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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|reviews of books about to be published]].{{Frontpage|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingauthor="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--><!-- Alok Tripathy -->Sylvie Cathrall|-title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|5[[image:1729621953.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1729621953/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Science Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008517061|title=Death in a Lonely Place|author=[[Fast-track the I.T Journey - How to move from Supplier to Partner by Alok Ranjan Tripathy]]=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=Crime [[image:3.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]] SoFormer Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, what brought me to this book? has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. As There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the owner future of a small business his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a buyer lot of IT services I should be the senior partner compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in the relationship with my suppliers, but I've frequently found myself Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is the junior partner future she wants for herself and I've regularly been let down by them. her daughter? I needed to know where I could improve that relationship and, by looking at For the situation from moment they’re enjoying life in the supplier's point of view, what steps I needed to take. Alok Tripathy's book looked as though it might provide help present and possibly some of putting the answers as to how my suppliers could better help me. [[Fast-track future on the Iback burner.T Journey - How to move from Supplier to Partner by Alok Ranjan Tripathy|Full Review]]}}{{Frontpage<!-- Kemmerer -->|isbn=1786482126|-title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Elly Griffiths|rating=4.5[[image:1408884615.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408884615/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="verticalBuilders were demolishing an old house in Norwich -align: top; textthe site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments -align: left;"| ===[[A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer]]=== [[image:4starwhen 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:Teens|Teens]] Harper It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn's life t, that she is pretty disastrous at the moment, through no fault pregnant with his child as a result of her ownthe one night they spent together some three months ago. Her mother has cancer and condition will be obvious before long, not long least because Ruth is prone to livesudden bouts of sickness. Her father has scarpered but not taken his debts with him}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4. And her brother is forever getting into trouble5|genre=Crime|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Harper soldiers on nonetheless, despite coping with her own cerebral palsy. One day, she sees an attempted abduction of young girl Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and intercedes, only he's prepared to find herself kidnapped in tell the girl's place. But even an imaginative girl like Harper couldn't have guessed police where she the body of a missing person is buried and who was being takenresponsible for her death. This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants.. [[A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer|Full Review]]   <!-- Teresa Heapy And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and Katie Cleminson -->|-| style="width: 10%; verticalto get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded -align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1910989339make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.jpg}}{{Frontpage|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910989339/ref=nosim?tagisbn=thebookbag-21]] 0008405026| styletitle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=5|genre==[[Loved to Bits by Teresa Heapy and Katie Cleminson]]===Crime [[image:5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] ''Loved to Bits'' is the heartwarming story of a boyIt's love for his bearsixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. Bear's adventures with boy take him to all kinds of places She was never found and together they fight and defeat every obstacle put in their way, from the jungle investigation ground to the seaa halt. Inevitably mishaps occur on the way Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bed. The loss of an armInitially, it looks like a leg, an ear or an eye are nothing to Stripy Ted who shrugs off all injuries with a cheery ''don't worry, I've got one more'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. But boy loves him just What looked as he is though it was going to be an open-and won't hear of him being mended-shut case is now a complex double murder. His place, after all, Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in BoyRosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's bedboss, Una Burt) are less convinced. [[Loved to Bits by Teresa Heapy and Katie Cleminson|Full Review]]}}<!-- Cohen -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=0571379877| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet[[image:1409179826.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/1409179826/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="verticalEdward Jevons is a working-align: top; textclass young man, obsessed with his upper-align: left;"|===[[Louis class friends, Robert and Louise by Julie Cohen]]=== [[image:5starStanza. Robert's a theatre director.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] What would you be like, right now, if you'd He's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him. Edward has been born a different gender? Would it simply be a matter of genetics, in love with Stanza since their university days - and your life would still have unfolded he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Most men in the same way? Or Robert's position would the way you stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had been raised affect who you became in life? This latest novel by Julie Cohen looks at all of begun between them but he's not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the above, covering the stories two of Louis and Louise, born on the same day, to the same parents, but in one storyline Lou is a boy, and in the other a girlthem kissing in a dark passageway. Does it really make a difference, the gender box that }}{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=When a man is ticked when we arrive found crucified on the top of a hill in this world? We all know that men and women are treated differentlyNuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, but this story really highlights how things have been in the pastAI detective Lock. It's their first live case together, how they still are, and prompts you to think about how they could behaving previously been very successful with several cold cases... [[Louis But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and Louise by Julie Cohen|Full Review]]a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. 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?|isbn=139851120X<!-- Lewis -->}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=1399613073| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson[[image:019274948X|rating=4.jpg5|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/019274948X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Thrillers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Closest Thing Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to Flying by Gill Lewis]]=== [[image:4starbe a cardiothoracic surgeon.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Semira Laura is an Eritraen refugee, living in the UK with her mum a perfectionist and Robel, a man who controls their money, their food, trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the group and their every move in the UKshe becomes a GP. He threatens When we first meet them that if they don't do what he says, theyre at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it'll be sent homes going to end in tragedy. One day, Semira finds herself buying an old hat on a market stall, strangely drawn to We don't know who suffered the bird that decorates tragedy or the hatconsequences. When she takes it home she discovers Twenty-five years later there is will be an old diary hidden inside eerily similar event that will impact the hat box, written by a young girl called Hen over 100 years agothree friends. Semira finds herself caught up in HenThis time, it's story, finding in it an escape from her own life that is full of hunger and losstheir teenage children who are involved. She finds that she is challenged by the girl in the diary, to speak up in her own life and fight for her place in the world. [[The Closest Thing to Flying by Gill Lewis}}{{Frontpage|Full Review]]isbn=0241636604|title=The Trading Game: A Confession<!-- Elly Griffiths -->|author=Gary Stevenson|-rating=4.5| stylegenre="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Autobiography[[image:1786487292.jpg|linksummary=http://www.amazon.coIf you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson.uk/dp/1786487292/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-21]]  | style="verticalstripe 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 - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright -align: top; textextremely bright -align: left;"|===[[The Stone Circle (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths]]=== [[image:4and he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy.5star He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.}}{{Frontpage|Crime]]isbn=1035021803 DCI Harry Nelson|title=The Antique Hunter's life is complicatedGuide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3. His two oldest daughters are either living away from home or really should be. His youngest daughter was conceived in a (very) brief affair (let5|genre=Crime|summary=It's not call it a one-night stand: there's more emotion in their relationship) with archaeologist Dr Ruth Gallowaytwenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up. Michelle, NelsonShe's wife, knows about Kate and has been very understanding, but then there's the matter back now because of her affair with a black policeman which she'd rather not have to discuss with request for help from her daughtersbeloved aunt, Carole. Nelson knows about it Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and knows that the baby which Michelle is about circumstances seem suspicious, to deliver, could be Tim'ssay the least. That's a lot Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to cope with - and that's before he gets the village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to workbe near the man or pursue the profession she loved. [[The Stone Circle After the split, she worked in a cafe, met and married James (Dr Ruth Gallowayon the rebound from the love of her life, who was murdered) by Elly Griffiths|Full Review]]and Freya and James have now divorced.}}<!-- Jonathan Kellerman -->{{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:1780899017.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1780899017/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Science Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Wedding Guest by Jonathan Kellerman]]=== [[image:4''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It was a bridesmaid who found the victim's body in a rather disreputable toilet at the wedding venue. She didn't know who she was and neither did the bride or groom. The bride wasn't particularly worried about the dead girl, but she was furious that someone had set out to disrupt her wedding. Baby (yes, that was what people called Brearley) didn't come across as being particularly likeable, despite the fact that she said that everyone liked her, and her groom, Garrett didn't inspire confidence either. Lt Milo Sturgis was the senior investigating officer and he called on the help of his friend, psychologist Dr Alex Delaware. [[The Wedding Guest by Jonathan Kellerman|Full Review]] <!-- Kennedy -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786331691.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786331691/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Great Wide Open by Douglas Kennedy]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] Douglas Kennedy's ''The Great Wide Open'' has been described as epic by just about everyone, and it often feels as though that was the intention. Though the novel often feels like a pastiche of the great American novel – epic in scope, preoccupied with matters of money and literature, fixated with New York – it often feels more like Kennedy is trying to reverse-engineer the concept altogether. Initially, the novel presents itself as an intimate study of family drama, in the latter half of the novel it smoothly turns to examining the turn of American society since the 70s, and the rapid rise of the hyper-capitalist neoliberal values that have dominated the west since the election of Ronald Reagan. Though it takes place over a twenty-year period between the 70s and the 90s, it notably always keeps one an eye on the present day (Trump, of course, makes an inevitable and slightly incongruous cameo) such that what happens links subtly into current affairs without ever explicitly referencing them. [[The Great Wide Open by Douglas Kennedy|Full Review]] <!-- Susan Wilkins -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1509804544.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509804544/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[It Should Have Been Me by Susan Wilkins]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It's seventeen years since DC Jo Boden's sister, Sarah, was murdered and her life since has been lived in the shadow of what happened. Jo was only eleven at the time and her parents' marriage broke up in the aftermath: her brother Carl opted to go and live with his father but Jo stayed with her mother who was mentally frail and not coping with everyday life. She wasn't pleased when Jo decided to join the police, but the job satisfies Jo. She's passed her sergeant's exams but in the Met these days it's a case of dead men's shoes and no one seems inclined to make way for the younger generation. Still, being a detective is better than being a PC and when the opportunity to go undercover comes up, Jo grabs it. [[It Should Have Been Me by Susan Wilkins|Full Review]] <!-- Yancey Williams -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0986031690.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0986031690/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Resurrection of Jesus by Yancey Williams]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] In March 1990 two police officers entered Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. They left with thirteen famous paintings by Rembrandt, Degas and Vermeer. The frames remain empty to this day: whilst there might have been rumours about the whereabouts of the paintings, even promises that the case was about to be solved, the paintings are still missing. Yancey Williams has a theory, which he delaborates on in his novel ''The Resurrection of Jesus'', and whilst his suspects might seem unlikely, who's to say that he's wrong? Forget the assertions that it was down to the Mafia and meet Jésus Ángel Escobar and Hiram Johnny Walker Quicksilver. [[The Resurrection of Jesus by Yancey Williams|Full Review]] <!-- David Mark -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473643198.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473643198/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Cold Bones (DS McAvoy 8) by David Mark]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It all began almost innocently: DS Aector McAvoy was told by a concerned stranger that she and her son had regularly seen an old woman who lived in a nearby cottage but she hadn't been for a few days. Perhaps McAvoy could check that she was alright? No - she wouldn't go with him, but she'd tell him where the house was. And so McAvoy went, only to find the windows open on a freezing cold day - and inside an old lady was in her bath encased in ice. It ''might'' have been a tragic accident, but McAvoy suspected murder - and he thought that someone had watched the woman die. [[Cold Bones (DS McAvoy 8) by David Mark|Full Review]] <!-- Emma Kavanagh -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1409174980.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1409174980/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[To Catch a Killer by Emma Kavanagh]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] If you're a detective on a murder squad one of the first things you learn is detachment. You develop a distance from the victim: it allows you do do your job with the minimum amount of emotion. That's relatively easy when you encounter your victim when they're already dead but DS Alice Parr met the woman they would need to call Jane Doe when she was alive, albeit only just. She was being tended by an off-duty paramedic who was struggling to cope with the fact that the woman's throat had been cut and she'd been stabbed several times. The attack had been called in by a dog walker and Alice had been walking to work when the call came over her Airwave radio. [[To Catch a Killer by Emma Kavanagh|Full Review]] <!-- Barnard -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1509852883.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509852883/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Fierce Fragile Hearts by Sara Barnard]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  It's two years since Suzanne hit rock bottom. She's had extensive therapy and a stint with a lovely foster family. And now she's eighteen and must leave the Looked After system. Suzanne is apprehensive but excited. She's found herself a job, a bedsit has been rented, and she's about to return to Brighton, the only place she's ever felt truly at home, and to Caddy and Rosie, her two best friends. [[Fierce Fragile Hearts by Sara Barnard|Full Review]]<!-- Clear -->|-| style=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1847941834.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1847941834/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[Atomic Habits by James Clear]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Popular Science|Popular Science]], [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] I've said this before but there are some books that you seek out, some books that you stumble across and some books that drop into your life because you really MUST read them, like, right now! ''Atomic Habits'' is in the last category. [[Atomic Habits by James Clear|Full Review]] <!-- Tony Kent -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1783963921.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1783963921/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Marked for Death by Tony Kent]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] The death of a retired Lord Chief Justice would have made the news: his crucifixion dominated it and Detective Chief Inspector Joelle Levy of the Met's Major Incident Team was the person whose job is was to find his killer. She never thought that it would be easy: the Lord Chief Justice had been making enemies in the course of his work for over half a century. It seems unreasonable to suggest that the crucifixion of retired solicitor Adam Blunt might have given her a ray of hope, but surely two such grisly killings cannot be random? All that's needed is to find out what connects the two cases. [[Marked for Death by Tony Kent|Full Review]] <!-- Hogan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473669065.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473669065/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]] Tilda returns to Brighton, to tidy away the remains of her mother's life after her death. Whilst there, she returns to the Paradise hotel, a haven for eccentrics and misfits. A place where people can be themselves, and let go of thoughts that torment them elsewhere. Little wonder that Tilda cannot forgive her mother for banishing her as a child, from this place of wonder. With the help of Queenie Malone, caring, and gregarious, Tilda begins to pick apart the tricky and uncertain relationship she had with her sometimes cruel and distant mother. [[Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan|Full Review]]<!-- McGowan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:178112843X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178112843X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Lark by Anthony McGowan]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dyslexia Friendly|Dyslexia Friendly]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]  I'll warn you first. This is the fourth and last story about Nicky and Kenny. Try not to cry before you've even read the first page. Things have got tense at home - again - for Nicky and his learning-disabled brother Kenny. Their mum is coming to visit - the mum who abandoned them a long time ago. They haven't seen her for years and the impending visit is stirring up a lot of uncomfortable feelings. And Nicky's girlfriend has ended things. To take their minds off it all, Nicky and Kenny plan a day out, trekking across the moors. But it doesn't go to plan and an accident puts both boys - and their dog, Tina, in terrible danger. [[Lark by Anthony McGowan|Full Review]] <!-- Lucy Foley -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0008297118.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008297118/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] To begin with we don't know a great deal. We know that there's a body and before too long we know that Doug, the gamekeeper, doesn't think it was an accident. You get the feeling that Doug knows about these things. Three days earlier there had been nine travellers on the train: however you cut that one, the seating is going to be awkward. Someone is going to be left on their own. The highland lodge is stunning though, but these people who don't usually get outside the M25 find it difficult to realise exactly what ''isolated'' really means. In this case it means that it's an hour's drive to the ''road'' and that's when the weather's good. But this new year, the weather definitely ''isn't'' good. This is serious snow. [[The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley|Full Review]] <!-- Richard Rutherford -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789016320.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789016320/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Tadcaster and the Bullies by Richard Rutherford]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Emerging Readers|Emerging Readers]] In some ways it was a gentler time: video games were around, but children usually went outside to enjoy themselves. They flew kites and went sledging if there was snow around. Tim and Mary's great-grandfather started a business in 1899 so our story is probably set in the nineteen seventies. Something which hasn't changed, unfortunately, is bullying and two lads are making life miserable not just for Tim and Mary but for other children who gather in the playground. Tim's probably about ten - just at the stage where he's beginning to feel responsible for his younger sister, who's two years younger than him, but he's not yet at the stage where he knows how to deal with bullies. [[Tadcaster and the Bullies by Richard Rutherford|Full Review]] <!-- Elaine Robertson North -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:ICTYW.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1790464358/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|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 - to anyone.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1398524085|title=Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci French|rating=5| stylegenre="verticalCrime|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 -align: top; textstrangely -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=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 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=[[I CanLucas 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 Tell You Why by Elaine Robertson North]]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}}} 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.''

When we Within a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of the Briar's, 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 meet Dani non-witch to be born into her family for generations and as such since shewas 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 about 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 get an offer that would appear trust and determine what to be all too easy do as the Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to refusesurvive, is under threat. She|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 Cambridgerecovered, 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 psychologist only worked for a while. Finally, it was Robin, Delaware's agent and partner, who nudged Milo into asking for help again. She knew that the indications are involvement was something that hethe 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 married to an extremely rich man and it's about to make not the Italian. But which of them was the primary target?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529395224|title=Letting the Cat Out of the big timeBag: The Secret Life of a Vet|author=Sion Rowlands|rating=3.5|genre=Animals and Wildlife|summary=Siôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally. HeHis 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 good lookinglife. 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 job for him. Before long, charismatic and appealing he was at Liverpool University. It hadn't - as with so many students - wellbeen 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 actor so 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 manslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested thathe 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's part 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 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 while. 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 spec Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. Katie has no experience in running a business, or in match- making, but his suggestion that he Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and there's always her very helpful (and Dani should start 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 relationship is hedged 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 a statement 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 attractive, modern and useable. I perhaps show my age when I wonder about 'social-media-worthy projects' but that he's got no intention of leaving 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 wife fiancee, and three childrenhis house gets trashed. SoOh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, whatand it's in 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 called Spike, who has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for Dani? being a good person. NoSpike is going to take care of Benny, thereand 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 no need wild adventure) can figure out 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 be a humble, tidy and friendly cat, one who is able to answer thatsleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of the two. Dani understands 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 situation all too regular back garden, but into a world of frightening adventure and whiffs. 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 tells him so. [[I he'll have to do…|isbn=0008561249}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0C47LV1PC|title=Fragility|author=Mosby Woods|rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Canyou make a ''t Tell You Why by Elaine Robertson North|Full Review]]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}}