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===[[Vera Magpie by Laura Solomon]]===
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
 
''I have murdered three husbands.''
 
As an opening line that must take some beating, but Vera's telling us the truth. The first two husbands, Gary and Harry were abusive, but Larry was a treasure, a keeper, and it's difficult to understand why Vera would have killed him, particularly when she was likely to get found out very quickly and now she's in prison with a mandatory life sentence. Her only friend is Shirley, a lesbian, but Vera's not one to let herself be a victim. She's not keen on having a sexual relationship with Shirley (she wouldn't risk the security of her life in prison for the sake of a fling), but she is keen on getting an education and she's studying for a degree in English Literature. [[Vera Magpie by Laura Solomon|Full Review]]
 
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===[[Black Light by Laura Solomon]]===
 
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
 
Jim is a university student and, as the saying goes, he hasn't got his troubles to seek. His father committed suicide when he was young and somehow he's never really managed to connect with his step-father. His younger brother would be kindly described as having learning difficulties: if you were being honest you'd just say that he was very difficult, but Jim does his best with and for him. Jim's in love with a woman, but she finds him repulsive and you can understand why: the looks, the attitude, the (lack of) conversational ability and the clothing all leave a lot to be desired. Despite all that's he's not about to sit back and allow his life to drift: he's actually writing ''two'' novels and he reads excerpts from these to his friends in the pub. [[Black Light by Laura Solomon|Full Review]]
 
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===[[Falling Leaves Redemptor Domus by Stefan MohamedGamelyn Chase]]===
[[image:5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]],
When your best friend vanishes, how can you begin to move A young boy arrives at an exclusive faith school on? How can you live your life not knowing whether they're okay? And what would you do if they reappeared in your life? – all questions that Vanessa faces every daythe scenic North Wales coast, even seven years after her best friend Mark vanished. When he reappears, she's shocked not only by sent far from his presence back family in her lifethe Far East. As the boy travels to the school, but also by a family tragedy causes the boy to arrive at the fact that he hasn't aged school a day – for himvulnerable orphan, no time has passed since his disappearancewith an uncertain future. ShockedPlunged into a school full of danger and betrayal, confused the boy is seen as a trophy by friends and emotionally reelingenemies alike. With them locked into their scheming and plotting, Vanessa must return it comes to her home town in order the boy to attempt to help Mark find clean up the answers he so desperately cravespit of filth that the school has become. But what's waiting for them is far more surprising than either of them could ever have dreamt… [[Falling Leaves Redemptor Domus by Stefan MohamedGamelyn Chase|Full Review]]
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===[[Dyed Souls The Long Path To Wisdom by Gary SantorellaJan-Philipp Sendker]]===
[[image:4.5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:TeensShort Stories|TeensShort Stories]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
The USAOn my travels around the world, early 1980s. Charlie (or Charles, if he's feeling belligerent, and he often I have a tendency to end up in any bookshop that is) is being taken back to his home by his dropselling English-out, slutty mother. The home is called a Cottagelanguage books, and while I buy as many second-hand escapist tales as the book doesn't guide us to understand it perfectlynext person, it seems to mean he has a private room in a large self-contained bungalow, on a gated compound with round-the-clock adult supervision. Therewhat I's a paddock with horses m really looking for is the kids to ride, their own school 'local' – and all the adults are armed with Thorazine to calm cookbook maybe, the kids down. Charlie, despite his obvious bookish intelligence, is struggling to get to grips with why and how he's ended up where he ismaps definitely, but it must have something to do with his single parent mother being violent, and above all: the fact he is no longer allowed folk tales. If I ever get to stay with his grandfather. This book is a slightly woozy look at his thoughtsBurma, as he tries I won't need to build a relationship with a girl in a different Cottagehunt, and work out his lot. He certainly has a lot on his plate for a thirteen-year-oldI can read before I go. [[Dyed Souls The Long Path To Wisdom by Gary SantorellaJan-Philipp Sendker|Full Review]]
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===[[Two Steps Forward Katalin Street by Graeme Simsion and Anne BuistMagda Szabo]]===
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
When I read This is a story about the blurb for this bookpast. A specific past, certainly, I found myself instantly interested in its premise the form of two people trying to start their lives again following serious life changespre-war Budapest, but also a story about how that past can impact on the present and the future. The In this book , the first of three Magda Szabó wrote on the same theme between 1969 and 1987 and now newly translated and reissued, we witness a heart-rending nostalgia for happier days, guilt about those who did not disappointsurvive, and a dogged but doomed determination to cling to long-gone times, feelings and experiences which mark the here and now, staining and warping it into another, subtler misery. [[Two Steps Forward Katalin Street by Graeme Simsion and Anne BuistMagda Szabo|Full Review]]
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===[[I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman]]===
===[[Santa Goes on Strike by Jem Vanston]]=== [[image:5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General FictionFor Sharing|General FictionFor Sharing]]
''I Have Lost My Way'' tells the story of three individuals who have each lost something important to them leading to them losing their way. Freya has lost her voice, Harun has lost his love and Nathaniel has lost everything. However, these three elements do not give justice to the extent of what each character has lost. In this expertly written novel, Gayle Forman writes about how these three dissimilar individuals each came to lose what was most important to them, causing them to all meet one fateful day in New York City. [[I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman|Full Review]]
Something's gone horribly wrong. It's Christmas Eve and everything is very busy in Santa's grotto. The presents are all ready and waiting to be loaded onto the sleigh and the reindeer are itching to get going. But Santa? Santa is just not in the mood. He is tired of delivering the latest toys to children who only play with them for five minutes. He wishes people would remember what Christmas is really about - a time for families to come together for love and friendship and goodwill to one another. [[Santa Goes on Strike by Jem Vanston|Full Review]]<!-- Schimmelpfennig Mandeville -->
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===[[One Clear Ice-Cold January Morning at the Beginning Every Colour of the Twenty-First Century You by Roland Schimmelpfennig and Jamie Bulloch (translator)Amelia Mandeville]]===
[[image:4star4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
First, forgive me if I don't refer Zoe believes in adding life to years as well as years to this book with its full title oftenlife. It's pointedly preciseHer world, accuratelike her name, is bursting with life and rather ungainly – when in fact the book it describes has only the former two attributes in any quantitycolour. What happens in January She is that a wild wolf walks across the frozen river separating Poland and eastern Germany. Which means that, when the book starts properly, mid-February, it has had time to get sort of girl who would sing a lot closer to Berlin – within 80 kilometres, to be precise, for that rainbow is the road marker where one of our main characters sees itshe could. He Tristan (or ''Tree'' as she calls him) is trying to get back to work in Berlin for the first time opposite. Fresh out of hospital following a prolonged stay in a monthpsychiatric unit, and to be with his girlfriend, not knowing she has had an infidelity while he was away. Also fancying the bright lights and big city are sees a teenaged pair of love-birds, the boy and girl next door to each other in an eastern village, who flee an unhappy lot on the off-chance of world as a better onegrey place. You just know there is a chance that these characters – human and lupine alike – are sucked into one combined narrative, but you won't know quite what that will entail…[[One Clear Ice-Cold January Morning at the Beginning Every Colour of the Twenty-First Century You by Roland Schimmelpfennig and Jamie Bulloch (translator)Amelia Mandeville|Full Review]]
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===[[W A Spark of Light by John BanksJodi Picoult]]===
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
On The Center is the last remaining abortion clinic in the state of Mississippi and is the slopes source of Mt Hood in Oregon, an 1000great controversy when it comes to the Pro-year old Viking is discovered frozen Life versus Pro- three thousand miles further west than any previously known Viking explorationChoice debate. Josh Kinninger It is inspired by at The Center where one man, George Goddard, takes it upon himself to get revenge for the Viking discovery - three personal catastrophes having left him angryloss of his grandchild, unmoored and with his world in turmoilthe form of a mass-shooting. Beginning What arises is a journey westwardnovel that details the lives of the remaining hostages, as well as other characters central to the story. One of these characters is Hugh McElroy, he's filled with a desire hostage negotiator called in to help deflate the situation, who soon discovers that his sister and daughter, Wren, happened to wreak vengeance on be at the individuals he finds morally corruptclinic that day. [[W A Spark of Light by John BanksJodi Picoult|Full Review]] <!-- Vincent -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1471168239.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471168239/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Jess Castle and the Eyeballs of Death by M B Vincent]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Dr Jess Castle, the self proclaimed failure of the prestigious Castle family has returned home to the sleepy, idyllic chocolate box town of Castle Kidbury. Rather than being delighted, her family are suspicious, especially her father, the judge. Luckily for Jess, she doesn't have to try too hard to dodge her family's suspicions as a series of gruesome local murders are taking place and that's all anyone is talking about. Jess accidentally finds herself in the thick of the investigation, and to her delight finds that she can actually be useful. But with the small population dwindling and the sense of danger moving ever closer to home, has Jess made a grave mistake getting involved? [[Jess Castle and the Eyeballs of Death by M B Vincent|Full Review]]<!-- Hepworth Stone -->
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===[[The Family Next Door by Sally Hepworth]]===
===[[What's Left Unsaid by Deborah Stone]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
Pleasant Court Sasha has a lot on her plate. Husband Jeremy is a cul-de-sac a few minutes from distant and absent and the beach in Melbournemarriage needs work. Kids play in the street Son Zac is entering a rebellious adolescent phase and it's the sort of place people aspire hard to. Certainly that's know how the families who live there feel and there's a good sense of community. Ben and Essie are glad that Essie's mother is living next door as Essie had a mental breakdown three years ago when her first daughter was having difficulty sleepingto redirect him. Mia's come through that stageMother Annie, but now there's Poppyan alcoholic, who's is beginning the journey into dementia and has never been an easy person at the perfect baby best of times. Thank heavens for the first six months of her life, but is just starting to be difficult. Benlovely dog, in particularSebastian, is pleased that he can rely on Barbara to keep an eye on the situation whilst he's out at workand his unconditional love. [[The Family Next Door What's Left Unsaid by Sally HepworthDeborah Stone|Full Review]]
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===[[Ask For Blues by Malcolm Walton]]===
===[[The Place Where Love Should Be by Elizabeth Ellis]]=== [[image:3.5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]], [[:Category:Entertainment|Entertainment]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
Malcolm Walton's book 'Edward is clearly a memoir about his introduction six weeks old and I’ve had no sleep. I had thirty stitches in my perineum, the wounds still tug and itch. They had to do the Trad Jazz scene of stitches twice because the late 1950's and early 1960's, but he has chosen first lot became infected. The old-school midwife told me I wasn’t paying enough attention to write it in the form of personal hygiene. I must shower twice a novelday, or better still, claiming in his prologue take a salt bath. Do they really expect me to do that ? Have they ever tried to shower when a baby is crying and you’re so tired you can barely stand and your partner is banging around downstairs because he’s late for work again?'' I think most women have felt like this would give the book shortly after having a different approach baby. Many of them simply managed to the music memoir. His protagonist 'Martin' takes on Malcolm's mantle, and begins with his first discovery put one foot in front of the Salvation Army band with his grandfather. This catapults him into a love of music, initially taking piano lessons, other until things calmed down but some will have found it harder and later delving into his true love – the trumpet. developed post-natal depression[[Ask For Blues The Place Where Love Should Be by Malcolm WaltonElizabeth Ellis|Full Review]]<br><!-- Bala Bowden -->
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===[[The Boat People by Sharon Bala]]===
===[[The Amber Maze by Christopher Bowden]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
Among Hugh Mullion goes away to Dorset for the 500 Sri Lankans in a rickety boat making its way to Vancouver Island are Mahindan weekend and , while waiting for his six-year-old son Sellian. When the boat arrives the Canadian authorities take all the passengers into custodywife to arrive, placing the women and children in finds a separate facility from mysterious key down the men. A gruelling series of hearings will decide on the fate back of each individual or family: whether they will be allowed to stay in Canada, or deported back to Sri Lankaan antique chair. The government fears that up grubby and torn label to half of these asylum-seekers may have links to the Tamil Tigers, a terrorist group, so judges are instructed to have a firm handwhich is attached reads... [[The Boat People Amber Maze by Sharon BalaChristopher Bowden|Full Review]]<br>
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===[[The Hoarder Water Thief by Jess KiddClaire Hajaj]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] Nick is in the middle of wedding preparations when he decides to leave his fiancée behind in London and take up a post in some un-named west African country providing engineering support for the building of a children's hospital. He has no idea what he is getting himself into. [[The Water Thief by Claire Hajaj|Full Review]] <!-- Melissa Leet -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1943826331.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1943826331/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
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Cathal Flood is an old| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Landslide by Melissa Leet]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], belligerent man[[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]]The area where Jill and Susie lived wasn't highly populated so it was fortunate that they became such good friends, living in a filthy, crowded house despite the fact that Susie was once a family homeyear older than Jill. When Maud Drennan – underpaid carer Susie lived with her mother, an alcoholic, and unintentional psychic is employed Jill lived with ''her'' mother, who dedicated herself to look after her garden. Jill's father was Jay Tutle, the ancient Cathalphotographer, she assumes she'll just be the next in a long line but he spent much of shorthis time working away -term dogsbodies often for the old manmonths on end. Instead, Maud finds herself drawn into In reality there was little difference between the mysteries concealed within Cathaltwo families: Mrs Smith's once great house – alcoholism caused serious illness whilst Susie was still young. Joy and as Maud begins to clean and sort the rooms she uncovers secrets about the old man that awaken long-hidden memories within Maud herselftragedy would visit Jill's home. With ''Landslide'' is the aid of her highly glamourous yet utterly agoraphobic landlady and a troop story of holy ghosts, Maud must uncover how what happened determined the secrets at the heart course of the house – Jill's life and how great tragedy can breed resilience and exactly why they were buried… hope. [[The Hoarder Landslide by Jess KiddMelissa Leet|Full Review]]<br>
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===[[Kintu Aftershocks by Jennifer Nansubuga MakumbiA N Wilson]]===
[[image:43.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
''Kintu'' opens with unbridled authority and mercilessness. In just a few pages a man has been hunted down by an angry mob in Ugandacountry very much like New Zealand, but at the same time most avowedly not, two women will find love. He is then brained with a concrete slab; his woman is left in widowhood and has Strong love too, for our narrator will say that her first attraction for her partner was the hard task only thing to make sense of dealing with her manall those exaggerated songs she'd heard, and books and poems she'd read, and plays she's debtd acted in – works of art that had until then seemed sheer hyperbole. Blood flows easilyIt was entirely unrequited love for quite some time, and quicklybut it does burgeon, when your familyor so we's steps are haunted by re promised from the off, because of something quite drastic – a curse major earthquake very much like the one that spans generationshit Christchurch, but at the same time most avowedly not. This book then is the combined exploration of the lovers and the story of the quake. [[Kintu Aftershocks by Jennifer Nansubuga MakumbiA N Wilson|Full Review]]<br>
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===[[Anatomy of a Scandal Hell's Unveiling by Sarah VaughanLaura Solomon]]===
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]]
Sophie had been married to James for twelve years and two children: to be honest she was more than a A little bit in awe of him. James Whitehouse was an MP while ago I really enjoyed [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Marsha's Deal]] and junior minister: perhaps most importantly he I was a friend of delighted by the opportunity to read the prime ministersequel, so when he had ''Hell's Unveiling''. It's probably not much of a spoiler to admit say that heMarsha bested the devil in ''Marsha's Deal'd been having an affair he was confident that some contrition, a public admission that he'd been wrong, that he was but the devil is not perfect, would soon have his career back one to take defeat lying down. He's out to wage war on Planet Earth and particularly on track. And it seemed Marsha (who's thought of as though that was the way it was going, until a friend of the 'other womangoody two shoes'in Hell). Although a strong person, parliamentary researcher Olivia Lytton, persuaded she's vulnerable where her foster children are concerned. Daniel is framed for a crime he didn't commit and sent to juvenile detention and refused permission to go return to the policelive with Marsha. There was no dispute that Then, of course there are all the relationship had been consensualother children who are not only targeted, but after James had finished the affair there was an incident in a lift in House - worst of Commons and all - subverted to the police and the Crown Prosecution Service were both of the opinion that this amounted to rapedevil's evil ends. The prosecuting counsel is Kate Woodcroft and she He's out to prey on their fears and weaknesses and as with many foster children, their self esteem is very determined that Whitehouse fragile. This is going no small-scale operation, either - the devil has set up a training complex on earth, complete with an elevator to be brought to bookHell. [[Anatomy of a Scandal Hell's Unveiling by Sarah VaughanLaura Solomon|Full Review]]<br>
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===[[Dark Pines Staying On by Will DeanC M Taylor]]===
[[image:5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
Tuva Moodyson works for Tony Metcalfe is a local paper in small town Sweden - there Yorkshireman through and through and being honest, Yorkshire's where he'd really like to be near an ailing Mother. You suspect that Scarborough would be perfect, but desperate for he's living in a mountain village just beyond the big break that will have her moving on Costa Verde and running a pub. The Viva Espagñe isn't flourishing: Tony would really like to sell it and return to pastures new. Just outside the UK, what with the uncertainty of her townBrexit and everything, Gavrikbut there are a couple of problems. First off, two bodies lie deep in the forest his wife - Laney - brutally murdered and their eyes ripped out. They bring refuses to go back dark memories for a town that has seen this crime before - and Tuva is desperate to find the killerUK. At firstShe'd have you believe that she's not well, shebut there's just out to write a good story - but as backstory there that's not being talked about. Then there's the crimes continue she finds herself drawn deeper and deeper into pub, which isn't doing well enough to sell. In fact Tony's cleaning the forests outside swimming pools of Gavrikexpats who have left Spain and returned home, filled with stranger characters in order to make a bit of money to try and dark secretsmake ends at least come in sight of each other, even if they never meet. Will she find the killer before they find her? [[Dark Pines Staying On by Will DeanC M Taylor|Full Review]]
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===[[Mythos: A Retelling The Day of the Myths of Ancient Greece Orphan by Stephen FryDr Nat Tanoh]]===
[[image:5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
The Greek Myths Saga is eighteen and, like many eighteen-year olds, his prime concerns arelistening to what his mum calls ''hop-hip'', arguablyeating copious amounts of food, the greatest stories ever toldand learning about girls. So old Living in an affluent, liberal and influential they cast protected suburb, he has a shadow over western tales and traditions, yet remain relatable and readable millennia latergood life. Here comedianHowever, actorthe suburb is in Africa, television presenter, actor and author Stephen Fry brings where childhoods can be snatched in an instant. When his considerable talent to these special stories friends and recreates them with a wit, warmth and humanity that brings them family are dragged into the modern age whilst still giving conflict raging around the honour and respect dictatorship that such ancient and influential stories deserveSaga lives under, he is forced to become an unlikely revolutionary. Can chubby Saga really stand up to a murderous regime? And can he stay one step ahead of the soldiers desperate to stop him? [[Mythos: A Retelling The Day of the Myths of Ancient Greece Orphan by Stephen FryDr Nat Tanoh|Full Review]]
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===[[Water & Glass Murmuration by Abi CurtisRobert Lock]]===
[[image:5star3star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Dystopian Historical Fiction|Dystopian Historical Fiction]] ''Murmuration'' follows the lives of a host of characters from 1863 to the present day. From a risqué comic to a fortune teller, we see the birth of Blackpool and its steadily fading glamour. There is a hint of mysticism to the tale, with the mesmerising dance of starlings over the pier acting as an anchor throughout the distinct narratives here, drawing together disparate stories of lives captivated by the sea. [[Murmuration by Robert Lock|Full Review]] <!-- Laurain -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1910477540.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910477540/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align:Categorytop; text-align:Science Fictionleft;"|Science Fiction===[[Smoking Kills by Antoine Laurain and Louise Rogers-Lalaurie (translator)]]===
Something has happened, something very nasty and on a submarine a pregnant elephant is one of only a handful of animals living below the waves. We follow Nerissa Crane, a vet, as she remembers recent events, looks after the animals and falls into a world of intrigue[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
It Meet Fabrice Valantine. He's a headhunter, and a successful one too, in an office in Paris. All around him however his world is changing – yes, there is difficult a new ban on smoking in all workplaces. Goaded by his non-smoking wife, even though they met over an ashtray, of sorts, he sees a hypnotist who had success with a mutual friend in stopping their nicotine habit. The session seems to have been successful, however he faces the prospect of having such a change to properly review this book without giving too much awayhis own personality, his imbued habits and lifestyle, with fear, when he realises it will never again grant him any pleasure. There will be mild spoilers throughout He needs this right from pleasure when further changes at work come about – but it's what he replaces the start but I habit with that will try to avoid surprise the main onesmost. [[Water & Glass Smoking Kills by Abi CurtisAntoine Laurain and Louise Rogers-Lalaurie (translator)|Full Review]]
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===[[Strange Weather The Island by Joe HillM A Bennett]]===
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:HorrorTeens|Horror]], [[:Category:Fantasy|FantasyTeens]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
Strange Weather is A contemporary take on the savage classic ''Lord of the Flies'': a collection group of four short novels all linked bymismatched, unsurprisingly, strange and cataclysmic weathermodern-day teenagers must fight to survive on a deserted island. Each novel Link is distinct and showcases Hill's restrained yet vivid style which takes everyday events and makes them bitinglya fish out of water. Newly arrived from America, acerbically macabre or blindingly beautiful, often switching from one sentence he is finding it hard to settle into the nextvenerable and prestigious Osney School. As Hill himself says ''the beauty Who knew there could be so many strange traditions to understand? And what kind of school ranks its students by how fast they can run round the world and school quad - however ancient that quad may be? When Link runs the horror of slowest time in years, he immediately becomes the world were twined together'', never is this truer than in Strange Weather where moments butt of abject horror every school joke. And some students are coupled with raw beautydetermined to make his life more miserable than others... [[Strange Weather The Island by Joe HillM A Bennett|Full Review]]
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===[[The Lost Letters of William Woolf by Helen Cullen]]===
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]]
 
William Woolf is a letter detective, working in the Dead Letters Depot in East London. He spends his days deciphering smudged addresses, tracking down mysterious people and reading endless letters of love, guilt, death, hope, and everyday life. [[The Lost Letters of William Woolf by Helen Cullen|Full Review]]
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{{newreview
|author=Michelle de Kretser
|title=The Life to Come
|rating=3
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=''The Life to Come'' tells the story of several ''interesting'' characters who are all linked by one person: Pippa. The novel is split into five chapters with each one focusing on a different person, from Cassie and her bizarre relationship with Ash to George who has finished his thesis and is in the process of writing his first novel. Pippa, who is also a writer, appears in each of these chapters, in some cases just as a background character. However, what I found most fascinating about this novel was that de Kretser tells the story of Pippa's life through all these various appearances and leaves the reader with a real sense of who she is as a person and having watched her development as a character.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1760296708</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview <!-- remove 29/12 -->
|title=Servants of the Underground
|author=David Ssembajjo
|rating=3.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Having experienced a terrible famine in his own country, Kalamchi leaves to travel and learn. He returns with a burning desire to feed his people - but not only to feed their stomachs but to feed their minds, too. Kalamchi wants to raise his people's consciousness so that they can fight against the dictator Bamutu - chillingly known as ''president for life and after death''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848765800</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview <!-- remove 28/12 -->
|author=Rob Murphy
|title=Rotten to the Core
|rating=4
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=It's 2009, and Russia look like being awarded the football World Cup hosting rights for the oh-so-distant 2018 tournament - that is, until England stick their oar in. They have solved their hooligan problem, and improved their transport system, and so at last are valid final holders. Watching this is France, who have to reciprocate with the Russians who helped them get France '98, and they have a plan. At this stage the UEFA European championship of 2016 has not been awarded, and while France remain favourites to get the job, again some upstart idea has poked its head above the parapet - a joint offering from Wales and Scotland. Yes, these two tiny countries, separated by 200 miles and without a brilliant connection from one to the other, and without some vital posh hotels here and there, and with no serious claim to soccer fame when it comes to winning things, are unlikely hosts. But what if France could persuade the world it was a good idea - and let Russian espionage prove it not to be so, with all the while the French around to pick up the pieces? All of the UK would be damaged, meaning England '18 would be dead in the water, and Russia would win out. And who's to say the Brits, with their devolution habits, and their first coalition government in a long time, could not get through without damaging themselves?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1546282998</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview <!-- remove 28/12 -->
|author=Paul Stidolph
|title=Forests in the Sahara
|rating=4
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=''Everyone I speak to thinks you are going to come to some sort of sticky end.'' Those are not the most promising words a man can hear from his new partner, but she doesn't lie in this instance. He is Jeffrey Harvey, a young Cambridge professor, who has been dabbling with some extra-curricular work, creating GM trees that can keep vast quantities of water purified. Get an iceberg or three worth of H2O near Africa, where clean water is still a scarce resource, and the trees can do their bit and the water will advance the place and make Jeffrey a well-respected global entrepreneur. If, that is, he can get round all the problems in his life - fractions in the start-up involved in the project, a finance officer embezzling the funds for gambling - oh, and a man ready to accuse Jeffrey of murder and theft of research data on a case reaching back several years. It seems the lovely girlfriend was right to see no shortage of possible sticky ends...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1546282351</amazonuk>
}}
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