Changes

<metadesc>Book review siteExpert, with books full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, biographynon-fiction, crime, cookery and children's books & self-published books plus author interviews and & top tens.</metadesc><h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>Hello from The Bookbag, a site featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - [[:Category:Fiction|fiction]], [[:Category:Biography|biography]], [[:Category:Crime|crime]], [[:Category:Cookery|cookery]] and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of [[:Category:Interviews|author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[features]] page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the [[Book Recommendations|recommendations]] page.

Reviews by readers from all the many walks of literary life. With author interviews, features and top tens. You'll be sure to find something you'll want to read here. Dig in! Find us on [[File:facebook.gif|link=https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk|alt=Facebook]] [https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk '''Facebook'''], [[File:twitter.gif|link=http://twitter.com/TheBookbag|alt=Follow us on Twitter]] [http://twitter.com/TheBookbag '''Twitter'''], [[File:instagram_classic_logo.png|link=https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/|alt=Follow us on Instagram]] [https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/ '''Instagram'''] and [[File:LinkedIn.png|link=https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-bookbag-1b12a264/|alt=LinkedIn]] There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews ]] at TheBookbag.

==Reviews of the The Best New Books==

{'''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->reviews of books about to be published]].<!-- Ware -->{{Frontpage|-author=Sylvie Cathrall| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|A Letter to the Luminous Deep[[image:1911215035.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1911215035/ref=nosim?tagrating=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Science Fiction|summary===[[The Death There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware]]them.|isbn=0356522776}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008517061|title=Death in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell[[image:5star.jpg|linkrating=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers4|Thrillers]]genre=Crime I've only just got into psychological thrillers so|summary= Former Metropolitan Police detective, despite being an international best-sellerJake Johnson, author Ruth Ware has passed me by until nowsettled into his rustic life at Little Sky. But There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, I can see why she's much acclaimed as I absolutely loved this book Livia and can't wait to get started on her previous three books now. [[The Death daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a lot of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware|Full Review]] <!-- Rappaport -->|-| style="widthcompromise: 10%; verticaldoes Jake give up his off-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786331047.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.cogrid and relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is the future she wants for herself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on the back burner.uk/dp/1786331047/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786482126| styletitle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=[[The Race to Save the Romanovs: The Truth Behind Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the Secret Plans site was going to Rescue Russiahold seventy-five 'luxury's Imperial Family by Helen Rappaport]]=== [[image:5starapartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway. There was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:History|History]] The basic facts about the deaths of Nicholas and Alexandra It's difficult as Ruth knows, some of which were deliberately obscured at the time for various reasonsbut Nelson doesn't, have long since been established. For that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the last few one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of their lives in Russia the former Tsar and Tsarina, their children and few remaining servants, were held in increasingly squalid, humiliating captivitysickness. To prevent them from being rescued, in July 1918 the revolutionary regime had them all shot and bayoneted to death in circumstances which, once the news was confirmed beyond all doubt, horrified their relatives in Europe. [[}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Race to Save the Romanovs: The Truth Behind the Secret Plans to Rescue Russia's Imperial Family by Helen RappaportDevil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|Full Review]] <!-- Durrant -->author=Neil Lancaster|-rating=4.5| stylegenre="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Crime[[image:147360835X.jpg|linksummary=http://wwwIt's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police.amazon Neither side likes or has any respect for the other.co.uk/dp/147360835X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Take Me In by Sabine Durrant]]=== [[image:4But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] It And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's not pleasant, even prepared to do the first time Marcus and Tessa meet Dave. They've taken their toddler, Josh, to Greece on holiday other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and in the blink of an eye something awful happens. Tessa isnanyone who works with him is kept well away from what't there, Marcus isn't looking, but Dave steps in and disaster is averteds happening. Just. They're grateful to him, of course they are, but after }}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008405026|title=A Stranger in the usual hand shakes and weeping hugs and the offer to buy lunch for everyone, theyFamily (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=It're a little relieved to return to their villa s sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and live out the rest of their week in peaceinvestigation ground to a halt. Just a tight little 3-person family unit. Because although Dave is a nice chap Now, her mother, Helena, and although of course they owe him a great dealher father are dead in their bed. Initially, he is it looks like a little, well, intense. [[Take Me In by Sabine Durrant|Full Review]] <!straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to be an open-and- Elisabeth Hyde -->shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=0571379877| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet[[image:1473679737.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473679737/ref5|genre=nosim?tagCrime|summary=thebookbagEdward Jevons is a working-21]]  | style="verticalclass young man, obsessed with his upper-align: top; textclass friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert's a theatre director. He's also self-align: left;"|===[[Go Ask Fannie Farmer by Elisabeth Hyde]]=== [[image:4obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Eighty Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days -one-year-old Murray Blaire hoped for the best when and he's drunkenly confided how he waited for his three children feels to arrive one Friday nightRobert. He might be Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a retired lawyer, a state legislator, elected congressman and now an amateur farmer relationship had begun between them but he knew that there could be trouble when Ruth and George arrived's not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway. Ruth, a corporate lawyer, would find fault and want to talk about him going into a retirement home. George, a nurse, would argue and Lizzie, }}{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=When a professor man is found crucified on the top of English Literaturea hill in Nuneaton, who lived locally and kept and visited him regularlyDCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, would be unpredictablethe AI detective Lock. Murray hoped that all would go smoothlyIt's their first live case together, but that simply wasn't going to happenhaving previously been very successful with several cold cases. [[Go Ask Fannie Farmer by Elisabeth Hyde|Full Review]] <!-- Ramirez -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0192766333 But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0192766333/ref=nosim Will they be able to solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?tag|isbn=thebookbag-21]]139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073| styletitle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4.5|genre==[[Riddle of the Runes by Janina Ramirez]]===Thrillers[[image:5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] The name Janina Ramirez is well known: her television programmes Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on cultural history, especially the first day of early medieval timesmedical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, are both lively and informativewhich is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. She shares her extensive learning with Laura is a light hand (perfectionist and a frequent giggle) and her enthusiasm encourages students trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the group and viewers alike to explore further the subjects she discussesbecomes a GP. But how will that translate into children When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's fiction? Will her academic desire for accuracy make going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the story dull and factconsequences. Twenty-packed? Will she hold up five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the action to display her considerable knowledge? Nopethree friends. This time, not a bit of it! [[Riddle of the Runes by Janina Ramirez|Full Review]]'s their teenage children who are involved.}} <!-- French -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=0241636604| styletitle="widthThe Trading Game: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson[[image:0356511642.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/0356511642/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Autobiography| stylesummary="verticalIf you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-align: top; textstripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV -align: left;"|===[[The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French]]=== [[image:5starbut he had been to the London School of Economics.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]] ''The Grey Bastards'' is an absolute triumph! Fantasy, action and adventure cleverly wrapped around Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a super plot and well written characters, this book is so much funfacility with numbers which most of us can only envy. A word of caution though, this is not suitable for all readers He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. As the tittle suggests there is a lot of bad language It was his ability at what was, essentially, a LOT of bad language, thrown around all the time in general speechcard game which got him an internship with Citibank. In addition to this there is also some sex and sexual language too Eventually, there is some violence but this is not actually very explicit and not turned into permanent employment as constant as the language and bawdy jokesa trader. If this bothers you then this is not the book for you. For anyone who doesn}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035021803|title=The Antique Hunter't mind then this is an absolute must read. [[The Grey Bastards by Jonathan Frenchs Guide to Murder|Full Review]]author=C L Miller <!-- Dahl -->|rating=3.5|-genre=Crime| stylesummary="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0451491793It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up.jpg|link=http://www She's back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole.amazon.co.uk/dp/0451491793/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Boy at Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the Door by Alex Dahl]]=== [[image:3circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least.5star.jpg|link=Category Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Cecilia is picking Arthur, she feels, let her daughters up from swimming when the pool's receptionist asks a quick favour of her – down badly. Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to drop off a little boy from be near the man or pursue the class as his parents seem to have forgotten to collect himprofession she loved. The pool is about to close After the split, and it's not she worked in a big ask although Cecilia is somewhat put out that it will interrupt her routine. Butcafe, minor inconvenience isn't really a good enough reason to say no so she agrees and bundles met and married James (on the rebound from the boy whose name is Tobias into the car with her girls. This is a decision that will change love of her life, who was murdered) and Freya and that minor inconvenience quickly becomes something much larger that will haunt her every waking moment. [[The Boy at the Door by Alex Dahl|Full Review]]James have now divorced.}} <!-- Jean Ure -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover| styletitle="widthAll Tomorrow's Futures: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)[[image:0008164541.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008164541/ref=nosim?tagrating=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Showtime (Dance Trilogy) by Jean Ure]]===Science Fiction[[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Second years''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come. The girls couldn't believe that they'd made it through the first year - in fact they'd all made it, all eight of them, which was most unusual. Usually some were thrown out - they might have grown too tall, didn't look right or didn't have the commitment required. Maddie felt a bit nervous when she thought about that last bit as there'd been a point when she might have been thrown out for that reason. She's now determined that she ''really'' does want to be a ballet dancer, except... [[Showtime (Dance Trilogy) by Jean Ure|Full Review]] <!-- Dard -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1782272011.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1782272011/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Gravediggers' Bread by Frederic Dard and Melanie Florence (translator)]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Blaise is at a loose end, for having left Paris on a wild goose chase for a job, which was his friend's idea, he's stuck outside a call box waiting to report back before he gets the train. The woman in the post office using the payphone finally finishes her business, and leaves him with a strong impression – as well as a wallet dropped to the floor containing several days' good money, and, when he tracks her to the village funeral directors', signs of her infidelity. Lo and behold he is given a job as the woman's husband's assistant, although she also starts to employ him in sending messages to her amour, her childhood love before circumstances changed. Blaise is of course deeply in love with the woman by now, and hates the two obstacles preventing him from being with her. One is the lover, a brutish bloke with little prospects and a bad case of epilepsy. Surely he will not fall by the wayside, and surely the brick wall of fate keeping Blaise from his intended destiny will remain two men tall? [[The Gravediggers' Bread by Frederic Dard and Melanie Florence (translator)|Full Review]] <!-- Baron -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0008267014.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008267014/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Boy Underwater by Adam Baron]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Cymbeline Igloo (yes, that’s his real name!) is nine years old, and he has never been swimming, and this wouldn’t be a really big problem except for the fact that the school bully has somehow got the impression that Cym is actually an amazing champion swimmer, and has challenged Cym to a race at their very first school swimming lesson! He tries to research swimming on the internet, but there’s an accident at the pool that, initially, sees Cym embarrassed in front of the other kids, but that results in his mum having a breakdown. Why has she never taken Cym swimming? And why does his accident at the pool create such devastation in Cym’s life? [[Boy Underwater by Adam Baron|Full Review]] <!-- Laurain -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1910477540.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910477540/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Smoking Kills by Antoine Laurain and Louise Rogers-Lalaurie (translator)]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Meet Fabrice Valantine. He's a headhunter, and a successful one too, in an office in Paris. All around him however his world is changing – yes, there is a new ban on smoking in all workplaces. Goaded by his non-smoking wife, even though they met over an ashtray, of sorts, he sees a hypnotist who had success with a mutual friend in stopping their nicotine habit. The session seems to have been successful, however he faces the prospect of having such a change to his own personality, his imbued habits and lifestyle, with fear, when he realises it will never again grant him any pleasure. He needs this pleasure when further changes at work come about – but it's what he replaces the habit with that will surprise the most. [[Smoking Kills by Antoine Laurain and Louise Rogers-Lalaurie (translator)|Full Review]] <!-- Cullen -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0718189140.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0718189140/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Lost Letters of William Woolf by Helen Cullen]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] William Woolf is a letter detective, working in the Dead Letters Depot in East London. He spends his days deciphering smudged addresses, tracking down mysterious people and reading endless letters of love, guilt, death, hope, and everyday life. [[The Lost Letters of William Woolf by Helen Cullen|Full Review]] <!-- Conaghan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:140887153X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/140887153X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Weight of a Thousand Feathers by Brian Conaghan]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  ''Funny how no one ever uses the word 'love' when discussing my case. I do what I do because she's my mum. That pure and that simple.'' Bobby Seed's mum has MS and it's getting worse. Bobby, who is seventeen, shoulders most of her care. And he also keeps house and also looks after his little brother Danny. He gets some help from his best friend Bel, who has her own reasons for spending as much time as possible not at home, but it's still a slog. But Bobby doesn't mind because he loves his mum and they have a wonderful relationship, mostly based on taking the mickey out of each other. Bobby also attends a support group for young carers. It's a bit daft with all the role play exercises and the like, but it's nice to meet other kids in the same boat as you. Especially Lou, the American boy with the weird way of speaking and the Vespa and the air of cool. Bobby can barely keep his eyes off Lou.[[The Weight of a Thousand Feathers by Brian Conaghan|Full Review]]  <!-- Waites -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1785764314.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785764314/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Old Religion by Martyn Waites]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] The Cornish village of St Petroc isn't on the tourist trail: there's nothing particularly pretty, or historic, or interesting about it, which might be one of the reasons why Tom Killgannon is there. He had been an undercover policeman, but something had gone badly wrong and now he's in witness protection and working in the local pub. St Petroc feels safe and it's put a good deal of distance between him and some very violent people. He's got an on-again, off-again relationship with the local policewoman, with the on-again bits coinciding with the times when her husband's away. It's not an exciting life, but right now it suits Tom just fine. Until he meets Lila, that is. [[The Old Religion by Martyn Waites|Full Review]] <!-- Owen -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:199999650X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/199999650X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Dragonfly Story: Explaining the death of a loved one to children and families by Kelly Owen]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]]  ''The Owen family were feeling sad. There used to be five of them. There was Mum, Dad and three children: Abi, Jenny and Joe. But then Abi died. Now there were only four of them. Life felt very strange without their sister, and they were all very unhappy.'' How does a family cope with the loss of a beloved child and sibling?[[The Dragonfly Story: Explaining the death of a loved one to children and families by Kelly Owen|Full Review]]  <!-- Laura Solomon -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1979217440.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1979217440/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]] Marsha didn't have an easy ride in life the first time around. She'd been afflicted with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibrodysplasia_ossificans_progressiva fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva], a rare disease which turned parts of her body to bone when they were damaged. Finally she was unable to stand her life any longer and went to Dignitas, the Swiss euthanasia clinic. She'd thought that would be the end, but after cremation her body went straight to hell and she found herself face-to-face with the devil. And that was when she made the pact. In exchange for details about some of those who had been close to her - their strengths and weaknesses - she would be reborn on the same day to the same parents, but would live her life free of disease. [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Full Review]] <!-- Winthrop -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Winthrop_Mercy.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/147367249X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=147367249X]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Mercy Seat by Elizabeth H Winthrop]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] In an isolated Louisiana town, a young black prisoner sits in his dingy cell, staring at the shadow of the window bars cast onto the concrete wall by the evening's dying sun rays. At midnight, he will be dead; strapped to a chair and electrocuted for the rape of a white girl, who later committed suicide. He is resigned to his fate; it is futile to protest his innocence or to expect anyone to believe what really happened; after all, love between a black man and a white woman was never going to have a happy ending in a small town filled with small-minded people. [[The Mercy Seat by Elizabeth H Winthrop|Full Review]] <!-- Unsworth -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1788541677.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788541677/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 

I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.}}{{Frontpage|author=Sunny Singh|title=Hotel Arcadia|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers |summary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|isbn=086154742X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529153298|title=The List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=5|genre=General Fiction| stylesummary="verticalIt's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though. Women have been disappearing. Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking -align: top; textto anyone.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1398524085|title=Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci French|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=Charlotte Salter was expected at her husband's fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but - strangely -align: left;"her husband, Alec, is not. Shortly afterwards, Etty and Greg, find the body of Greg's father, Duncan Ackerley, in the river. It was an easy assumption for the police to make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when he couldn't stand the guilt. The Salter children are not convinced but there's little else they can do but get on with their lives and wonder about what really happened.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035906708|title=Diva|author=Daisy Goodwin|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=[[The Girl Who Thought We tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, New York, in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her Mother Was original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas' to make it more manageable in the States. When she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the Nazi occupation by a Mermaid by Tania Unsworth]]mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of her preference for her elder sister, Jackie.}}{{Frontpage|author=Christopher Edge|title=Black Hole Cinema Club|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Lucas and his friends are all booked in for a movie marathon at their local cinema, a place that has the nickname of 'The Black Hole'. All big movie fans, they're looking forward to lots of exciting films, and many, many snacks! However, as the movie starts, they very quickly realise that something about this new film format is very different, and they are swept up into an adventure they couldn't even imagine. But as they lurch from one film genre to the next, can they figure out what on earth is going on? Will they ever get back to the cinema, and to their real lives?|isbn=1839942738}}{{Frontpage|author=Rachel Greenlaw|title=Compass and Blade|rating=3.5|genre=Teens|summary=''I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.''

[[image:5starRosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks.jpgMira, like her mother before her, is one of the seven who swim out to survey the ruins – rescuing any survivors and any treasure that lies within. But when the Council Watch lays a trap to end the wrecking, they capture the island's leader and Mira's father. Desperate to save him from death, Mira makes a bargain with a wreck survivor who is as charming as he is secretive and with only coordinates to guide her, she sets off in search of a family secret that lies buried deep in the sea. With only nine days to unearth what might save her father, as her journey takes her from the watched streets of foreign islands to the heart of the smuggler's territory, Mira must be determined to stop at nothing to save the future of her home and the ones she holds most dear.|linkisbn=Category:0008664730}}{{Frontpage|author=James Sherwood Metts|title=Planet Storyland|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary= Things have been a bit sticky for the Earthlings. AI and automation have been proceeding apace, often replacing jobs they're paid to do and other tasks that took time to accomplish. Just as they were beginning to get used to all this technological change and starting to think of other, new ways to spend time, along came an awful pandemic. Life was pretty much shut down and, along with it, all the many daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily.|isbn=1736128426}}{{Frontpage|author=Matthew Tree|title=We'll Never Know|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Timothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to be different from his father, a drunk and chronic underachiever whose dreams of being exceptional at any of his artistic passions all failed miserably and who had endless crises of self confidence. So Tim applied himself to his studies, cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and set himself high but achievable ambitions.|isbn= B0CVFXPGP8}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the Dead|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|Confident Readers]]summary='' There's a part of me that wants to keep this just to myself for however long I can. This secret magic of my own, all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while.''

StellaWithin a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of the Briar's mother died when , a family of witches who protect the town and the wider world from the Darklands. Though she has always wished for magic, Ellie Briar is the first non-witch to be born into her family for generations and as such since she was young, her training as a little girlsteward revolved around letters and administration rather than spells and potions. Stella is growing up in a house When her grandmother suddenly dies, Ellie's cousin Audra becomes the Briar Witch, the town's leader, and Ellie takes her place beside her. As challenges come her way left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to communicate with the dead, putting her dadat the heart of a maelstrom of chaos. Reeling from one family secret to another, Ellie must decide who to trust and determine what to do as the Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is often awayunder threat.|isbn=1803364548}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529900360|title=The Ghost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=It hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's fault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he felt responsible and even after Alex recovered, Sturgis was reluctant to ask for his help on difficult cases. His assertions that there were only open-and her grandmother-shut cases which didn't need the help of a psychologist only worked for a while. Finally, it was Robin, Delaware's partner, who nudged Milo into asking for help again. She knew that the involvement was something that the man she loved needed. The next case did look simple, though. Two lovers were murdered in the swimming pool of a remote property in Bel Air. He was the heir to an Italian shoe empire and she is starting married to an extremely rich man and it's not the Italian. But which of them was the primary target?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529395224|title=Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Secret Life of a Vet|author=Sion Rowlands|rating=3.5|genre=Animals and Wildlife|summary=Siôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally. His father was a GP and Rowlands didn't want to follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on his father's life. When he was seventeen he took the opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and was convinced this was the onset job for him. Before long, he was at Liverpool University. It hadn't - as with so many students - been his dream since he was a child. If anything, he'd wanted to be a professional footballer.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0861541774|title=A Nye of Pheasants|author=Steve Burrows|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=DCI Domenic Jejeune's close friend and former colleague, Danny Maik, has taken a short holiday in Singapore to meet up with an old ally, Guy Trueman. Maik was involved in a street brawl - he would later maintain that he was facing a man armed with a knife - and he killed a Ghurka. Initially, he faced a charge of dementiamanslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested that he might have planned to murder the man. This Now he could be facing the death penalty. Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to help as any interference from another police force could provoke a diplomatic incident and wouldn't help Danny at all.}}{{Frontpage|author=Alexander McCall Smith|title=The Perfect Passion Company|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=The Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and operating as an alternative to all hard enough the online apps in providing a more personal, tailored service. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the business, as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a young girlwhile. Katie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, but and so jumps at the same time Stella finds that she feels like rather chance to come home to Edinburgh. And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an oddballEdinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie novels, struggling but with some new characters who quickly begin to fit charm. Katie has no experience in at schoolrunning a business, or in match-making, but Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and as there's always her grandmother begins very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand…|isbn=1846976596}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0811771741|title=InstaKnits for Baby|author=Melissa Leapman|rating=4|genre=Crafts|summary=Melissa Leapman's ''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a collection of knits from toys to blankets. Some will be quick knits - others are of the 'long, cosy afternoons in front of the fire' variety. The projects are divided by the time they'll take to complete - less than five hours, five to ten hours, ten to lose her grip on realitytwenty hours and more than twenty hours. All the projects are attractive, modern and useable. I perhaps show my age when I wonder about 'social-media-worthy projects' but that's me being picky.}}{{Frontpage|author=Dean Koontz|title=The Bad Weather Friend|rating=4.5|genre=Paranormal|summary=Benny is having a terrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, Stella struggles with feeling very aloneand his house gets trashed. When StellaOh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it's only school possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the very last person to deserve all this bad luck. He is a nice person. A really nice person. So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the delivery to his house is a new friend, a bad weather friend suddenly moves awaycalled Spike, Stella struggles even morewho has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. She Spike is desperate going to find take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's enemies, if he, Benny, and Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out what happened who exactly they are.|isbn=1662500491}}{{Frontpage|author=Adam Stower|title=Murray and Bun|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers |summary=Murray is supposed to her mum be a humble, tidy and friendly cat, one who is able to uncover her familysleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of the two. But he's a bad magician's secretscat, so his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and the catflap they both use can chuck them out, not into the regular back garden, but into a world of frightening adventure and whiffs. [[The Girl Who Thought Her Mother Was This time round it drops them into a Viking land, where a Mermaid by Tania Unsworthtroll hunter is expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was, to be honest, but he's turned up and he'll have to do…|isbn=0008561249}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0C47LV1PC|title=Fragility|author=Mosby Woods|rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|Full Review]]summary= Can you make a ''Yo birthing person'' joke? And if you could, is the question should you make it? Or is the question if you did, would it land? The catch is that the answer for both could well be.... no.

<!''Fragility'' is set as the city of Portland, Oregon, cautiously begins to emerge from the restrictions imposed during the covid pandemic}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529431735|title=The Winter Visitor|author=James Henry|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=It's February 1991 and Essex is bitingly cold, which made Bruce Hopkins' return all the more surprising. He'd been exiled on the Costa del Sol as a wanted drug smuggler for a decade. The return has come about because he's had a letter from his ex-wife, saying that she's ill and hasn't long to live. It's hard to feel any sympathy when Hopkins is abducted, stripped to his underwear and sent to a watery grave in the boot of a stolen Ford Sierra. Is it a warning from a Spanish gang or a problem closer to home?}}{{Frontpage|author=Alex Bell and Tim McDonagh|title=The Glorious Race of Magical Beasts|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Eli is a busy lad – by day an apprentice in the wondrous library we start by visiting with him, and in the evening a helper at the dessert cafe his gran owns and runs. Eli lives with his lovely gran, too – for there is a generation missing in the family. A few short years ago, Eli's parents were both lost to the titular race, a globe- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->trotting adventure where all entrants have to navigate the world in the company of a magical beast. This has made the race anathema to the pair – but when a bad incident at the eatery leads to a confession from gran, Eli knows his only hope is to dare to enter what he most hates, with the sole aim the prize of magic at the end – the only thing to possibly save his gran.|isbn=0571382231}}