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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, the charity shop 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]].<!-- Georgianne Landy-Kordis -->{{Frontpage|-author=Sylvie Cathrall| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|A Letter to the Luminous Deep[[image:1072549271.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1072549271/ref=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=[[The Simple Act of Self-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide by Georgianne Landy-Kordis ]]==Death in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell|rating=4[[image:4.5star.jpg|linkgenre=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and FinanceCrime|Business and Finance]]summary= Former Metropolitan Police detective, [[:Category:Reference|Reference]]Jake Johnson, [[:Category:Self-Publishing|Self Publishing]] I frequently meet authors who are struggling to be published by has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the traditional housesfuture of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, but when I suggest selfas moving in together would mean a lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-publishing they explain that they don't have the big bucks required grid and relaxing life to go down that road move in with Author Solutions Livia or Matador does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or their like. not this is the future she wants for herself and her daughter? I then ask if they've considered Kindle For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the answer is inevitably that they wouldn't know where to startfuture on the back burner. I can empathise with that}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786482126|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4. Despite having used a computer for about thirty years, running most of my life ''and5|genre=Crime|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a website on line, I'm still nervous when it comes to starting something newchild beneath a doorway. I like someone to hold my hand as I go through it for the first time. That There was why I was very interested when ''The Simple Act of Self Publishing With Amazon'' came across my deskno skull. Author Georgianne Landy-Kordis Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't profess to be , that she is pregnant with his child as a computer expert: she's simply someone who has done this many times and she's giving us result of the benefit one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of her experience and without any added chitchatsickness. [[The Simple Act of Self-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide by Georgianne Landy-Kordis }}{{Frontpage|Full Review]]isbn=0008551324 <!-- |title=The Devil You Know (D S Kensington -->Max Craigie)|-author=Neil Lancaster| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|4.5[[image:1789018625.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789018625/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Just Another Girl on It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the Road by S Kensington]]=== [[image:4starpolice.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] When Sergeant Farr Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and Corporal Valentine first encountered Katrinka Badeau she was just eighteen years old and fleeing from he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a farmhouse missing person is buried and a group of German deserters who had raped was responsible for herdeath. Despite being outnumbered she was giving just about as good as she got when Farr This person, he promises, is someone big and Valentine intervened and finished it will be worth the group offpolice doing what he wants. It was 1944 and Farr and Valentine were part And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of the Jedburgh unit, EDMOND, lead by Major Willoughby Nye. his sentence and to get an early parole date. Nye recognised Katrinka immediately - heNot much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn'd worked on her fathert think so and she's merchant ship and Katrinka had once had a crush on Nye. When he offered her a job with his unit, she accepted. [[Just Another Girl on even prepared to do the Road by S Kensington|Full Review]] <!other thing that Hardie demanded -- Patrice Lawrence-->make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=0008405026| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)[[image:1444940651.jpg|linkauthor=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444940651/refJane Casey|rating=nosim?tag5|genre=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="verticalIt's sixteen years since nine-align: top; textyear-align: left;"|===[[Roseold Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, Interrupted by Patrice Lawrence]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  Rose and her brother Rudder have recently escaped from cult-like fundamentalist Christian sect, the Pilgrims, along with father are dead in their motherbed. While Mum works endless hours at agency cleaning jobs trying to keep the rent paid on their tiny flat Initially, Rose and Rudder are trying to navigate the worldly world. Itit looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's not easy when everything is new and something about the rigid rules you've always lived by are suddenly missingpositioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. [[Rose, Interrupted by Patrice Lawrence|Full Review]] <!What looked as though it was going to be an open-and- David Edwards -->shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=0571379877| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet[[image:1789018870.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789018870/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="verticalEdward Jevons is a working-align: top; textclass young man, obsessed with his upper-align: left;"|===[[Something to Tell You by David Edwards]]=== [[image:4starclass friends, Robert and Stanza.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]] Sam Murray and Bert Leinster had been friends for Robert's a long timetheatre director. Bert was SamHe's boss at CERNalso self-obsessed, demanding, but this never seemed handsome and entitled and uses Edward to affect the way that the families got onrun errands for him. BertEdward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and he's wife, Natalia, was Russian and seriously richdrunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Their twins, fifteen-year-olds Allie and Josh, went to Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a private boarding school, relationship had begun between them but at weekends they were great friends with Samhe's not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two children, Liam and Hannah. Sam's wife, Briony, was head of product research at Nestlé. Life was good for all eight of them, until Sam - kissing in a particle physicist - spotted that the rate at which Higgs Boson particles were hitting dark passageway.}}{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=When a man is found crucified on the earth had risen exponentially. It's enough of top of a problem for Sam and Bert hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to drag the head of CERNcase alongside her sidekick, Prof Ralph Moyeur, out of a family lunchthe AI detective Lock. Then Bert started It's their first live case together, having conversations previously been very successful with a plant called Lilyseveral cold cases. [[Something 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 Tell You by David Edwards|Full Review]]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}}<!-- Behrend -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1399613073| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson[[image:1789016789.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789016789/ref=nosim?tag5|genre=thebookbag-21]] Thrillers| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[You're Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the Froth On My Soy Cappuccino: Poems first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for the Present by Don Behrend]]=== [[image:4stara quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]]  ''You're Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the Froth On My Soy Cappuccino'' begins with ''A Modern Love Storygroup and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it': s going to end in tragedy. We don''You’re t know who suffered the froth on my soy cappuccino''<br>''You’re tragedy or the spread on my paleo toast''<br>''You’re consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the nose of my GM-free Pinot''<br>three friends. This time, it''You’re organic, my loves their teenage children who are involved. You’re the most!''<br>}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0241636604Ha! How can you not laugh at this gently mocking take on love in the hipster world? [[You're the Froth On My Soy Cappuccino|title=The Trading Game: Poems for the Present by Don BehrendA Confession|Full Review]] author=Gary Stevenson <!-- Mary Scott Huff -->|rating=4.5|-genre=Autobiography| stylesummary="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[If you were to bring up an image:1419726625of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson.jpg|link=http://www 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.amazon.co There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics.uk/dp/1419726625/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag Stevenson is bright -21]]  | style="verticalextremely bright -align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Mitten Handbook: Knitting Recipes 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 Make Your Own by Mary Scott Huff]]=== [[image:4starbe stupid.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating} 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.}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crafts|Crafts]]{{FrontpageI love mittens - they|isbn=1035021803|title=The Antique Hunter're so convenient and much easier s Guide to get onto (and off) cold hands than a pair of fiddly glovesMurder|author=C L Miller|rating=3. They5|genre=Crime|summary=It're not something you regularly see in shops, so I knew that if I wanted new pairs I would have s twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to knit them myselfthe English country village where she grew up. Well, actually, thatShe's my rationalisation back now because of the situation: in truth I love knitting mittensa request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. They have just enough technique to make them satisfying, plenty of quick work Freya's former mentor and a pair of warm mittens in a few daysCarole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. PatternsArthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. Even though - where do you get them from? [[The Mitten Handbook: Knitting Recipes they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to Make Your Own by Mary Scott Huff|Full Review]] <!-- Evan Winter -->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.|-}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="widthAllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)[[image:0356512940.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0356512940/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Science Fiction|summary===[[The Rage ''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of Dragons by Evan Winter]]=== [[image:5starthings to come.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]] Every so often, as a reader, a book comes along that is utter and complete perfection. This book is one of those. Utter and complete perfection. Winter has created an absolute masterpiece of a novel, set in the fantasy land of Uhmlaba the reader is instantly thrown into war, a battle for survival for the Omehi people. Fleeing their homeland, they have to fight to remain on the only scrap of land they can reach. The culture of the Omehi people is rich and deep but not perfect, not sanctimonious. They have villains, they have faults, they are the invaders after all, but Winter creates a realistic and honest portrayal of a people desperate to survive, to save themselves and their culture for future generations. [[The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter|Full Review]] <!-- Sorosiak -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:178800387X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178800387X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[I, Cosmo by Carlie Sorosiak]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]  Cosmo's family is in crisis. Mom and Dad argue all the time. Emmaline doesn't quite understand it because she's too little but she feels it. And Max, who is bigger, does understand it and is terrified by it. Long ago, when Max was just a baby, Cosmo made a promise to protect Max forever and so he sets about his mission of repairing the family with everything he's got... [[I, Cosmo by Carlie Sorosiak|Full Review]]<!-- Linda Jones -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1999324803.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1999324803/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Deadwood Hall by Linda Jones]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] In late December Dylan Beaumont and his sister Emily were on their way to spend the week before Christmas at their grandfather's house. It was snowing heavily and you could sense that their parents were becoming annoyed at the bickering in the back of the car. Emily was rather brusque with her nine-year-old brother's behaviour, but then that's your prerogative when you're a grown-up eleven year old. The snow was getting heavier and the journey longer when Emily opened the car window just a couple of inches. There was a dreadful smell and Dylan saw a horrible, snake-like figure clawing at the car window. [[Deadwood Hall by Linda Jones|Full Review]] <!-- Denzil Meyrick -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1846974755.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1846974755/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Breath on Dying Embers (DCI Daley) by Denzil Meyrick]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Few government trade missions arrive by luxury liner, but the cruise ship ''Great Britain'' is berthed in Kinloch harbour and on board are high-powered international delegates. It's hard to avoid the suspicion that it's not ''entirely'' about work as the billionaires, entrepreneurs and their civil service minders tour the country, golfing and sightseeing with their entourage of security personnel. It's an event which DCI Daley hopes will pass quickly, particularly as his formal uniform is far too tight for comfort, but it's not long before one of the crew members and a local bird watcher go missing. [[A Breath on Dying Embers (DCI Daley) by Denzil Meyrick|Full Review]] <!-- James -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1781128952.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1781128952/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Starlight Watchmaker by Lauren James]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dyslexia Friendly|Dyslexia Friendly]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] This is a dyslexia-friendly, science fiction novella for young adults. It tells the tale of Hugo, an unwanted and rather lonely android, who makes a living for himself mending time-travel watches. When one of his clients demands that his broken watch be mended, Hugo realises there is a mystery to be solved, and is only too ready to help. An exciting journey of discovery unfolds, which takes Hugo out of his drab attic workroom and into a scary adventure with some amazing new friends, exploring regions of the planet never before known to exist. [[The Starlight Watchmaker by Lauren James|Full Review]] <!-- Stuart MacBride -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0007419449.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0007419449/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Cold Granite (Logan McRae) by Stuart MacBride]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] DS Logan McRae is just back from a year's sick leave after he was attacked by a killer. He's just about OK and he's supposed to be easing himself back into the swing of the job in a gentle way - until three-year-old David Reid's body is discovered in a ditch. He'd been missing for some time and it came as no surprise that he was dead but he's the first of several child murders. To add to the complications the police even have a body but no child reported missing. A serial killer, a child killer and abuser, is on the loose in Aberdeen and the press are missing no opportunity to bay for blood. As if that wasn't bad enough there seems to be a leak from within Force Headquarters: a local journalist, Colin Miller, quickly finds out everything that's happening. [[Cold Granite (Logan McRae) by Stuart MacBride|Full Review]] <!-- Angela Marsons -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:B07QPKB7N7.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07QPKB7N7/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Child's Play (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] There's a prologue and we know that we're dealing with someone who is very disturbed. The descriptions are horrifying, but worst of all is the coldness of the killer. [[Child's Play (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons|Full Review]] <!-- Chiang -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1529014484.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529014484/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Exhalation by Ted Chiang]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] Over the past twenty-eight years Ted Chiang has published fifteen science fiction short stories. These magnificent stories have won twenty-seven major science fiction awards so if you are a science fiction fan it is likely that you have already come across some of the work by Ted Chiang. I cannot speak highly enough of this collection of short stories, they are so wide ranging in their themes and so beautifully written, Chiang has written an absolute masterpiece of a collection. If you come across Chiang's work before, take this opportunity to do so now. Trust me; your imagination will be grateful. [[Exhalation by Ted Chiang|Full Review]] <!-- Lawrence -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1444940651.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444940651/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Rose, Interrupted by Patrice Lawrence]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  Rose and her brother Rudder have recently escaped from cult-like fundamentalist Christian sect, the Pilgrims, along with their mother. While Mum works endless hours at agency cleaning jobs trying to keep the rent paid on their tiny flat, Rose and Rudder are trying to navigate the worldly world. It's not easy when everything is new and the rigid rules you've always lived by are suddenly missing. [[Rose, Interrupted by Patrice Lawrence|Full Review]]<!-- Kate Atkinson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:9780552772464.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0552772461/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Started Early, Took My Dog (Jackson Brodie) by Kate Atkinson]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] I guess that most of us have made the odd impulse purchase but Tracy Waterhouse, security chief at the Merrion Centre in Leeds, blew most people's ideas of an impulse purchase out of the water one morning. Seeing a known prostitute dragging a toddler through the shopping mall whilst cursing at her, Waterhouse followed the woman and bought the girl for £3000. The difficulty of a purchase like this is knowing what to do next and Tracy's humdrum life is replaced with one of stress, fear and an overwhelming love for four-year-old Courtney. [[Started Early, Took My Dog (Jackson Brodie) by Kate Atkinson|Full Review]] <!-- Chloe Daykin -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0571349439.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0571349439/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Fire Girl, Forest Boy by Chloe Daykin]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers]] Maya has to escape. She's on the run in a country she doesn't know and has no idea who to trust. Raul is escaping too - travelling back to his home where a terrible tragedy happened, ready to stir up trouble. When their paths collide in the middle of the jungle, the sparks begin to fly. As modern world corruption meets the magic and legends of ancient times, can Maya draw on her hidden light to find the way through to the truth? [[Fire Girl, Forest Boy by Chloe Daykin|Full Review]] <!-- Angela Marsons -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:B07QPKB7N7.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07QPKB7N7/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Child's Play (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] There's a prologue and we know that we're dealing with someone who is very disturbed. The descriptions are horrifying, but worst of all is the coldness of the killer. [[Child's Play (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons|Full Review]] <!-- Gregory -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1526609169.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1526609169/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[I Hold Your Heart by Karen Gregory]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  Gemma has just started her A levels at school. She's a keen student and she has a good, close set of friends. Gemma loves country music and in her spare time she enjoys writing and singing country songs. She's pretty good at it too. Home life is busy - Gemma's brother Michael has a chance at a football career and the whole family, propelled by Gemma's rather over-invested dad, is supporting him with everything they've got. Gemma hasn't had a serious boyfriend yet, so when the handsome Aaron appears and an instant attraction fizzles between them, Gemma is keen to see where romance could lead... [[I Hold Your Heart by Karen Gregory|Full Review]]<!-- Davis -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0192749218.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0192749218/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[What's That in Dog Years? by Ben Davis and Julia Christians]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] George and Gizmo have been together ever since George was born. Gizmo has always been a fun, adventurous dog and a loyal friend, but just recently, George has noticed that he's starting to slow down a little. A visit to the vets leaves George worried that Gizmo might not be around for very much longer, and so he begins to write Gizmo a bucket list, of all the adventures that they can still have together in Gizmo's last days. But are they his last days? And who will help George to stay calm when Gizmo is gone? [[What's That in Dog Years? by Ben Davis and Julia Christians|Full Review]] <!-- Hlad -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1529311446.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529311446/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Long Flight Home by A L Hlad]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] September 1940 - as WWII rages on, bombs rain down on Britain, destroying the homes and lives of a people on the edge. In Epping Forest, Susan Shepherd and her grandfather Bertie live together raising homing pigeons with the birds proving a comfort for Susan following the loss of her parents. These pigeons are more than just birds to Susan though – in each one, and especially in Duchess, she sees a distinct personality and forms a close bond. Meanwhile, young pilot Ollie Evans leaves Maine to head to Britain and join the Royal Air Force. Working with the National Pigeon Service, he soon meets Susan and is tasked with air-dropping hundreds of homing pigeons into German-occupied France, where many will not survive. As the mission is planned, the bond between Ollie and Susan grows stronger, but when Ollie's plane is downed behind enemy lines, it may be Duchess who provides an unexpected lifeline and ensures that hope of a reunion for Susan and Ollie remains… [[The Long Flight Home by A L Hlad|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Wohlleben -->|-| style=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1846045576.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1846045576/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 

| style=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'verticals all getting away from me. Some of it is -align: top; textfrankly -align: left;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=[[Walks In The Wild 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 Peter Wohlleben 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 Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp 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. (TranslatorA 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|genre=Crime|summary=Charlotte Salter was expected at her husband's fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but - strangely - 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=Lucas and his friends are all booked in for a movie marathon at their local cinema, a place that has the nickname of 'The Black Hole'. All big movie fans, they're looking forward to lots of exciting films, and many, many snacks! However, as the movie starts, they very quickly realise that something about this new film format is very different, and they are swept up into an adventure they couldn't even imagine. But as they lurch from one film genre to the next, can they figure out what on earth is going on? Will they ever get back to the cinema, and to their real lives?|isbn=1839942738}}{{Frontpage|author=Rachel Greenlaw|title=Compass and Blade|rating=3.5|genre=Teens|summary=''I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.''

[[image:4starRosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks. Mira, 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.jpgDesperate 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:Animals {{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 Wildlife|Animals chronic underachiever whose dreams of being exceptional at any of his artistic passions all failed miserably and Wildlife]]who had endless crises of self confidence. So Tim applied himself to his studies, [[:Category:Politics cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and Societyset himself high but achievable ambitions.|isbn= B0CVFXPGP8}}{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the Dead|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|Politics and Society]]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.''

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 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'An instruction manual for s cousin Audra becomes the Briar Witch, the foresttown's leader, and Ellie takes her place beside her. As challenges come her way left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to communicate with the dead, putting her at the heart of a maelstrom of chaos. Reeling from one family secret to another, Ellie must decide who to trust and determine what to do as the Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is how Wohllebenunder 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 publisher described 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 idea 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. His father was a GP and Rowlands didn't want to follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on his father's life. When he was seventeen he took the opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and was convinced this bookwas the job for him. Before long, he was at Liverpool University. It hadn't - as with so many students - been his dream since he was a child. If anything, he'd wanted to be a professional footballer.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0861541774|title=A Nye of Pheasants|author=Steve Burrows|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=DCI Domenic Jejeune's close friend and former colleague, Danny Maik, has taken a short holiday in Singapore to meet up with an old ally, 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 thatsuggested that he might have planned to murder the man. Now he could be facing the death penalty. Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to help as any interference from another police force could provoke a diplomatic incident and wouldn's basically what it 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 – although right coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the end chance to come home to Edinburgh. And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters 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 always her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand…|isbn=1846976596}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0811771741|title=InstaKnits for Baby|author says =Melissa Leapman|rating=4|genre=Crafts|summary=Melissa Leapman's ''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a collection of knits from toys to blankets. Some will be quick knits - others are of the 'long, cosy afternoons in front of the fire' variety. The projects are divided by the time they'll take to complete - less than five hours, five to ten hours, ten to 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 's me being picky.}}{{Frontpage|author=Dean Koontz|title=The Bad Weather Friend|rating=4.5|genre=Paranormal|summary=Benny is having a terrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed. Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it 's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is not intended 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 being a good person. Spike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's enemies, if he, Benny, and Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out 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 reference bookhumble, 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 two. But he's a bad magician's cat, so his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and the catflap they both use can chuck them out, not into the regular back garden, but an appetiserinto a world of frightening adventure and whiffs. [[Walks In The Wild by Peter Wohlleben 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 Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp (Translator)he'll have to do…|isbn=0008561249}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0C47LV1PC|title=Fragility|author=Mosby Woods|rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|Full Review]]summary= Can you make a ''Yo birthing person'' joke? And if you could, is the question should you make it? Or is the question if you did, would it land? The catch is that the answer for both could well be.... no.

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