease him back into work - but it turned out to be anything but. Professor Wilson, a high-profile anti-independence campaigner has gone missing, apparently abducted from his homeThe descriptions are horrifying, but nothing was left behind except some bloodstains. In much worst of all is the same way that Brexit is dividing people south coldness of the border, there's going to be a war between the pro- and anti-independence factions in Scotland - and the police are not above being involvedkiller. [[All ThatChild's Dead Play (Logan McRae 12D I Kim Stone) by Stuart MacBrideAngela Marsons|Full Review]]

<!-- Louise Voss Gregory -->

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[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] ==[[:Category:Crime|CrimeI Hold Your Heart by Karen Gregory]]===

If you were looking back to when it began you'd have to say that it was before 1995[[image:4. Meredith Vincent (that wasn't her name then) had gone to Greenham Common on her seventeenth birthday, dressed as a teddy bear, to protest about nuclear weapons. It was whilst she was there that she met Samantha, fell head over heels in love with her and went to live in a squat in London, leaving behind her A levels, her recently-widowed mother - and her twin brother, Pete, to look after her. Samantha was there occasionally but Meredith was drawn into forming a band with the boys from the squat and against all the odds Cohen went on to become a sensation and it wasn't long before Meredith was living in a mansion rather than the squat5star. jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[The Last Stage by Louise Voss:Category:Teens|Full ReviewTeens]]

Gemma has just started her A levels at school. She's a keen student and she has a good, close set of friends. Gemma loves country music and in her spare time she enjoys writing and singing country songs. She's pretty good at it too. Home life is busy - Gemma's brother Michael has a chance at a football career and the whole family, propelled by Gemma's rather over-invested dad, is supporting him with everything they've got. Gemma hasn't had a serious boyfriend yet, so when the handsome Aaron appears and an instant attraction fizzles between them, Gemma is keen to see where romance could lead... [[I Hold Your Heart by Karen Gregory|Full Review]]<!-- Ian Mathie Davis -->

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===[[Wild Child: Growing Up a Nomad What's That in Dog Years? by Ian MathieBen Davis and Julia Christians]]===

[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:AutobiographyConfident Readers|AutobiographyConfident Readers]]

For Ian Mathie fans there is good George and bad newsGizmo have been together ever since George was born. Ian Gizmo has come up with the missing link in his narrativealways been a fun, the story of adventurous dog and a very unusual childhood (yesloyal friend, but just recently, the very years George has noticed that made him the amazing man he became). The bad – well it's hardly news two years later – is starting to slow down a little. A visit to the vets leaves George worried that the book is published posthumously. As alwaysGizmo might not be around for very much longer, it's beautifully writtenand so he begins to write Gizmo a bucket list, with many exciting moments. What I most enjoyed was of all the feeling adventures that many of the questions they can still have together in Ian MathieGizmo's later books last days. But are answered in ''Wild Child'' with a satisfying clunk. Seemingly all thatthey his last days? And who will help George to stay calm when Gizmo is gone? [[What's now left That in the drawer is unpublishable. [[Wild Child: Growing Up a Nomad Dog Years? by Ian MathieBen Davis and Julia Christians|Full Review]]

<!-- Martin Walker Hlad -->

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===[[The Body Long Flight Home by A L Hlad]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] September 1940 - as WWII rages on, bombs rain down on Britain, destroying the homes and lives of a people on the edge. In Epping Forest, Susan Shepherd and her grandfather Bertie live together raising homing pigeons with the birds proving a comfort for Susan following the loss of her parents. These pigeons are more than just birds to Susan though – in each one, and especially in Duchess, she sees a distinct personality and forms a close bond. Meanwhile, young pilot Ollie Evans leaves Maine to head to Britain and join the Royal Air Force. Working with the National Pigeon Service, he soon meets Susan and is tasked with air-dropping hundreds of homing pigeons into German-occupied France, where many will not survive. As the mission is planned, the Castle Well (A Brunobond between Ollie and Susan grows stronger, but when Ollie's plane is downed behind enemy lines, Chief it may be Duchess who provides an unexpected lifeline and ensures that hope of Police Novela reunion for Susan and Ollie remains… [[The Long Flight Home by A L Hlad|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Wohlleben -->|-| style=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1846045576.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1846045576/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[Walks In The Wild by Peter Wohlleben and Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp (Translator) by Martin Walker]]===

[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:CrimeAnimals and Wildlife|CrimeAnimals and Wildlife]], [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]]

Claudia Muller was an American, studying art history and being mentored by an eminent French art historian and Resistance war hero in Limeuil in Perigord. She was beautiful, wore designer clothes and was well-liked by everyone. She didn't parade her wealth, or her father'An instruction manual for the forest'' is how Wohlleben's White House connections. In factpublisher described the idea for this book, her closest friend was a man recently released from prison. So when she left a lecture saying and that she felt ill, and her body was later found 's basically what it is – although right at the bottom of end the castle well author says that it seemed that the likeliest explanation was that this had been is not intended to be a dreadful accident with the only people to blame being the builders who had left the well unsealedreference book, but an appetiser. [[Walks In The Body in the Castle Well Wild by Peter Wohlleben and Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp (A Bruno, Chief of Police NovelTranslator) by Martin Walker|Full Review]]

<!-- Nayeri M T Edvardsson and Rachel Wilson-Boyles -->

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===[[The Ungrateful Refugee A Nearly Normal Family by Dina NayeriM T Edvardsson and Rachel Wilson-Boyles (translator)]]===

[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and SocietyCrime|Politics and SocietyCrime]], [[:Category:BiographyThrillers|BiographyThrillers]]

Here in We're going to hear this story through the West, we see news reports about immigrants on a regular basis – some media welcoming them, some scaremongering about them. But all viewpoints of those stories are written by journalists – almost always westernthree different people: Adam Sandell, and almost alwayshis wife, no matter how deep the investigative journalism they carry out, outsiders to the world Ulrika and the situations that refugees find themselves inhis daughter Stella. ItAdam's rare that we find out a pastor in the journeys from the refugees themselves – Church of Sweden and this Ulrika is a rare opportunity to do thatlawyer. Stella is, in this intelligentwell, powerful just difficult. You sense that she's always been difficult and moving work by Dina Nayeri there have even been occasions when Ulrika has let slip that she wishes that Stella was more like her best friend, Amina Bešic -someone who was born in and no one has ever said that if they don't think that the other person is better. We first meet the middle family on Stella's 18th birthday and we get a sense of a revolution in Iran, fleeing Adam's controlling nature. Permission has to America as be given for a ten-year-oldglass of wine for Stella at the celebration meal.[[The Ungrateful Refugee A Nearly Normal Family by Dina NayeriM T Edvardsson and Rachel Wilson-Boyles (translator)|Full Review]]

<!-- Douglas Lindsay Green -->

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===[[Boy in the Well (DI Westphall 2) The House of Light by Douglas LindsayJulia Green]]===

[[image:34.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:CrimeConfident Readers|CrimeConfident Readers]]

The body of Bonnie is growing up on a nine-year-old boy was found at slightly strange island, living with her grandfather, scavenging for food, and rubbish that has washed up on the bottom beach that she and her grandfather can use to make things. There is some sort of a well which had been sealed for two hundred years - but ban against anyone else landing on the boy had only been dead for less than two days island, and lots of suspicion around those who live there was no sign , including a great fear of how the body had got into the wellanyone who gets sick. The owners of But when Bonnie is on the property are adamant that the well was sealed when they went to open itbeach one day and discovers not only an intact boat, but DI Ben Westphall would be entitled a young boy cowering beneath, rather than turn him in to have his doubts. Belle McIntosh holds some strange viewsthe authorities she takes him home and hides him, particularly about smuggling him boiled eggs and blankets in the way that the government is controlling everyone through drugs which are added shed whilst she tries to the water supply which led figure out what to her wanting to reinstate the welldo. Her wife, Catriona Napier, is more moderate, but doesn't seem to have a lot of knowledge about what's going on on the fa [[Boy in the Well (DI Westphall 2) The House of Light by Douglas LindsayJulia Green|Full Review]]

<!-- Nick Louth Foster -->

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===[[The Body in the Mist Check Mates by Nick LouthStewart Foster]]===

[[image:4star5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:CrimeConfident Readers|CrimeConfident Readers]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]

Muriel Hinkley was walking her dog when she found the body on In many ways Felix is a quiet country lanetypical boy in Year 7, just south of Exmoorenjoying playing games on his PS4 and hanging out with his friend Jake at the weekend. She didn’t recognise him - no one would for However Felix is struggling at school. He is not a problem child but he does have a long time as problem. His ADHD makes it was obvious hard for him to concentrate, he keeps getting into trouble and his grades are slipping. When his Mum suggests that he’d he spends more time with his grandfather Felix is horrified. Ever since Grandma died his Granddad has been the victim of a hit-grumpy and-runmore eccentric than before. He had no face - most of it was smeared on All he wants to do is sit in the road dark and when D I Jan Talantire came to look at the body she realised play chess. Felix knows that there was absolutely nothing on him which would allow for identificationthis will be extremely boring. All the labels had been cut out of his clothes But sometimes we learn valuable lessons where we least expect to and there was no wallet perhaps Granddad and no phone. Hi was Mister NobodyFelix can help each other. [[The Body in the Mist Check Mates by Nick LouthStewart Foster|Full Review]]

<!-- Denise Mina Jane O'Connor -->

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===[[Conviction Needlemouse by Denise MinaJane O'Connor]]===

[[image:4star5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:ThrillersGeneral Fiction|ThrillersGeneral Fiction]], [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]]

It's strange how We first meet Sylvia Penton on her birthday and her boss, the worst of days can start in such an ordinaryProf, mundane wayis taking her out to lunch. And so it was for Anna McDonald as she sorted out gym kit and packed lunches for This is her two daughters. It didn't begin to go wrong until she opened favourite day of the door to her best friendyear, Estelle and realised that not because it's her husband was at the top birthday but because of the stairs, dressed as though for a holiday rather than special time she gets to spend with the work clothes man she'd been expecting - and he was carrying a suitcaseloves. He 's told her that he and Estelle were leaving together his wife are going to divorce - Martha is apparently having an affair - and Sylvia is convinced that the Prof will then declare his love and they were taking Anna's two daughters with themcan be together. There was another problem which neither Hamish nor Estelle knew about. Anna wasnShe hasn't fully constructed 'together' in her own mind - she envisages it as romantic, but her imagination hasn't actually Anna McDonaldyet progressed to the sexual part of the relationship. She was Sophie Bukaran, the woman who had There's time though - she's only been involved in the rape case against four footballersprof's PA for fifteen years. [[Conviction Needlemouse by Denise MinaJane O'Connor|Full Review]] <!-- Donnelly Various-->

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===[[Stepsister Return to Wonderland by Jennifer DonnellyVarious Authors]]===

[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:FantasyConfident Readers|FantasyConfident Readers]], [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]]

In following a young girl called Alice down the rabbit hole a few years ago, when the first book she was in [[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (150th Anniversary Edition) by Lewis Carroll and Anthony Browne|hit 150 years of age]], I found that I didn'People will not forget. Or forgive. An ugly girl is t really find too great an offense.much favour with it. The wacky-for-the-sake-of-it did not gel, and I don't remember loving it more as a child. But I would suggest I am the world is made perfect audience for menthis book. An ugly girl can never be forgiven I had every chance to enjoy these short stories that come at the core from a tangent, that show the benefits of the oblique glance. I've always preferred coming to an author's output through their least obvious, allegedly throw-away pieces, and it's the same with franchises – I'd more likely go for Bree Tanner's short novella than the whole Twilight saga (although that remains just a hunch, for obvious reasons). For another thing, there was every reason to expect some kind of greatness here – with Carroll much loved by millions, surely pieces written with that love in mind could only provide for success after success? [[Return to Wonderland by Various Authors|Full Review]]

''Stepsister'' tells the gripping story of Cinderella's 'ugly' stepsister, Isabelle. We've been told this fairy-tale over and over again throughout our lives and know the characters well. But have you ever wondered what happened to the sisters after Cinderella married the Prince? Or why the sisters disliked her so much? [[Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly|Full Review]] <!-- Gilly Macmillan Elphinstone -->

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| style="''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"''|===[[Rumblestar (The Nanny Unmapped Chronicles) by Gilly MacmillanAbi Elphinstone]]===

[[image:4star4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:ThrillersConfident Readers|ThrillersConfident Readers]]

We know that something wrong Rumblestar follows the haphazard adventures of the anxious 11-year-old Casper Tock who timetables his every movement, makes countless to do lists and is happening: hounded by wealthy bullies with the absurdly humorous and appropriate names of Candida Cashmere Jumps and Leopold Splattercash. He stumbles across a magic portal by accident just like Lucy of Narnia fame, meets a body feisty girl troubled by her past and is being dumped in deep waterplunged into a perilous quest. The rower pulls away and rows back to In a kingdom where the dark mythological forces of Midnights threaten the boat house and then she walks back weather Marvels (equated here to Lake Hall. As you begin reading you suspect that you know who has been killed and who dumped the bodymiracle of nature) conjured by magical creatures, but be patient: all will be revealed before too longonly unlikely heroes can battle against evil. [[Rumblestar (The Nanny Unmapped Chronicles]) by Gilly MacmillanAbi Elphinstone|Full Review]]

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[[image:3star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] ==[[:Category:Thrillers|ThrillersThe Evil Occupants of Easingdale Castle by Ray Filby]]===

Long after the police have given up on cold missing persons cases, David Raker picks them up and tracks them down. He's called to a particularly disturbing case where a small village of nine people all vanished overnight two years ago. Raker and his associate must delve in to the lives of these people to work out how and why nine people have gone missing. They are being threatened to stop but something about the mystery keeps drawing Raker further in, putting him in personal peril[[image:4star. jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[No One Home by Tim Weaver:Category:Teens|Full ReviewTeens]]

<!Jason likes chess. He's pretty good at it too -- Marrs -->|-| style=a level eight on his computer programme, with level ten being Grand Master level. He's also good at systems, having contributed to the relational database that has streamlined his school's administration. Jason'width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;s school, Easingdale Comprehensive, is very big on technology and its head, Mr Johnston, is keen to involve his pupils wherever they show promise. So Jason's friends have also helped out. Liz is great with hardware and helped with the school'|[[image:1785038885s card reader system. Becky has a flair for software and has recommended lots of curriculum-enhancing apps.jpg|link=http://wwwAnd Bill is a talented programmer.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785038885/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21[[The Evil Occupants of Easingdale Castle by Ray Filby|Full Review]]

 | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[The Passengers by John Marrs]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] In the near future, self-drive cars are the norm - a convenient and easy way of transport. However, when someone hacks into the systems of eight self-drive cars, their passengers are set on a fatal collision course. As everyday commutes turn into terror-filled journeys, the public have to judge who should survive. But with every aspect of these passangers being examined by the public - will they turn out to be what they seem? [[The Passengers by John Marrs|Full Review]] <!-- Toon Caz Frear -->

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===[[If You Could Go Anywhere Stone Cold Heart by Paige ToonCaz Frear]]===

[[image:4.5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's FictionCrime|Women's FictionCrime]]

Angie DC Cat Kinsella is someone who always wanted back at the Met after a secondment to travel, the London Mayor's Office: the hours were good but itthe job was boring. She's taken grateful to be back with the old team - her 27 years partner DS Luigi Parnell, boss DCI Kate Steele and DC Rénee Akwa. She's still not prepared to leave say anything about the small mining town in south Australia which has been identity of her boyfriend: the only home knowledge that she's ever known. She doesn't do things by half thoughin a relationship with Aiden Doyle, the brother of a murder victim and once she does feel able to go (following moreover a family death) she leaves not only the town, the state murder with which her father might have had some involvement could finish her career. Kinsella and Parnell are called to the country, but also discovery of the continentbody of a young woman: Naomi Lockhart was Australian, just twenty-two years old and finds herself following in her mother's footsteps and heading to Italybody was discovered by her flat mate, Kieran Drake, an ex-offender. [[If You Could Go Anywhere Stone Cold Heart by Paige ToonCaz Frear|Full Review]]