Changes

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

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

==Reviews of the The Best New Books==

'''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].{{Frontpage|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingauthor="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->Tom Percival<!-- Teresa Heapy and Katie Cleminson -->|title=The Wrong Shoes|-rating=5| stylegenre="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Confident Readers[[image:1910989339.jpg|linksummary=http://wwwWill's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910989339/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Loved to Bits by Teresa Heapy He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and Katie Cleminson]]=== [[image:5stardoesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] ''Loved to Bits'' is Throw into that mix the heartwarming story of a boy's love for fact that his bear. Bearmum and dad are separated, and Will's adventures with boy take him to all kinds of places and together they fight and defeat life seems bleak in every obstacle put in their way, from the jungle to the seadirection. Inevitably mishaps occur on the way . And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. The loss He is good at art, and clings to the moments of an armjoy when he is drawing, that feel like a leglight at the end of a long, an ear or an eye are nothing dark tunnel.|isbn=1398527122}}{{Frontpage|author=Sylvie Cathrall|title=A Letter to Stripy Ted who shrugs off all injuries with the Luminous Deep|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary= There are few greater joys than a cheery ''don't worry, I've got one more''book which lives up to a compelling premise. But boy loves him just as he And this is and won't hear one of him being mendedthem. His place, after all, is in Boy's bed. [[Loved to Bits by Teresa Heapy and Katie Cleminson|isbn= 0356522776}}{{Frontpage|Full Review]]isbn=0008517061|title=Death in a Lonely Place<!-- Cohen -->|author=Stig Abell|-rating=4| stylegenre="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Crime[[image:1409179826.jpg|linksummary=http://wwwFormer Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky.amazon.co.uk/dp/1409179826/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a lot of compromise: top; textdoes Jake give up his off-align: left;"|===[[Louis grid and Louise by Julie Cohen]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is the future she wants for herself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on the back burner.}}{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General FictionFrontpage|isbn=1786482126|General Fiction]]title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly GriffithsWhat would you be like, right now, if you|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury'd been born apartments - when they discovered the bones of a different gender? child beneath a doorway. Would it simply be There was no skull. Was this a matter of genetics, and your life would still have unfolded in the same wayritual killing or murder? Or would the way you had been raised affect who you became in life? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. This latest novel by Julie Cohen looks at all of the aboveIt's difficult as Ruth knows, covering the stories of Louis and Louisebut Nelson doesn't, born on the same day, to the same parents, but in one storyline Lou that she is pregnant with his child as a boy, and in result of the other a girlone night they spent together some three months ago. Does it really make a differenceHer condition will be obvious before long, the gender box that not least because Ruth is ticked when we arrive in this world? We all know that men and women are treated differently, but this story really highlights how things have been in the past, how they still are, and prompts you prone to think about how they could be... [[Louis and Louise by Julie Cohen|Full Review]]sudden bouts of sickness.}}<!-- Lewis -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=0008551324| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster[[image:019274948X.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co4.uk/dp/019274948X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Crime|summary===[[The Closest Thing It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to Flying by Gill Lewis]]=== [[image:4starapproach the police.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Semira Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is an Eritraen refugee, living struggling in the UK with her mum prison and Robel, he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a man missing person is buried and who controls their moneywas responsible for her death. This person, their foodhe promises, is someone big and their every move in it will be worth the UKpolice doing what he wants. He threatens them that if they don't do And what he says, they'll wants is to be sent home. One day, Semira finds herself buying transferred to an old hat on a market stall, strangely drawn open prison to serve the bird that decorates the hatremainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date. When she takes Not much to ask, is it home she discovers there is an old diary hidden inside the hat box, written by a young girl called Hen over 100 years ago. ? Semira finds herself caught up in HenThe new Deputy Police Constable doesn's story, finding in it an escape from her own life that is full of hunger t think so and loss. She finds that she is challenged by the girl in the diary, 's even prepared to speak up in her own life and fight for her place in do the world. [[The Closest Thing to Flying by Gill Lewis|Full Review]]other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.}}<!-- Elly Griffiths -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=0008405026| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey[[image:1786487292.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786487292/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="verticalIt's sixteen years since nine-align: top; textyear-align: left;"|===[[The Stone Circle (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths]]=== [[image:4old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] DCI Harry Nelson Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bed. Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's life is complicatedsomething about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. His two oldest daughters are either living away from home or really should What looked as though it was going to bean open-and-shut case is now a complex double murder. His youngest daughter was conceived Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in a (very) brief affair (letRosalie's not call it a one-night standdisappearance: thereothers (such as Derwent's more emotion in their relationshipboss, Una Burt) with archaeologist Dr Ruth Gallowayare less convinced. Michelle, Nelson's wife, knows about Kate and has been very understanding, but then there}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0571379877|title=The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=Edward Jevons is a working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert's the matter of her affair with a black policeman which shetheatre director. He'd rather not have s also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to discuss with her daughtersrun errands for him. Nelson knows about it Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and knows that the baby which Michelle is about to deliver, could be Timhe'sdrunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. ThatMost men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a lot to cope with - and thatrelationship had begun between them but he's before he gets not like most men: Edward is left to workstumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway. [[The Stone Circle (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths|Full Review]]}}<!-- Jonathan Kellerman -->{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|-title=Leave No Trace| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"4|genre=Crime[[image:1780899017.jpg|linksummary=http://www.amazon.coWhen 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.uk/dp/1780899017/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Wedding Guest by Jonathan Kellerman]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It was It's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a bridesmaid who found the victim's body in very high profile case that draws a rather disreputable toilet at the wedding venuelot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. She didn't know who she was and neither did Will they be able to solve the bride case in time, or groom. The bride wasn't particularly worried about will Kat find herself taken off the dead girlcase and, potentially, but she was furious that someone had set out to disrupt her weddingout of a career?|isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4. Baby (yes5|genre=Thrillers|summary=Olivia, that was what people called Brearley) didn't come across as being particularly likeable, despite Laura and Anjali met on the fact that she said that everyone liked her, first day of medical school and her groom, Garrett didn't inspire confidence eithertheir friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Lt Milo Sturgis was the senior investigating officer Laura is a perfectionist and he called on a trauma doctor. Anjali is the help free spirit of his friend, psychologist Dr Alex Delawarethe group and she becomes a GP. [[The Wedding Guest by Jonathan Kellerman|Full Review]] <! When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty- Kennedy -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786331691five 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.jpg}}{{Frontpage|linkisbn=http0241636604|title=The Trading Game://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786331691/refA Confession|author=nosim?tagGary Stevenson|rating=thebookbag-21]] 4.5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Autobiography|summary===[[The Great Wide Open by Douglas Kennedy]]=== [[If you were to bring up an image:4of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] Douglas Kennedy's ''The Great Wide Open'' has been described as epic by just about everyone, A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and it often feels as though that was his background is the intention. Though the novel often feels like a pastiche of the great American novel – epic in scopeEast End, preoccupied where he was familiar with matters of money violence, poverty and literature, fixated with New York – it often feels more like Kennedy is trying to reverse-engineer the concept altogetherinjustice. Initially, the novel presents itself as an intimate study of family drama, in the latter half of the novel it smoothly turns There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to examining the turn London School of American society since the 70s, Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and the rapid rise he has a facility with numbers which most of the hyper-capitalist neoliberal values us can only envy. He also realised that have dominated the west since the election of Ronald Reaganmost rich people expect poor people to be stupid. Though it takes place over It was his ability at what was, essentially, a twenty-year period between the 70s and the 90s, it notably always keeps one card game which got him an eye on the present day (Trumpinternship with Citibank. Eventually, of course, makes an inevitable and slightly incongruous cameo) such that what happens links subtly this turned into current affairs without ever explicitly referencing thempermanent employment as a trader. [[The Great Wide Open by Douglas Kennedy|Full Review]]}}<!-- Susan Wilkins -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1035021803| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller[[image:1509804544|rating=3.jpg5|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509804544/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|summary===[[It Should Have Been Me by Susan Wilkins]]=== [[image:4's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up.5star She's back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It Freya's former mentor and Carole's seventeen years since DC Jo Boden's sisterclose friend, SarahArthur Crockleford, was murdered is dead and her life since has been lived in the shadow of what happenedcircumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. Jo Arthur was only eleven at the time and her parents' marriage broke up in the aftermathreason why Freya had not been back to the village: Arthur, she feels, let her brother Carl opted to go and live with his father but Jo stayed with her mother who was mentally frail and not coping with everyday lifedown badly. She wasn't pleased when Jo decided Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to join be near the police, but man or pursue the job satisfies Joprofession she loved. She's passed her sergeant's exams but After the split, she worked in the Met these days it's a case of dead men's shoes cafe, met and no one seems inclined to make way for married James (on the rebound from the younger generation. Stilllove of her life, being a detective is better than being a PC and when the opportunity to go undercover comes up, Jo grabs itwho was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced. [[It Should Have Been Me by Susan Wilkins|Full Review]]}}<!-- Yancey Williams -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover| styletitle="widthAll Tomorrow's Futures: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)[[image:0986031690.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0986031690/refrating=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Science Fiction|summary===[[The Resurrection ''Opening up new ways of Jesus by Yancey Williams]]=== [[image:4.5starthinking about the shape of things to come.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] In March 1990 two police officers entered Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. They left with thirteen famous paintings by Rembrandt, Degas and Vermeer. The frames remain empty to this day: whilst there might have been rumours about the whereabouts of the paintings, even promises that the case was about to be solved, the paintings are still missing. Yancey Williams has a theory, which he delaborates on in his novel ''The Resurrection of Jesus'', and whilst his suspects might seem unlikely, who's to say that he's wrong? Forget the assertions that it was down to the Mafia and meet Jésus Ángel Escobar and Hiram Johnny Walker Quicksilver. [[The Resurrection of Jesus by Yancey Williams|Full Review]] <!-- David Mark -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473643198.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473643198/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Cold Bones (DS McAvoy 8) by David Mark]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It all began almost innocently: DS Aector McAvoy was told by a concerned stranger that she and her son had regularly seen an old woman who lived in a nearby cottage but she hadn't been for a few days. Perhaps McAvoy could check that she was alright? No - she wouldn't go with him, but she'd tell him where the house was. And so McAvoy went, only to find the windows open on a freezing cold day - and inside an old lady was in her bath encased in ice. It ''might'' have been a tragic accident, but McAvoy suspected murder - and he thought that someone had watched the woman die. [[Cold Bones (DS McAvoy 8) by David Mark|Full Review]] <!-- Emma Kavanagh -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1409174980.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1409174980/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[To Catch a Killer by Emma Kavanagh]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] If you're a detective on a murder squad one of the first things you learn is detachment. You develop a distance from the victim: it allows you do do your job with the minimum amount of emotion. That's relatively easy when you encounter your victim when they're already dead but DS Alice Parr met the woman they would need to call Jane Doe when she was alive, albeit only just. She was being tended by an off-duty paramedic who was struggling to cope with the fact that the woman's throat had been cut and she'd been stabbed several times. The attack had been called in by a dog walker and Alice had been walking to work when the call came over her Airwave radio. [[To Catch a Killer by Emma Kavanagh|Full Review]] <!-- Barnard -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1509852883.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509852883/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Fierce Fragile Hearts by Sara Barnard]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  It's two years since Suzanne hit rock bottom. She's had extensive therapy and a stint with a lovely foster family. And now she's eighteen and must leave the Looked After system. Suzanne is apprehensive but excited. She's found herself a job, a bedsit has been rented, and she's about to return to Brighton, the only place she's ever felt truly at home, and to Caddy and Rosie, her two best friends. [[Fierce Fragile Hearts by Sara Barnard|Full Review]]<!-- Clear -->|-| style=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1847941834.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1847941834/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[Atomic Habits by James Clear]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Popular Science|Popular Science]], [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] I've said this before but there are some books that you seek out, some books that you stumble across and some books that drop into your life because you really MUST read them, like, right now! ''Atomic Habits'' is in the last category. [[Atomic Habits by James Clear|Full Review]] <!-- Tony Kent -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1783963921.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1783963921/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Marked for Death by Tony Kent]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] The death of a retired Lord Chief Justice would have made the news: his crucifixion dominated it and Detective Chief Inspector Joelle Levy of the Met's Major Incident Team was the person whose job is was to find his killer. She never thought that it would be easy: the Lord Chief Justice had been making enemies in the course of his work for over half a century. It seems unreasonable to suggest that the crucifixion of retired solicitor Adam Blunt might have given her a ray of hope, but surely two such grisly killings cannot be random? All that's needed is to find out what connects the two cases. [[Marked for Death by Tony Kent|Full Review]] <!-- Hogan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473669065.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473669065/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]] Tilda returns to Brighton, to tidy away the remains of her mother's life after her death. Whilst there, she returns to the Paradise hotel, a haven for eccentrics and misfits. A place where people can be themselves, and let go of thoughts that torment them elsewhere. Little wonder that Tilda cannot forgive her mother for banishing her as a child, from this place of wonder. With the help of Queenie Malone, caring, and gregarious, Tilda begins to pick apart the tricky and uncertain relationship she had with her sometimes cruel and distant mother. [[Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan|Full Review]]<!-- McGowan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:178112843X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178112843X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Lark by Anthony McGowan]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dyslexia Friendly|Dyslexia Friendly]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]  I'll warn you first. This is the fourth and last story about Nicky and Kenny. Try not to cry before you've even read the first page. Things have got tense at home - again - for Nicky and his learning-disabled brother Kenny. Their mum is coming to visit - the mum who abandoned them a long time ago. They haven't seen her for years and the impending visit is stirring up a lot of uncomfortable feelings. And Nicky's girlfriend has ended things. To take their minds off it all, Nicky and Kenny plan a day out, trekking across the moors. But it doesn't go to plan and an accident puts both boys - and their dog, Tina, in terrible danger. [[Lark by Anthony McGowan|Full Review]] <!-- Lucy Foley -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0008297118.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008297118/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] To begin with we don't know a great deal. We know that there's a body and before too long we know that Doug, the gamekeeper, doesn't think it was an accident. You get the feeling that Doug knows about these things. Three days earlier there had been nine travellers on the train: however you cut that one, the seating is going to be awkward. Someone is going to be left on their own. The highland lodge is stunning though, but these people who don't usually get outside the M25 find it difficult to realise exactly what ''isolated'' really means. In this case it means that it's an hour's drive to the ''road'' and that's when the weather's good. But this new year, the weather definitely ''isn't'' good. This is serious snow. [[The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley|Full Review]] <!-- Richard Rutherford -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789016320.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789016320/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Tadcaster and the Bullies by Richard Rutherford]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Emerging Readers|Emerging Readers]] In some ways it was a gentler time: video games were around, but children usually went outside to enjoy themselves. They flew kites and went sledging if there was snow around. Tim and Mary's great-grandfather started a business in 1899 so our story is probably set in the nineteen seventies. Something which hasn't changed, unfortunately, is bullying and two lads are making life miserable not just for Tim and Mary but for other children who gather in the playground. Tim's probably about ten - just at the stage where he's beginning to feel responsible for his younger sister, who's two years younger than him, but he's not yet at the stage where he knows how to deal with bullies. [[Tadcaster and the Bullies by Richard Rutherford|Full Review]] <!-- Elaine Robertson North -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:ICTYW.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1790464358/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[I Can't Tell You Why by Elaine Robertson North]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] When we first meet Dani she's about to get an offer that would appear to be all too easy to refuse. She's Alex Cambridge's agent and the indications are that he's about to make the big time. He's good looking, charismatic and appealing - well, he's an actor so that's part of the spec - but his suggestion that he and Dani should start a relationship is hedged by a statement that he's got no intention of leaving his wife and three children. So, what's in it for Dani? No, there's no need to answer that. Dani understands the situation all too well and tells him so. [[I Can't Tell You Why by Elaine Robertson North|Full Review]] <!-- McCombie -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0857639102.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0857639102/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Little Bird Flies by Karen McCombie]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]  Bridie, or Little Bird as she prefers to be known, is a crofter's daughter living on the remote Scottish island of Tornish. Life is hard but often happy even though Little Bird struggles with the disability of a wasted arm and leg and often misses her mother, who died some time ago. Despite this, Little Bird has a warm and loving father, sisters to watch over her, a good friend in Will and a laird for whom she is a particular favourite. Little Bird knows every inch of her windswept, savagely beautiful island. [[Little Bird Flies by Karen McCombie|Full Review]] <!-- Jason Boggs -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:154564134X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/154564134X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]'

I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.}}{{Frontpage|author=Sunny Singh|title=Hotel Arcadia|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers |summary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|isbn=086154742X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529153298|title=The List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=5|genre=General Fiction| stylesummary="verticalIt's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though. Women have been disappearing. Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking -align: top; text-align: left;"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 DragonSalter children are not convinced but there's Harvest 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 Jason F Boggs]]a mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of her preference for her elder sister, Jackie.}}{{Frontpage|author=Christopher Edge|title=Black Hole Cinema Club|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Lucas and his friends are all booked in for a movie marathon at their local cinema, a place that has the nickname of 'The Black Hole'. All big movie fans, they're looking forward to lots of exciting films, and many, many snacks! However, as the movie starts, they very quickly realise that something about this new film format is very different, and they are swept up into an adventure they couldn't even imagine. But as they lurch from one film genre to the next, can they figure out what on earth is going on? Will they ever get back to the cinema, and to their real lives?|isbn=1839942738}}{{Frontpage|author=Rachel Greenlaw|title=Compass and Blade|rating=3.5|genre=Teens|summary=''I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.''

[[image:4starRosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks.jpgMira, like her mother before her, is one of the seven who swim out to survey the ruins – rescuing any survivors and any treasure that lies within. But when the Council Watch lays a trap to end the wrecking, they capture the island's leader and Mira's father. Desperate to save him from death, Mira makes a bargain with a wreck survivor who is as charming as he is secretive and with only coordinates to guide her, she sets off in search of a family secret that lies buried deep in the sea. With only nine days to unearth what might save her father, as her journey takes her from the watched streets of foreign islands to the heart of the smuggler's territory, Mira must be determined to stop at nothing to save the future of her home and the ones she holds most dear.|linkisbn=Category:0008664730}}{{Frontpage|author=James Sherwood Metts|title=Planet Storyland|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary= Things have been a bit sticky for the Earthlings. AI and automation have been proceeding apace, often replacing jobs they're paid to do and other tasks that took time to accomplish. Just as they were beginning to get used to all this technological change and starting to think of other, new ways to spend time, along came an awful pandemic. Life was pretty much shut down and, along with it, all the many daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily.|isbn=1736128426}}{{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:Science Fiction{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the Dead|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|Science Fiction]]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.''

Young Nelson Jones was Within a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of the Briar's, a young family of witches who protect the town and gifted military cadet in the fascist new wider world order called 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'New Eras cousin Audra becomes the Briar Witch, the town's leader, and Ellie takes her place beside her. As his experiences led him on 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 path maelstrom of conflict chaos. Reeling from one family secret to another, Ellie must decide who to trust and self-discoverydetermine what to do as the Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is under threat.|isbn=1803364548}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529900360|title=The Ghost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=It hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's fault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he became 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 changed 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 manshe loved needed. The next case did look simple, though. Picking up 20 months after Two lovers were murdered in the events 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'The Devilt want to follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on his father's Dragonlife. When he was seventeen he took the opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and was convinced this was the job for him. Before long, 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, Nelson he faced a charge of manslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested that he might have planned to murder the man. Now he could be facing the death penalty. Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to help as any interference from another police force could provoke a diplomatic incident and wouldn't help Danny at all.}}{{Frontpage|author=Alexander McCall Smith|title=The Perfect Passion Company|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=The Perfect Passion Company is on a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and operating as an expedition alternative to uncover all the mystery of online apps in providing a more personal, tailored service. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the sungatesbusiness, when as Ness is planning to take a terrible secret leads trip to Canada to horrifying discoveries get away for all involveda while. MeanwhileKatie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the humans 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 Aesini fight for their very existenceIsabel 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, as Nelsonand there's nemesisalways her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, Major Ira BillisWilliam, finds to lend a terrifying new ally in 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 quest collection of knits from toys to restore blankets. Some will be quick knits - others are of the 'long, cosy afternoons in front of the New Era fire' variety. The projects are divided by the time they'll take to glorycomplete - 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. As Nelson Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his friends race against home, and it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the clock in order thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the very last person to defeat 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 threatfriend, 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 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 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 find themselves facing both use can chuck them out, not into the regular back garden, but into a world of frightening adventure and whiffs. This time round it drops them into a Viking land, where a power beyond imagination… [[The Dragontroll hunter is expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was, to be honest, but he's Harvest by Jason F Boggsturned up and he'll have to do…|isbn=0008561249}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0C47LV1PC|title=Fragility|author=Mosby Woods|rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|Full Review]]summary= Can you make a ''Yo birthing person'' joke? And if you could, is the question should you make it? Or is the question if you did, would it land? The catch is that the answer for both could well be.... no.

<!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->''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?