Changes

From TheBookbag
Jump to navigationJump to search
no edit summary
'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br>
'''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|title=See Them Run|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingauthor=Marion Todd|rating=4|genre="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->Crime<!|summary=D I Clare Mackay is still relatively new to St Andrew's: she 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 -- Tamaki the 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 Pugh very little of the 'marriage' left -->on both sides, but would she want him dead?}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=1786540991| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Impossible Boy|author=Ben Brooks[[image:1401283292|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/1401283292/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]''
| style=''"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;My name's Sebastian Cole,"|===[[Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh]]===the boy said, "But you already know that."''
[[image:3And indeed they do.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]Ever since the summer, [[:Category:Graphic Novels|Graphic Novels]] Harleen Quinzel is new in town. She alwayswhen their friend Sarah's mother had moved her away, Oleg and Emma have been unable to me, seems find a new in town, even if she's been around a long timefriend to take her place.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1447281357|title=Salvation Lost|author=Peter F Hamilton|rating=4|genre=Science Fiction|summary=In the twenty-third century, for she always has humanity is enjoying a very fresh attitude, and seems to look out of those large eyes at everything anew each timecomparative utopia. But here she Yet life on Earth is new in townabout to change, forever. Feriton Kane's investigative team has discovered the worst threat ever to face mankind – and the town is Gotham City. Expecting a year-long furlough from life with her mother, she finds her gran dead and herself with we've almost no option but time to stay with a bunch of drag queensfight back. She also finds school is a drag, she also finds The supposedly benign Olyix plan to harvest humanity, in order to carry us to their god at the end of the whole neighbourhood is being redeveloped by a large and uncaring corporation – but she also finds two characters that will have a big impact universe. And as their agents conclude schemes down on her lifeearth, vast warships converge above to gather this cargo. One is a civil-minded lass called IvySome factions push for humanity to flee, to live in hiding amongst the other someone she stars – although only meets at night – a lad with a singular graffiti tag and a mind for violence and chaoschosen few would make it out in time. But others refuse to break before the storm. As disaster looms, who calls himself The Joker… [[Harley Quinnanimosities must be set aside to focus on just one goal: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh|Full Review]] <!-- Tove Jansson -->wiping this enemy from the face of creation. Even if it means preparing for a future this generation will never see.}}|-{{Frontpage| styleisbn="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|1471186393[[image:0954221710.jpg|linktitle=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0954221710/refPhotographer of the Lost|author=nosim?tagCaroline Scott|rating=thebookbag-21]] 4.5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Historical Fiction|summary===[[The Summer Book by Tove Jansson]]=== [[image:5starMay 1921. Edie receives a photograph through the post.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[Literary Fiction]] Tove Jansson's short novel about Summer There is several worlds away from no letter or note with it. There is nothing written on the back of the Moomintrolls she photograph. It is most famous for outside a picture of her native Scandinaviahusband, Francis. Book yourself an afternoon this Summer, and take yourself and The Summer Book somewhere quiet Francis has been missing for four years. Technically, preferably within sight and sound of the seahe has been "missing, settle back and prepare to be transportedbelieved killed" but that is not something that a young widow can believe. She hangs on the word 'missing', disbelieving the word killed. [[The Summer Book by Tove Jansson|Full Review]]}}<!-- Lynda La Plante -->{{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:1785768506.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785768506/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"History|summary===[[It was December and Esther Rutter was stuck in her office job, writing to people she'd never met and preparing spreadsheets. The Dirty Dozen (Jane Tennison 5) by Lynda La Plante]]=== [[image:3job frustrated her and even her knitting did not soothe her mind.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Jane Tennison had worked hard January was going to get be a place on the Flying Squad time for making changes and she felt decided that she was there on merit. The Squad wondered who she'd slept would travel the length and breadth of the British Isles with to get occasional forays abroad, discovering and telling the place story of wool's history and bets were being taken as to who shehow it had made and changed the landscape. She'd sleep with grown up on a sheep farm in Suffolk - '' a free range child on the first week. What none of them farm'' - Jane included - knew was that she was there as an experimentand learned to spin, in the hope that a female presence would have a calming effectknit and weave from her mother and her mother's friend. The job had been advertised This was in her blood.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1401286208|title=Black Canary: Ignite|author=Meg Cabot and Jane was the only female who applied who ticked all the boxesCara McGee|rating=3. She doesn't tick all the boxes for the head of the Squad, DCI Murphy5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Meet Dinah Lance. He wanted someone with at least ten years' experienceFrustrated that her policeman father will not allow her to try and follow in his footsteps, and the appropriate set of genitals - and heseemingly lumbered with being a cheerleader at school, she is desperate to find her voice. But it's determined that Jane will failactually 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. [[The Dirty Dozen (Jane Tennison 5) by Lynda La Plante|Full Review]] <!-- Coleman -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1785032461You could almost call it a weapon, or a power.jpg|linkBut in order for her to call herself a superhero, there has to be a whole path of steps for her to take – one of which will be into her past…}}{{Frontpage|isbn=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785032461/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 1789017977| styletitle="vertical-alignRonnie and Hilda's Romance: top; text-align: left;"Towards a New Life after World War II|author=Wendy Williams|rating=4|genre=History|summary=[[The Girl at Ronnie Williams was the Window by Rowan Coleman]]=== [[image:5starson of Thomas Henry Williams (known as Harry) and Ethel Wall.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[ There's some doubt as to whether or not they were ever married or even Harry's birthdate:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]he claimed to have been born in 1863, [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]] Trudy Heaton is going home, to a house where her roots burrow back through the centuries but he was already many years older than Ethel and to he might well have shaved a mother she hasn't spoken to for sixteen few yearsoff his age. Home, her refuge, Ponden Hall, where she can heal herself For a while the family was quite well-to-do but disaster struck in the 1929 Depression and try five-year-old Ronnie had to come adjust to terms with the traumatic loss of her husbanda very different lifestyle. She needs One thing he did inherit from his father was his need to build bridges be well-turned-out and this would stay with her mother and convince her grieving son that him throughout his father is deadlife. Where better than He joined the house full of light and shadow, that nurtured her throughout her childhood? [[The Girl army at the Window by Rowan Coleman|Full Review]]eighteen in 1942.}}<!-- Shackle -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1542015421| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|The Royal Baths Murder|author=J R Ellis[[image:1473225213.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473225213/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-alignWhen Damian Penrose was murdered there was no shortage of suspects: left;"|===[[We Are The Dead by Mike Shackle]]=== [[image:4he was a deeply unpleasant man.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]] Mike Shackle has written In fact the only surprising thing was that there wasn't more of a really interesting and unusual story in ''We Are The Dead''; queue waiting to do the tag line for dirty deed. What was a bit of a headline maker was that Penrose was a crime writer and that he was strangled in the novel is midst of Harrogate'No More Heroes' and that is what makes this story so differents crime writing festival. There are villains galore but no specific heroes; rather He went for a swim at the story is scattered with characters doing their own small part to survive, to fight back, Royal Baths and to find vengeancenever returned, in a world that has been utterly torn aparthis body being found by the receptionist. DCI Jim Oldroyd was the man tasked with investigating the crime. The plot does It would not hang on any one characterbe the only death, no one is important, anyone can die and many doit was only because of the quick actions of his sergeant, butAndy Carter, like ants working together, each small character achieves their own part that Oldroyd's was not one of a much larger plot that is rich and complex and keeps the reader glued to the storythem. [[We Are The Dead by Mike Shackle|Full Review]]}}<!-- Vibrant Publishers -->{{Frontpage|-author=Daniel Kraus| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Blood Sugar|rating=4[[image:1946383627.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1946383627/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  General Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Cost Accounting & Management Essentials You Always Wanted To Know by Vibrant Publishers]]=== [[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.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business This might put a lot of readers off, and Finance|Business and Finance]], [[:Category:Reference|Reference]] Ito be honest it'm capable of drawing up a profit and loss account (income statement in d be hard to blame them. Kraus tells the USA) and story in a balance sheet and distinctive voice unlike any other I do so for my own business 've read; an erratic dialect with heavy and for another organisationfrequent slang. The accounts give me immediate effect is disorientating and distracting, and it takes some time to feel natural. It's a struggle to acclimatise to Jody'broadlys voice, to get acquainted with his mannerisms, but the story wouldn't be the same without it, and somehow it works. It shouldn' what I need: I know whether we're making a profit or a loss and I can look at the expenses and see what looks as though it could be trimmed back in future years. My problem was that the accounts didn't really give me any help in making decisions, which was why I turned to ''Cost Accounting and Management'', part of Vibrant Publishers' Self-Learning and Management series. Cost accounting provides the information required by authorities external 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]] <!-- Steve Burrows -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786075776.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786075776/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Dance of Cranes by Steve Burrows]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] DCI Domenic Jejeune is no longer with Lindy Hey, the estrangement being of his making, not hers. He hasn't explained to her that he is doing this - and leaving for his native Canada - because he thinks that this will keep her safe from his nemesis, Ray Hayes. Lauren Salter has been promoted to sergeant and now has her first murder case. It looks as though there's an obvious suspect, but Salter isn't so certain. 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]] <!-- Oates -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1785656775.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785656775/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Triumph of the Spider Monkey by Joyce Carol Oates]]=== [[image:4star.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 a baby in a bus station locker, and then being thrown from one foster home or detention centre to another, never far from violence or abuse. Eager to succeed as a musician, 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 violence. Unpublished for 40 years, this edition of ''The Triumph of the Spider Monkey'' comes combined with a connected novella – ''Love, Careless Love''. [[The Triumph of the Spider Monkey by Joyce Carol Oates|Full Review]] <!-- Pike -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0192771604.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0192771604/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Last Spell Breather by Julie Pike]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Rayne lives in the small, hidden village of Penderin where she is a somewhat unwilling apprentice to her mother, the spell breather. Not everyone can spell breathe, you have to born with a magic spark and Rayne wishes she hadn't been born with one. She's a terrible spell breather, her attempts are always followed by disaster and she positively hates Mam's spell book with it's sharp teeth that suck your blood. 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 t, but she feels itdoes. 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]]isbn=1789091934 <!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->|}}

Navigation menu