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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]].<!-- Adrian Cull -->{{Frontpage|-author=Sylvie Cathrall| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|A Letter to the Luminous Deep[[image:1999308719.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1999308719/refrating=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Science Fiction|summary= 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=[[Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics and companies behind the new anti-aging treatments by Adrian Cull]]==Death in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell [[image:4.5star.jpg|linkrating=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle4|genre=Crime|Lifestyle]]summary= Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, [[:Category:Popular Science|Popular Science]] For many years now I've (half) joked that I intended to live forever and that so far, it was working out OKhas settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. Time has passed though and although I'm There’s perhaps a great deal fitter and healthier than most people little uncertainty about the future of my age there were a few nagging health problems which were tipping my his life out of balance. It was time to look for a new approach with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, as so often happens, the reviewing gods brought me the book I needed. ''Live Forever Manualmoving in together would mean a lot of compromise: Science, ethics does Jake give up his off-grid and companies behind the new anti-aging treatments'' seemed like the answer relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to my problems - only you get so much more than just 101 tips. [[Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics 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 companies behind putting the future on the new anti-aging treatments by Adrian Cull|Full Review]]back burner.}}<!-- Anders -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1786482126| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths[[image:1785653199|rating=4.jpg5|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785653199/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;"|===[[The City In The Middle Of The Night by Charlie Jane Anders]]=== [[image:3when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway.5star There was no skull.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]] January is Was this a dying planet. It wasn't exactly pleasant to begin ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working withDCI Harry Nelson. One half is scorching sunlight It's difficult as Ruth knows, purebut Nelson doesn't, blazing heat, and totally uninhabitable. The other half that she is pure darkness and ice, where pregnant with his child as a creature can freeze to death in secondsresult of the one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, and totally uninhabitable. In the middle not least because Ruth is a brief twilight that is barely survivableprone to sudden bouts of sickness. Life is a knife-edge, stray too close to one side you die, to close to the other, you die and yet the heat from the sun and the water }}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the ice are necessary for life. Life for Hardie family to approach the inhabitants of January is long, police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and hard, he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and arduous, who was responsible for her death. This person, he promises, is someone big and it will anything ever change? [[The City In The Middle Of The Night by Charlie Jane Anders|Full Review]] <!-- Laws -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; textbe worth the police doing what he wants. 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 even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded -align: center;"|[[image:1789016851make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.jpg}}{{Frontpage|linkisbn=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789016851/ref0008405026|title=nosim?tagA Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=thebookbag-21]]Jane Casey|rating=5|genre=Crime| stylesummary="verticalIt's sixteen years since nine-align: top; textyear-align: left;"|===[[Exit Day: Brexit; An Assassin Stalks old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the Prime Minister by David Laws]]=== [[image:3investigation ground to a halt.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] At the time of my writing this Now, her mother, there is one thing uniting BritainHelena, and this is hatred of 'Brexit'her father are dead in their bed. Not just BrexitInitially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but use there's something about the positioning of the word 'Brexit'bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. Yes, people hate the people that instigated What looked as though it then disappeared, was going to be an open-and/or -shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the people who just canexplanation lies in Rosalie't seem to get their fingers out and complete it, but they also hate the use of the word. This biggest turn-off has made people who have never so much s disappearance: others (such as tutted in their life slam down their tea-cups in high dudgeon and leave the room until itDerwent's safe to returnboss, when all mention of it has subsidedUna Burt) are less convinced. I mention this in relation to this book because it is partly about Brexit, but because it too seems to get to the actual Brexiting in }}{{Frontpage|isbn=0571379877|title=The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=Edward Jevons is a very protracted manner. Just as we have to wade through dirges from Europe to get anywhereworking-class young man, it seemsobsessed with his upper-class friends, so the reader of this book has to get through a lot from Europe before the titleRobert and Stanza. Robert's theme really arisesa theatre director. HereHe's also self-obsessed, at least thoughdemanding, the authorhandsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him. Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and he's delaying tactics are much more forgiveabledrunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. [[Exit Day: Brexit; An Assassin Stalks Most men in Robert'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 Prime Minister by David Laws|Full Review]]two of them kissing in a dark passageway.}}<!-- Chamberlain -->{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|-title=Leave No Trace| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"4|genre=Crime[[image:1786076446.jpg|linksummary=http://www.amazonWhen a man is found crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock.co It's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases.uk/dp/1786076446/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Hidden by Mary Chamberlain]]=== [[image:4 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.5star.jpg 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?|linkisbn=Category:139851120X}}{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary FictionFrontpage|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:Historical Fictionisbn=1399613073|Historical Fiction]]title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie WatsonWhen Barbara Hummel arrives, determined to identify the mysterious woman whose photograph she has found among her mother's possessions|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=Olivia, Dora Laura and Joe find their worlds upended – Anjali met on the first day of medical school and are swiftly forced to confront their pastsfriendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Revisiting their time on the Channel Islands during World War II Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, Dora remembers which is a time bonus when she concealed her Jewish identity, you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and Joe, a Catholic Priest, remembers a time when he hid something very differenttrauma doctor. In this story Anjali is the free spirit of love, loss the group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and betrayal, it remains 's going to be seen whether a speck of light can diffuse the darkest shadows of war… [[The Hidden by Mary Chamberlain|Full Review]] <!end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-- Stephen John Hartley -->|-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|0241636604[[image:1999811402.jpg|linktitle=httpThe Trading Game://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1999811402/refA Confession|author=nosim?tagGary Stevenson|rating=thebookbag-21]] 4.5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Autobiography|summary===[[Painting Snails by Stephen John Hartley]]=== [[If you were to bring up an image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]], [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] Itof a city banker in your mind, you's very difficult re unlikely to classify ''Painting Snails'': originally I thought that as it's loosely based around a year on an allotment it would be a lifestyle bookthink of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe 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 you're not going he had been to get advice on what to plant when and where for the best resultsLondon School of Economics. The answer would Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be something along the lines of 'try it and see'stupid. Then I considered popular science as Stephen Hartley failed It was his A levelsability at what was, did an engineering apprenticeshipessentially, became a busker, finally card game which got into medical school and is now him an A&E consultant (part time)internship with Citibank. I found out that there's an awful lot more to what goes on in a Major Trauma Centre than you'll ever glean from ''Casualty'', but that isn't really what the bookEventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035021803|title=The Antique Hunter's aboutGuide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3. There5|genre=Crime|summary=It's a lot about rock & roll, which seems twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to be the real passion of HartleyEnglish country village where she grew up. She's lifeback now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, but it didn't actually fit into the entertainment genre eitherCarole. Did we have a category for Freya'doing the impossible the hard way'? Yep - thats former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the oneleast. It's autobiography. [[Painting Snails by Stephen John Hartley|Full Review]] <!-- Lelic -->|-| style="widthArthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:B07GXSB6N2Arthur, she feels, let her down badly.jpg|link=http://www Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. After the split, she worked in a cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the love of her life, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444947605/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover| styletitle="vertical-alignAll Tomorrow's Futures: top; text-align: left;"Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary==[[The Haven: Book 1 by Simon Lelic]]=== [[image:4star''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] When Ollie and Nancy, the police officer tasked with guarding our young hero, are abducted in the middle of the night, things take a dangerous turn. Rescued by Dodge, Ollie is taken to the Haven, a secret underground community based in a network of underground tunnels that the London above ground knows nothing about. Here, children work together to battle great evils. And there is an immediate enemy to fight. Ollie would have been the hundredth victim of Maddy Sikes had he not been rescued. And Maddy intends to destroy the city. [[The Haven: Book 1 by Simon Lelic|Full Review]] <!-- Kennedy -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0993202349.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993202349/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Things That are Lost by Alan Kennedy]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]  The final novel in Alan Kennedy's WW2 trilogy sees Captain Alex Vere taken off active duty and banished to Scotland, providing trade craft spy training. It's stifling and suffocating and feels as much like a prison to Alex as anything the Germans would provide. And where is Justine? Alex hasn't seen her since he went to ''that'' disastrous meeting with John Cabot, instigator of the disinformation campaign, and returned to find her missing. A failed mission is one thing but no Justine is quite another. Alex can't get Justine out of his head. Has she left the service? Does she know too much? Is she even still alive? [[The Things That are Lost by Alan Kennedy|Full Review]] <!-- Douglas Lindsay -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473696917.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473696917/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Song of the Dead (DI Westphall) by Douglas Lindsay]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] A man walked into a police station in Estonia. He told a tale of having been held prisoner, used as a donor for organ harvesting and sperm donation. X-rays and medical examination bear out this part of his story, but this man, or the man he says he is - John Baden - died twelve years ago. His body was identified by his partner, Emily King and by his parents - and then the body was buried. So, who is this man? DI Ben Westphall is sent to Estonia because of his background in MI6, but that brings some baggage with it too. Westphall cannot, will not, get on a plane. His last experience of flight was more than enough for one lifetime. [[Song of the Dead (DI Westphall) by Douglas Lindsay|Full Review]] <!-- Michelle Harrison --> |-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1471124290.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471124290/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] ''No Widdershins girl has ever been able to leave Crowstone. If we do, we'll die by the next sunset. '' ''A Pinch of Magic'' follows three sisters – Betty, Fliss and Charlie – who have lived on the isle of Crowstone, infamous for its surrounding marshes and the neighbouring inescapable prison, for their entire lives. The middle sister, Betty, has longed for adventure for as long as she can remember and she is determined that nothing and no-one will prevent her from seeing everything that the world has to offer. But in setting out to do just that, she and her sisters discover a deadly curse which has haunted their family for generations. From their ancestors, as well as a lifetime trapped on Crowstone, they have each inherited a magical object – an old carpet bag, a set of wooden nesting dolls and an antique handheld mirror – all of which are more than meets the eye and could possibly be the key to their problem. [[A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison|Full Review]] <!-- Lisa Gardner -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1780897715.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1780897715/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Never Tell by Lisa Gardner]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Evie Carter's husband was shot dead in his own home and she was found with the gun in her hands. Was this a domestic dispute which had got out of hand? Was it pregnancy hormones running rampant? Detective D D Warren recognised Evie immediately. It might have been sixteen years ago, but there's no mistaking the teenager who had accidentally shot and killed her father: 'a tragic accident' everyone said, as there was no doubt about the love the two had for each other. D D had no worries at the time, but just how many gun accidents can one woman have - or is Evie about to get away with murder again? [[Never Tell by Lisa Gardner|Full Review]] <!-- Read -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1911490907.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1911490907/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Midnight Hour by Benjamin Read and Laura Trinder]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] After a big blow-up fight with her mum, Emily is left alone with her dad. Her mum has gone away on some strange job (even though Emily didn't think her mum even ''had'' a job) and so she is not quite sure what is going on. Things turn even stranger still when her dad goes off to find her mum, and then doesn't come back. She heads out to investigate and discovers a strange, secret world called the Midnight Hour, which seems to be London during Victorian times, and is full of magical beings (and monsters!) What were her parents doing here? And will she be able to find them and rescue them, so her life can go back to normal? [[The Midnight Hour by Benjamin Read and Laura Trinder|Full Review]] <!-- Kate London -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786497956.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786497956/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Gallowstree Lane by Kate London]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Spencer was just fifteen years old when he stepped out into a London Street and asked a complete stranger for help, begging him not to let him die. The stranger was an off-duty paramedic but even his skills were insufficient to save Spence. Just one of those things you might, think. Tragic, but teenage boys seem to be getting stabbed on the streets of London all the time. His friend Ryan was with Spence when he was stabbed. It was Ryan who called the ambulance on the paramedic's instruction, sobbing as he held the phone. But Ryan wasn't prepared to accept that it was just one of those things. He wanted revenge. [[Gallowstree Lane by Kate London|Full Review]] <!-- Ece Temelkuran -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0008294011.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008294011/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship by Ece Temelkuran]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]], [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]], [[:Category:History|History]] A little while ago a friend asked me if I thought that we were living through what in years to come would be discussed by A level history students when faced with the question ''Discuss the factors which led to...'' I agreed that she was right and wasn't certain whether it was a good or bad thing that we didn't know what all 'this' was leading to. I think now that I do know. We are in danger of losing democracy and whilst it's a flawed system I can't think of a better one, particularly as the 'benevolent dictator' is as rare as hen's teeth. [[How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship by Ece Temelkuran|Full Review]] <!-- Schienmel -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0349003289.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1492667242/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] ''They needed someone to blame, and I was the only available scapegoat. Their daughter was my best friend. Playing the scapegoat was the least I could do under the circumstances.'' Seventeen year old Hannah Gold was born mature – or so her parents tell her. She has dined in fancy restaurants, explored the most sophisticated corners of the globe and lived a life of luxury. [[A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel|Full Review]] <!-- Mary Adkins -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473673313.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473673313/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[When You Read This by Mary Adkins]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Smith Simonyi and Iris Massey worked together for four years, during which time Iris left her husband at the altar on their wedding day. Smith, meanwhile, relied on Iris, but his attention was on making enough money to cover his mother's nursing home fees in Wisconsin, running the branding agency in New York and losing money gambling when the pressures got too much for him. He was devastated when Iris developed a terminal cancer and died at the age of thirty three. He was surprised too when he discovered that Iris had been writing a blog in the last six months of her life and her final request of Smith is that he gets the blog published as a book. [[When You Read This by Mary Adkins|Full Review]] <!-- Cooper -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1529102464.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529102464/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Day We Met by Roxie Cooper]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] This is an epic love story spanning ten years of 'will they, won't they'. Stephanie and Jamie are 'meant to be'. When they meet on an art course they have an instant strong connection but both are with other people. However, what I loved was that it's not a 'typical boy meets girl, falls in love and lives happily ever after' story. In fact far from it, without wanting to give too much away, the ending was both refreshingly unexpected and achingly poignant. [[The Day We Met by Roxie Cooper|Full Review]] <!-- Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1848993609.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1848993609/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Good Mood Food: Unlock the Power of Diet to Think and Feel Well by Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]], [[:Category:Cookery|Cookery]] I thought I was getting a cookbook: I liked the idea of a series of recipes which would make me feel happy. For once this isn't a case of 'if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is' - it's a case of getting something which could change your life for the better - for good - rather than a quick fix. [[Good Mood Food: Unlock the Power of Diet to Think and Feel Well by Charlotte Watts and Natalie Savona|Full Review]] <!-- Jameson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0241349176.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241349176/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Last by Hanna Jameson]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]] Jon Keller is in a hotel in Switzerland in the remote countryside when the world ends. He has no idea if his family is alive, he has no idea what's going on in the nearest city, or if the nearest city has been obliterated. Shocked, amid the mass hysteria and exodus, Jon decides to stay at the hotel rather than attempt to get to the airport and home. He's not alone, twenty other people also stay and gradually form a small community. One day, when helping the hotel manager, Jon finds the body of a girl deemed to have been killed before the world ended. The community descends into a deep mistrust as Jon becomes fixated on finding this girl's killer and finding the truth about what is possibly the last community on earth. [[The Last by Hanna Jameson|Full Review]] <!-- d'Eramo -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1782273883.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1782273883/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Deviation by Luce d'Eramo and Anne Milano Appel (translator)]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] For those of you who have read books of life in the Nazi camps – and of course, for those of you who have not – this can be considered a next step. It begins, after all, with someone escaping Dachau and fleeing her work assignment during a bombing raid, and you'd not blame her one minute, as her career was deemed to be cess-tank cleaner and sewage unblocker by the Germans. In Munich, she stumbles on help to get her to what seems to be a camp for non-native civilians to look for work, or company, or transport elsewhere, either official or otherwise. But then the next chapter sees her going back into the camp next to Dachau once more, and by then eyebrows are being raised. [[Deviation by Luce d'Eramo and Anne Milano Appel (translator)|Full Review]] <!-- Alok Tripathy -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1729621953.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1729621953/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 -align: left;"strangely - 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=[[Fast-track 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 IStates.T Journey When she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - How 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=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 move 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 Supplier one film genre to Partner by Alok Ranjan Tripathy]]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:3Rosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks.5starMira, 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.jpg|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:Business and Finance{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the Dead|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|Business and Finance]]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.''

SoWithin 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 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 brought me to this bookdo 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 even after Alex recovered, 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 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 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. As 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 owner opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a small business 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 buyer child. If anything, he'd wanted to be a professional footballer.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0861541774|title=A Nye of IT services I should be the senior partner 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 the relationship a street brawl - he would later maintain that he was facing a man armed with my suppliersa knife - and he killed a Ghurka. Initially, he faced a charge of manslaughter but I've frequently found myself evidence came to light that suggested that he might have planned to murder the man. Now he could be facing the junior partner death penalty. Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to help as any interference from another police force could provoke a diplomatic incident and Iwouldn've regularly been let down 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 themNess and operating as an alternative to all the online apps in providing a more personal, tailored service. I needed to know where I Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could improve that relationship come andlook 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, by looking and so jumps at the situation 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 supplierIsabel 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 Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and there's point always her 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 viewthe '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, what steps ten to twenty hours and more than twenty hours. All the projects are attractive, modern and useable. I perhaps show my age when I needed to takewonder 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. Alok TripathyOh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it's book looked as though 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 might provide 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 being a good person. Spike is going to take care of Benny, and possibly some 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=4.5|genre=Confident Readers |summary=Murray is supposed to be a 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 the answers as to how my suppliers could better help metwo. [[Fast-track But he's a bad magician's cat, so his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and the Icatflap they both use can chuck them out, not into the regular back garden, but into a world of frightening adventure and whiffs.T Journey - How This time round it drops them into a Viking land, where a troll hunter is expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was, to move from Supplier be honest, but he's turned up and he'll have to Partner by Alok Ranjan Tripathydo…|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}}