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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==

{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--><!-- Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|'''Read [[image:0993340342.jpgForthcoming Publications|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993340342/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Madeleine Goes reviews of books about to the Moon by Peter Lynas and Charlie Robertsbe published]]===.[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]]Frontpage 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 -->isbn=152919640X|-title=The Suspect| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Rob Rinder[[image:1526614960.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1526614960/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Crime|summary===[[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 sisternation's favourite daytime TV presenter, Maeve ConroyJessica Holby, theywas murdered live on television and it seems that there'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 wallss only one suspect. ItHe's a strange family dynamic: Cyril Conroy is distant celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks and the closest Danny seems to come to him is when his contract stated that 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 must not be returningserve anything containing miso to Jessica Holby. In other circumstances this might have affected Maeve and Danny deeply, but their primary relationship is with each other. ItShe's a bond which only death will break. [[The Dutch House by Ann Patchett|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Lynas seriously allergic and Andy S Gray -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0993340350carries an EpiPen in case of emergencies.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993340350/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag Everything seemed as normal -21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; textas normal as they can be in a busy, live television studio -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 forestBrooks served a ragout to Holby. Mrs Rabbit Her EpiPen was collecting carrots because nowhere to be found and she wanted to make a cake. Mrs Blue Bird was gathering twigs to build a nestdead within minutes. Mrs Spider It was busily spinning a web to catch juicy flies. Mrs Squirrel soon clear that this was piling up acornsno accident. 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 -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=0008385068| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Midnight Feast|author=Lucy Foley[[image:0993340318.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co4.uk/dp/0993340318/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|Thrillers===[[Recipe for Making a Snowman by Peter Lynas and Rosie Alabaster]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=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 thereIt'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 midsummer on the snowman's coat Dorset coast and picking out the perfect piece of headgearguests gather at The Manor. ThereIt'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 their opening weekend and a pair with purple and pink stripes splendid celebrations are chosenpromised. [[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 It's testament of anguish, endurance and devotion in occupied Amsterdam all headed up by Melanie Martin]]=== [[image:5starFrancesca Meadows.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 The Manor was her ancestral home 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 converted it into an impressive retreat for the city during the war years, but only five thousand survived wealthy and Martin could not understand how this could be allowed to happen in a country with liberal values who were resistant to German occupationfamous. 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 backHer husband, that the Amsterdammers would never allow what happened to escalate in the way that it didOwen, but initial protests melted away as was the organisers became more circumspect. It's an atrocity architect and work is still ongoing on a vast scale, but made up parts of tens of thousands of individual tragediesthe site. [[War and Love: A family's testament of anguish, endurance The heat is oppressive 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 amongst the process of joining a community of sick people in the curiously named town of Snowflake, Arizonaguests are enemies as well as friends. These people Old scores are sick, but it's not a sickness you've heard of. Instead, they're environmentally ill – affected by household chemicals going to be settled and fabrics, pesticides, static electricity, and radiation – and their only ''cure'' is to stay in the town away from the real world. Though itwon's about t be long before a real place, the people in it are fictional. It really body is a place apart, quite literally cut off from the outside world – people are even required to decontaminate themselves thoroughly before becoming fully integratedfound. [[Snowflake, AZ by Marcus Sedgwick|Full Review]]}}<!-- Moyer -->{{Frontpage|author=Ashley Hickson-Lovence| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Wild East[[image:178747920X.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon4.co.uk/dp/178747920X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Brightfall by Jaime Lee Moyer]]==genre=Teens [[image:4.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]]Written in verse, [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] Robin Hood this is gone – denouncing both his former life and his love MarianRonny's story, and retreating to a monastery – although no-one knows quite what led him to abandon all that he had built. Marion's life since young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who suddenly has been relatively quiet - but when her friends start dying, Marion is tasked by Father Tuck to break the curse surrounding them and move to save their lives. Setting off with a soldier, a Fey Lord Norwich and start at 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:1509896465mostly white school.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509896465/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[ The Nightjar move is initiated by Deborah Hewitt]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] Ronny's mum who is worried for Ronny'The Nightjar'' is an unusual s safety after a tragic event, and exciting story. Alice Wyndham lives a normal life so Ronny finds himself trying to settle 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 importantlynew town, 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 agonew school, America won the Revolutionary War and General George Washington was offered the crown. Today, the House keep himself out of Washington still sit on the thrown with Princess Beatrice next in linetrouble. Beatrice's whole life has been building up He listens to her ruling the United States music constantly, 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 has always dreamed of being 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 Nottinghamrapper. Then it was a shock when she found two bodies But now, in the cellar before she'd even got settled in - and managed this new school, his teacher encourages him to break be part of 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 poetry writing workshop group and the woman, wrapped in each other's arms? Having spent ten years on the Murder Squadslowly, ending up as a DCI she knows what's going Ronny begins 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 see the family. But her father hasn't spoken to Amara's grandfather for many years - Amara doesn't know why - connections between rap and both her parents are resistant to the idea. But Amara is nothing if not persistent poetry, 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 power of creativity and Grandpa Earl back together againcrafting your words. [[Some Places More Than Others by Renee Watson|Full Review]] <!-- Graves -->|-| styleisbn="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|0241645441[[image:194927201X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/194927201X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}} {{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|1635866847===[[Lakes of Mars by Merritt Graves]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|linktitle=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 -->|-The Lavender Companion| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci[[image:191280493X.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/191280493X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ==genre=[[Coming of Age by Danny Ryan]]===Lifestyle[[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]]  It''He began writing novels and poetry at s strange, the age of twelve, but it was to take him a further forty-eight years to realise things that he wasn’t very good at either. Consistently unpublished for all that time, he remains a shining example of hope over experience...make you ''  immediately''This a memoir from someone you have never heard of - but will feel like that this is the book for you have. Before I started reading '' [[Coming of Age by Danny Ryan|Full Review]]  <!-- Maxwell N Andrews -->|-| style=The Lavender Companion''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;, I visited the author''|s [[image:1983376353.jpg|link=httphttps://www.amazon.copinelavenderfarm.uk/dpcom/1983376353/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21website]]  | style=and there''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[Lighthouse s a picture of the Netherworlds by Maxwell N Andrews]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] The phrase about never trusting a book by its cover is something I put slice of chocolate cake on a par with comments about Marmitethe homepage. You're supposed to love it or hate it and Idon'm halfway between, t eat cakes and likewise the old adage is halfway true. From the cover of this desserts - but I had a child-friendly fantasy, what with wanted that name and that attractive artwork of an attractive girl reaching for an attractive water plantcake viscerally. That was only built on by the initial fictionalised quotes, with their non-standard spelling, as if texts of scripture in this book(There's world predated our standardised literacy. But why was I two chapters a recipe in and just finding more and more charactersthe book, both human and animal, and more and more flashbacks, and no proof that this was what which I'd bought in for? [[Lighthouse of the Netherworlds by Maxwell N Andrews|Full Review]] <m avoiding with some difficulty!!-- Ellory -->|-| style=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1542007232.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1542007232/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[The Rabbit Girls by Anna Ellory]]=== [[image:3star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] Berlin, 1989. Miriam is in ) Then I started reading the middle of a city freshly united, with the Wall newly broken down book and people able I was told to cross at liberty for the first time in decadesmake a mess of it. She is Notes in the middle of such euphoria, but cannot feel it, for she has not left her father's apartment in weeks, nursing him as he lies dyingmargins are sanctioned. One standard bed-bath, however, is very different, when he gasps You get to fold down the name ''Frieda'' that she does not recognise – and she sees for the first time ever a tattoo for his camp inmate identity under his watchcorners of pages. One bombshell outside, then, and two inside... [[The Rabbit Girls by Anna Ellory|Full Review]] <!-- Tove Jansson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0954899520.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0954899520/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Winter Book by Tove Jansson]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] Tove Jansson's worldwide fame lasts on the Moomin books, written in the 1940s and later becoming television characters You suspect that smears of the simplicity, naivety and sheer 'goodness' that butter would later produce flowerpot men or teletubbies. Simple drawings, simple stories, simple goodness. What is often forgotten outside of her native Finland is that she was a serious writer…that she wrote for adults as well as children…and that she had a feeling for the natural world and the simple life that not only informed those child-like trolls but went far beyond any fantasy of how the world might bea problem. [[A Winter Book by Tove Jansson|Full Review]] <!-- Whitlock -->|-| style= I ''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;loved''|[[image:1782692177.jpg|link=http://wwwthis book already.amazon.co.uk/dp/1782692177/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}} | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[The Collective by Lindsey Whitlock]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] ''Illinois Territory, Collective Homesteads of America.'' Some people live in sunken houses, buried into hillsides to disguise how large their property is at times of austerity. Others are called Foresters, for they live and work in trees. When the small area the Foresters live in is placed under compulsory purchase, the residents are given a pitiful amount to clear out before they get manfully cleared out. Our hero, Elwyn, has just left the trees for the Hills, to live with an uncle and learn their ways – he's just of age to decide things for himself, and he has decided to see how the other half lives... [[The Collective by Lindsey Whitlock|Full Review]] <!-- Andre Pronovost -->Frontpage|-author=Rob Keeley| styletitle=''widthChildish Spirits: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|10th anniversary special edition[[image:099944235X.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/099944235X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 4| style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''| ===[[The Man Who Killed Hitler by Andre Pronovost]]==genre=Confident Readers [[image:3star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] Germany is split. Some of her is in favour of Hitler and the NazisAround here, but much isnwe't. Some re big fans of her is stuck to the east fighting the Soviets, but some will soon have to be on the other front, against the Americans coming into the continent to put things right as they see it. Finding out that the war to the east isn't working, due to Hitlerchildren's tactical ineptitude and inability to heed advice, some people reckon Stalin is five seasons away from being in Berlinauthor Rob Keeley. The only way to shore things up, and repair the splits, is to kill Hitler, and luckily the Baron Nicholas is the man to do it. He's aristocratic enough, he knows enough people in industry, society and other circles a ball of powerhappy positivity, so once he's succeeded he might be able to keep a German presence in Europe. But will he still be able to keep the capitalists and communists from meeting in the middle? [[The Man Who Killed Hitler by Andre Pronovost|Full Review]] <!-- Ann Cleeves -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1509889566.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509889566/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Long Call (Two Rivers) by Ann Cleeves]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]]understands children, [[:Category:LGBT Fiction|LGBT Fiction]] When we first meet DI Matthew Venn he's at his father's funeral, although 'at' rather overstates the proximity. He sees everyone - his mother and the preacher included from a distance - but he doesn't go it. He wouldn't be welcome. Those attending are part of the Barum Brethren and the teenage Matthew was thrown out when he told the congregation how wrong they were in writes for their beliefs. It coincided with him leaving university pleasure and joining the police force. The announcement of Matthew's marriage enjoyment, not to Jonathan Church was in the local paper and whilst he doesn't know if his father saw it, he can't imagine that it will have gone down well. [[The Long Call (Two Rivers) by Ann Cleeves|Full Review]] <!-- Day -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0241351391.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241351391/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Max Kowalski Didn't Mean It by Susie Day]]=== [[image:4.5starlecture or hector.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]

When Max’s dad finds himself in The ''Childish Spirits'' series is one of his greatest achievements. It's a spot sequence of hot waterghost stories centring on Ellie, he disappears for a few daysstalwart young girl who can cope with anything the spirit world throws at her, and Edward, leaving Max a spoiled lordling and the first spirit Ellie encounters|isbn= 1783064617}}{{Frontpage|author=Jenny Valentine|title=Us in charge of his three younger sistersthe Before and After|rating=5|genre=Teens|summary=Elk and Mab are best friends, or more than that even, Thelmatheir friendship is a once in a lifetime connection. They meet as children one day on a trip out but unfortunately they don't get each other's contact details at the time. But then chance brings them back together, Louise and Ripleythey are inseparable. Max Something has no problem with stepping up to fill his dad’s shoes happened though, something terrible and tragic, and now they must work through their grief, and their friendship, together.|isbn=1471196585}}{{Frontpage|author=Kieran Larwood and be Joe Todd-Stanton|title=Dungeon Runners: Hero Trial|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Meet Kit. Like most of the man people in chargehis world, but when his dad still doesn’t come homeit seems, he starts is an avid fan of Dungeon Running – the sport where a team of warrior, mage and healer enter specially prepared, century-old, magical mazes, and race to panic that interfering grown ups will realise that the children are home-aloneexit, perhaps bothering with the treasure or the big bad and that the points they will step in and separate grant you along the familyway. So Max takes his sisters to WalesUnfortunately for Kit, the only thing he's seen of the latest race on the inn TV equivalent is that one team has been retired, eaten, to hide out in and a friend’s cottagenew trio of questors is needed. It won’t be Possibly very unfortunately indeed for longKit, surely? he has taken to the goading from the token bully of his world and stumbled into declaring he'll enter as a team. Because his dad wouldn’t miss ChristmasWhat chance does this friendless, muscle-free-zone have in actually managing that, would and how could hepossibly hope to succeed? [[Max Kowalski Didn|isbn=1839945184}}{{Frontpage|author=Saima Mir|title=Vengeance|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers|summary= I was instantly intrigued by the premise of this novel – an organised crime syndicate in the north of England run by a Muslim woman. The fact that it was the second in a series I hadn't read didn't stop me – I've jumped midway into a few series before (on page and screen) and it needn't be a hindrance if it's good enough. And that wasn't Mean It by Susie Daya problem here. Vengeance swiftly brings you up to speed, and I never felt lost.|Full Review]]isbn=0861541561}}

<!--Merritt Graves -->{{Frontpage|author=Stuart Douglas|title=Lowe and Le Breton Mysteries -Death at the Dress Rehearsal| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"3.5|genre=Crime[[image:1949272028.jpg|linksummary=http://wwwDuring location filming for his 1970's sitcom 'Floggit and Leggit', leading man Edward Lowe stumbles across the dead body of a woman on the edge of a reservoir.amazon The police seem happy to assign it as an accidental death, but something about the whole thing bothers Lowe, and he enlists the help of a fellow actor, John Le Breton to help him investigate matters further.co They travel across the country during their days off filming, uncovering more possible murders and, seemingly, a link to death during the Second World War.uk/dp/1949272028/ref=nosim But is there really a link between the deaths? And will they manage to uncover who is responsible before more people lose their lives?tag|isbn=thebookbag-21]]1803368209 }} {{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"B0CYV674G2|title=Swanton Morley (John Tanner)|author=David Blake|rating=3.5|genre=[[Sunlight 24 by Merritt Graves]]Crime|summary=It seemed like an open-and-shut case. A man, covered in mud and blood - and carrying a knife, comes into the police station shouting that he hasn't killed the man. A body at the bottom of a freshly dug grave at Swanton Morley church - he's been stabbed to death. DCI John Tanner is just back from his honeymoon, which coincided with the birth of his daughter Samantha. You would think he'd be grateful for an easy answer but the words 'perverse' and 'John Tanner' were made for each other. He's sleep-deprived to the point of falling asleep at work but he's determined to keep going - probably because he can't get any sleep at home.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1787333175|title=You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here|author=Benji Waterhouse|rating=5 |genre=Popular Science[[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:I was tempted to read ''You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here'' after enjoying Adam Kay's first book {{{ratingamazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to Hurt}}, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography. ''You Don't Have to be Mad...'' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the work of a psychiatrist. I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding. } Star Reviews]] [[:Category: Science Fiction}{{Frontpage|author=Onyi Nwabineli|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself|rating=4.5|Science genre=General Fiction]]|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 gain. If 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 game wasn’t fair beforecontent about her. Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, it’s definitely not fair nowundergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them for doing so. Or so thinks Dorian Waters Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, part 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 ever-expanding portion same time?|isbn=0861546873}}{{Frontpage|author=David Chadwick|title=Headload of Napalm|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary= It's September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of humanity who can’t afford LA and Las Vegas both a significant drive away. Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and a defence contractor are the nano-implant main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of note other than dive bars and genetic augmentation regimen known as RevisionJoshua trees. Life is quiet, until....|isbn= B0D321VJ76}}{{Frontpage|author=Tom Percival|title=The Wrong Shoes|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. And He is bullied because he can’t afford Revisionhas '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 can’t get into lost his job at the college, he can’t get was working a cash-in-hand jobon 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 sees is drawing, that feel like a light at the brilliant end of a long, dark tunnel.|isbn=1398527122}}{{Frontpage|author=Sylvie Cathrall|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008517061|title=Death in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary= Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and mesmerizing Lena relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is the future she wants for herself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on the back burner.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786482126|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the first timesite was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway. There was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, he 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 child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he doesn’t have 's prepared to tell the police where the body of a chance with missing person is buried and who was responsible for herdeath. This person, he promises, eitheris someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think soand she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008405026|title=A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt. Now, Dorian robs her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bed. Initially, it looks like a house straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to be an open-and-shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0571379877|title=The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=Edward Jevons is a working-class young man, obsessed with his best friendupper-class friends, EthanRobert and Stanza. Then they do it again Robert's a theatre director. They’re able He's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to keep at it until they have enough money saved up run errands for him. Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. 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: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway.}}{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=When a man is found crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock. It's their first Revisionlive case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. Their initial choices But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to solve the case in self-enhancement start impacting time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?|isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their future choicesfriendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in turn 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 future Revision––on teenage children who are involved.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0241636604|title=The Trading Game: A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson|rating=4.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=If 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-stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on in his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a downward spiral facility with numbers which most of self-destructionus can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035021803|title=The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It'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. Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. After the split, she worked in a cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the love of her life, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced. [[Sunlight 24 by Merritt Graves}}{{Frontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|Full Review]]title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.''

<!I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.}}{{Frontpage|author=Sunny Singh|title=Hotel Arcadia|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers |summary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|isbn=086154742X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529153298|title=The List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|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's fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but -strangely - DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE 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=We tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, New York, in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas' to make it more manageable in the States. When she was back in Athens -supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice ->she was raised under the Nazi occupation by 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}}