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Newest General Fiction Reviews (view source)

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===[[Katalin Street The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Magda SzaboAlexander McCall Smith]]===
[[image:5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] This is a story about the past. A specific past, certainly, in the form of pre-war Budapest, but also a story about how that past can impact on the present and the future. 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 survive, 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. [[Katalin Street by Magda Szabo|Full Review]]
Long-time followers of The Bookbag will know I'm a die-hard fan of AMS. So you can imagine my excitement at reading a brand new book in a brand new series, described by the author himself as Scandi Blanc (as opposed to Scandi Noir)! Here we meet a new detective named Ulf Varg, who works in the Department for Sensitive Crimes, solving those crimes that perhaps fall outside the usual police parameters. This particular book deals with crimes including someone who is stabbed in the knee, the disappearance of an imaginary boyfriend, and a case of potential werewolves. They're the crimes that perhaps nobody else would bother to deal with, and I rather enjoyed them, especially the stabbing where you find that actually, you identify with the person who committed the crime, rather than the victim. [[The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall Smith|Full Review]]
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===[[Santa Goes on Strike The Things That are Lost by Jem VanstonAlan Kennedy]]===
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For SharingGeneral Fiction|For SharingGeneral Fiction]]
The final novel in Alan Kennedy's WW2 trilogy sees Captain Alex Vere taken off active duty and banished to Scotland, providing trade craft spy training. It's stifling and suffocating and feels as much like a prison to Alex as anything the Germans would provide. And where is Justine? Alex hasn't seen her since he went to ''that'' disastrous meeting with John Cabot, instigator of the disinformation campaign, and returned to find her missing. A failed mission is one thing but no Justine is quite another. Alex can't get Justine out of his head. Has she left the service? Does she know too much? Is she even still alive? [[The Things That are Lost by Alan Kennedy|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]]<!-- Mandeville Schienmel -->
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===[[Every Colour of You A Danger to Herself and Others by Amelia MandevilleAlyssa Sheinmel]]===
[[image:4.5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
Zoe believes in adding life to years as well as years ''They needed someone to life. Her worldblame, like her name, is bursting with life and colourI was the only available scapegoat. She is Their daughter was my best friend. Playing the scapegoat was the sort of girl who would sing a rainbow is she least I coulddo under the circumstances. Tristan (or ''Tree'' as she calls him) is the oppositeSeventeen year old Hannah Gold was born mature – or so her parents tell her. Fresh out of hospital following a prolonged stay She has dined in a psychiatric unitfancy restaurants, he sees explored the most sophisticated corners of the globe and lived a world as a grey placelife of luxury. [[Every Colour of You A Danger to Herself and Others by Amelia MandevilleAlyssa Sheinmel|Full Review]]
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===[[A Spark of Light Louis and Louise by Jodi PicoultJulie Cohen]]===
[[image:4star5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
The Center is What would you be like, right now, if you'd been born a different gender? Would it simply be a matter of genetics, and your life would still have unfolded in the same way? Or would the last remaining abortion clinic way you had been raised affect who you became in life? This latest novel by Julie Cohen looks at all of the state above, covering the stories of Mississippi Louis and is Louise, born on the source of great controversy when it comes same day, to the Pro-Life versus Pro-Choice debate. It same parents, but in one storyline Lou is at The Center where one man, George Goddard, takes it upon himself to get revenge for the loss of his grandchilda boy, and in the form of other a mass-shootinggirl. What arises is Does it really make a novel that details the lives of the remaining hostagesdifference, as well as other characters central to the story. One of these characters gender box that is Hugh McElroyticked when we arrive in this world? We all know that men and women are treated differently, a hostage negotiator called but this story really highlights how things have been in to help deflate the situationpast, how they still are, who soon discovers that his sister and daughter, Wren, happened prompts you to think about how they could be at the clinic that day... [[A Spark of Light Louis and Louise by Jodi PicoultJulie Cohen|Full Review]]
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===[[Jess Castle and the Eyeballs of Death M for Mammy by M B VincentEleanor O'Reilly]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
[[image:4starThe Augustts are, like all families, a bit complicated. A loving irish family, their love binds them together – but all express that in very different ways. However, when misfortune strikes the family they are forced to work together in order to understand each other again, as with a family as complicated as the Augustts it's not always what is spoken that makes the most sense. Things are shaken up further when Granny Mae-Anne moves in and takes charge.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]Full of stern words and common sense, she's a force of nature who must try her hardest to hold the family together. [[:Category:CrimeM for Mammy by Eleanor O'Reilly|CrimeFull Review]]
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]]<!-- Stone Hogan -->
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===[[Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan]]===
[[image:5star.jpg|link===Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[What's Left Unsaid by Deborah Stone:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]]===
[[image:4starTilda returns to Brighton, to tidy away the remains of her mother's life after her death. Whilst there, she returns to the Paradise hotel, a haven for eccentrics and misfits. A place where people can be themselves, and let go of thoughts that torment them elsewhere. Little wonder that Tilda cannot forgive her mother for banishing her as a child, from this place of wonder. With the help of Queenie Malone, caring, and gregarious, Tilda begins to pick apart the tricky and uncertain relationship she had with her sometimes cruel and distant mother.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General FictionQueenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan|General FictionFull Review]]
Sasha has a lot on her plate. Husband Jeremy is distant and absent and the marriage needs work. Son Zac is entering a rebellious adolescent phase and it's hard to know how to redirect him. Mother Annie, an alcoholic, is beginning the journey into dementia and has never been an easy person at the best of times. Thank heavens for her lovely dog, Sebastian, and his unconditional love. [[What's Left Unsaid by Deborah Stone|Full Review]] <!-- Ellis Cookson -->
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===[[The Place Where Love Should Be Man Who Came to London by Elizabeth EllisA S Cookson]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
[[image:4star''In 1948, the first set of Caribbean nationals arrived in Great Britain on a ship called "Empire Windrush".jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] They struggled to find housing. They worked as labourers. They faced open discrimination, forcing them to quickly form their own community. Decades later, Freddy makes the same journey.''
''Edward is 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 stitches twice because the first lot became infected. The old-school midwife told me I wasn’t paying enough attention to personal hygiene. I must shower twice a day, or better still, take Does he find a salt bath. Do they really expect me place to do thatlive? Does he face stereotypes? 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 againHas Britain moved forward?''
I think most women have felt like this shortly after having a babyFreddie arrives in London in the early 2000s, answering the call for teachers. He thinks about his own Jamaican education, based on the British system, and the way he was taught English nursery rhymes and about the River Thames. He thinks about the love of cricket and football, shared by both countries. Many And he thinks of them simply managed to put one foot in front the generations of the other until things calmed diaspora who came before him. Freddy does well in his job in East London but he does have to face down but some will have found it harder and developed poststereotypical attitudes from his pupils -natal depressionall Jamaicans smoke weed, don't they? Everybody knows that! [[The Place Where Love Should Be Man Who Came to London by Elizabeth EllisA S Cookson|Full Review]]
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===[[Liberation Square by Gareth Rubin]]===
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
 
In an alternate 1952, Soviet Troops control British Streets. After D-Day goes horribly wrong, Britain is first occupied by Nazi Germany – only to be rescued by Russian soldiers from the East, and Americans from the west. Dividing the nation between them, London soon finds itself split in two, a wall running through it like a scar. When Jane Cawson's husband is arrested for the murder of his former wife, Jane is determined to clear his name. In doing so, Jane follows a trail of corruption that leads her right to the highest levels of the state – and soon finds herself desperate to stay one step ahead of the murderous secret police… [[Liberation Square by Gareth Rubin|Full Review]]
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[[image:4star4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
Hugh Mullion goes away to Dorset Smith Simonyi and Iris Massey worked together for four years, during which time Iris left her husband at the weekend andaltar on their wedding day. Smith, meanwhile, relied on Iris, while waiting for but his wife attention was on making enough money to arrivecover his mother's nursing home fees in Wisconsin, finds running the branding agency in New York and losing money gambling when the pressures got too much for him. He was devastated when Iris developed a mysterious key down terminal cancer and died at the back age of an antique chairthirty three. The grubby He was surprised too when he discovered that Iris had been writing a blog in the last six months of her life and torn label to which her final request of Smith is attached reads..that he gets the blog published as a book. [[The Amber Maze When You Read This by Christopher BowdenMary Adkins|Full Review]]
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===[[The Water Thief Vera Magpie by Claire HajajLaura Solomon]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
[[image:4star''I have murdered three husbands.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]]''
Nick is in As an opening line that must take some beating, but Vera's telling us the middle of wedding preparations 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 he decides she was likely to leave his fiancée behind get found out very quickly and now she's in London and take up 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 post sexual relationship with Shirley (she wouldn't risk the security of her life in some un-named west African country providing engineering support prison for the building sake of a childrenfling), but she is keen on getting an education and she's hospital. He has no idea what he is getting himself intostudying for a degree in English Literature. [[The Water Thief Vera Magpie by Claire HajajLaura Solomon|Full Review]]
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===[[Landslide Black Light by Melissa LeetLaura Solomon]]===
[[image:4star3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[: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, despite the fact that Susie was a year older than Jill. Susie lived with her mother, an alcoholic, and Jill lived with ''her'' mother, who dedicated herself to her garden. Jill's father was Jay Tutle, the photographer, but he spent much of his time working away - often for months on end. In reality there was little difference between the two families: Mrs Smith's alcoholism caused serious illness whilst Susie was still young. Joy and tragedy would visit Jill's home. ''Landslide'' is the story of how what happened determined the course of Jill's life and how great tragedy can breed resilience and hope. [[Landslide by Melissa Leet|Full Review]]
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]]  <!-- Wilson Chase -->
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===[[Aftershocks Redemptor Domus by A N WilsonGamelyn Chase]]===
[[image:3.5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
In a country very much like New Zealand, but A young boy arrives at an exclusive faith school on the same time most avowedly notscenic North Wales coast, two women will find lovesent far from his family in the Far East. Strong love too, for our narrator will say that her first attraction for her partner was As the only thing boy travels to make sense of all those exaggerated songs she'd heard, and books and poems she'd read, and plays she'd acted in – works of art that had until then seemed sheer hyperbole. It was entirely unrequited love for quite some time, but it does burgeon, or so we're promised from the offschool, because of something quite drastic – a major earthquake very much like family tragedy causes the one that hit Christchurch, but boy to arrive at the same time most avowedly notschool a vulnerable orphan, with an uncertain future. This book then is the combined exploration Plunged into a school full of danger and betrayal, the lovers boy is seen as a trophy by friends and enemies alike. With them locked into their scheming and plotting, it comes to the story boy to attempt to clean up the pit of filth that the quakeschool has become. [[Aftershocks Redemptor Domus by A N WilsonGamelyn Chase|Full Review]]
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===[[Hell's Unveiling The Long Path To Wisdom by Laura SolomonJan-Philipp Sendker]]===
[[image:3.5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]]
A little while ago I really enjoyed [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Marsha's Deal]] and I was delighted by On my travels around the opportunity to read the sequelworld, ''Hell's Unveiling''. It's probably not much of I have a spoiler tendency to say end up in any bookshop that Marsha bested the devil in ''Marsha's Deal''is selling English-language books, but the devil is not one to take defeat lying down. He's out to wage war on Planet Earth and particularly on Marsha (who's thought of while I buy as many second-hand escapist tales as a 'goody two shoes' in Hell). Although a strong the next person, shewhat I's vulnerable where her foster children are concerned. Daniel m really looking for is framed for a crime he didnthe 'local't commit and sent to juvenile detention and refused permission to return to live with Marsha. Then– the cookbook maybe, of course there are all the other children who are not only targetedmaps definitely, but - worst of above all - subverted to : the devil's evil endsfolk tales. HeIf I ever get to Burma, I won's out t need to prey on their fears and weaknesses and as with many foster childrenhunt, their self esteem is very fragile. This is no small-scale operation, either - the devil has set up a training complex on earth, complete with an elevator to HellI can read before I go. [[Hell's Unveiling The Long Path To Wisdom by Laura SolomonJan-Philipp Sendker|Full Review]]
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===[[Staying On Katalin Street by C M TaylorMagda Szabo]]===
[[image:4star5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] This is a story about the past. A specific past, certainly, in the form of pre-war Budapest, but also a story about how that past can impact on the present and the future. 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 survive, 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. [[Katalin Street by Magda Szabo|Full Review]]
Tony Metcalfe is a Yorkshireman through and through and being honest, Yorkshire's where he'd really like to be. You suspect that Scarborough would be perfect, but he's living in a mountain village just beyond the Costa Verde and running a pub. The Viva Espagñe isn't flourishing: Tony would really like to sell it and return to the UK, what with the uncertainty of Brexit and everything, but there are a couple of problems. First off, his wife - Laney - refuses to go back to the UK. She'd have you believe that she's not well, but there's a backstory there that's not being talked about. Then there's the pub, which isn't doing well enough to sell. In fact Tony's cleaning the swimming pools of expats who have left Spain and returned home, in order to make a bit of money to try and make ends at least come in sight of each other, even if they never meet. [[Staying On by C M Taylor|Full Review]]
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===[[The Day of the Orphan by Dr Nat Tanoh]]===
===[[Santa Goes on Strike by Jem Vanston]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General FictionFor Sharing|General FictionFor Sharing]]
Saga is eighteen and, like many eighteen-year olds, his prime concerns are listening to what his mum calls ''hop-hip'', eating copious amounts of food, and learning about girls. Living in an affluent, liberal and protected suburb, he has a good life. However, the suburb is in Africa, where childhoods can be snatched in an instant. When his friends and family are dragged into the conflict raging around the dictatorship that Saga 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? [[The Day of the Orphan by Dr Nat Tanoh|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]]<!-- Lock Mandeville -->
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===[[Murmuration Every Colour of You by Robert LockAmelia Mandeville]]===
[[image:3star4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]]
Zoe believes in adding life to years as well as years to life. Her world, like her name, is bursting with life and colour. She is the sort of girl who would sing a rainbow is she could. Tristan (or ''MurmurationTree'' follows as she calls him) is the lives opposite. Fresh out of hospital following a host of characters from 1863 to the present day. From a risqué comic to prolonged stay in a fortune tellerpsychiatric unit, we see the birth of Blackpool and its steadily fading glamour. There is he sees a hint of mysticism to the tale, with the mesmerising dance of starlings over the pier acting world as an anchor throughout the distinct narratives here, drawing together disparate stories of lives captivated by the seaa grey place. [[Murmuration Every Colour of You by Robert LockAmelia Mandeville|Full Review]]
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===[[Smoking Kills A Spark of Light by Antoine Laurain and Louise Rogers-Lalaurie (translator)Jodi Picoult]]===
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
Meet Fabrice ValantineThe Center is the last remaining abortion clinic in the state of Mississippi and is the source of great controversy when it comes to the Pro-Life versus Pro-Choice debate. He's a headhunterIt is at The Center where one man, George Goddard, and a successful one tootakes it upon himself to get revenge for the loss of his grandchild, in an office in Paristhe form of a mass-shooting. All around him however his world What arises is changing – yesa novel that details the lives of the remaining hostages, there is a new ban on smoking in all workplacesas well as other characters central to the story. Goaded by his non-smoking wife, even though they met over an ashtray, One of sortsthese characters is Hugh McElroy, he sees a hypnotist who had success with a mutual friend hostage negotiator called in stopping their nicotine habit. The session seems to have been successful, however he faces help deflate the prospect of having such a change to his own personalitysituation, who soon discovers that his imbued habits sister and lifestyledaughter, with fearWren, when he realises it will never again grant him any pleasure. He needs this pleasure when further changes happened to be at work come about – but it's what he replaces the habit with clinic that will surprise the mostday. [[Smoking Kills A Spark of Light by Antoine Laurain and Louise Rogers-Lalaurie (translator)Jodi Picoult|Full Review]]
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===[[The Island Jess Castle and the Eyeballs of Death by M A BennettB Vincent]]===
[[image:5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:TeensGeneral Fiction|TeensGeneral Fiction]], [[:Category:General FictionCrime|General FictionCrime]]
A contemporary take on Dr Jess Castle, the savage classic ''Lord self proclaimed failure of the Flies'': a group prestigious Castle family has returned home to the sleepy, idyllic chocolate box town of mismatchedCastle Kidbury. Rather than being delighted, her family are suspicious, especially her father, modern-day teenagers must fight to survive on a deserted island. Link is a fish out of waterthe judge. Newly arrived from AmericaLuckily for Jess, he is finding it she doesn't have to try too hard to settle into the venerable dodge her family's suspicions as a series of gruesome local murders are taking place and prestigious Osney Schoolthat's all anyone is talking about. Who knew there could be so many strange traditions to understand? And what kind Jess accidentally finds herself in the thick of school ranks its students by how fast they can run round the school quad - however ancient investigation, and to her delight finds that quad may she can actually be? When Link runs useful. But with the slowest time in years, he immediately becomes small population dwindling and the butt sense of every school joke. And some students are determined danger moving ever closer to make his life more miserable than others... home, has Jess made a grave mistake getting involved? [[The Island Jess Castle and the Eyeballs of Death by M A BennettB Vincent|Full Review]] <!-- Cullen Stone -->
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===[[The Lost Letters of William Woolf by Helen Cullen]]===
===[[What's Left Unsaid by Deborah Stone]]=== [[image:5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]]
William Woolf Sasha has a lot on her plate. Husband Jeremy is distant and absent and the marriage needs work. Son Zac is entering a letter detectiverebellious adolescent phase and it's hard to know how to redirect him. Mother Annie, working in an alcoholic, is beginning the Dead Letters Depot in East London. He spends his days deciphering smudged addresses, tracking down mysterious people journey into dementia and reading endless letters has never been an easy person at the best of lovetimes. Thank heavens for her lovely dog, guilt, death, hopeSebastian, and everyday lifehis unconditional love. [[The Lost Letters of William Woolf What's Left Unsaid by Helen CullenDeborah Stone|Full Review]]
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===[[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon]]===
===[[The Place Where Love Should Be by Elizabeth Ellis]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]]
Marsha didn't have an easy ride 'Edward is six weeks old and I’ve had no sleep. I had thirty stitches in life my perineum, the wounds still tug and itch. They had to do the stitches twice because the first time aroundlot became infected. She'd been afflicted with [https://enThe old-school midwife told me I wasn’t paying enough attention to personal hygiene.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibrodysplasia_ossificans_progressiva fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva]I must shower twice a day, or better still, take a rare disease which turned parts of her body salt bath. Do they really expect me to bone when do that? Have they were damaged. Finally she was unable ever tried to shower when a baby is crying and you’re so tired you can barely stand her life any longer and went to Dignitas, the Swiss euthanasia clinic. Sheyour partner is banging around downstairs because he’s late for work again?'d thought that would be the end, but after cremation her body went straight to hell and she found herself face-to-face with the devil. And that was when she made the pact. In exchange for details about some of those who had been close to her - their strengths and weaknesses - she would be reborn on the same day to the same parents, but would live her life free of disease. [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Full Review]]
I think most women have felt like this shortly after having a baby. Many of them simply managed to put one foot in front of the other until things calmed down but some will have found it harder and developed post-natal depression[[The Place Where Love Should Be by Elizabeth Ellis|Full Review]] <!-- Novik Bowden -->
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===[[Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik]]===
===[[The Amber Maze by Christopher Bowden]]=== [[image:5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]
Miryem comes from a long line of moneylenders – but her Father isn't very good at it at all. Lending freely Hugh Mullion goes away to Dorset for the weekend and rarely collecting, he leaves the family on while waiting for his wife to arrive, finds a mysterious key down the edge back of poverty, until Miryem must step inan antique chair. Hardening her heart The grubby and collecting what torn label to which is owed from local villagers, she becomes a person of great interest when she borrows a pouch of silver pennies from her Grandfather and returns it full of gold, soon becoming entangled with an array of strange creatures, from the dark beings that haunt the wood through to a King who's eager to exploit Miryem's talents – she soon becomes aware that her skills may be more trouble than they're worth… attached reads... [[Spinning Silver The Amber Maze by Naomi NovikChristopher Bowden|Full Review]]
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===[[Four The Water Thief by Andy JonesClaire Hajaj]]===
[[image:4.5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]]
Friends are nice, Nick is in the middle of wedding preparations when he decides to leave his fiancée behind in London and couple friends are doubly nice, giving you like minded people to spend time with. A pair take up a post in some un-named west African country providing engineering support for the building of pairs, or a couple of couples. Married couple Sally and Al have known Mike for ages – Sally from university, Al through work. His new girlfriend Faye completes their foursome and though she doesn't have their shared history, shechildren's a lot of fun – a bit younger than the rest of them, an actress and so onhospital. He has no idea what he is getting himself into. [[Four The Water Thief by Andy JonesClaire Hajaj|Full Review]]
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