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'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''<!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->{{Frontpage|isbn=1780724047|title=A Dictionary of Interesting and Important Dogs|author=Peter J Conradi|rating=4|genre=Pets|summary=I struggle to resist a book about dogs, but I did wonder why this one was so ''thin'': given that I've never encountered a dog who wasn't interesting or important - and probably both, I was expecting a massive tome. But ''A Dictionary of Interesting and Important Dogs'' is actually ''a rich compendium of the world's most significant and beloved dogs'' and it's certainly a rich treasure trove. We begin with Peter J Conradi's four collies: Cloudy, Sky. Bradley and Max. They're consecutive rather than simultaneous dogs, but what comes over is Conradi's love for each and every one of them. I knew that I was in safe hands.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1785769294|title=Man at the Window (Detective Cardilini)|author=Robert Jeffreys|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's when we read that a young boy is creeping reluctantly to a teacher's bedroom one October night that we realise something is badly wrong. Nowadays you ''might'' hope that something would be done about it fairly quickly but this was 1965 and child abuse was generally regarded as malicious mischief on the part of the child. The boy would be safe that night though - albeit in the most horrific fashion. When he reached Captain Edmund's bedroom he found the man dead on the floor, the top of his skull missing. The school's initial reaction was that this was a dreadful accident: there had been a cull of kangaroos in some nearby fields and it was obviously a stray bullet which had killed the Captain.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786695227|title=Invisible in a Bright Light|author=Sally Gardner|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=The beginning of this excellent story will leave the reader more than a little confused: who is the man in the green suit, what is the Reckoning, and why are rows of people in a cave? But stick with it – Ms Gardner is very cleverly letting us experience the same disorientation as our heroine. We watch in dismay as the strange man, who seems to have no eyes, does his best to persuade her to answer his questions. But for some reason Celeste, despite her bewilderment, remains wary and gives nothing away.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1912374854|title=Violet|author=S J I Holliday|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=I've never been but understand that travelling is all about meeting new people and forming instantaneous bonds with people in often chance situations. Well that's exactly what happens when the two main/only characters meet in a travel agency in Beijing - Carrie is unsuccessfully trying to get a refund on an extra ticket for the Trans-Siberian train and Violet is trying to unsuccessfully buy a ticket for the same sold-out journey. As the two team up, travelling through Mongolia, Serbia and into Russia, it could've been the start of a beautiful friendship but this a thriller after all so it quickly becomes a tale of obsession, manipulation and toxic friendships.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1912374838|title=Nothing Important Happened Today|author=Will Carver|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=Nothing Important Happened Today is a dark, twisted, difficult read. Stories about cults often are, but this is different; it's written with a sense of style that is quite unlike anything I've read before. I can't remember ever having read a novel with such an odd, distinctive narrative voice. While a slim and relatively small book, the slow-moving nature of the plot makes it feel far larger than its 276 pages.}}{{Frontpage|isbn= williamabbey|title=The Pursuit of William Abbey|author=Claire North|rating=3.5|genre=Paranormal|summary=When William Abbey fails to prevent the lynching of a young boy in 1880's South Africa, he finds himself cursed by the grieving mother. A naïve English Doctor, he slowly learns the weight of the curse upon him, as the shadow of the dead boy begins to follow him across the world. Never stopping, always growing – it crosses oceans and mountains in pursuit of William. As he finds himself unable to resist speaking the truths that he hears in others, he also learns that the dark shadow is deadly – and seeks to kill the one he loves the most…}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1643785036|title=The Wondrous Apothecary|author=Mary E Martin|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=Those who have known Alexander Wainwright, the landscape artist famous for his Turner prize winning ''The Hay Wagon'', and Rinaldo, renowned conceptual artist would say that they're chalk and cheese, if not sworn enemies. If you've watched the relationship, as has our narrator, art dealer Jamie Helmsworth, you'd have said that they were magnets, drawing and repulsing each other in equal measure. Wainwright was at the socially acceptable end of the artistic continuum, but with Rinaldo it was all too obvious that there was but a fine dividing line between conceptual art and public nuisance. As time has worn on, he's frequently been brought to the attention of the police. On this latest occasion we see him charged with arson and theft of ''The Hay Wagon''.}}{{Frontpage|author=Mary H.K. Choi|title=Permanent Record|rating=4|genre=Teens|summary=Pablo, a college drop-out, is working at a New York bodega. He's massively in debt, he's avoiding his mother, and he finds his joy in creating unusual snacks with random ingredients! Whilst working one evening, he's surprised to discover that the girl he is chatting with as he serves is a super-famous pop star and, as unlikely as it may seem, they start a relationship. With one character who is trying very hard not to be seen or noticed by anyone, and the other who is seen and followed and hounded by everyone all over the world, it's an interesting clash as they come together. This isn't just a love story though, and actually it's really just Pab's story, about the journey he takes in his life via his meet-up with Leanna Smart.|isbn=0349003459}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1609809319|title=Long-Haired Cat-Boy Cub|author=Etgar Keret, Aviel Basil and Sondra Silverston (translator)|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=One day a boy is in the zoo with his father, when the man gets called away on urgent business. The boy isn't hustled into a cab and taken home first, though, no – he's given hot dog money, and taxi money, and told to just stick around on his own and enjoy himself. Well, it's no surprise that the orphan-for-an-afternoon sensation the lad feels doesn't make him happy, and so he thinks of a species name for himself, and curls himself up into an empty cage, as if he were a new exhibit. And it's then the drama begins… }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1785785516|title=Fucking Good Manners|author=Simon Griffin|rating=4|genre=Lifestyle|summary=Manners maketh man, they say. It certainly makes life easier if everybody abides by a set of conventions, some of which are ages old and other which have evolved over time. Manners are not about how much to tip or how you should behave if you get an invitation to Buckingham Palace, they have nothing to do with class or financial status: they're about getting the basics right before we try to deal with more difficult matters. Of course we all have more relaxed manners when we're with family and friends, but it's best if we learn to distinguish between our public and private lives and to act appropriately. ''Fucking Good Manners'' aims to help us on the way.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008324859|title=Fowl Twins|author=Eoin Colfer|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Relax, everyone – our old friend Artemis may be off planet, but the baddies aren't getting away with skulduggery any time soon because they now have not one but two members of the Fowl family to contend with. Those cute little twins are now eleven (and, frankly, cute no longer) and in this, their first independent adventure, they meet a troll and without even trying manage to make two deadly enemies: a nobleman obsessed with immortality whatever the cost (to other people), and an unusual interrogator-nun. The boys are chased, kidnapped, arrested and even killed (though not for long), all with the help of one trainee fairy.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1472255798|title=The Bad Fire (Bob Skinner)|author=Quintin Jardine|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=Nine years ago local councillor Marcia Brown took her own life after being accused of shoplifting from a local supermarket. It's always been assumed that she couldn't live with the shame. People were surprised that she committed suicide just before the court case when she had been adamant that she would fight to clear her name. She said that she'd been set up because she was hot on the trail of corruption in the council. Her ex-husband has contacted Alex Skinner, Solicitor Advocate as well as retired Police Constable Bob Skinner's daughter, and asked that she look into clearing Brown's name: it's something which he feels that he has to do in memory of his son who was murdered recently.}}

{{Frontpage|isbn=B07X6GLQ3Q|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingtitle=See Them Run|author="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->Marion Todd<!-- Lynda La Plante -->|rating=4|-genre=Crime| stylesummary="widthD I Clare Mackay is still relatively new to St Andrew's: 10%; verticalshe was previously at Maryhill Rd station in Glasgow. She's left quite a lot behind including a relationship that wasn't going anywhere after Tom failed to support her when the chips were down. She also left a nasty situation, of her own making but not her fault, and St Andrew's is a fresh start. Not long into the job she's faced with a hit and run death and there's little doubt that it wasn't accidental -align: top; textthe card with the number five suggests murder. Andy Robb was married to Sandra. You could say that they had an open marriage but there seemed to be a lot of the 'open' and very little of the 'marriage' left -align: center;"on both sides, but would she want him dead?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786540991|title=The Impossible Boy|author=Ben Brooks[[image:1785768506|rating=4.jpg5|genre=Confident Readers|linksummary=http://www''Oleg and Emma entered their den to find a cardboard spaceship standing where they usually sat. Slowly, the front door opened.amazonSmoke billowed out.coAnd out stepped a boy, dressed in a long coat with an even longer scarf, wound around his neck.uk/dp/1785768506/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]''

| style=''"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;My name's Sebastian Cole,"|===[[The Dirty Dozen (Jane Tennison 5) by Lynda La Plante]]===the boy said, "But you already know that."''

[[image:3And indeed they do.5starEver since the summer, when their friend Sarah's mother had moved her away, Oleg and Emma have been unable to find a new friend to take her place.jpg|link=Category:{}}{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:CrimeFrontpage|isbn=1447281357|title=Salvation Lost|Crime]]author=Peter F Hamilton|rating=4Jane Tennison had worked hard to get a place on |genre=Science Fiction|summary=In the Flying Squad and she felt that she was there twenty-third century, humanity is enjoying a comparative utopia. Yet life on meritEarth is about to change, forever. The Squad wondered who sheFeriton Kane'd slept with s investigative team has discovered the worst threat ever to get the place face mankind – and bets were being taken as we've almost no time to fight back. The supposedly benign Olyix plan to who she'd sleep with harvest humanity, in order to carry us to their god at the first weekend of the universe. What none of them - Jane included - knew was that she was there And as an experimenttheir agents conclude schemes down on earth, vast warships converge above to gather this cargo. Some factions push for humanity to flee, to live in hiding amongst the hope that stars – although only a female presence chosen few would have a calming effectmake it out in time. The job had been advertised and Jane was But others refuse to break before the only female who applied who ticked all the boxesstorm. She doesn't tick all the boxes for the head of the SquadAs disaster looms, DCI Murphy. He wanted someone with at least ten years' experience, and animosities must be set aside to focus on just one goal: wiping this enemy from the appropriate set face of genitals - and he's determined that Jane will failcreation. [[The Dirty Dozen (Jane Tennison 5) by Lynda La Plante|Full Review]]Even if it means preparing for a future this generation will never see.}}{{Frontpage<!-- Coleman -->|isbn=1471186393|-title=Photographer of the Lost| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Caroline Scott[[image:1785032461.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785032461/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Historical Fiction|summary===[[The Girl at May 1921. Edie receives a photograph through the Window by Rowan Coleman]]=== [[image:5starpost. There is no letter or note with it.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]] Trudy Heaton There is going home, to a house where her roots burrow nothing written on the back through of the centuries and to photograph. It is a mother she hasn't spoken to picture of her husband, Francis. Francis has been missing for sixteen four years. HomeTechnically, her refugehe has been "missing, Ponden Hall, where she believed killed" but that is not something that a young widow can heal herself and try to come to terms with the traumatic loss of her husbandbelieve. She needs to build bridges with her mother and convince her grieving son that his father is dead. Where better than hangs on the house full of light and shadow, that nurtured her throughout her childhood? [[The Girl at word 'missing', disbelieving the Window by Rowan Coleman|Full Review]]word killed. }}<!-- Shackle -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1783784350| styletitle="widthThis Golden Fleece: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Journey Through Britain's Knitted History|author=Esther Rutter[[image:1473225213.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473225213/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"History|summary===[[We Are It was December and Esther Rutter was stuck in her office job, writing to people she'd never met and preparing spreadsheets. The Dead by Mike Shackle]]=== [[image:4job frustrated her and even her knitting did not soothe her mind.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]] Mike Shackle has written January was going to be a really interesting time for making changes and unusual story in ''We Are The Dead''; she decided that she would travel the tag line for length and breadth of the novel is 'No More Heroes' British Isles with occasional forays abroad, discovering and that is what makes this story so different. There are villains galore but no specific heroes; rather telling the story is scattered with characters doing their own small part to survive, to fight back, of wool's history and how it had made and to find vengeance, changed the landscape. She'd grown up on a sheep farm in Suffolk - '' a world that has been utterly torn apart. The plot does not hang free range child on any one characterthe farm'' - and learned to spin, no one is important, anyone can die knit and weave from her mother and many do, but, like ants working together, each small character achieves their own part of a much larger plot that is rich and complex and keeps the reader glued to the storyher mother's friend. This was in her blood. [[We Are The Dead by Mike Shackle|Full Review]]}}<!-- Vibrant Publishers -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1401286208| styletitle="widthBlack Canary: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Ignite|author=Meg Cabot and Cara McGee[[image:1946383627.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/1946383627/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Confident Readers|===[[Cost Accounting & Management Essentials You Always Wanted To Know by Vibrant Publishers]]summary=== [[image:4Meet Dinah Lance.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business Frustrated that her policeman father will not allow her to try and Finance|Business follow in his footsteps, and Finance]]seemingly lumbered with being a cheerleader at school, [[:Category:Reference|Reference]] I'm capable of drawing up a profit and loss account (income statement in the USA) and a balance sheet and I do so for my own business and for another organisationshe is desperate to find her voice. The accounts give me But it''broadly'' what I need: I know whether we're making s actually more a case of her voice finding her, as when she gets frustrated or plain dissed at school her vocal outcry can shatter glass better than any opera singer. You could almost call it a profit weapon, or a loss and I can look at the expenses and see what looks as though it could be trimmed back power. But in future years. My problem was that the accounts didn't really give me any help in making decisionsorder for her to call herself a superhero, which was why I turned there has to ''Cost Accounting and Management'', part be a whole path of Vibrant Publishers' Self-Learning and Management series. Cost accounting provides the information required by authorities external steps for her to the company ''and'' to those within it who need to make decisions, so don't worry that you're going to have to draw up two sets of accounts! [[Cost Accounting & Management Essentials You Always Wanted To Know by Vibrant Publishers|Full Review]]take – one of which will be into her past…}} <!-- Steve Burrows -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1789017977| styletitle="widthRonnie and Hilda's Romance: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Towards a New Life after World War II|author=Wendy Williams[[image:1786075776.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786075776/ref=nosim?tag4|genre=thebookbag-21]] History| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Dance Ronnie Williams was the son of Cranes by Steve Burrows]]=== [[image:4starThomas Henry Williams (known as Harry) and Ethel Wall.jpg|link=Category There's some doubt as to whether or not they were ever married or even Harry's birthdate:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] DCI Domenic Jejeune is no longer with Lindy Hey, he claimed to have been born in 1863, but he was already many years older than Ethel and he might well have shaved a few years off his age. For a while the estrangement being of his making, not hers. He hasn't explained family was quite well-to her that he is doing this - do but disaster struck in the 1929 Depression and leaving for his native Canada five-year- because old Ronnie had to adjust to a very different lifestyle. One thing he thinks that this will keep her safe did inherit from his nemesis, Ray Hayes. Lauren Salter has been promoted father was his need to sergeant be well-turned-out and now has her first murder casethis would stay with him throughout his life. It looks as though there's an obvious suspect, but Salter isn't so certainHe joined the army at eighteen in 1942. Sgt Danny Maik is (unofficially) keeping an eye on Lindy Hey, whilst Jejeune embarks on a treacherous journey to rescue his brother, Damian, who has gone missing in one of Canada's largest national parks. [[A Dance of Cranes by Steve Burrows|Full Review]]}}{{Frontpage<!-- Oates -->|isbn=1542015421|-title=The Royal Baths Murder| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|J R Ellis[[image:1785656775.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785656775/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Triumph When Damian Penrose was murdered there was no shortage of the Spider Monkey by Joyce Carol Oates]]=== [[imagesuspects:4starhe was a deeply unpleasant man.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Bobby is an angry, damaged man - damage that came from being abandoned as In fact the only surprising thing was that there wasn't more of a queue waiting to do the dirty deed. What was a baby bit of a headline maker was that Penrose was a crime writer and that he was strangled in the midst of Harrogate's crime writing festival. He went for a bus station locker, swim at the Royal Baths and then being thrown from one foster home or detention centre to another, never far from violence or abuse. Eager to succeed as a musicianreturned, he arrives in Hollywood to find his dream - but it soon becomes clear that his paranoid delusions and seething rage will enable a capacity for acts of extreme violencebody being found by the receptionist. Unpublished for 40 years, this edition of ''The Triumph of DCI Jim Oldroyd was the man tasked with investigating the crime. It would not be the Spider Monkey'' comes combined with a connected novella – ''Loveonly death, Careless Love''. [[The Triumph and it was only because of the Spider Monkey by Joyce Carol Oates|Full Review]]quick actions of his sergeant, Andy Carter, that Oldroyd's was not one of them.}}<!-- Pike -->{{Frontpage|-author=Daniel Kraus| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Blood Sugar|rating=4[[image:0192771604.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0192771604/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] General Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Last Spell Breather by Julie Pike]]=== [[image:4This is a difficult read. And not because of the dark subject matter – that'll come later – but because of the way in which it's told.5starThis might put a lot of readers off, and to be honest it'd be hard to blame them.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Rayne lives in the small, hidden village of Penderin where she is Kraus tells the story in a somewhat unwilling apprentice to her mother, the spell breatherdistinctive voice unlike any other I've read; an erratic dialect with heavy and frequent slang. Not everyone can spell breatheThe immediate effect is disorientating and distracting, you have and it takes some time to born with a magic spark and Rayne wishes she hadn't been born with onefeel natural. SheIt's a terrible spell breatherstruggle to acclimatise to Jody's voice, to get acquainted with his mannerisms, but the story wouldn't be the same without it, her attempts are always followed by disaster and she positively hates Mam's spell book with somehow it's sharp teeth that suck your bloodworks. When a stranger finds their village one day, Mam must set off on a journey to the great library, leaving Rayne in the village as their chief spell breather, but an unfortunate mistake sees Rayne breaking her mother's book and turning everyone in to monsters. She must face her fear travel across the monster-ridden country to find Mam and restore the book to save their village. [[The Last Spell Breather by Julie Pike|Full Review]] <!-- Carlie Sorosiak -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:178800387X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178800387X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[I, Cosmo by Carlie Sorosiak]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Cosmo's family is in crisis. Mom and Dad argue all the time. Emmaline doesn't quite understand it because she's too little but she feels it. And Max, who is bigger, does understand it and is terrified by it. Long ago, when Max was just a baby, Cosmo made a promise to protect Max forever and so he sets about his mission of repairing the family with everything he's got... [[I, Cosmo by Carlie Sorosiak|Full Review]] <!-- Fegan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1925810097.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1925810097/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Don't Drink the Pink by B C R Fegan]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] Madeline is very fond of Grandfather Gilderberry. He's always busy in his workshop, creating crazy potions, and he always has a smile on his face. Madeline's dad thinks he's a bit bonkers and Madeline's mum thinks the same but gives him a pass because he's old. But Madeline? She thinks Grandfather Gilberberry is just great. Particularly on her birthday when he unfailingly arrives with a selection of potions and allows her to choose one as a gift. And he always says the same thing... [[Don't Drink the Pink by B C R Fegan|Full Review]] <!-- Averill -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1077651538.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1077651538/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Years of Fading Magic by Kenelm Averill]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]]  ''What if you could subtly change the lives of ordinary people around you?'' Jessica Turner was one of the more radical teens to come out of Eastfield. A youth spent hanging out with a close crowd of friends was characterised by Jessica's role as trendsetter, as influencer, as leader. Strangely charismatic, Jessica invited fascination and obsession. Nobody who met her, forgot her. Or the days they spent in the Enclosure, a clearing in Eastfield woods that Jessica felt gave her power. But the group went its separate ways, as adolescent groups do, and her influence faded...[[The Years of Fading Magic by Kenelm Averill|Full Review]] <!-- Paula Daly -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1787632105.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1787632105/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Clear My Name by Paula Daly]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Tess Gilroy works for Innocence UK, a charity investigating the cases of prisoners who can convince them that they've been wrongly convicted and they're just moving on to their next case. She's somewhat surprised when Clive, the head of the charity, announces that she'll have someone shadowing her. Avril's in her mid twenties and rather gauche as well as prone to putting her foot in it. One of the reasons they're now going to look at the case of Carrie Kamara is that she's female and Innocence have never yet taken up the case of a woman: such impressions matter. [[Clear My Name by Paula Daly|Full Review]]  <!-- Georgianne Landy-Kordis -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1072549271.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1072549271/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Simple Act of Self-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide by Georgianne Landy-Kordis ]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]], [[:Category:Reference|Reference]], [[:Category:Self-Publishing|Self Publishing]] I frequently meet authors who are struggling to be published by the traditional houses, but when I suggest self-publishing they explain that they don't have the big bucks required to go down that road with Author Solutions or Matador or their like. I then ask if they've considered Kindle and the answer is inevitably that they wouldn't know where to start. I can empathise with that. Despite having used a computer for about thirty years, running most of my life ''and'' a website on line, I'm still nervous when it comes to starting something new. I like someone to hold my hand as I go through it for the first time. That was why I was very interested when ''The Simple Act of Self Publishing With Amazon'' came across my desk. Author Georgianne Landy-Kordis doesn't profess to be a computer expert: she's simply someone who has done this many times and she's giving us the benefit of her experience and without any added chitchat. [[The Simple Act of Self-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide by Georgianne Landy-Kordis |Full Review]] <!-- S Kensington -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789018625.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789018625/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Just Another Girl on the Road by S Kensington]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] When Sergeant Farr and Corporal Valentine first encountered Katrinka Badeau she was just eighteen years old and fleeing from a farmhouse and a group of German deserters who had raped her. Despite being outnumbered she was giving just about as good as she got when Farr and Valentine intervened and finished the group off. It was 1944 and Farr and Valentine were part of the Jedburgh unit, EDMOND, lead by Major Willoughby Nye. Nye recognised Katrinka immediately - he'd worked on her father's merchant ship and Katrinka had once had a crush on Nye. When he offered her a job with his unit, she accepted. [[Just Another Girl on the Road by S Kensington|Full Review]] <!-- Patrice Lawrence-->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1444940651.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444940651/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Rose, Interrupted by Patrice Lawrence]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  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]] <!-- David Edwards -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789018870.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789018870/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Something to Tell You by David Edwards]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]] Sam Murray and Bert Leinster had been friends for a long time. Bert was Sam's boss at CERN, but this never seemed to affect the way that the families got on. Bert's wife, Natalia, was Russian and seriously rich. Their twins, fifteen-year-olds Allie and Josh, went to a private boarding school, but at weekends they were great friends with Sam's two children, Liam and Hannah. Sam's wife, Briony, was head of product research at Nestlé. Life was good for all eight of them, until Sam - a particle physicist - spotted that the rate at which Higgs Boson particles were hitting the earth had risen exponentially. It's enough of a problem for Sam and Bert to drag the head of CERN, Prof Ralph Moyeur, out of a family lunch. Then Bert started having conversations with a plant called Lily. [[Something to Tell You by David Edwards|Full Review]] <!-- Behrend -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789016789.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789016789/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[You're the Froth On My Soy Cappuccino: Poems for the Present by Don Behrend]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]]  ''You're the Froth On My Soy Cappuccino'' begins with ''A Modern Love Story'': ''You’re the froth on my soy cappuccino''<br>''You’re the spread on my paleo toast''<br>''You’re the nose of my GM-free Pinot''<br>''You’re organic, my love. You’re the most!''<br> Ha! How can you not laugh at this gently mocking take on love in the hipster world? [[You're the Froth On My Soy Cappuccino: Poems for the Present by Don Behrend|Full Review]]  <!-- Mary Scott Huff -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1419726625.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1419726625/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Mitten Handbook: Knitting Recipes to Make Your Own by Mary Scott Huff]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crafts|Crafts]] I love mittens - they're so convenient and much easier to get onto (and off) cold hands than a pair of fiddly gloves. They're not something you regularly see in shops, so I knew that if I wanted new pairs I would have to knit them myself. Well, actually, that's my rationalisation of the situation: in truth I love knitting mittens. They have just enough technique to make them satisfying, plenty of quick work and a pair of warm mittens in a few days. Patterns, though - where do you get them from? [[The Mitten Handbook: Knitting Recipes to Make Your Own by Mary Scott Huff|Full Review]] <!-- Evan Winter -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0356512940.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0356512940/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]] Every so often, as a reader, a book comes along that is utter and complete perfection. This book is one of those. Utter and complete perfection. Winter has created an absolute masterpiece of a novel, set in the fantasy land of Uhmlaba the reader is instantly thrown into war, a battle for survival for the Omehi people. Fleeing their homeland, they have to fight to remain on the only scrap of land they can reach. The culture of the Omehi people is rich and deep but not perfect, not sanctimonious. They have villains, they have faults, they are the invaders after all, but Winter creates a realistic and honest portrayal of a people desperate to survive, to save themselves and their culture for future generations. [[The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter|Full Review]] <!-- Sorosiak -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:178800387X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178800387X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[I, Cosmo by Carlie Sorosiak]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]  Cosmo's family is in crisis. Mom and Dad argue all the time. Emmaline doesn't quite understand it because she's too little but she feels it. And Max, who is bigger, does understand it and is terrified by it. Long ago, when Max was just a baby, Cosmo made a promise to protect Max forever and so he sets about his mission of repairing the family with everything he's got... [[I, Cosmo by Carlie Sorosiak|Full Review]]<!-- Linda Jones -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1999324803.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1999324803/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Deadwood Hall by Linda Jones]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] In late December Dylan Beaumont and his sister Emily were on their way to spend the week before Christmas at their grandfather's house. It was snowing heavily and you could sense that their parents were becoming annoyed at the bickering in the back of the car. Emily was rather brusque with her nine-year-old brother's behaviour, but then that's your prerogative when you're a grown-up eleven year old. The snow was getting heavier and the journey longer when Emily opened the car window just a couple of inches. There was a dreadful smell and Dylan saw a horrible, snake-like figure clawing at the car window. [[Deadwood Hall by Linda Jones|Full Review]] <!-- Denzil Meyrick -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1846974755.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1846974755/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Breath on Dying Embers (DCI Daley) by Denzil Meyrick]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Few 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. Itshouldn's an event which DCI Daley hopes will pass quickly, particularly as his formal uniform is far too tight for comfortt, but it's not long before one of the crew members and a local bird watcher go missingdoes. [[A Breath on Dying Embers (DCI Daley) by Denzil Meyrick|Full Review]]isbn=1789091934 <!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->|}}