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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|reviews of books about to be published]].{{Frontpage|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingauthor="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->Tom Percival{|class-wikitable" cellpaddingtitle="15"The Wrong Shoes|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes'19 SEPTEMBER, he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn''==<!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- Jamie -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1908745819hand job on a building site and had an accident.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope.uk/dp/1908745819/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]   He is good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|1398527122}}{{Frontpage|author=Sylvie Cathrall|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=[[Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie]]==5|genre=Science Fiction [[image:5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:HistoryFrontpage|isbn=0008517061|History]], [[:Category:Traveltitle=Death in a Lonely Place|Travel]], [[:Category:Autobiographyauthor=Stig Abell|Autobiography]]rating=4|genre=CrimeSometimes when people suggest that you read a certain book|summary= Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, they tell you ''this one has your name on it''settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. Mostly we take them at their word There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, or notLivia and her daughter Diana, but rarely do we ask them why they thought so, unless it turns out that we didn't like the book. That's a rare experience. People who are sensitive as moving in together would mean a lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to hearing a book calling your name, rarely get it wrong. In Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this case I was told why. The blurb speaks of is the author considering ''an older, less tethered sense of future she wants for herself.'' and her daughter? Older. Less tethered. That's not a bad description of where I am. Add to that my love of For the natural world, of those aspects of moment they’re enjoying life in the poetic present and lyrical that are about style not form, and substance most of all, about connection. Of course this book had my name on it. It was written for me. It would have found its way to me eventually. I am pleased to have it fall onto my path so quickly. [[Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie|Full Review]]putting the future on the back burner.|}}{{Frontpage<!-- Adele Parks -->|isbn=1786482126|-title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Elly Griffiths|rating=4.5[[image:0008284660.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008284660/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="verticalBuilders were demolishing an old house in Norwich -align: top; textthe site was going to hold seventy-align: left;"|===[[Lies Lies Lies by Adele Parks]]=== [[image:4five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway.5star There was no skull.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Simon Barnes had 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, that she is pregnant with his first taste child as a result of beer in 1976 when he was just six years oldthe one night they spent together some three months ago. Over the years it would become a habit and then a need. By 2016 and with a wife and child Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of his own he was a functioning alcoholic - a fact known by everybody except Simonsickness. He's concentrating on wanting another child to complete his family}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4. His wife, Daisy, isn5|genre=Crime|summary=It't worrieds unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. They took a long time to conceive Millie, who's perfect Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in every way, so why tempt fate? Simonprison and he's not inclined prepared to let matters rest though tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and it's at a fertility clinic that he receives the news that will change all their lives: who was responsible for her death. This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he's sterilewants. [[Lies Lies Lies by Adele Parks|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Lynas And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and Charlie Roberts -->|-| style="width: 10%; verticalto get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded -align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:099334030X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.comake certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.uk/dp/099334030X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|0008405026|title===[[Can You Draw A Stranger in the Dragosaur? by Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts]]Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=5|genre=Crime [[image:4|summary=It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night.5star She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crafts|Crafts]] Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bed. Initially, [[:Category:Emerging Readers|Emerging Readers]] You're going to get it looks like a hint of what this bookstraightforward murder/suicide but there's something about very quicklythe positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. When you see the title page, you'll find out what the book's called and that What looked as though it's been written by Peter Lynas. Then we move on was going to who has done the illustration be an open- and there's -shut case is now a gapcomplex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent'You'' s boss, Una Burt) are going to put your name thereless convinced. It's ''your'' responsibility to provide the pictures for this book about one of the largest creatures ever to roam the earth}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0571379877|title=The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=3. There's some help available5|genre=Crime|summary=Edward Jevons is a working-class young man, but your name is on the title page obsessed with his upper- class friends, Robert and you have work to do! [[Can You Draw the Dragosaur? by Peter Lynas Stanza. Robert's a theatre director. He's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and Charlie Roberts|Full Review]] <!-- Abercrombie -->|uses Edward to run errands for him. Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days -| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0575095865and he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert.jpg|link=http Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he's not like most men://wwwEdward is left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway.amazon.co.uk/dp/0575095865/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] }}{{Frontpage |author=Jo Callaghan| styletitle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre===[[A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie]]=== Crime[[image:5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]] The chimneys of industry rise over Adua and the world seethes with new opportunities. But old scores run deep as ever. On the blood-soaked borders of AnglandWhen a man is found crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, Leo dan Brock struggles DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to win fame on the battlefieldcase alongside her sidekick, and defeat the marauding armies of Stour NightfallAI detective Lock. He hopes for help from the crown. But King Jezal It's sontheir first live case together, the feckless Prince Orsohaving 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 man who specialises in disappointments. Savine dan Glokta - socialite, investor, and daughter potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of the most feared man in the Union - plans unwanted attention to claw her way their AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to solve the top of case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the slag-heap case and, potentially, out of society by any means necessary. But the slums boil over with a rage that all the money in the world cannot control. The age of the machine dawnscareer?|isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=Olivia, but Laura and Anjali met on the age first day of magic refuses to diemedical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. With the help of the mad hillwoman Isern-i-Phail Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, Rikke struggles which is a bonus when you aim to control the blessing, or the curse, of the Long Eyebe a cardiothoracic surgeon. Glimpsing the future Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is one thing, but with the guiding hand free spirit of the First of the Magi still pulling the strings, changing it will be quite another group and she becomes a GP. . .[[A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie|Full Review]] <!- When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol- Peter Lynas fuelled party and Clare Lindley it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-->five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=0241636604| styletitle="widthThe Trading Game: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson[[image:0993340334.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993340334/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Autobiography| stylesummary="verticalIf you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Bunny by Peter Lynas stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and Clare Lindley]]=== [[image:4starinjustice.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] You might have seen Bunny There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the beach where he livedLondon School of Economics. Like many beaches it was full of sand and Bunny didn't like sand, not least because it got between his toes Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and ''scratched''. What he really liked was juicy green grasshas a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. All the other rabbits lived on the top of the cliffHe also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, where Bunny could see a lot of tasty-looking grasscard game which got him an internship with Citibank. But the cliff was very highEventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader. [[Bunny by Peter Lynas and Clare Lindley|Full Review]]}}<!-- Thomas Knauer -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1035021803| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller[[image:1635860334.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/1635860334/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Why We Quilt by Thomas Knauer]]=== [[image:4starIt's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up. She's back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crafts|Crafts]] I've often wondered about Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the story that patchwork quilting began as a way for women (and myth would have it that it was always women) circumstances seem suspicious, to make an extra blanket out of material which would otherwise go to wastesay the least. This undoubtedly ''did'' happen but when you think about itArthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: Arthur, she feels, you need an awful lot of material to make a quilt and the time could have been better spent if all that was required was beddinglet her down badly. Like Thomas Knauer I've come Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the conclusion that it began as an art profession she loved. After the split, she worked in a cafe, met and has largely continued down that same road with fluctuations in popularity over married James (on the rebound from the yearslove of her life, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced. [[Why We Quilt by Thomas Knauer|Full Review]]}}<!-- Nicci French -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover| styletitle="widthAll Tomorrow's Futures: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Fictions that Disrupt[[image:1471179230.jpg|linkauthor=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471179230/ref=nosim?tagBenjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Science Fiction|summary===[[The Lying Room by Nicci French]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] When we meet Neve Connolly it's pretty obvious that she has something to hide. She crept into the house after midnight, carefully putting her clothes into the washing machine and she can't wait to get husband Fletcher and children Mabel, Connor and Rory off on their various ways the next morning when she gets a text telling her to come to the flat. He has a few hours to spare and can't wait to see her. Only, when she gets to the flat she finds Saul Stevenson, her boss and lover, dead on the floor. The hammer that's been used on his brain is at his side. [[The Lying Room by Nicci French|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0993340342.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993340342/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Madeleine Goes to the Moon by Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] Madeleine is a very lucky girl: in her room she has all a girl could ask for in the way of toys, books, games and dollies. She's a very lucky girl in another way too: she has imagination and everything in her room can be used to take her on adventures. She spends all day there: Dad thinks that she likes to be alone, but Madeleine's not alone on all the trips she takes. We'll find out that yesterday she was told to tidy her room, but instead of doing that she went to the moon. [[Madeleine Goes to the Moon by Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts|Full Review]] <!-- Ann Patchett -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1526614960.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1526614960/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Dutch House by Ann Patchett]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] When we first meet Danny and his elder sister, Maeve Conroy, they're both living at The Dutch House with their parents and under the gaze of the portraits of the former owners whose oil paintings still hang on the walls. It's a strange family dynamic: Cyril Conroy is distant and the closest Danny seems to come to him is when he goes out with him on a Saturday collecting rents from properties the family owns. Elna Conroy is loving, but absent increasingly often until the point comes when the children are told that she will not be returning. In other circumstances this might have affected Maeve and Danny deeply, but their primary relationship is with each other. It's a bond which only death will break. [[The Dutch House by Ann Patchett|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Lynas and Andy S Gray -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0993340350.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993340350/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Very Rude Toytoise by Peter Lynas and Andy S Gray]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] It was one of those blissful days in the forest. Mrs Rabbit was collecting carrots because she wanted to make a cake. Mrs Blue Bird was gathering twigs to build a nest. Mrs Spider was busily spinning a web to catch juicy flies. Mrs Squirrel was piling up acorns. And Mr Bear sat comfortably in a chair, fishing for lunch. What could be better? And then... [[The Very Rude Toytoise by Peter Lynas and Andy S Gray|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Lynas and Rosie Alabaster -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0993340318.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993340318/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Recipe for Making a Snowman by Peter Lynas and Rosie Alabaster]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] Who knew it? You can even get a recipe book which tells you how to make a snowman - and there's no cooking involved! Mum, Dad and the two children are absolutely meticulous though: they're going to get everything right, even down to doing some mining to get the coal for the eyes, searching through the bits 'n bobs jar for buttons for the snowman's coat and picking out the perfect piece of headgear. There's quite a choice available, but the family decide on the bobble hat, presumably to keep the snowman warm. The moth-eaten pair of mittens simply won't do and a pair with purple and pink stripes are chosen. [[Recipe for Making a Snowman by Peter Lynas and Rosie Alabaster|Full Review]] <!-- Melanie Martin -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789016304.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789016304/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[War and Love: A family's testament of anguish, endurance and devotion in occupied Amsterdam by Melanie Martin]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:History|History]], [[:Category:Biography|Biography]] Melanie Martin read about what happened to Dutch Jews in occupied Amsterdam during World War II and was entranced by what she discovered, particularly in ''The Diary of Ann Frank'' but then realised that her own family's stories were equally fascinating. A hundred and seven thousand Jews were deported from the city during the war years, but only five thousand survived and Martin could not understand how this could be allowed to happen in a country with liberal values who were resistant to German occupation. Most people believed that the occupation could never happen: even those who thought that the Germans might reach the city were convinced that they would soon be pushed back, that the Amsterdammers would never allow what happened to escalate in the way that it did, but initial protests melted away as the organisers became more circumspect. It's an atrocity on a vast scale, but made up of tens of thousands of individual tragedies. [[War and Love: A family's testament of anguish, endurance and devotion in occupied Amsterdam by Melanie Martin|Full Review]] <!-- Sedgwick -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1788542347.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788542347/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Snowflake, AZ by Marcus Sedgwick]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] This is a deep, interesting read unlike any book I've read in quite some time. The novel's story follows a young man named Ash in the process of joining a community of sick people in the curiously named town of Snowflake, Arizona. These people are sick, but it's not a sickness you've heard of. Instead, they're environmentally ill – affected by household chemicals and fabrics, pesticides, static electricity, and radiation – and their only ''cure'' is to stay in the town away from the real world. Though it's about a real place, the people in it are fictional. It really is a place apart, quite literally cut off from the outside world – people are even required to decontaminate themselves thoroughly before becoming fully integrated. [[Snowflake, AZ by Marcus Sedgwick|Full Review]] <!-- Moyer -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:178747920X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178747920X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Brightfall by Jaime Lee Moyer]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] Robin Hood is gone – denouncing both his former life and his love Marian, and retreating to a monastery – although no-one knows quite what led him to abandon all that he had built. Marion's life since has been relatively quiet - but when her friends start dying, Marion is tasked by Father Tuck to break the curse surrounding them and to save their lives. Setting off with a soldier, a Fey Lord and a sullen Robin Hood, she becomes tangled in a maze of betrayals, complicated relationships, and a vicious struggle for the throne…[[Brightfall by Jaime Lee Moyer|Full Review]] <!-- Hewitt -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1509896465.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509896465/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Nightjar by Deborah Hewitt]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] ''The Nightjar'' is an unusual and exciting story. Alice Wyndham lives a normal life in London until she finds a box on her doorstep one morning and her life begins to unravel, fast. From that very moment, her life is flooded with magic, loss, expectation and particularly, betrayal. As everything around her shifts, all that she knows, all that she thinks she knows, must change. Who can she trust? Who must she trust? Who will she trust? More importantly, can she even trust herself? [[The Nightjar by Deborah Hewitt|Full Review]] <!-- McGee -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0241365953.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241365953/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[American Royals by Katharine McGee]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Two and a half centuries ago, America won the Revolutionary War and General George Washington was offered the crown. Today, the House of Washington still sit on the thrown with Princess Beatrice next in line. Beatrice's whole life has been building up to her ruling the United States and the time for her reign is imminent. [[American Royals by Katharine McGee|Full Review]] <!-- Nicola Monaghan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0857308025.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VRSX3SN/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Dead Flowers (Dr Sian Love) by Nicola Monaghan]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It was more than a little bit of a surprise to Dr Sian Love (and the rest of the relatives) when her uncle Bobby left her his home - a former pub called The Loggerheads in the Narrow Marsh area of Nottingham. Then it was a shock when she found two bodies in the cellar before she'd even got settled in - and managed to break a bone in her foot in the course of making the discovery. They'd been there for some time, but who - exactly - were the man and the woman, wrapped in each other's arms? Having spent ten years on the Murder Squad, ending up as a DCI she knows what's going to happen next, but she's not prepared for quite how personal it's all going to get. [[Dead Flowers (Dr Sian Love) by Nicola Monaghan|Full Review]] <!-- Renee Watson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1526613689.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1526613689/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Some Places More Than Others by Renee Watson]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  Amara's twelfth birthday is coming up and she wants nothing more for it than a trip to New York to meet her father's side of the family. But her father hasn't spoken to Amara's grandfather for many years - Amara doesn't know why - and both her parents are resistant to the idea. But Amara is nothing if not persistent and a school family history project provides her with the perfect wedge. Eventually, her parents give in and off she goes... with a secret mission from her mother: to bring her father and Grandpa Earl back together again. [[Some Places More Than Others by Renee Watson|Full Review]] <!-- Graves -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:194927201X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/194927201X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Lakes of Mars by Merritt Graves]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]] Aaron Sheridan doesn't want to live anymore. His entire family is dead by his own hand, killed in a shuttle crash. Unable to deal with the guilt, he signs up for the Fleet expecting a fatal deployment to the Rim War, but instead ends up at their most prestigious command school, Corinth Station... [[Lakes of Mars by Merritt Graves|Full Review]] <!-- Ryan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:191280493X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/191280493X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Coming of Age by Danny Ryan]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]]  ''He began writing novels and poetry at ''Opening up new ways of thinking about the age shape of twelve, but it was things to take him a further forty-eight years to realise that he wasn’t very good at either. Consistently unpublished for all that time, he remains a shining example of hope over experience...''  ''This a memoir from someone you have never heard of - but will feel like you havecome.'' [[Coming of Age by Danny Ryan|Full Review]]  <!-- Maxwell N Andrews -->|-| style=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1983376353.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1983376353/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 

I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.}}{{Frontpage|author=Sunny Singh|title=Hotel Arcadia|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers | stylesummary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|isbn=086154742X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529153298|title=The List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|summary=It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though. Women have been disappearing. Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking - to anyone.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1398524085|title=Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci French|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=Charlotte Salter was expected at her husband'verticals fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but -align: top; textstrangely -align: left;her husband, Alec, is not. Shortly afterwards, Etty and Greg, find the body of Greg's father, Duncan Ackerley, in the river. It was an easy assumption for the police to make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when he couldn't stand the guilt. The Salter children are not convinced but there's little else they can do but get on with their lives and wonder about what really happened.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035906708|title=Diva|author=Daisy Goodwin|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=[[Lighthouse 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 Netherworlds Nazi occupation by Maxwell N Andrews]]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:3Rosevear, 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.5starBut 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}}{{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:Teens{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the Dead|rating=5|Teens]], [[:Category:genre=Fantasy|Fantasy]]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, [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while.''

The phrase about never trusting Within a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of the Briar's, a book by its cover family of witches who protect the town and the wider world from the Darklands. Though she has always wished for magic, Ellie Briar is something I put on the first non-witch to be born into her family for generations and as such since she was young, her training as a par steward revolved around letters and administration rather than spells and potions. When her grandmother suddenly dies, Ellie's cousin Audra becomes the Briar Witch, the town's leader, and Ellie takes her place beside her. As challenges come her way left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to communicate with comments about Marmitethe dead, putting her at the heart of a maelstrom of chaos. You're supposed Reeling from one family secret to another, Ellie must decide who to love it or hate it trust and Idetermine what to do as the Briar witches'm halfway betweenlegacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is under threat.|isbn=1803364548}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529900360|title=The Ghost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=It hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's fault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he felt responsible and likewise the old adage is halfway trueeven after Alex recovered, Sturgis was reluctant to ask for his help on difficult cases. From His assertions that there were only open-and-shut cases which didn't need the cover help of this I had a child-friendly fantasypsychologist only worked for a while. Finally, it was Robin, Delaware's partner, what with who nudged Milo into asking for help again. She knew that name and the involvement was something that attractive artwork 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 attractive girl reaching for Italian shoe empire and she is married to an attractive water plantextremely 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. That His father was only built a GP and Rowlands didn't want to follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on by 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 was the initial fictionalised quotesjob for him. Before long, he was at Liverpool University. It hadn't - as with their nonso many students -standard spellingbeen his dream since he was a child. If anything, as if texts he'd wanted to be a professional footballer.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0861541774|title=A Nye of scripture in this bookPheasants|author=Steve Burrows|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=DCI Domenic Jejeune's world predated our standardised literacyclose friend and former colleague, Danny Maik, has taken a short holiday in Singapore to meet up with an old ally, Guy Trueman. But why Maik was involved in a street brawl - he would later maintain that he was I two chapters facing a man armed with a knife - and he killed a Ghurka. Initially, he faced a charge of manslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested that he might have planned to murder the man. Now he could be facing the death penalty. Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to help as any interference from another police force could provoke a diplomatic incident and wouldn't help Danny at all.}}{{Frontpage|author=Alexander McCall Smith|title=The Perfect Passion Company|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=The Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and just finding operating as an alternative to all the online apps in providing a more personal, tailored service. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the business, as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a while. Katie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and more so jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh. And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characterswho quickly begin to charm. Katie has no experience in running a business, both human or in match-making, but Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and there's always her very helpful (and animalrather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand…|isbn=1846976596}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0811771741|title=InstaKnits for Baby|author=Melissa Leapman|rating=4|genre=Crafts|summary=Melissa Leapman's ''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a collection of knits from toys to blankets. Some will be quick knits - others are of 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 more flashbackssomeone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and no proof it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the very last person to deserve all this bad luck. He is a nice person. A really nice person. So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the 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 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 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 troll hunter is expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was what I, to be honest, but he's turned up and he'll have to do…|isbn=0008561249}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0C47LV1PC|title=Fragility|author=Mosby Woods|rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Can you make a ''Yo birthing person''d bought in forjoke? And if you could, is the question should you make it? Or is the question if you did, would it land? [[Lighthouse of The catch is that the Netherworlds by Maxwell N Andrews|Full Review]]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?