Difference between revisions of "Forthcoming Publications"

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=='''15 JANUARY'''==
+
=='''25 APRIL'''==
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|author=Alex Wheatle
+
|author=Sylvie Cathrall
|title=The Humiliations of Welton Blake
+
|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep
|rating=2.5
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|summary=We meet Welton Blake at the worst of times – only they should be the best of times.  He should be getting a text from the most bae-worthy girl in school in regards to a cinema date, but his phone has packed up, he's chundered last night's meal and his breakfast over another girl in class, who's duffed him up in response, and the wanna-bae seems to actually be with someone else anyway.  On a bigger scale he's living with his mother and not much income now that the dad has left the picture – yes, things are so bad they're resorting to having cabbage for dinner.  I know, right?  But surely this is just a blip, a day at school to forget, and everything (like his vomit) will all come out in the wash?  This can't be the start of a most nightmarish time for young Welton?
 
|isbn=1781129495
 
}}
 
 
 
=='''21 JANUARY'''==
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author=David F Ross
 
|title= There's Only One Danny Garvey
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary= Years ago, Danny Garvey was a footballing prodigy playing for his local club. Everyone predicted a bright future – but his career in professional football never quite worked out. Thirteen years on, convinced to return home by his "uncle" Higgy to visit his dying mother, Danny takes over the shambolic and once-great team he used to play for and tries to reform them.
 
|isbn= 1913193500
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)
 
|title=Kokoschka's Doll
 
|rating=2.5
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=Well, this looked very much like a book I could love from the get-go, which is why I picked my review copy up and flipped pages over several times before actually reading any of it.  I found things to potentially delight me each time – a weird section in the middle on darker stock paper, a chapter whose number was in the 20,000s, letters used as narrative form, and so on.  It intrigued with the subterranean voice a man hears in wartorn Dresden that what little I knew of it mentioned, too.  But you've seen the star rating that comes with this review, and can tell that if love was on these pages, it was not actually caused by them.  So what happened?
 
|isbn=1529402697
 
}}
 
=='''26 JANUARY'''==
 
{{Frontpage
 
|isbn=1529124417
 
|title=Before She Disappeared
 
|author=Lisa Gardner
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|summary=Frankie Elkin found Lani Whitehorse's body in her car at the bottom of the lake.  She knew that the twenty-two-year-old waitress wouldn't have left her three-year-old daughter and run away.  Lani was the fourteenth missing person to be located by Frankie and now she's moving on again, this time to Boston where there's a strong Haitian community which was home to Angelique Lovelie Badeau until her disappearance eleven months ago.  Frankie, middle-aged and white, gets a job and accommodation at Stoney's bar and sets out to investigate the community which is just about exclusively black.
 
}}
 
=='''28 JANUARY'''==
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Rob Keeley
 
|title=The Treasure in the Tower
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|summary= Rob Keeley is back! Hooray! We here at Bookbag Towers are always happy to read a new adventure from Rob - his stories combine fast pace and lots of action, an easy to read style, an unerring eye for children's friendships and rivalries, and always a good dollop of naughty humour. They're all present here, in ''The Treasure in the Tower''. The chance purchase of a book during a school trip sparks the whole adventure. Who can follow the clues best and find the treasure? Jess, her brother Mason and their friend Kessie through sheer persistence? Or spoiled brat Perdita with her money and tech gadgets and willingness to cheat?
 
|isbn=1800461321
 
}}
 
=='''1 FEBRUARY'''==
 
{{Frontpage
 
|isbn=B08LKT7HSR
 
|title=Murder in the Belltower (A Miss Underhay Mystery)
 
|author=Helena Dixon
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=In December 1933 the remains of Elowed Underhay were discovered in the cellar of the Glass Bottle Public House.  Ezekiel Hamett was sought in connection with the murder of Elowed and his half-brother, Denzil Hammett, whose body was also discovered.  Kitty Underhay's long search for her mother, who disappeared in June 1916 was over.  Now she's determined that the man responsible for her murder will be brought to justice.
 
}}
 
=='''2 FEBRUARY'''==
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Anna Carey
 
|title=This is Not the Jess Show
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Jess is a normal 90's teenage girl, just trying to navigate the usual stresses of school, and boys, and parent troubles. But strange things seem to be happening in her small town, with a mystery flu keeping lots of people indoors, and a strange metal device, with an apple on it, that slips out of her friend's bag, but that her friends just won't talk to her about. Jess feels like she might be hearing voices, and her sister (who is very ill) seems to be responding to her in strange ways sometimes. Is there something going on beneath the surface of Jess' life?
 
|isbn=1683691970
 
}}
 
=='''4 FEBRUARY'''==
 
{{Frontpage
 
|isbn=0008379300
 
|title=The Shadow Man
 
|author=Helen Fields
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|summary=Fergus Ariss is in his late thirties and he knows that he's dying.  His body is giving up on him, his internal organs beginning to putrify but before he dies he wants a wife, a child and a brother.  He's been on the lookout for the perfect people and he's made certain preparations.  The flat where the family will live is prepared and even windows with curtains, and pictures in frames have been painted onto the walls.  Angela Fernycroft was to be his wife.  Her husband, Cal, had taken the children - a boy of seven and a girl of five, away for the weekend.  Unfortunately, it doesn't go according to plan and Angela dies.
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
|isbn=178089905X
 
|title=Serpentine
 
|author=Jonathan Kellerman
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Crime
+
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=It wasn't exactly the case Lt Milo Sturgis had been dreaming about: a death from thirty-six years ago and the daughter of the woman who died wanted some answers.  She had money and money translated into clout and so the problem was dropped onto Milo's toes.  Dorothy Swoboda was twenty-four years old when she died in a car which went off a cliff on Mulholland Drive and burst into flames.  It turned out that she wasn't actually married to the man with whom she'd left her daughter but Dr Stanley R Barker, optometrist, was a good man and he took out adoption papers for Ellie - and she took his name. Ellie was three when her mother left her with Dr Barker and she has nothing of her but one photograph of her mother and father and a necklace made of serpentine.
+
|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.
 +
|isbn= 0356522776
 
}}
 
}}
 +
=='''9 MAY'''==
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1471191303
 
|title=The Invisible
 
 
|author=Tom Percival
 
|author=Tom Percival
 +
|title=The Wrong Shoes
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=For Sharing
+
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=This is the story of Isobel, a little girl who made a big differenceIsobel lived with her parents in a house - a very cold house, because her parents couldn't afford to put the heating on:
+
|summary=Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of waysHe is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', 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-hand job on a building site and had an accidentThrow 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.  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.
 
+
|isbn=1398527122
''Ice curled across the inside of the window and crept up the corner of the bedpost.''
 
 
 
The family didn't go to the cinema or on holidays but they had each other and they were happyThen the day came when they couldn't afford the rent for the house and they had to move to the far side of the city.  This part of the city was cold, sad and lonely and Isobel felt invisible.
 
 
}}
 
}}
 +
=='''23 MAY'''==
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|author=Helen Fisher
+
|author=Onyi Nwabineli
|title=Space Hopper
+
|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself
|rating=3.5
+
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Faye lost her mum when she was very young.  She was raised by some elderly neighbours after her mum died from a cold that got worse, and although they were kind and very good to her she of course missed her mum enormouslySo when, unexpectedly, she discovers a time travel conduit (via an old space hopper box in her attic) that takes her back to the 70's and her mum, she revels in the chance to create some memories and get to know the woman who meant so much to her.  The time travelling, however, is neither easy nor safe, and Faye fears that her husband won't believe what's happening and so lies to him insteadThe lies grow more tangled, and Faye begins to wonder if it's safe for her to return one last time to the pastShould she try to see her mum one last time before her mum's death, or will it change her own future forever to attempt it?
+
|summary=Anuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-mother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gainNow Anuri is in her twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and to get her life back, suing her step-mother to take down the content about her.  Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them for doing so.  Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the new focus of Ophelia's online empireCan she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?
|isbn=1471188663
+
|isbn=0861546873
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
=='''13 JUNE'''==
=='''18 FEBRUARY'''==
 
 
{{Frontpage
 
{{Frontpage
|author=Hannah Gold
+
|isbn=1635866847
|title=The Last Bear
+
|title=The Lavender Companion
 +
|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=April's father, a scientist, has been given a job on a remote island called Bear Island, and he accepts the job deciding to take his daughter April with himThey live alone anyway, since April's mother died some time before, and he feels it will be educational for her to experience the island and all its natural beauty. April already has an affinity with nature, and she's excited to travel with her father, thinking of all the fun things they will be able to experience together on the islandBut when they get there, her father finds that his work monitoring and recording the temperatures just takes up too much of his time, and so April is left to explore by herselfHer father had reassured her that there were no longer any bears living on Bear Island, but one day April thinks she catches a glimpse of one, and so she sets out to find the Bear, and then when she sees he is injured, to befriend and help him.
+
|summary=It's strange, the things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for youBefore I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepageI don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally(There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it. Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the corners of pages.  You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem.  I ''loved'' this book already.
|isbn=000841128X
 
}}
 
 
 
=='''4 MARCH'''==
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Saima Mir
 
|title=The Khan
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Crime
 
|summary=Jia Khan has alway lived by the motto be twice as good as men and four times as good as white men. This has served her well in her rise through the criminal justice system and by the time she is called home for her sister's wedding after fifteen years in self-imposed exile, she is at the top of her game. Returning to the city of her birth, to old scars and fresh wounds, Jia must confront her past and reconcile her visions for the future with her sense of honour and duty.
 
|isbn=1786079097
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Andrea Bajani and Elizabeth Harris (translator)
 
|title=If You Kept a Record of Sins
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=This was an incredibly readable novella, but one that left me a little conflicted. We start as our hero arrives at Bucharest airport, and before we even know his gender or the nature of the person he's addressing in his second person monologue of a narration, we see him picked up by his mother's chauffeur, and carted off to do all the necessary introductions before said mother is buried the following day. The mother was a businesswoman, who clearly left northern Italy and settled in Romania with her (night-time and business) partner, and feelings of abandonment are still strong. And so we flit from current (well, this came out in the original Italian in 2007, so moderately current) Bucharest, to the lad's childhood, and see just what he has to tell her as a private farewell address.
 
|isbn=1939810965
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Mary H.K. Choi
 
|title=Yolk
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary= Jayne Baek is a fashion student that's barely getting by. She drinks. She smokes. She makes bad decisions about the men she sleeps with. She's an all-round messy character; and that's her charm. June, on the other hand, is a complete contrast to Jayne. She's a typical older sister: she's smart, thinks she knows it all, and has a successful job. She constantly criticises Jayne for her life choices, and the two have barely kept in contact despite living in the same city for the past two years. This is until June finds out she's sick, and Jayne is the only person she can turn to. The two sisters have to come together and decide how far they'll go to save each other's lives – even if it means swapping identities.
 
|isbn= 0349003696
 
}}
 
 
=='''23 MARCH'''==
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Dean Koontz
 
|title=The Other Emily
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Thrillers
 
|summary=Our hero David Thorne is an author, who shares his life between the two US coasts.  It's the western coast we're concerned with, a place he has to return to, and a place he has to be able to leave.  David lost contact with his partner there ten years ago, when she vanished from a remote road late at night.  He's paying for contact with the man he thinks the only suspect, a lifer now, who went a bit Hannibal Lecter, and has a dozen and more unfound Jane Does on his record.  David is trying to pry the connection between the murderer and his girl from the man's mind, but to no avail.  He's also having a recharge ready for his next hit novel when into the restaurant walks the sheer spitting image, the very embodiment, the virtual resurrection, of his love.  What is a man to do?
 
|isbn=1542019958
 
}}
 
=='''1 APRIL'''==
 
{{Frontpage
 
|isbn=B08R7LXQ9S
 
|title=Remy: A book about believing in yourself
 
|author=Mayuri Naidoo and Caroline Siegal
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=Remy is feeling miserable. He's let himself down ''again''. The school bully Jayden,  together with his sidekicks Ryan and Brandon, have been laughing at Remy, calling him names because he is short and has small eyes. They are mean but they are not stupid. They are careful to wind up Remy when nobody can see and then push him just that little bit further when the other kids are around. So, when Remy reacts, it looks as though he was the instigator. And then he gets into trouble at school and the teachers don't believe him when he tries to explain what happened.
 
}}
 
=='''15 APRIL'''==
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Lucy Holland
 
|title=Sistersong
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=Sistersong is part of a genre I particularly enjoy, the modern retelling of folk and fairy tales. These stories, for most of us, are a cornerstone of childhood and I relish seeing them retold with fresh eyes and a fresh perspective. If handled well these retellings give new life and new meaning to stories that are now becoming increasingly narrow and outdated, fleshing out characters, examining relationships and re-evaluating the role of women. Sistersong is a perfect example of a modern retelling done well, the plot is handled with care, keeping its archaic historical feel but allowing the characters to come to life, to feel real and human, most importantly they feel relatable in a modern world whilst still feeling appropriate for the pre-Saxon age they live in. This is a masterpiece of storytelling and I was captivated from beginning to end.
 
|isbn=1529039037
 
}}
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Goldy Moldavsky
 
|title=The Last Girl
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=teens
 
|summary= Rachel Chavez is the new girl at Manchester Prep. A school filled to the brim with the richest children in the city – and Rachel doesn't belong. She's not rich, she has no ties to some royal family in Serbia, and most of all, she spends the majority of her spare time watching horror movies as a source of comfort. She struggles to find anyone to connect with, until one day she stumbles upon the Mary Shelley Club. A secret society with one aim: pull off the best prank in true horror movie style, and unless someone screams, you have failed. Rachel becomes immediately engrossed in the competition. But as the pranks escalate, and Rachel finally feels like she has found her place in this school, things start to go wrong; a masked figure keeps showing up to the pranks, and people begin to get hurt. When the competition then takes a deadly turn, Rachel must figure out who this masked figure is before it's too late.
 
|isbn=0755501527
 
}}
 
 
=='''29 APRIL'''==
 
{{Frontpage
 
|author= Jennifer Saint
 
|title= Ariadne
 
|rating= 4.5
 
|genre= Women's Fiction
 
|summary= This re-telling of the myth of Ariadne and the Minotaur is interesting and unusual. Jennifer Saint presents the story in a way that is sympathetic to its origins but also appealing to a modern audience. Saint's narrative is told predominantly through the viewpoint of Ariadne, spanning from her childhood to her death, allowing the reader to really connect with Ariadne as a character in her own right rather than just a prop in the heroics of Theseus.
 
|isbn=1472273869
 
}}
 
 
 
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You can work your way through the newest review, category by category, starting [[Newest Animals and Wildlife Reviews|here]].
 
You can work your way through the newest review, category by category, starting [[Newest Animals and Wildlife Reviews|here]].

Latest revision as of 10:03, 22 March 2024

25 APRIL

0356522776.jpg

Review of

A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

5star.jpg Science Fiction

There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them. Full Review

9 MAY

1398527122.jpg

Review of

The Wrong Shoes by Tom Percival

5star.jpg Confident Readers

Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', 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-hand job on a building site and had an accident. 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. 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. Full Review

23 MAY

0861546873.jpg

Review of

Allow Me to Introduce Myself by Onyi Nwabineli

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

Anuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-mother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gain. Now Anuri is in her twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and to get her life back, suing her step-mother to take down the content about her. Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them for doing so. Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the new focus of Ophelia's online empire. Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time? Full Review

13 JUNE

1635866847.jpg

Review of

The Lavender Companion by Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci

4.5star.jpg Lifestyle

It's strange, the things that make you immediately feel that this is the book for you. Before I started reading The Lavender Companion, I visited the author's website and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepage. I don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally. (There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it. Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I loved this book already. Full Review

You can work your way through the newest review, category by category, starting here.