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<metadesc>Book review site, with books from the many walks of literary life - fiction, biography, crime, cookery and anything else that takes our fancy. There are also lots of author interviews and top tens.</metadesc>
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<metadesc>Expert, full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, non-fiction, children's books & self-published books plus author interviews & top tens.</metadesc>
Hello from The Bookbag, a book review 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 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.
 
  
There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' reviews at TheBookbag.
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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!
  
Want to find out more [[About Us|about us]]?<br>
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There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY: Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews]] at TheBookbag.
  
[[image:moss4.jpg|link=Adventure Island Book Three]]
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Want to find out more [[About Us|about us]]? __NOTOC__
  
'''Are you looking for hidden treasure? Then click [[Adventure Island Book Three|here]]'''
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==The Best New Books==
  
==New Reviews==
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'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br>
'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by genre]].'''
 
  
'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
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'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''
__NOTOC__
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Jenny Valentine
 
|title=Iggy and Me and the New Baby
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|summary=Flo's little sister Iggy seems to have just one thing on her mind at the moment and that's babies.  She's desperate for Mummy to have another baby but Mummy says that two are quite enough - 'one under each arm in an emergency'.  Actually, Iggy has something else on her mind too.  She ''longs'' to grow.  At one point she was the smallest in her class - which meant that she was the smallest child in the school.  She will do anything to grow - however odd it might seem to everyone else!
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007463545</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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'''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].
|author=H A Goodman
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{{Frontpage
|title=Breaking The Devil's Heart: A Logic of Demons Novel
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|isbn=0241636604
|rating=4
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|title=The Trading Game: A Confession
|genre=Fantasy
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|author=Gary Stevenson
|summary=In this afterlife, Heaven is pretty much hands off. Angels whisper sweet nothings into human ears but don't go much further than that. If the living don't act on Heaven's advice, the angels simply practise what you might call courageous restraint. Hell, on the other hand, is much better organised. Set up like a sizeable corporation, its demons are purveyors of the Formula and relentless targets push the demons into becoming exceedingly effective - and dodgy - salesmen. Drink too much of the Formula and you're in big trouble - sinning all over the place.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B007T0BDVE</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Jeff Norton
 
|title=MetaWars: The Fight for the Future
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
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|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Welcome to the world of Web 4.0 - a totally immersive world of virtual reality, jacked into your spine, and the perfect place to escape, live and work - as opposed to the near-Apocalyptic conditions on Earth, with global warming, over-population and anarchic ruin everywhereJonah uses the Metasphere to go to school by day, and his rollerskates to try and win race prize purses by nightBut the world is about to turn upside down for himFor the inventor of Web 4.0, who alone can control and profit from this other reality, is out of prison, and the 'terrorists' against him are stepping up their activities tooSecrets in both worlds will conspire to drag Jonah in, but in an existence where you can be killed virtually or IRL and they both have the same result, the danger he faces is only going to mount up...
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|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 injusticeThere was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics.  Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envyHe also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupidIt was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with CitibankEventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408314592</amazonuk>
 
 
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1035021803
|author=Michael Ridpath
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|title=The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder
|title=Meltwater (Fire and Ice)
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|author=C L Miller
|rating=4
 
|genre=Crime
 
|summary=A group of internet activists decided to base themselves in Iceland whilst they prepared their latest exposé.  This time it was a video of a purported Israeli attrocity which needed verifying and preparing for publication.  All would have been well - or as well as such things ever are - if one of the group hadn't been murdered on a visit to a volcano.  It was a volcano which caused the second problem - not the erruption of the small, pretty one which the group had visited with fatal consequences, but the big, ugly one which no one could pronounce and which disrupted air traffic all over Europe in the spring of 2010.  Yes.  That one.  Eyjafjallajokull meant that travel too and from Iceland was exceedingly difficult ''and'' it disrupted the investigation of the murder.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>085789644X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Sylvie Nickels
 
|title=The Other Side of Silence
 
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=Pippa Eastman went to Australia to get away from her domineering father, the historian Joseph Eastman and it was there that she met Jude, the son of two Ten Pound Poms.  Their relationship was good, but not exactly committed on either side.  It was about having fun.  Familial ties were surprisingly strong though and when Joseph Eastman developed Alzheimer's Disease Pippa returned to the UK to care for him.  Slightly to her surprise, Jude followed her - determined to track down the alcoholic father who had left him and his mother in Australia.  It's only after her father's death that Pippa finds herself in search of her father's life - and trying to establish that he wasn't a murderer.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781762686</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Joseph Delaney
 
|title=The Spook's Blood: Book 10 (Wardstone Chronicles)
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=One might've thought that having bound The Devil in a massive underground pit and cut his head off, life would become a little easier for Thomas Ward, Spook in-training. Although the Fiend has undoubtedly been weakened, he has many loyal servants set on putting him back together so that he can reap terrible eternal vengeance on the few brave enough to fight him. While witch assassin Grimalkin, a dark and unlikely ally, evades the Fiend's minions and keeps his head separate from his body, it is up to Tom, Alice and The Spook to work out a way to destroy him permanently. But Grimalkin cannot run forever, and the Fiend's most powerful servants are encircling Tom and his allies, forcing them to fight with everything they have, just to survive.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0370331818</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Doreen Cronin and Harry Bliss
 
|title=Diary of a Spider
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=It's not an easy life being a spider. You have to avoid vacuum cleaners, daddy longlegs, and people with big shoes. There are good things too: you get to have fun with your best friend, Fly, and spend time with your loving family. ''Diary of a Spider'' takes us through a few months in the life of a young spider, taking in the fun and adventure.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007455925</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Jude Morgan
 
|title=The Secret Life of William Shakespeare
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Books about Shakespeare vary hugely both in terms of approach and quality. Some focus on historical fact, while others play rather more loosely with the romance of his life. Fortunately for readers, Jude Morgan's books are rather more reliably excellent. What's more, he has a track record of fiction that concerns great writers, having previously tackled the Brontës (''The Taste of Sorrow'') and the romantic poets (''Passion''). So my expectations were already quite high coming into his ''The Secret Life of William Shakespeare'' - expectations that he has again surpassed.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755358228</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Tom Slaughter
 
|title=Boat Works
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=Imagine seeing just a little bit of a boat.  It's not enough for you to decide whether it's big or small, or what it does, but on the opposite page there's another clue.  'I have two oars' - and there they are for all to see.  But look more closely.  You can fold that second page out for yet another clue: 'I have a rope which ties me to the dock' and there's the rope, strong and hairy, with a complex knot.  Now you can fold out the second clue to reveal that his is a rowboat, by the name of Nelly, tied up at the dock. Neat, eh?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1609052153</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Jeremy Bullard
 
|title=Life On The Line
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Travel
 
|summary=Jeremy Bullard began his working life as a Chartered Accountant but eventually realised that the most exciting part of the day was his journey to work on his moped.  Next came a spell as a IT Consultant into which he put heart and soul and only just escaped with his sanity.  A mental breakdown and a spell in The Priory convinced him that he had to rethink his life choices and high on the list was a long-distance trip on a motorbike.  The first two trips - from London to Cape Town and the reverse - were aborted and we join him as he attempts his most ambitious journey.  He's heading from New York to the very south of South America.  Oh, and he's taking in the Galapagos and Easter Island.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956968309</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Jane Johnson
 
|title=The Sultan's Wife
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Alys Swann is leaving her native Holland to accomplish the marriage her mother arranged for her in London.  Alys's parents are English but fled to Holland when her late father discovered he was on the wrong side during the English Civil War.  The trip turns out to be more adventurous than Alys would like as she's kidnapped by pirates and delivered to Moroccan potentate Sultan Moulay Ismail who's a little mentally unstable (and that's an understatement).  His plan for her is as a welcome addition to his globally sourced harem.  There she meets Nus-Nus, eunuch and the Sultan's scribe, who has problems of his own.  A local apothecary dies in a most unnatural way and Nus-Nus seems to be the only suspect.  The royal court has always been a dangerous place but, for Nus-Nus, and indeed Alys, staying alive has suddenly become more of a challenge than it seemed before... and that's saying something.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0670918008</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Jason Dean
 
|title=The Wrong Man
 
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Crime
 
|genre=Crime
|summary=Ex-marine James Bishop worked for an elite protection companyThe idea behind his last mission was to protect multi-millionaire Randall Brennan and his daughter Natalie but, instead, he found himself framed for murderWho?  Why?  These why may be questions that need answering but that's not going to happen whilst he's serving a life sentenceHowever, where Bishop is concerned, that's only a minor blip compared to the task ahead.
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|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, CaroleFreya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the leastArthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badlyEven 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755382692</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover
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|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt
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|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
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|rating=5
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|genre=Science Fiction
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|summary=''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.''
  
{{newreview
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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.
|author=Garth Nix and Sean Williams
 
|title=Troubletwisters: The Monster
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|summary=This book really should be required reading for anyone charged with bringing up children with magical powers — especially if they've already saved the world a time or two. In a nutshell, it shows what happens when you answer all the said young people's questions with some vague promise to explain everything when the time is right. As if that's going to satisfy them.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405258632</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Sunny Singh
|author=Alex Brummer
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|title=Hotel Arcadia
|title=Britain for Sale
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|rating=3.5
|rating=4.5
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|genre=Thrillers
|genre=Business and Finance
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|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 managerAs 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 photographyAlthough 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.
|summary=Buy British, we're constantly told, and many people do - the French, the Germans, Qataris, Chinese..If you want to buy British you'd be hard pressed to use a British electricity company, the people shifting North Sea oil to you might be foreign, the trains near you may be foreign-operated, and so much of what's in the shops you buy from would of coursed be sourced from abroad, and shipped through foreign-owned portsWhether or not the country is going to hell in a handcart, it's moving in piecemeal stages to exterior business interests, and the British citizen gets the worst of the deal.
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|isbn=086154742X
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847940757</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Michael Morpurgo
 
|title=Sparrow: The Story of Joan of Arc
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|summary=Joan of Arc knows she's special. She knows that she has been chosen to save France - the voices tell her so. But she also knows that she has a lot to do to convince the Dauphin and the noblemen who protect him that it's time to make a stand for their country. Can she become a heroine?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007465955</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529153298
|author=William Nicholson
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|title=The List of Suspicious Things
|title=The Golden Hour
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|author=Jennie Godfrey
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Maggie is nervous about committing to a live-in relationship, terrified by the idea that there must be something better out there. Dean is terrified of losing the love of his life and old Mrs Dickinson is just, well, terrified. Henry is frustrated by rabbits in his garden, Alan is frustrated by work, and Liz is frustrated by old Mrs Dickinson, who is her mother...
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|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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849163936</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1398524085
|author=Claire Merle
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|title=Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?
|title=The Glimpse
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|author=Nicci French
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
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|genre=Crime
|summary=Ana's Dad helped invent the DNA test that helps to divide Society into two categories: Pures and Crazies. Pures are people who are 'normal', and Crazies are people who carry genes for depression, schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. Having lived as a Pure all her life, when Ana finds out her test was wrong her world falls apart. Now, marrying Jasper, a Pure-boy, is her only chance of a normal life. But will Jasper still want her now she's a Crazy?
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|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 - her husband, Alec, is not. Shortly afterwards, Etty and Greg, find the body of Greg's father, Duncan Ackerley, in the riverIt was an easy assumption for the police to make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when he couldn't stand the guiltThe 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571280536</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=David Vann
 
|title=Dirt
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=We're back in the mid-nineteen-eighties in a suburb of Sacramento and Galen lives with his mother on the family walnut farm.  The farm's not what it was, largely having been left to its own devices since the death of Galen's abusive grandfather some years before.  Galen's ''father'' is something of an unknown quantity - his mother won't even discuss who he was or tell Galen anything about him, but then she's able to shut her mind to most things which she finds unpleasant''Her'' mother has been moved from the farm to a nursing home - she's still quite active but her memory is goingSuzie-Q's sister, Helen is determined to get her hands on the family money for the benefit of her seventeen-year-old daughter, Jennifer.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434021962</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1035906708
|author=Rachel Hartman
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|title=Diva
|title=Seraphina
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|author=Daisy Goodwin
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=The Comonot Treaty is approaching its 40th anniversary but the state of play between humans and dragons is still parlous. The people in Goredd still revile and distrust the dragons who walk among them in human form. For the dragons, humans are like cockroaches - easily crushed individually, but surprisingly resilient when they band together. Humans are impulsive, emotional. Dragons are impassive, logical. It's not an easy fit and the fragile peace is at risk after the murder of a Goreddi prince. Dragons are suspected of the crime.  
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|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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857531565</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Christopher Edge
|author=Todd H Doodler
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|title=Black Hole Cinema Club
|title=Bear's Underwear Mystery: A Count-and-Find-it Adventure
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|rating=4
|rating=3
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|genre=Confident Readers
|genre=For Sharing
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|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 imagineBut 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?
|summary=Bear receives a mysterious message: 'Follow the trail of underwear. Find all TEN and you'll be THERE'.  He's delighted to be involved in a mystery and goes off hunting for the white pair which is number oneOnce they are found he's off in search of the pair with blue stripes, then the pair with green spots, another in purple plaid and so on...  Each page has a number tab for extra fun.
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|isbn=1839942738
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1609052048</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Rachel Greenlaw
|author=Tony Robinson
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|title=Compass and Blade
|title=Tony Robinson's Weird World of Wonders: Romans
 
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=You could be mistaken for thinking [[:Category:Tony Robinson|Tony Robinson]] had written books like this before, for he was doing 'Horrid History'-style TV programmes before the official ones were made.  This series fits so well into his erudite yet family audience-friendly manner, and this second book takes us in a primary school curriculum-suiting way into the world of Rome.  A lot is in these books, from trivia for all ages (I didn't know, or had forgotten, that all those Julius Caesar reliefs and statues are of him in a wig as he was bald), to the delectable gross-out (the posh man's cuisine) to the foregrounding of the obvious difference between them and us (in a word, slavery).
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330533894</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Diana Hendry
 
|title=The Seeing
 
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=Teens
 
|genre=Teens
|summary=It's 1956 when Natalie comes storming into the quiet seaside town of Norton and slap-bang into Lizzie's life. Natalie is from the wrong side of the tracks and reserved, well-to-do Lizzie is immediately drawn to this unconventional girl who wears her poverty and neglect like a badge of courage. As the two girls grow closer over the summer, Natalie reveals a shocking secret - her odd younger brother Philip has the gift of second sight and can see "left over Nazis" lying in wait, ready to start another war when the time is right. Natalie says it's up to the three of them to rid Norton of these LONs.
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|summary=''I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>037033213X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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Rosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks. Mira, like her mother before her, is one of the seven who swim out to survey the ruins – rescuing any survivors and any treasure that lies within. But when the Council Watch lays a trap to end the wrecking, they capture the island's leader and Mira's father. Desperate to save him from death, Mira makes a bargain with a wreck survivor who is as charming as he is secretive and with only coordinates to guide her, she sets off in search of a family secret that lies buried deep in the sea. With only nine days to unearth what might save her father, as her journey takes her from the watched streets of foreign islands to the heart of the smuggler's territory, Mira must be determined to stop at nothing to save the future of her home and the ones she holds most dear.
|author=Tony Robinson
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|isbn=0008664730
|title=Tony Robinson's Weird World of Wonders: Egyptians
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=You could be mistaken for thinking [[:Category:Tony Robinson|Tony Robinson]] had written books like this before, for he was doing 'Horrid History'-style TV programmes before the official ones were made. This series fits so well into his erudite yet family audience-friendly manner, and this launching book takes us to the strangest of worlds - yet one only a museum visit away, that of the ancient Egyptians. A lot is in these pages - complete with adult stuff glossed over (just how in-bred '''were''' those Ptolemys?!), the gross-out being relished (making mummies, and some alleged Egyptian medicines) and the obvious differences between them and us foregrounded so we can empathise with them (and at the same time remember it's harder for most of us to sleep on our roofs than they would have found it).
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330533878</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=James Sherwood Metts
|author=Bill Ridgers (Editor)
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|title=Planet Storyland
|title=The Economist Book of Business Quotations
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|rating=4.5
|rating=4
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|genre=Confident Readers
|genre=Business and Finance
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|summary= Things have been a bit sticky for the Earthlings. AI and automation have been proceeding apace, often replacing jobs they're paid to do and other tasks that took time to accomplish. Just as they were beginning to get used to all this technological change and starting to think of other, new ways to spend time, along came an awful pandemic. Life was pretty much shut down and, along with it, all the many daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily.
|summary=It's not so much a book of business quotations as a book of business aphorisms. There's a prime example on the dust cover: J Paul Getty's 'My formula for success? Rise early, work late, strike oil.'  It's arranged alphabetically by subject matter from Accountants and Accountancy ('Budget: a mathematical confirmation of your suspicions' A A Latimer) through to Work-Life Balance ('For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.' Lily Tomlin).  Most entries are short and pithy and few run to as much as half a page.
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|isbn=1736128426
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846685931</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Matthew Tree
|author=Daniel Glattauer
+
|title=We'll Never Know
|title=Love Virtually
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=When Emmi sends and email to cancel a magazine subscription, she has no idea what a slight typo in the email address will lead to – a life-changing, potentially marriage-wrecking, all-consuming online love affair with the man whom she emails in error. What starts as an insignificant, casual message quickly becomes something much more important to both her and Leo as two people who have never met start to share their secrets and wishes, dreams and fears with each other, not just because they can but, it seems, because they have to.
+
|summary= Timothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to be different from his father, a drunk and chronic underachiever whose dreams of being exceptional at any of his artistic passions all failed miserably and who had endless crises of self confidence. So Tim applied himself to his studies, cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and set himself high but achievable ambitions.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857050958</amazonuk>
+
|isbn= B0CVFXPGP8
 
}}
 
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=A G Slatter
 +
|title=The Briar Book of the Dead
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Fantasy
 +
|summary='' There's a part of me that wants to keep this just to myself for however long I can. This secret magic of my own, all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while.''
  
{{newreview
+
Within a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of the Briar's, a family of witches who protect the town and the wider world from the Darklands. Though she has always wished for magic, Ellie Briar is the first non-witch to be born into her family for generations and as such since she was young, her training as a steward revolved around letters and administration rather than spells and potions. When her grandmother suddenly dies, Ellie's cousin Audra becomes the Briar Witch, the town's leader, and Ellie takes her place beside her. As challenges come her way left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to communicate with the dead, putting her at the heart of a maelstrom of chaos. Reeling from one family secret to another, Ellie must decide who to trust and determine what to do as the Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is under threat.
|author=David Wiesner
+
|isbn=1803364548
|title=The Three Pigs
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|summary=Everyone knows the story of the Three Little Pigs, but in this version, when the wolf comes along and huffs and puffs, he actually blows the little pigs right out of the story. In fact, they float across a number of pages before eventually ending up in the middle of ''Hey diddle diddle!'' However, they don't find this nursery rhyme to their liking so they move on to a story about a prince who kills a dragon. Having just escaped from their own dangerous enemy, the three pigs realise that they can't possibly leave the dragon to be slain, so they take him with them right the way back to their own story where, with the help of their new friend, they definitely don't allow the wolf in.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849394059</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1529900360
|author=Matthew Crow
+
|title=The Ghost Orchid
|title=My Dearest Jonah
+
|author=Jonathan Kellerman
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Crime
 
|genre=Crime
|summary=Jonah and Verity start to write to each other as part of a pen-pal schemeThey may only meet on paper but, as they reveal themselves and their pasts through their letters, they become the only constant in each of their existences, and what existencesJonah has a troubled past (to put it mildly) including a stint in prison and a father serving a life sentenceVerity is the product of working class parents with aspirations which she has failed or refused to meet, splitting her working life between the local coffee shop and the local strip jointTheir futures begin to appear a lot brighter than their pasts but then clouds gather to prove that appearances can be deceptive.
+
|summary=It hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's fault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he felt responsible and even after Alex recovered, Sturgis was reluctant to ask for his help on difficult cases.  His assertions that there were only open-and-shut cases which didn't need the help of a psychologist only worked for a whileFinally, it was Robin, Delaware's partner, who nudged Milo into asking for help again.  She knew that the involvement was something that the man she loved needed.  The next case did look simple, thoughTwo lovers were murdered in the swimming pool of a remote property in Bel AirHe was the heir to an Italian shoe empire and she is married to an extremely rich man and it's not the ItalianBut which of them was the primary target?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908248254</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1529395224
|author=Victoria Lamb
+
|title=Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Secret Life of a Vet
|title=Witchstruck
+
|author=Sion Rowlands
|rating=3
+
|rating=3.5
|genre=Teens
+
|genre=Animals and Wildlife
|summary=Meg Lytton comes from a family of witches. Her mother, who died in childbirth, renounced her gift in order to marry. But Meg's Aunt Jane continued to practise and has taught Meg to hone her skills. Sent to serve the Princess Elizabeth - in confinement at Woodstock, suspected of treason against her sister - Meg soon finds that her royal mistress has a strong interest in the occult and encourages her to continue. Elizabeth is beset by danger and must tread a delicate path through intrigues and religion. Meg, too, walks in peril. The ruthless witchfinder Marcus Dent has taken an uncomfortably close interest in her and if he were to discover her secret, he would send her straight to her death.
+
|summary=Siôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentallyHis father was a GP and Rowlands didn't want to follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on his father's life. When he was seventeen he took the opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and was convinced this was the job for him.  Before long, he was at Liverpool UniversityIt hadn't - as with so many students - been his dream since he was a child. If anything, he'd wanted to be a professional footballer.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>055256611X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Siobhan Rowden
 
|title=The Curse of the Bogle's Beard
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|summary=This is the book that takes the disgusting granny stereotype to its farthest lengthsBarnaby's gran is fond of purple to look queenly, digs her nose in his ear when she talks to him, and is rather hairy, very burpy and incredibly bossy.  She also has nothing good to say about her daughter's choice of husband - Barnaby's father - who has decided to ignore the invitation to inherit the family's pickled vegetable factory and has in fact vanishedCould an old diary Barnaby's found of someone's very brave and very beetrooty life hold a clue? Will Barnaby overcome his nerves to explore Nan's mansion on his own?  And quite how far will she go at preserving certain things?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407124897</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=0861541774
|author=N K Jemisin
+
|title=A Nye of Pheasants
|title=The Killing Moon: Dreamblood: Book 1
+
|author=Steve Burrows
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Fantasy
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=Ehiru is a Gatherer. He visits those who are dying to help them pass away peacefully. He sends their souls to a safe place for eternity, while taking their dreamblood to heal others. Most people in his city, Gujaareh, are happy with this. Then he Gathers a foreigner who's unwilling, and claims that the order of priests he belongs to are corrupt... could this barbarian be correct?
+
|summary=DCI Domenic Jejeune's close friend and former colleague, Danny Maik, has taken a short holiday in Singapore to meet up with an old ally, Guy Trueman. Maik was involved in a street brawl - he would later maintain that he was facing a man armed with a knife - and he killed a Ghurka. Initially, he faced a charge of manslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested that he might have planned to murder the man. Now he could be facing the death penalty. Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to help as any interference from another police force could provoke a diplomatic incident and wouldn't help Danny at all.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356500764</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Alexander McCall Smith
|author=Debbie Singleton and Holly Swain
+
|title=The Perfect Passion Company
|title=The King who Wouldn't Sleep
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=
 
'Many years ago, in a palace far across the sea, there lived a king, a queen and, of course, a beautiful princess'.
 
 
In fact the princess is so beautiful and the king loves her so much that he resolves to watch over her every single day and night until he is able to find her the perfect suitor. In true traditional tale style, princes travel from far and wide to try and win the hand of the princess and, more importantly, the approval of the king. Unfortunately, even though there are all sorts of princes – tall, short, strong, weak, blond, bald and so on – not one is good enough for the king's much loved daughter.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849390061</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Julia Green
 
|title=Tilly's Moonlight Fox
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|summary=
 
It's a difficult time for Tilly. She's just moved house, losing contact with her best friend as a result, and now her mother, who is expecting a baby, is too ill to leave her bed or even spend much time with her. Tilly is a sensitive, generous girl who tries hard not to get in the way or be a nuisance because she understands that her father needs to give all his time to his wife, and to sorting out their new home. Lonely, unhappy and frightened by all the bewildering things that are happening, she finds herself thrown back on her own company, unable to share her worries.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192757911</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Quintin Jardine
 
|title=Funeral Note: A Bob Skinner Mystery
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Crime
 
|summary=When a man's body was exhumed from a shallow grave in Edinburgh the initial reaction was that it was murder - I mean, why else would you dispose of the body in that way?  But then, why would you bury it with obvious care and tell the police where it's buried?  When the postmortem showed that the man had died from natural causes it seemed that it was case closed - but Chief Constable Bob Skinner didn't always think in straight lines.  He had more pressing problems to deal with though.  It seemed obvious that an Inspector on his force was corrupt and on the personal front it looked as though his marriage was heading for the rocks.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755356969</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Alan Clark
 
|title=Rory's Boys
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Humour
 
|summary=Rory Blaine, grandson of Lady Sybil Blaine is gay, free, single and loving it, as he tells himself a dozen times a day.  He may be middle aged but he's still got it.  He's a partner in a successful advertising firm and so, so over having been thrown out of home when he was a teenager; yes, over it – totally and completely.  When he hears his grandmother is dying, he decides it's time to remind her (and her considerable wealth) of his existence.  The tardy but intensive attention seems to pay off when he's left the ancestral pile.  But the stately home wasn't left to him quite in the way that he thought.  There are so many strings attached it resembles a marionette: if he wants to keep it he must transform it into the first retirement home for elderly gay gentlemen and he also seems to have acquired his first resident, whether he's wanted or not.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906413886</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Helen Simpson
 
|title=A Bunch of Fives
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Short Stories
 
|summary=I will come straight out with it at the top of this review and state that I am a big fan of Helen Simpson.  So this book, which is a selection of five stories from each of her five collections, is right up my street.  All I’ve got to do now is convince you that you need to read it too!
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099561573</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Allan Hendry
 
|title=End Game
 
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=A decade ago arms dealer Peter Rossi and Bill Rawlings, theologian, were in rough terrain two thousand feet above the Dead Sea.  Rawlings was looking for something, but what, or where?  It still wasn't entirely clear to Rossi when it was necessary for them to make a dramatic escape from a group of men - and the resulting carnage would be the stuff of nightmares for Rossi for many years to comeA decade later and at the other side of the world Bradley O'Connor, billionaire computer scientist, was forced to land his vintage plane on a mountain track in heavy snow and in the cold and lonely night which followed found his plane surrounded by a group of men eerily similar - had he but known it - to those Rossi and Rawlings had encountered.
+
|summary=The Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and operating as an alternative to all the online apps in providing a more personal, tailored serviceNess has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the business, as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a whileKatie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the chance to come home to EdinburghAnd so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charmKatie has no experience in running a business, or in match-making, but Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and there's always her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848972431</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1846976596
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Jane Sullivan
 
|title=Little People
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Unemployed governess Mary Ann rescues what seems to be a child from the currents of the Yarra River in AustraliaHowever, the 'child' turns out to be none other than Charles Stratton, aka General Tom Thumb, 'midget' and star of PT Barnum's touring 'Lilliputian' show.  As a token of gratitude for her act of heroism the troupe's tour manager, Sylvester Bleeker, offers Mary Ann work and a solution to her dilemmaFor she is not only out of work and alone... and pregnant.  She's made to feel welcome and a sense of belonging at last although all isn't what it seems.  She may well be everything that Tom Thumb and his wife Lavinia have been looking for but that may not be a good thingEven the title itself isn't all it seems and has an additional meaning, not just a reference to the small of stature.  Mary Ann gradually realises that, as a lone single parent, she would be destitute (and everything that meant at that time) without the troupe.  She too is a little person, but of no account rather than reduced height.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1742378854</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=0811771741
|author=Melissa Wareham
+
|title=InstaKnits for Baby
|title=Winston Windsor and the Diamond Jubilee
+
|author=Melissa Leapman
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|genre=Crafts
|summary=The Queen has quite a few corgis (and one dorgi) but her best-loved dog is Winston Windsor.  Winston Windsor is devoted to the Queen, obviously, but his heart has been stolen by Wilma the poodle who is owned by the man who supplies fruit and vegetables to the PalaceWhen the Queen decides to change supplier (please step up the organic farmer based at Highgrove...) Winston realises that he will never see Wilma again.  An unwise escape from the Palace in pursuit of his lady love leaves him in the dog pound with Flossy the Rottweiler (a difficult name for a boy, don't you think, particularly when you've been beaten up by a Chihuahua?) and HarryWhen the dogs unearth a plot to kidnap the Queen on her Diamond Jubilee day they know that they have to get back to the Palace and warn the Queen - but how?
+
|summary=Melissa Leapman's ''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a collection of knits from toys to blanketsSome will be quick knits - others are of the 'long, cosy afternoons in front of the fire' varietyThe projects are divided by the time they'll take to complete - less than five hours, five to ten hours, ten to twenty hours and more than twenty hours.  All the projects are attractive, modern and useable.  I perhaps show my age when I wonder about 'social-media-worthy projects' but that's me being picky.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B0081LEK9M</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Dean Koontz
|author=Keris Stainton
+
|title=The Bad Weather Friend
|title=Emma Hearts LA
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
+
|genre=Paranormal
|summary=Emma's not thrilled to be moving across the Atlantic to LA - unlike her mother and her younger sister Bex. Her mum has a new job and Bex is set to meet with a Hollywood agent. All Emma has to look forward to is a reunion with Oscar, the dorky boy she knew when growing up. When she meets Oscar, though, he's unexpectedly cute... and then TV star Alex Hall appears on the scene as well. With two boys interested, great weather, and locations from movies and TV shows at every turn, maybe LA is actually a pretty good place to live...
+
|summary=Benny is having a terrifically bad day.  He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed. Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the thing that has trashed his house!  The thing is, Benny is the very last person to deserve all this bad luck.  He is a nice person.  A really nice person. So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the delivery to his house is a new friend, a bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. Spike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's enemies, if he, Benny, and Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408319527</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1662500491
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Adam Stower
|author=Martin Waddell and Leonie Lord
+
|title=Murray and Bun
|title=The Super Swooper Dinosaur
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
+
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary='One day, Hal and his little dog, Billy, were out playing when the sky darkened and...'
+
|summary=Murray is supposed to be a humble, tidy and friendly cat, one who is able to sleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of the two. But he's a bad magician's cat, so his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and the catflap they both use can chuck them out, not into the regular back garden, but into a world of frightening adventure and whiffs. This time round it drops them into a Viking land, where a troll hunter is expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was, to be honest, but he's turned up and he'll have to do…
 
+
|isbn=0008561249
The next thing Hal knows is that an enormous winged super swooper dinosaur has landed in his garden and wants to play. Well, you don't really want to argue with a dinosaur that you have only just met so Hal agrees. The first game that the super swooper suggest is Hide-and-seek but it soon becomes apparent that it won't be very successful as the dinosaur is too big to hide anywhere in the garden and is easily found by Hal every time. It's time to think of something else but the next idea, dino-dancing, is equally unsuccessful when Hal's new playmate ends up dancing on the roof. Paddling is equally problematic when the super swooper lands in the little paddling pool with an enormous splash which completely soaks Hal's mum
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408307804</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=B0C47LV1PC
 +
|title=Fragility
 +
|author=Mosby Woods
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Literary Fiction
 +
|summary= Can you make a ''Yo birthing person'' joke? And if you could, is the question should you make it? Or is the question if you did, would it land? The catch is that the answer for both could well be.... no.
  
{{newreview
+
''Fragility'' is set as the city of Portland, Oregon, cautiously begins to emerge from the restrictions imposed during the covid pandemic
|author=Eliza Graham
 
|title=The History Room
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=The novel begins with a key scene from Meredith’s childhood and then springs forward to the present day and the incident in the history room. The prank sets the tone for the whole novel – sinister in many subtle ways and having several layers of meaning. The cast assemble around the fall out from the prank and each character is beautifully drawn. Hugh, Meredith’s husband, is suffering the results of horrors he experienced in Helmand. Meredith’s immediate family are also traumatised by the death of her mother. In this highly charged atmosphere, it’s hard to know whether they are taking the prank too seriously or if it does indeed imply worrying occurrences within the school. Add in the presence of strangers in the form of new pupils and new staff, and before long even the most long-held relationships begin to suffer as a result of all the suspicions that are brought out by the prank.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330509276</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1529431735
|author=Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams
+
|title=The Winter Visitor
|title=Goddess Girls: Athena the Brain
+
|author=James Henry
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=Turns out Mount Olympus isn't so very different from our world after all. Lots of young gods and goddesses all together, making friends, discovering how to use their abilities properly, and having the occasional argument. It has eccentric teachers, handsome boys, and mean girls — in other words, it's middle school!
+
|summary=It's February 1991 and Essex is bitingly cold, which made Bruce Hopkins' return all the more surprising.  He'd been exiled on the Costa del Sol as a wanted drug smuggler for a decade. The return has come about because he's had a letter from his ex-wife, saying that she's ill and hasn't long to live. It's hard to feel any sympathy when Hopkins is abducted, stripped to his underwear and sent to a watery grave in the boot of a stolen Ford Sierra.  Is it a warning from a Spanish gang or a problem closer to home?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>141698271X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Alex Bell and Tim McDonagh
|author=Helen Moss
+
|title=The Glorious Race of Magical Beasts
|title=Adventure Island: the Mystery of the Drowning Man
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=The great thing about adventure stories, as opposed to fantasies, tales of superheroes and even the more dramatic end of the teen-spy spectrum is that young readers can easily imagine themselves joining in the action. Pulling a drowning man from the sea, saving a film star, finding a treasure map and discovering dinosaur bones are all ''possible'' — even if, to be honest, they're not very likely.  
+
|summary=Eli is a busy lad – by day an apprentice in the wondrous library we start by visiting with him, and in the evening a helper at the dessert cafe his gran owns and runs.  Eli lives with his lovely gran, too – for there is a generation missing in the family. A few short years ago, Eli's parents were both lost to the titular race, a globe-trotting adventure where all entrants have to navigate the world in the company of a magical beast.  This has made the race anathema to the pair – but when a bad incident at the eatery leads to a confession from gran, Eli knows his only hope is to dare to enter what he most hates, with the sole aim the prize of magic at the end – the only thing to possibly save his gran.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444005340</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0571382231
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=178763681X
|author=Trisha Ashley
+
|title=Knife Skills for Beginners
|title=Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues
+
|author=Orlando Murrin
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Women's Fiction
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=Tansy was brought up by her great-aunt Nancy, who is in her nineties at the start of this book. Tansy lives with her fiancé Justin, but time is racing by and she is beginning to despair of ever getting married or having babies. Justin is under his demanding mother's thumb, and Tansy loves getting away to the village where her great aunt owns a small shoe shop.
+
|summary=Chef Paul Delamare took a teaching job at a residential cookery school in Belgravia.  He didn't really want to but celebrity chef Christian Wagner had a way of getting both men and women to do what he wanted.  Paul ''somehow'' got the impression that he'd be at the school to assist Paul, who had a broken arm, but it didn't turn out that way. The teaching - and the problems - are all his own.  The one thing he hadn't expected was for someone to turn up dead. Unfortunately, he was the person who discovered the body and everyone knows that the police consider that person to be the prime suspect.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847562779</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Sarah Marsh
|author=Jeri Smith-Ready
+
|title=A Sign of Her Own
|title=Shine
+
|rating=3.5
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Age gap relationships - who'd risk them?  Zach is only a brief moment older than Aura, but in that instant the world changed, as Aura and anyone younger can see and speak to ghosts - while Zach might as well be poison to them.  Over two books Aura has accepted being with Zach and not her dead rock-star boyfriend, who has finally, permanently, moved on.  [[Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready|Last time]] they even found out a lot about how and why the Shift, as that moment is called, happened.  Now we're to consider the present and the future - what it would mean for Zach and Aura to really get together, and what the Powers That Be (whoever they are) are expecting of them, together and apart.  It's the last in the trilogy, so a lot of secrets will be revealed, a lot of threat will be faced - and it'll be emotional.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857074113</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Chuck Palahniuk
 
|title=Invisible Monsters Remix
 
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary='Don't expect this to be the kind of story that goes: and then, and then, and then.' And yet... Once upon a time I collected a couple of Palahniuk books, upon his first, ''Fight Club''-inspired flush of British success, and never got round to reading themAnd then the book reviewing gods conspired to give me [[Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk|Pygmy]], [[Tell-All by Chuck Palahniuk|Tell-All]] and [[Damned by Chuck Palahniuk|Damned]] to peruse.  And then I still didn't go back through his past works.  But then he revised Invisible Monsters, his second-written and third-published novel, and I got to look at it after all.
+
|summary=After a bout of scarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her hearingSuddenly plunged into a world of silence, everything about her life changesLiving in a time when the use of sign language was seen as something only savages do, Ellen is sent to a school where she is taught to lip read, but physically restrained from signingFrom here, she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the deaf and using a system called Visible SpeechAt the same time, Bell is working on other inventions and ideas, and Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a complicated tangle of espionage.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099575051</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1035401614
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Marie N'Diaye and John Fletcher (translator)
 
|title=Three Strong Women
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=As it says on the tin, this powerful novel revolves around three women, connected by their strength and two countries and diverse cultures (France and Africa) but also other, more subtle factors(More of that later.)  First there's lawyer, Norah, returning to Africa at the behest of her estranged father.  There has never been love lost between them, mainly because her father prefers to ignore his female offspring; therefore his reason for the summons is a mystery, until...  The second story is that of African teacher, Fanta, forced by an event beyond her control to leave Africa and settle in France with her husband RudyThen the final section belongs to Khady, widowed after three years of marriage and sent to France by her Cinderella-esque mother-in-law.  As Khady's status as a childless widow is financially unattractive, it has been deemed that she would be of more use sending money back from Europe... once she has entered France as an illegal immigrant.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857050567</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Carol Midgley
 
|title=My Family and Other Freaks
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Danielle has an embarrassing family, a dog who's in love with an Ugg boot, and a love rival who she can't possibly live up to – or can she? Determined not to be beaten in her efforts to secure Damien's affections, Danni hits on a plan – only for it to go horribly wrong, landing her with the nickname of 'Dench The Stench'. Surely things can only get better – can't they?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857388940</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Simone Elkeles
 
|title=Chain Reaction (Perfect Chemistry)
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Luis Fuentes is a risk-taker who meets a feisty girl whom he falls in love with. Unfortunately, a gang called the Latino Blood are also interested in him for rather different reasons, and Nikki doesn’t approve of them. Who will win out – the gang, or the girl?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857077473</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1803816759
|author=Kim Harrington
+
|title=The Unravelling
|title=Clarity
+
|author=Will Gibson
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
+
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=The tourist season at Cape Cod is about to start and for Clarity 'Clare' Fern and her family, this is really important. Clare's family are psychic, not the phoney kind who take your money and give you a false prediction about tall dark strangers - the genuine kind. Clare's mother can read minds, her brother Perry can talk to the dead, and Clare can see memories linked to objects. Their family business is entertaining the tourists, and the summer rush pays the winter bills.
+
|summary=It's 2038 and Joe is a bored cop policing the wealthy and peaceful New York City. Joe longs for a bit of adventure and to get stuck into some really gritty crime detection. But then something goes horribly wrong with the AI system that now runs everything, making life easier for many, and riots start to spread. Finally, Joe gets to do some real policing. In the aftermath of the rioting global pop star Suki is kidnapped and Joe is assigned to bring her home. Joe isn't the only one trying to save Suki - Dylan, a British superfan and tech nerd, is also on the case. What went wrong? Did the system fail or was it hacked? And how is Suki's kidnapping connected?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407130854</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Crockett Johnson
 
|title=Harold and the Purple Crayon
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=''Harold and the Purple Crayon'' is a classic picture book that celebrates the power of the imagination. Harold draws his own journey with the crayon.  When he gets hungry, he draws himself a picnic.  When he wants to walk through a forest, the crayon helps out. His slight figure walks across the plain white pages of the book creating everything that the reader sees.  But the things Harold draws don’t always do what he likes, and he has to think quickly to reach the safety of his bed at the end of the tale.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007464371</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1529421284
|author=Mara Bergman and Nick Maland
+
|title=Laying Out the Bones
|title=Snip Snap, look who's back!
+
|author=Kate Webb
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=''Were the people scaredYou bet they were!''
+
|summary=It was one of those flash downpours that the British weather often delivers in a heatwave.  In a gully, a human skeleton came to the surface and forensic testing proved the body to be Lee Geary, who had disappeared nine years earlier.  He'd been a known drug user and had learning disabilities, so it could have been a simple case of misadventure but DI Matt Lockyer wasn't convinced.  Geary was a townie, so what was he doing out on Salisbury Plain aloneThere are connections to the suicide of Holly Gilbert and to two other deaths which were not considered suspicious at the timeLockyer and DC Gemma Broad of the Major Crimes Review Unit (that's cold cases to you and me) investigate.
 
 
So says Mara Bergman when the alligator from ''Snip Snap! What’s that?'' returns for further slightly scary funThe original story is a sure fire hit as a read aloud and fans will definitely want to try this sequel.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444902474</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=0571379559
|author=Keith Gray
+
|title=The House of Broken Bricks
|title=Next
+
|author=Fiona Williams
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=That Keith Gray hangs out with all the cool people, you know. Hot on the heels of one fabulous anthology of short stories all about virginity, [[Losing It by Keith Gray|Losing It]], comes ''Next''. The topic this time is life after death and it's another preoccupation for young people. What's next? What will it be like? How will those left behind manage and cope? Each of the cool people contributes an idea of what death may bring.
+
|summary=''The House of Broken Bricks'' is the story of four people.  Tess Hembry's roots are in Jamaica: temperamentally she might be happier there, but instead, she lives in the house on the riverbank, built of broken bricks.  Insubstantial as it might look, it's stood the passage of time, storms and floods.  Her husband, Richard, struggles to grow his vegetables, to complete the delivery rounds - and to bring in sufficient money.  They have twin boys - Sonny and Max, the rainbow twins.  Sonny's colouring reflects his mother's Jamaican heritage. Max takes after his father.  People don't believe that they're related, much less twins and there's an assumption when Max is out with his mother that she's his nanny.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849393001</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1529425867
|author=Pete Hautman
+
|title=Lost and Never Found (A D I Wilkins Mystery)
|title=What Boys Really Want
+
|author=Simon Mason
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=Adam is a teenage entrepeneur with a keen eye for a get rich quick scheme. His best friend Lita is an aspiring novelist who also writes an anonymous blog. There's definitely no romance between them - Lita may have broken up a couple of Adam's relationships without him realising it, but that's for his own good. In fact, Lita's convinced Adam knows nothing about romance, so when he comes up with the great idea of writing a self-help book which explains what boys are looking for in a girl, she wants nothing to do with it. Of course, if she took more of an interest, she might notice there are a lot of parts with a significant resemblance to a certain blog...  
+
|summary=In Oxford, there are two D I Wilkins.  Raymond Wilkins is of Nigerian descent, Balliol educated and always exquisitely dressed. D I Ryan Wilkins, son of Ryan and father of Ryan, is not. He's not any of those things.  He's white, originated from a trailer park, barely educated (reading's not ''really'' his thing) and his wardrobe consists mainly of shell suits and trackies.  They're usually in lime green or acid yellow. You might wonder if you're being introduced to a police procedural written for laughs.  Well, you're not. The two men are just different sides of the same policing coin. Sometimes the combination works brilliantly well. Sometimes it's problematic.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407132113</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Mosby Woods
|author=Hugh Jefferies
+
|title=A Whirly Man Loses His Turn
|title=Great Britain Concise Stamp Catalogue 2012
+
|rating=4
|rating=5
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|genre=Business and Finance
+
|summary= The West isn't the dominant force it once was. Nobody in the West is quite sure how to mend this or even if mending it is the best course of action. Governments are flailing. A war here, a push for climate action there. A feeling that nobody is in actual charge. Imagine then, there was a man with precognition. Imagine the strategic advantage in this asset; a man who can tell you what will happen given any set of circumstances. That man would be valuable, right? Perhaps the most valuable asset in history. Imagine then, that this man loses this ability. What would governments do to get it back?
|summary=Now in its 27th year of publication, the Great Britain Concise Catalogue provides a comprehensive listing of all issues from the 1d black and 2d blue of May 1840 to the Children’s Comics issue of 20 March 2012. As a halfway house between the very basic ‘Collect British Stamps’ and the multi-volume specialised edition, this lists the main variations of each issue, alongside miniature sheets, special first day of issue postmarks, postage dues, booklets, and the regional issues from Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, as well as the Channel Islands and Isle of Man prior to their postal independence in 1969 and 1973 respectively.
+
|isbn=B0C9SNG8R1
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0852598467</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}

Latest revision as of 11:18, 27 March 2024

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!

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Review of

The Trading Game: A Confession by Gary Stevenson

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

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 his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most of us 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. Full Review

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Review of

The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder by C L Miller

3.5star.jpg Crime

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. Full Review

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Review of

All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt by Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)

5star.jpg Science Fiction

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. Full Review

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Review of

Hotel Arcadia by Sunny Singh

3.5star.jpg Thrillers

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. Full Review

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Review of

The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey

5star.jpg General Fiction

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. Full Review

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Review of

Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? by Nicci French

5star.jpg Crime

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 - 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. Full Review

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Review of

Diva by Daisy Goodwin

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

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. Full Review

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Review of

Black Hole Cinema Club by Christopher Edge

4star.jpg Confident Readers

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? Full Review

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Review of

Compass and Blade by Rachel Greenlaw

3.5star.jpg Teens

I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.

Rosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks. Mira, like her mother before her, is one of the seven who swim out to survey the ruins – rescuing any survivors and any treasure that lies within. But when the Council Watch lays a trap to end the wrecking, they capture the island's leader and Mira's father. Desperate to save him from death, Mira makes a bargain with a wreck survivor who is as charming as he is secretive and with only coordinates to guide her, she sets off in search of a family secret that lies buried deep in the sea. With only nine days to unearth what might save her father, as her journey takes her from the watched streets of foreign islands to the heart of the smuggler's territory, Mira must be determined to stop at nothing to save the future of her home and the ones she holds most dear. Full Review

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Review of

Planet Storyland by James Sherwood Metts

4.5star.jpg Confident Readers

Things have been a bit sticky for the Earthlings. AI and automation have been proceeding apace, often replacing jobs they're paid to do and other tasks that took time to accomplish. Just as they were beginning to get used to all this technological change and starting to think of other, new ways to spend time, along came an awful pandemic. Life was pretty much shut down and, along with it, all the many daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily. Full Review

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Review of

We'll Never Know by Matthew Tree

4.5star.jpg Literary Fiction

Timothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to be different from his father, a drunk and chronic underachiever whose dreams of being exceptional at any of his artistic passions all failed miserably and who had endless crises of self confidence. So Tim applied himself to his studies, cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and set himself high but achievable ambitions. Full Review

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Review of

The Briar Book of the Dead by A G Slatter

5star.jpg Fantasy

There's a part of me that wants to keep this just to myself for however long I can. This secret magic of my own, all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while.

Within a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the protection of the Briar's, a family of witches who protect the town and the wider world from the Darklands. Though she has always wished for magic, Ellie Briar is the first non-witch to be born into her family for generations and as such since she was young, her training as a steward revolved around letters and administration rather than spells and potions. When her grandmother suddenly dies, Ellie's cousin Audra becomes the Briar Witch, the town's leader, and Ellie takes her place beside her. As challenges come her way left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to communicate with the dead, putting her at the heart of a maelstrom of chaos. Reeling from one family secret to another, Ellie must decide who to trust and determine what to do as the Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is under threat. Full Review

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Review of

The Ghost Orchid by Jonathan Kellerman

4star.jpg Crime

It hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's fault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he felt responsible and even after Alex recovered, Sturgis was reluctant to ask for his help on difficult cases. His assertions that there were only open-and-shut cases which didn't need the help of a psychologist only worked for a while. Finally, it was Robin, Delaware's partner, who nudged Milo into asking for help again. She knew that the involvement was something that the man she loved needed. The next case did look simple, though. Two lovers were murdered in the swimming pool of a remote property in Bel Air. He was the heir to an Italian shoe empire and she is married to an extremely rich man and it's not the Italian. But which of them was the primary target? Full Review

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Review of

Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Secret Life of a Vet by Sion Rowlands

3.5star.jpg Animals and Wildlife

Siôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally. His father was a GP and Rowlands didn't want to follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on his father's life. When he was seventeen he took the opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and was convinced this was the job for him. Before long, he was at Liverpool University. It hadn't - as with so many students - been his dream since he was a child. If anything, he'd wanted to be a professional footballer. Full Review

0861541774.jpg

Review of

A Nye of Pheasants by Steve Burrows

4star.jpg Crime

DCI Domenic Jejeune's close friend and former colleague, Danny Maik, has taken a short holiday in Singapore to meet up with an old ally, Guy Trueman. Maik was involved in a street brawl - he would later maintain that he was facing a man armed with a knife - and he killed a Ghurka. Initially, he faced a charge of manslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested that he might have planned to murder the man. Now he could be facing the death penalty. Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to help as any interference from another police force could provoke a diplomatic incident and wouldn't help Danny at all. Full Review

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Review of

The Perfect Passion Company by Alexander McCall Smith

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

The Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and operating as an alternative to all the online apps in providing a more personal, tailored service. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the business, as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a while. Katie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh. And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. Katie has no experience in running a business, or in match-making, but Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and there's always her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand… Full Review

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Review of

InstaKnits for Baby by Melissa Leapman

4star.jpg Crafts

Melissa Leapman's InstaKnits for Baby gives us a collection of knits from toys to blankets. Some will be quick knits - others are of the 'long, cosy afternoons in front of the fire' variety. The projects are divided by the time they'll take to complete - less than five hours, five to ten hours, ten to twenty hours and more than twenty hours. All the projects are attractive, modern and useable. I perhaps show my age when I wonder about 'social-media-worthy projects' but that's me being picky. Full Review

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Review of

The Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz

4.5star.jpg Paranormal

Benny is having a terrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed. Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the very last person to deserve all this bad luck. He is a nice person. A really nice person. So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the delivery to his house is a new friend, a bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. Spike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's enemies, if he, Benny, and Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are. Full Review

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Review of

Murray and Bun by Adam Stower

4.5star.jpg Confident Readers

Murray is supposed to be a humble, tidy and friendly cat, one who is able to sleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of the two. But he's a bad magician's cat, so his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and the catflap they both use can chuck them out, not into the regular back garden, but into a world of frightening adventure and whiffs. This time round it drops them into a Viking land, where a troll hunter is expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was, to be honest, but he's turned up and he'll have to do… Full Review

B0C47LV1PC.jpg

Review of

Fragility by Mosby Woods

4star.jpg Literary Fiction

Can you make a Yo birthing person joke? And if you could, is the question should you make it? Or is the question if you did, would it land? The catch is that the answer for both could well be.... no.

Fragility is set as the city of Portland, Oregon, cautiously begins to emerge from the restrictions imposed during the covid pandemic Full Review

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Review of

The Winter Visitor by James Henry

4star.jpg Crime

It's February 1991 and Essex is bitingly cold, which made Bruce Hopkins' return all the more surprising. He'd been exiled on the Costa del Sol as a wanted drug smuggler for a decade. The return has come about because he's had a letter from his ex-wife, saying that she's ill and hasn't long to live. It's hard to feel any sympathy when Hopkins is abducted, stripped to his underwear and sent to a watery grave in the boot of a stolen Ford Sierra. Is it a warning from a Spanish gang or a problem closer to home? Full Review

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Review of

The Glorious Race of Magical Beasts by Alex Bell and Tim McDonagh

4star.jpg Confident Readers

Eli is a busy lad – by day an apprentice in the wondrous library we start by visiting with him, and in the evening a helper at the dessert cafe his gran owns and runs. Eli lives with his lovely gran, too – for there is a generation missing in the family. A few short years ago, Eli's parents were both lost to the titular race, a globe-trotting adventure where all entrants have to navigate the world in the company of a magical beast. This has made the race anathema to the pair – but when a bad incident at the eatery leads to a confession from gran, Eli knows his only hope is to dare to enter what he most hates, with the sole aim the prize of magic at the end – the only thing to possibly save his gran. Full Review

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Review of

Knife Skills for Beginners by Orlando Murrin

4star.jpg Crime

Chef Paul Delamare took a teaching job at a residential cookery school in Belgravia. He didn't really want to but celebrity chef Christian Wagner had a way of getting both men and women to do what he wanted. Paul somehow got the impression that he'd be at the school to assist Paul, who had a broken arm, but it didn't turn out that way. The teaching - and the problems - are all his own. The one thing he hadn't expected was for someone to turn up dead. Unfortunately, he was the person who discovered the body and everyone knows that the police consider that person to be the prime suspect. Full Review

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Review of

A Sign of Her Own by Sarah Marsh

3.5star.jpg General Fiction

After a bout of scarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her hearing. Suddenly plunged into a world of silence, everything about her life changes. Living in a time when the use of sign language was seen as something only savages do, Ellen is sent to a school where she is taught to lip read, but physically restrained from signing. From here, she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the deaf and using a system called Visible Speech. At the same time, Bell is working on other inventions and ideas, and Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a complicated tangle of espionage. Full Review

1803816759.jpg

Review of

The Unravelling by Will Gibson

4star.jpg Science Fiction

It's 2038 and Joe is a bored cop policing the wealthy and peaceful New York City. Joe longs for a bit of adventure and to get stuck into some really gritty crime detection. But then something goes horribly wrong with the AI system that now runs everything, making life easier for many, and riots start to spread. Finally, Joe gets to do some real policing. In the aftermath of the rioting global pop star Suki is kidnapped and Joe is assigned to bring her home. Joe isn't the only one trying to save Suki - Dylan, a British superfan and tech nerd, is also on the case. What went wrong? Did the system fail or was it hacked? And how is Suki's kidnapping connected? Full Review

1529421284.jpg

Review of

Laying Out the Bones by Kate Webb

4.5star.jpg Crime

It was one of those flash downpours that the British weather often delivers in a heatwave. In a gully, a human skeleton came to the surface and forensic testing proved the body to be Lee Geary, who had disappeared nine years earlier. He'd been a known drug user and had learning disabilities, so it could have been a simple case of misadventure but DI Matt Lockyer wasn't convinced. Geary was a townie, so what was he doing out on Salisbury Plain alone? There are connections to the suicide of Holly Gilbert and to two other deaths which were not considered suspicious at the time. Lockyer and DC Gemma Broad of the Major Crimes Review Unit (that's cold cases to you and me) investigate. Full Review

0571379559.jpg

Review of

The House of Broken Bricks by Fiona Williams

5star.jpg Literary Fiction

The House of Broken Bricks is the story of four people. Tess Hembry's roots are in Jamaica: temperamentally she might be happier there, but instead, she lives in the house on the riverbank, built of broken bricks. Insubstantial as it might look, it's stood the passage of time, storms and floods. Her husband, Richard, struggles to grow his vegetables, to complete the delivery rounds - and to bring in sufficient money. They have twin boys - Sonny and Max, the rainbow twins. Sonny's colouring reflects his mother's Jamaican heritage. Max takes after his father. People don't believe that they're related, much less twins and there's an assumption when Max is out with his mother that she's his nanny. Full Review

1529425867.jpg

Review of

Lost and Never Found (A D I Wilkins Mystery) by Simon Mason

4.5star.jpg Crime

In Oxford, there are two D I Wilkins. Raymond Wilkins is of Nigerian descent, Balliol educated and always exquisitely dressed. D I Ryan Wilkins, son of Ryan and father of Ryan, is not. He's not any of those things. He's white, originated from a trailer park, barely educated (reading's not really his thing) and his wardrobe consists mainly of shell suits and trackies. They're usually in lime green or acid yellow. You might wonder if you're being introduced to a police procedural written for laughs. Well, you're not. The two men are just different sides of the same policing coin. Sometimes the combination works brilliantly well. Sometimes it's problematic. Full Review

B0C9SNG8R1.jpg

Review of

A Whirly Man Loses His Turn by Mosby Woods

4star.jpg Literary Fiction

The West isn't the dominant force it once was. Nobody in the West is quite sure how to mend this or even if mending it is the best course of action. Governments are flailing. A war here, a push for climate action there. A feeling that nobody is in actual charge. Imagine then, there was a man with precognition. Imagine the strategic advantage in this asset; a man who can tell you what will happen given any set of circumstances. That man would be valuable, right? Perhaps the most valuable asset in history. Imagine then, that this man loses this ability. What would governments do to get it back? Full Review