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<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]].<!-- LaPlante -->{{Frontpage|-author=Sylvie Cathrall| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|A Letter to the Luminous Deep[[image:1785659626.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785659626/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Half Moon Bay by Alice LaPlante]]===Science Fiction[[image:3.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:CrimeFrontpage|isbn=0008517061|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillerstitle=Death in a Lonely Place|Thrillers]]author=Stig Abell|rating=4Half Moon Bay is a small town on the west coast of America|genre=Crime|summary= Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, a little down from San Franciscohas settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. Jane has just moved there, to start There’s perhaps a new little uncertainty about the future of his life after losing everything when with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her teenage daughter was killed Diana, as moving in together would mean a lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and her husband left her. Although she has begun relaxing life to find a little peace move in the quiet, seaside town, one day a child goes missing, bringing back painful memories for Jane of with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her grief and loss and, also, rousing the suspicions of reservations about whether or not this is the local townsfolk that future she is somehow involved wants for herself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the disappearancepresent and putting the future on the back burner. [[Half Moon Bay by Alice LaPlante|Full Review]]}}<!-- Hunt -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1786482126| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths[[image:B079RJSJS7.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079RJSJS7/ref5|genre=nosim?tagCrime|summary=thebookbag-21]]  | style="verticalBuilders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-align: top; textfive 'luxury' apartments -align: left;"| ===[[Phantom by Leo Hunt]]=== [[image:4starwhen they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway. There was no skull.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  Sixteen-year-old Nova is an undercity dweller and Was this a leecher - a futuristic kind of pickpocket who uses tech hacks to steal byts from hapless corps workersritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. The higher up in the city you live It's difficult as Ruth knows, the more sunlight you see and the easier your life. For leechers like Novabut Nelson doesn't, four hundred storeys below that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the surfaceone night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, life not least because Ruth is toughprone to sudden bouts of sickness. But with the help of the hacking program Phantom, invented by legendary anti-corps hacker the Moth, Nova can sneak up to the city, leech some byts and at least make rent. v[[Phantom by Leo Hunt|Full Review]] <!-- Claire Askew -->}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=0008551324| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster[[image:147367302X.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/147367302X/ref5|genre=nosim?tagCrime|summary=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[All It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the Hidden Truths (Three Rivers) by Claire Askew]]=== [[image:5starpolice. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] As a news item, school shootings always terrify me: But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the deaths are bad enough, but even police where the young people body of a missing person is buried and who survive are always going to be scarred by the fact that this was done to them by one of their numberresponsible for her death. It doesn't end on the dayThis person, he promises, eitheris someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. School shootings cast a very long shadow. May the 14th had And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the makings remainder of being a normal day until Ryan Summers used three modified starting pistols to shoot thirteen fellow students - his sentence and one last bullet to kill himselfget an early parole date. We follow the story through the lives of three women: Moira SummersNot much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the mother of the murderer, Helen Birch, the newly-promoted detective inspector other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who will investigate the killings and Ishbel Hodgekiss, the mother of one of the victimsworks with him is kept well away from what's happening. [[All }}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008405026|title=A Stranger in the Hidden Truths Family (Three RiversMaeve Kerrigan 11) by Claire Askew|Full Review]]author=Jane Casey <!-- Aaron -->|rating=5|-genre=Crime| stylesummary="width: 10%; verticalIt's sixteen years since nine-align: top; textyear-align: center;"|[[image:1683690613old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night.jpg|link=http://www.amazon She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt.co Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bed.uk Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/dp/1683690613/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbagsuicide 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-21]]  | style="verticaland-align: top; text-alignshut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: left;"others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0571379877|title=The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=[[Garrison Girl (Attack on Titan) by Rachel Aaron]]3.5|genre===Crime[[image:4.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]] ''You want me to be like everyone else and spend my life hiding inside the walls where itEdward Jevons is a working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert's a theatre director. He's safealso self-obsessed, demanding, but that's an illusion. So long as there are titans out there… no one is safehandsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him. Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Most men in Robert' In s position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he's not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the dystopian world two of Attack on Titan, humanity hides behind the safety them kissing in a dark passageway.}}{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=When a man is found crucified on the top of high impenetrable walls a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to keep out the enemies outsidecase alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock. Known as titans, these enemies are impossibly tall human like creatures It's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with sharp hungry teeth and regenerative powersseveral cold cases. Difficult to kill and innumerable they roam the Earth looking for prey But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and whilst the walls have always kept them out, a very high profile case that has begun draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to change… [[Garrison Girl (Attack on Titan) by Rachel Aaronsolve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?|Full Review]]isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage<!-- Bennett -->|isbn=1399613073|-title=Moral Injuries| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Christie Watson[[image:1471407535.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471407535/ref5|genre=nosim?tagThrillers|summary=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Island by M A Bennett]]=== [[image:5starOlivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] A contemporary take on the savage classic ''Lord Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the Flies'': a group of mismatched, modern-day teenagers must fight to survive on and she becomes a deserted islandGP. Link is a fish out of water. Newly arrived from America, he is finding When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it hard 's going to settle into the venerable and prestigious Osney Schoolend in tragedy. Who knew there could be so many strange traditions to understand? And what kind of school ranks its students by how fast they can run round We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the school quad consequences. Twenty- however ancient five years later there will be an eerily similar event that quad may be? When Link runs will impact the slowest three friends. This time in years, he immediately becomes the butt of every school joke. And some students it's their teenage children who are determined to make his life more miserable than others..involved. [[The Island by M A Bennett|Full Review]]}}<!-- Ruffles -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=0241636604| styletitle="widthThe Trading Game: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson[[image:1444937685|rating=4.jpg5|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444937685/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Autobiography| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Colour Me In by Lydia Ruffles]]=== [[image:4starIf you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] Reeling from a tragedy A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and unable to copehis background is the East End, unemployed actor Arlo decides to get on a plane where he was familiar with violence, poverty and go somewhere newinjustice. [[Colour Me In by Lydia Ruffles|Full Review]] <! There was no posh public school on his CV -but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - Scott extremely bright -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0593072286and he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy.jpg|link=http://www He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid.amazon It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank.co Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.uk/dp/0593072286/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035021803| styletitle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3.5|genre==[[A Treachery of Spies by Manda Scott]]===Crime[[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] When Inspector Inès Picaut is called It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to investigate the horrific murder of a strikingly beautiful elderly lady, English country village where shegrew up. She's puzzled – whilst the identity back now because of the woman has been eraseda request for help from her beloved aunt, itCarole. Freya's former mentor and Carole's clear that she has been killed in close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the same way that traitors circumstances seem suspicious, to say the resistance were executed in World War Twoleast. Solving Arthur was the mystery will lead Inès deep into the history of this woman – and reason why Freya had not been back to a time when the men and women of 1940s France village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. Even though they were engaged in a desperatebusiness together as antique hunters, brutal fight for survival against their Nazi oppressorsshe has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. As more and more secrets come to light After the split, Inès discovers that there are many she worked in a cafe, met and married James (on the present rebound from the love of her life, who would rather their past stay buried – was murdered) and Freya and many who would kill to keep secrets safe… [[A Treachery of Spies by Manda Scott|Full Review]]James have now divorced.}}<!-- Rutger -->{{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:1538761858.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1538761858/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Science Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Anomaly by Michael Rutger]]=== [[image:5star''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Horror|Horror]] Tomb Raider meets Indiana Jones within an X-Files episode, for the Youtube era. Join the intrepid (if rather inept) team of internet adventurers as they head out on yet another search for ''an anomaly'' only to (spoilers) actually find one. Imagine if, instead of being scared by their own acting, Derek Acorah and Yvette Fielding actually found something; that is the starting point of this book. Deep in a cave within the Grand Canyon our team of adventurers find themselves trapped in a Stephen King plot with added levels of paranoia and conspiracy thrown into the blend. [[The Anomaly by Michael Rutger|Full Review]] <!-- Hajaj -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786073943.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786073943/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Water Thief by Claire Hajaj]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] Nick is in the middle of wedding preparations when he decides to leave his fiancée behind in London and take up a post in some un-named west African country providing engineering support for the building of a children's hospital. He has no idea what he is getting himself into. [[The Water Thief by Claire Hajaj|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Lovesey -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0751570672.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0751570672/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Beau Death (Peter Diamond Mystery) by Peter Lovesey]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Children love wrecking balls, so the young lad wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to watch one hit a building through one of those very tempting holes in fencing which you find around building sites. The problem was that when the dust settled a skeleton, sitting in an armchair and clad in clothes which looked to be a few hundred years old, was visible in the loft of the half-demolished building. The lad's father ceased his explanations about kinetic energy and hurried the boy away. Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond was not so lucky. Viewing the corpse from a cherry picker, an unfortunate adjustment to the controls left him eye to, er, eye socket with the corpse and the picture was caught by a press photographer. It was too good not to go viral. [[Beau Death (Peter Diamond Mystery) by Peter Lovesey|Full Review]] <!-- Webber -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1406369055.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1406369055/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Katherine Webber]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] Though it's been 5 years since Mika died, Reiko still sees the ghost of her sister every day, forever 14. It's something that brings her comfort, but also a constant reminder that she has to make up for being one when there should have been two. She has to shine bright enough for both of them. When she befriends outsider Seth, he presents her with an escape. From her family, her friends, the grief and loss that continue to scar them all. Seth is instantly smitten with her. After all, who wouldn't fall for gorgeous, popular Reiko Smith-Mori? But while she falls in love with the escape that he represents from her grief, it's not so clear that she's falling in love with him. [[Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Katherine Webber|Full Review]] <!-- Gourlay -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1788450175.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788450175/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Bone Talk by Candy Gourlay]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Samkad is living high up in the mountainous Philippine jungle just as the nineteenth century turns to the twentieth. But Samkad has no idea about any of that. He has never met anyone from outside his own small tribe and his thoughts are focused on becoming a man. He's desperate for the Elders to permit him to join the ranks of the warriors who protect his tribe from their headhunting enemies, even though he knows it will mean leaving his childhood friend Little Luki behind. [[Bone Talk by Candy Gourlay|Full Review]] <!-- Rajaniemi -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473203287.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473203287/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]], [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]] Imagine a world in which death was no longer something to fear but something to aspire to. After discovery of the afterlife, the British Empire has extended its reach into Summerland, the Big Smoke for the recently deceased. In 1938 the British Empire is caught up in a race against Soviet spies and dealing with a mole buried deep in the heart of Summerland. When Rachel White, an ambitious SIS agent, becomes suspicious about the potential rogue agent, she must decide how far she is willing to go and how much she is willing to risk to uncover the truth. [[Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi|Full Review]] <!-- K D Knight -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1986586898.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1986586898/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Going To The Last: Short Stories About Horse Racing by K D Knight]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] In the opening story a man whose wife has deserted him visits Sandown with little money, but comes away with cash in his pocket - and his wife. In ''A Grey Day'' an owner struggles with the problem of whether or not to run his horse in the Gold Cup when the ground is against him. My favourite was ''The Story of H'', the story of Foinavon. H is depicted as a kind horse who only wanted to please people. After changing hands on various occasions he came to the yard of John Kempton. H (or Foinavon) was entered in the Grand National and considered a no-hoper. In one of the most dramatic runnings of the race, a pile up occured at the 23rd fence. Foinavon, who had been many lengths adrift, cleared the fence and galloped to the line, winning the race at odds of 100/1. [[Going To The Last: Short Stories About Horse Racing by K D Knight|Full Review]] <!-- Kermani -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1785899953.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785899953/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Frog Who Was Blue by Faiz Kermani]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] ''Biriwita the blue frog longs to be accepted at Croak College, the most famous school for frogs in Malawi, but the other students all turn their backs on him. He is just too different!'' Biriwita hails from Lake Ticklewater. Many creatures find a home there, including frogs. For some reason that nobody can remember, all the Lake Ticklewater frogs are blue. They think nothing of it. So, when Biriwita wins a place at Croak College, the first Ticklewater frog to manage such a feat, he is filled with excitement and his only worry is how much he will miss his friends and family. [[The Frog Who Was Blue by Faiz Kermani|Full Review]] <!-- Singer -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1444944525.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444944525/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Survival Game by Nicky Singer]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]]  Mhairi Anne Bain is fourteen years old and is on her way home to the Isle of Arran. But Mhairi's world has been ravaged by climate change and the mass movement of people and it is one defined by borders, checkpoints and soldiers with guns. Mhairi has made it across Africa and onto a plane to Heathrow - which is more than can be said for Muma and Papa. She's even made it out of the detention centre at the airport. And during this journey, Mhairi has learned that you can't rely on anyone else and you can't allow anyone else to rely on you... [[The Survival Game by Nicky Singer|Full Review]] <!-- Mazolla -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1472234782.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472234782/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Story Keeper by Anna Mazzola]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] Audrey, a complex mix of flights of fancy and seriousness, wanting, needing, to be more than what everyone expects of her, escapes from the straightjacket of her home. Where every action, every thought, every yearning is controlled by her father, who only once in his life threw caution to the wind and married way beneath him for love. Now a widower and remarried, he has rigorously returned to upholding what is right, what is proper, the bastion of doing what is expected. [[The Story Keeper by Anna Mazzola|Full Review]] <!-- Jones -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473680409.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473680409/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Four by Andy Jones]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Friends are nice, and couple friends are doubly nice, giving you like minded people to spend time with. A pair of pairs, or a couple of couples. Married couple Sally and Al have known Mike for ages – Sally from university, Al through work. His new girlfriend Faye completes their foursome and though she doesn't have their shared history, she's a lot of fun – a bit younger than the rest of them, an actress and so on. [[Four by Andy Jones|Full Review]] <!-- Blake -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1409177122.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1409177122/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 | stylesummary="verticalThe 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|summary=It'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=[[An Italian Summer 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 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 Fanny Blake]]a 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:4starRosevear, 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}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women{{Frontpage|author=Matthew Tree|title=We's 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}}{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the Dead|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|Womensummary='' There's Fiction]]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.''

Set against Within a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of the backdrop Briar's, a family of Rome 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 steward revolved around letters and administration rather than spells and potions. 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 at 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 under 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 Napleseven after Alex recovered, ten very different people meet Sturgis was reluctant to ask for his help on difficult cases. His assertions that there were only open-and-shut cases which didn't need the help of a small psychologist only worked for a while. Finally, it was Robin, Delaware'Taste 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 Italya remote property in Bel Air. He was the heir to an Italian shoe empire and she is married to an extremely rich man and it' sightseeing trips 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. This is His father was a story 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 familyfriend who was a vet and was convinced this was the 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, friendships Guy Trueman. Maik was involved in a street brawl - he would later maintain that he was facing a man armed with a knife - and relationships – my favouritehe killed a Ghurka. However Initially, it was he faced a departure charge of manslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested that he might have planned to murder the man. 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 the usual formulaic chicklit I normally read focused on sassy independent female characters online apps in their twenties or thirtiesproviding 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 while. Here Katie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh. And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters are middlewho quickly begin to charm. Katie has no experience in running a business, or in match-aged with children making, but Ness has full confidence in their twenties her abilities, and there's always her very helpful (and rather than looking 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 love 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 twenty hours and more than twenty hours. All the projects are facing different life challenges of maintaining loveattractive, 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, and his house gets trashed. Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, empty nest syndromedisturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it's 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 loss delivery to his house is a new friend, a bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. Spike is going to take care of loved onesBenny, 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 who exactly they are.|isbn=1662500491}}{{Frontpage|author=Adam Stower|title=Murray and Bun|rating=4. Essentially it 5|genre=Confident Readers |summary=Murray is supposed to be a story humble, tidy and friendly cat, one who is able to sleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of breaking the two. But he's a bad magician's cat, 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 new beginningswhiffs. [[An Italian Summer by Fanny Blake This time round it drops them into a Viking land, where a troll 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}}