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[[Category:New Reviews|General Fiction]]==General fiction==__NOTOC__{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Alma KatsuJenny Lecoat|title=The TakerBeyond Summerland|rating=54

|summary=When Dr Luke Findley begins his nightshift at Aroostook County Hospital in St Andrews, Maine, things Jean lives on Jersey with her mother where they are quiet until Lanny McIlvrae is brought in by celebrating the end of the policeoccupation. Lanny is covered in blood and claims she has killed a man and left him in During the woods. Desperate to escapewar, Lanny quickly asks for LukeJean's help, but he is not sure at first, so Lanny decides father was arrested for listening to tell Luke her life story, a story that begins in the early Puritan settlement of St Andrews in 1809 banned radio and spans nearly two hundred yearssoldiers took him away one night, taking Lanny from leaving Jean and her home to Boston and beyondmother waiting for years for news of him. A story that is richAs the British finally free the Channel islands from the Nazis, imaginative and entirely authenticthe war is finally over, filling the majority their hopes rise that they will finally learn what became of him. But will the novel, and there wasn't truth come as a moment when I questioned her reliability as she tells Luke everythingrelief, chapter by chapter, as he helps her to escape, slowly drawing him and or will it raise further questions around what else happened during the war? Who was the informer who told the Nazis about the radio? And what other secrets have been kept throughout the reader into her world. occupation?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846058171</amazonuk>1846976537

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Aimee BenderOnyi Nwabineli|title=The Particular Sadness of Lemon CakeAllow Me to Introduce Myself

|summary=The title of this novel first caught my eye. How can food feel emotions? ActuallyAnuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-mother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on social media, it is Rose who discovers that when where she is eating she can taste the feelings posted every step of the person who cooked or prepared the foodAnuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gain. I was a bit worried that this initial gimmick of the book from which the title Now Anuri is taken would become annoying, but really this is another very well-written in her twenties and readable novel about growing up in a dysfunctional family. Rose she is about slowly trying to turn 9 at the beginning, regain her confidence and comes home to find get her life back, suing her step-mother making to take down the content about her birthday cake. She can't resist tasting the cake Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and at first it is delicious: 'Warm citrus-baked batter lightness enfolded by cool deep dark swirled sugar'receiving money from them for doing so. But then Most importantly, she has 'is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the sensation new focus of shrinking, of upset, tasting a distance I somehow knew was connected to my motherOphelia's online empire. Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>009953827X</amazonuk>0861546873

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Guillaume Musso1529153298|title=Where Would I Be Without You?The List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=45

|summary=It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I love the covermean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, which I think angles this book firmly towards womenthough. Women have been disappearing. With that old Beach Boys hit from the Sixties as the title Well, they've been murdered, it encapsulates everything you need but to know when choosing this bookhave 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. It Miv's upset because she's not really crime fiction, in overheard that it lacks a whodunnit aspect in favour of following her father wants to move the protagonistsfamily 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a French cop and a Scottish master criminalfrightening, foreign place, through a romantic entanglement and into the jaws of deathbest avoided. The interest is in which of For Miv, the two men will gain command of the other – move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and who is really driving she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the action – when both their attentions are focused on the same girldangers or that her Mum's stopped talking - to anyone.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906040346</amazonuk>

  {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mischa Hiller1035906708|title=Shake OffDiva|author=Daisy Goodwin|rating=34.5

|summary=''Shake Off'' is the latest from the pen We tend to think of Mischa HellerMaria Callas as Greek, a student of the John Le Carre universe where the Spies had but she was born to Come In From The Cold. Set Greek parents in the 80s against a backdrop of daggers and cloaksManhattan, New York, wests in December 1923 and easts and defectors and double agents, Helleronly moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas's protagonist, Michel Khoury, hooked on pain killers and posing as a student, has been tasked with to make it more manageable in the unlikely mission of scouting 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 Cambridge location in which to host mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret talks between those Palestinians and Israelis who seek a 'secular democratic state of her preference for Jewsher elder sister, Christians and Muslims'Jackie.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846590884</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sarah WinmanAlexander McCall Smith|title=When God Was A RabbitThe Perfect Passion Company|rating=4.5

|summary=When God Was a Rabbit The Perfect Passion Company is a book that tugs at dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and operating as an alternative to all the emotions online apps in providing a sweet but uncompromising waymore personal, tailored service. It's in no way Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the business, as Ness is planning to take a RomCom but if you are trip to Canada to get away for a fan while. Katie is coming out of that genre of filma break up with a bad boyfriend, I would suggest that you might too enjoy and so jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh. And so begins this book as it shares many of new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the traits if not the storylineIsabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. The analogy to Katie has no experience in running a movie is apposite too as first time author Sarah Winman's 'day job' is as an actor business, or in match- she making, but Ness has appeared recently full confidence in Holby Cityher abilities, for example.and there's always her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0755379284</amazonuk>1846976596

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sam MeekingsDean Koontz|title=The Book of CrowsBad Weather Friend|rating=4.5|genre=General FictionParanormal|summary=Having lived in China for Benny is having a substantial period of timeterrifically bad day. He loses his job, Sam Meekings has clearly soaked up a great deal of the culture; something he has already put to great effect in loses his first bookfiancee, [[Under Fishbone Clouds by Sam Meekings|Under Fishbone Clouds]]and his house gets trashed. In The Book of Crows Oh, his third bookand someone has delivered a really weird, he continues disturbing coffin-sized object to show his talent as a non-Chinese raconteur of Chinese culturehome, but goes one step further by telling a story and it's possible that spans several periods of Chinese history, thereby giving whoever or whatever was inside is the reader a glimpse into different people's lives. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846971721</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Rachel Simon|title=thing that has trashed his house! The Story of Beautiful Girl|rating=3.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=The book begins with widow Marthathing is, an ex-teacher in her seventies living alone in her farmhouse in Benny is the Pennsylvanian countrysidevery last person to deserve all this bad luck. Martha's life He is filled with loneliness, a phone that never rings, and she rarely sees other peoplenice person. But all that is set to change one rainy night in 1968 when Lynnie and Homan knock on Martha's doorA really nice person. Lynnie and Homan have escaped from The School So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the Incurable and Feeblemindeddelivery to his house is a new friend, a harsh institution where people with disabilities are kept away bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from the rest of the worldnefarious forces for being a good person. Martha takes the couple in Spike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's enemies, if he, Benny, and soon discovers that Lynnie is carrying Harper (a new born babywaitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>184809339X</amazonuk>1662500491

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Henry SuttonKatherine Howe|title=Get Me Out Of HereA True Account

|summary=Hapless (and you could also say hopeless) Matt Hannah Masury is fed up living in Boston, having been sent to live with his rather sad a family who run an inn, and unexciting lifebeing made to work there from a young age. SoWhen she hears there is to be a hanging of some pirates in the town, at every opportunity he wants she decides to spice it up a bitgo and watch. But does this strategy work? WeEnthralled and horrified in equal measure, Hannah finds herself embroiled in a young boy're barely pages into s death at the book when we see that Matt is an out-and-out snobhands of two vicious pirates. He knows all the designer labels for the best clothesShe hides away, the best shoes (handmadeso that they don't find and kill her too, natch)and then to escape them completely she runs away to sea, dressing as a boy and joining the best champagne label ... I think you may get my drift here. Thatnotorious Ned Low's finepirate ship as a cabin boy. As long as you can pay for this high life, what's She soon finds herself in the problem? Wellthick of things when there is a mutiny on board, Matt's problem is cash - or the distinct lack and from there we are caught up in her rip roaring tale of it. He's down life on his financial luck at the minute so it's time to try another angle ..ocean waves.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099535629</amazonuk>0861547438

 {{newreview|author=Joolz Denby|title=The Curious Mystery of Miss Lydia Larkin and the Widow Marvell|rating=4Frontpage|genreisbn=General Fiction1471180158|summary=I was a bit surprised by this book when it arrived. Joolz Denby is a punk poet, and has written four noir crime novels, including Billie Morgan, longlisted for the Orange Prize. This quirky little novella with a long title features a large black cat and recipes at the back. Has Joolz really written a cosy?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956778607</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewMaybe Tomorrow|author=Robert Dinsdale|title=Three MilesPenny Parkes

|summary=Captain Abraham Matthews is so desperate to catch Jamie Matson works in an upper-class grocery store, for a man who's a control freak with all the villainous Albie Crowe and bring the youngster to justice that some people would say he was obsessedsubtlety of a half brick. After six months Jamie's son, Bo, Matthews 'has finally tracked down his preyproblems'. He's asthmatic and the more you read, and captures him just three miles from the police station. But with Albiemore you'll suspect that he's boys trying on the autistic spectrum. Sometimes Jamie needs to rescue him, other men without Abrahamtake time off at short notice - she's moral compass more interested a frequent flier in vengeance than justice, the local A&E and sometimes Bo's not fit enough to go to school. Missed shifts or the Luftwaffe dropping bombs need to be away on Leeds, this is set time to pick Bo up from school are occasions when Jamie can be controlled and put in the longest three miles of either of their lives.wrong. It was going to come to a head.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>057126025X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Antoinette Van HuegtenB0CKD1L5JL|title=Saving MaxRadio Free Olympia|author=Jeffrey Dunn

|summary=The one-page Prologue sees us at Petr is an orphan. Rescued by the scene of strange, reclusive Bear, he is brought up far from bustling cities and busy human society, in the crime. Two teenagers and a lot forests of blood - one of whom will not surviveWashington's Olympic Peninsula. Seems like an open-After Bear dies and-shut case - but is it? We then go back in time to a medical consulting room brief sojourn in downtown New York. Hot-shot lawyer human company, and time-pressedarmed with only a pirate radio transmitter, single mum Danielle is trying to understand her severely disabled son. Even allowing for Petr goes on a journey through the normal teenage angst and racing hormonesforest, things are not good at home. She knows it. Max knows it. And broadcasting the medical profession at largestrange, know it. Something needs to be done before things get out of handwild and rarely heard voices he encounters.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0778304086</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kim EdwardsSarah Marsh|title=The Lake A Sign of DreamsHer Own|rating=43.5

|summary=The book opens with After a lovely and intriguing sentence - 'My name is Lucy Jarrett and before I knew about the girl in the window ... I found myself living in bout of scarlet fever as a village near the sea in Japanchild, Ellen Lark loses her hearing.' Who could fail to be drawn Suddenly plunged into a story after reading thatworld of silence, I thoughteverything about her life changes. I Living in a time when the use of sign language was hooked immediatelyseen as something only savages do, Ellen is sent to a school where she is taught to lip read, but physically restrained from signing. Edwards gives us a fleeting taste of life From here, she ends up in Japan, particularly another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the importance (almost reverence) of nature deaf and gardens, public and privateusing a system called Visible Speech. This sets At the tone for the novel which same time, Bell is captivating working on other inventions and interestingideas, but put together beautifully, unhurriedand Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a complicated tangle of espionage.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0142428396</amazonuk>1035401614

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Nikesh ShuklaB0BC3YTCMR|title=Coconut UnlimitedGood Girls Die|author=Ayura Ayira

|summary=It is the early 1990's and Amit, Anand and Nishant are three young Asian boys in an all white private school. As such they are considered massively uncool by default. Too bad then that their Asian peers in the North London Gujarati enclave known as Harrow think that they are a bunch of stuck up toffs. Soft. Weak. No street cred whatsoever. Worst of all they are labelled as 'Coconuts' (brown on the outside, white on the inside). There's only one thing This story is not for it - start a hip-hop band. The fact that they don't have any songs, talent or initially any idea what hip-hop actually sounds like isn't really a problemeveryone. As everyone knows, forming a band makes you 'pretty cool' and after that the girls simply fall at your feet.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0704372045</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Elizabeth Haynes|title=Into Lavender Daniels was three weeks short of her fifteenth birthday when The Darkest Corner|rating=4Incident happened.5|genre=Crime|summary=The book didn She was a very bright student, a bit too nerdy if truth be told, and suffered from vitiligo - people were afraid to hug her in case it't actually look that appealings contagious. The cover It's not easy being a black girl whose skin is 84% white. She had a crush on the sepia side of dullseventeen-year-old Reggie Anderson but never thought he would notice her. I didn't know the author's name Then he did: Lavender was very good at math and the title didn't really grab meReggie asked if she would tutor him. When I started reading we were straight into the transcript of a court case in which it seemed that a police officer She readily agreed: tutoring was something she gladly did at church: this was being questioned in court about his relationship with a womanjust an extension. He was accused of being violent She went to his house and he raped her, but it seemed that the boot was really on the other foot. Then we were into In shock, she even allowed him to give her a story – or even two stories – with two time lines some four years apart. Within ten minutes I couldn't put it downlift home.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956251579</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ben Pastor1472263936|title=Lumen|rating=4|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=Cracow, Poland, October 1939: The Germans have recently occupied Poland and are seeking to establish their authority. Captain Martin Bora of the Wehrmacht (the German army) has just arrived in the city from the battlefield to take up a posting to Intelligence. His boss asks Bora to drive him to a convent every day to see the renowned Abbess, rumoured to have mystic and healing powers. A few days later, though, she is found shot dead in the grounds of her convent. Bora is asked to investigate and report back. He proceeds to investigate who shot her and why, but as his investigation continues, there are more questions for Bora and the reader. Where does this case fit in with the priorities of the occupying forces?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904738664</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFigurine|author=Jake Wallis Simons|title=The English German GirlVictoria Hislop|rating=4.5

|summary=When it began it wasn't pleasantIt was in 1968 that Helena McCloud made her first trip to Greece. She was alone: her mother, Greek by birth, had left the family home and refused to return, but there was hope Mary and Hamish (Helena's parents) felt that it would get betterbe a pity if Helena grew up without knowing her grandparents or understanding her Greek heritage. Her trip to the family apartment in up-market Kolonaki would be the first of several annual visits. RosaShe grew to love her grandmother and the family's fathermaid, Dina, Otto but was a doctor wary - and she lived with him, frightened - of her mothergrandfather, Inga, elder brother Heinrich and younger sister Hedi in a pleasant flat in Berlinretired general Stamatis Papagiannis. The turn He was proud of opinion against Jews was slow – an anti-Jewish pin handed his close connections to Rosa as she went shopping, friends who felt that they couldn't remain such obvious friends – certainly for the time being – Junta and a change of employment for Ottoexpected his family to uphold his values but saw no reason to accommodate them. It was better for the patients if they didnHis prejudices included Helena's red hair and green eyes - inherited from her father't have contact with him, even if he was a good doctors Scottish ancestors.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846971764</amazonuk>

 {{newreview|author=Nathacha Appanah|title=The Last Brother|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Raj and his two beloved brothers live on a Mauritian sugar plantation. World War II rages far away and close too, but Raj is blissfully unaware of anything beyond his immediate surroundings. Life is poor and hard and Raj's father takes out the privations of his life on his sons and his wife - drunken beatings are a regular occurrence. But his mother is loving and kind, and skilled at healing, and his brothers are constant playmates. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849164010</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Tom BaleDean Koontz|title=Terror's ReachAfter Death|rating=43

|summary=We're on the south coast Michael Mace, Head of England Security, at a top secret biological research facility, is among 55 people who die when a virus is released in the middle of a hot summer bio-hazard accident. Finding himself in a very upmarket enclavemakeshift mortuary, not dissimilar to Sandbankscovered in plastic, along the coast he has a bit. The locals are going about their businesssense that something very, about their daily lives very bad has happened to him – and Bale obligingly introduces them to us one by one only him – as he sits up and also gives us an idea looks around at the shrouded bodies of their respective backgrounds, their family members his dead friends and even some of the house designs ' ... each home had a private jetty' for example.former colleagues. New money As he recovers his senses, he realises that there is also apparent along with ostentatious tastesomething different about him; he can ''feel'' everything. What's also apparent is that trouble's afootEverything''. Big timeMichael isn't ''Michael'' anymore.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848090765</amazonuk>1662500467}} {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Daphne KalotayB0BVDC2VWH|title=Russian WinterThe Grave Listeners|author=William Frank

|summary=The novelvillage is isolated and poor. It's structure goes back surrounded by a Witching Forest. And the villagers subsist largely by farming Uphegia plants - its bread-like fruit provides nutrition and forth from the past to the present dayits blossom provides herbal medicines. The book opens with Ninablack wood of the forest provides heat and warmth, now elderlyroofs on homes, in pain and in a wheelchair: waiting to die basically. And even although she's lived an interesting lifegallows, now all she has for company is a daily home-helpif needed. I was struck straight away by how prickly Nina The fear of being buried alive is an existential superstition in the village and I could feel all those emotions seething underneath that is the surface. So the question is reason Volushka, a drunken, self- why has she decided to sell some indulgent, lazy lout of her exquisite jewellery. Is it to help pay the bills? Or some other reason? We find out by degreesa man is tolerated.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099553244</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Scott MarianiB0BYF82CXT|title=The Lost RelicSemi-Detached|author=Deborah Stone

|summary=Ben Hope went to Italy to visit a former SAS comrade ''Bill and offer him Amanda are living in a jobsemi-detached house, but he's got marriage and happiness – and Ben's trade is far from the front stuck in a depressing rut of his mind. It's whilst he's driving away that Ben nearly runs down a small boy boredom and unwittingly walks into a deadly heist which will see the boy disappointment, when Terry and his mother Fiona – glamorous, successful and many others very much in love – brutally murdered. It's only the beginning for Ben though as he find himself fleeing for his life and accused of murder. When the state needs to act people – even heroes – are disposable.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847561977</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Diane Janes|title=Why Don't You Come For Me?|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Over a decade ago Jo's daughter was abducted from move in front of a shop whilst she and her husband were on holidaynext door. The pushchair was found Despite their different outlooks on a cliff edge but there was no trace of Laurenlife, even on the beach belowcouples befriend each other and life appears to improve for both pairs. Occasionally Jo receives postcards with an old picture of her daughter on the front simply saying that the writer still has Lauren. The policeBut all is not what it seems, the people who know what happened believe the cards to be a hoax. Jo believes differently. She also realises that as she has moved house and remarried and the story has faded from press attention someone is going to a great deal of trouble to keep track of hertheir increasingly interconnected relationships are fated for tragedy.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849011257</amazonuk>''

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=G S MattuShalini Boland|title=Sons and FascinationThe Silent Bride

|summary=This book concentrates on emotionsAlice and Seth are a match made in heaven. Take an impressionable young manHe is everything she has been searching for; handsome, accomplished, clever, add funny; total and utter husband-material. She is all he could possibly want in a chance (?) encounter with an attractive older woman wife; beautiful, successful, confident… and then stand well back as so the fireworks explode inevitable proposal is eagerly accepted by Alice and as family, friends the wedding is planned and colleagues get sucked in to their deepening relationshipset. I must say I'm not keen on When the much-anticipated day arrives, Alice is walked down the title (a little pretentious for a work of fiction in my opinion aisle by her father, beaming with pride and more suited excitement as she surveys the congregation – their friends assembled to poetry) celebrate this joyful day and even when it was ever so gently explained later on in Seth turns to face his approaching bride, Alice's world implodes because she has absolutely no idea who the man at the book (twice) I still didn't warm to it. All in allaltar is, not off who is waiting for her to the greatest of startsbecome his wife. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1907756000</amazonuk>1662507089

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Philip Wilding1787636003|title=Cross Country Murder SongThe Girls of Summer|author=Katie Bishop|rating=45

|summary=The novel opens with It was the summer when Rachel Evans turned eighteen that she and Caroline went backpacking around Greece and arrived on the (unnamed) central character in a therapy session in downtown New Yorkisland. The air is charged and tension is presentRachel wasn't exactly innocent but she was, perhaps, naive, bigso when thirty-timefour-year-old Alistair Wright started to take an interest in her, she was flattered rather than wary. This is one troubled human being. And It was quite a while before he made any sort of course, childhood issues physical approach to her and experiences are dominant in this question and answer session. We soon find out by that this individual has secrets in his basementtime she was obsessed by him. It all becomes too muchAlistair worked for Henry Taylor, he packs a bag looking after his interests on the island and hits in particular in the road and so bar where all the story starts propergirls either worked or partied.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099539934</amazonuk>

 {{newreview|author=Asa Jones|title=The Illustrated Mind of Mike Reeves|rating=3.5|genre=Fantasy|summary=Mike Reeves doesn't have his troubles to seek. His wife was brutally raped some four or five years ago and whilst she might seem to be recovered she cannot stand to be touched by a man – any man, Mike included. Quite suddenly Mike was alone, in every way – until he found himself drawn to the darker arts and began to dabble in Tarot, the Runes and I Ching. He's guided by two spirits. Sean is a wise and benevolent older man and Debbie, well she… isn't. She's the one who satisfies Mike's sexual needs. If that's all sounding rather good, then hesitate a moment, for with the good comes the bad and the bad is in the form of Tony a (very) real-life gangster who's been doing his own dabbling in the spirit world. When their worlds clash Mike has a problem which could well be more than he can handle.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>160693905X</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Margaret ForsterAmanda Craig|title=Diary of an Ordinary WomanThree Graces

|summary=After reading the introduction, I couldn't help but sneak a sly read at the author's note right at Few styles of contemporary fiction interest me like the end state-of -the -nation novel. I donThere't usually do this. I'm glad I did as s something so utterly compelling about any writer who can catch hold of the information is both surprising and revelatory. Back to atmosphere of the beginning day and Chapter 1 ... We meet capture it, crafting an image of the 13 year old Millicent country as it stands in 1914one particular moment. By her written statements and recorded mannerisms, we see To say that she's a girl who knows her own mind. For example, she thinks writing in her diary every single day could Amanda Craig is skilled at doing this would be dull and boring so embarrassingly inadequate: she's made a golden rule that she's only going to write something down when she feels like it. Some may call her precocious but I liked Millicent right from practically synonymous with the start. Courtesy genre of her diary we find out that she's part of a large and boisterous familycontemporary social fiction at this point. She doesn't appreciate all has such a gift for weaving the ongoing issues of the day into the noise and chatter from lives of her siblings. She craves peace and quiet to think and to read. She's characters in a prolific reader. She also believes way that she's smart feels natural and clever and wants to 'do' something lived-in, never making them ciphers for social commentary but instead fully realised people, grappling with her life when she grows up. She's not sure what exactly but she certainly doesn't want to be a mere housewife and motherissues far larger than themselves.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099449285</amazonuk>140871468X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Matt Dunn152915118X|title=The Accidental ProposalPineapple Street|author=Jenny Jackson|rating=34.5

|summary=Edward Middleton seems like a pretty decent guy. He always stops to buy a Big Issues from Billy''Pineapple Street'' is the story of three women: Sasha, a local homeless man Darley and he takes his elderly widowed neighbour shopping once a weekGeorgiana. These Darley and George are some of the reasons why his girlfriendsisters and Sasha is married to their brother Cord. They're Stocktons, Sam, loves him only Sasha isn't a Stockton by birth so muchshe isn't readily accepted into the tribe. One night, after a friend The problem's weddingexacerbated when the clan matriarch, Tilda, Sam asks Ed Cord and Sasha if he would also they'd like to get married move into the Pineapple Street property. Tilda and Chip have renovated and downsized to another property, a street or so away, which Ed enthusiastically replies they own. They won'yes'. However, t need any of the following morningfurniture from Pineapple Street, whilst nursing his hangoverso Sasha and Cord can move straight in. Nominally, he cannot work out if it was they had a hypothetical question or an actual proposalchoice but that wasn't the reality. His best mate Dan is no help at all Darley and is quite incredulous Georgiana start to call Sasha 'the gold digger'. She's living in ''their'' family home. They use it so often that anyone should ever want they abbreviate it to marry Ed'the GD'.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847395244</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=William StyronEmily Critchley|title=The Suicide RunOne Puzzling Afternoon

|genre=Short StoriesCrime|summary=A WW2 naval soldier84 year old Edie has lived in the same small town for almost her whole life, guarding but now she is facing a prison island for those found guilty at courtmartialsmove as her son wants to move to another house and bring Edie to live with his family, as Edie is forced starting to wonder if he lose her memory. However, Edie is winning his own battles against those arriving tormented by the memory of her childhood friend, Lucy, who went missing over 60 years ago, and leavingthe worry that there was a secret she was keeping for Lucy that somehow might be the thing that reveals the truth of what happened all that time ago. A soldier remembers calming memoriesAfter 'seeing' Lucy in the high street, and those causing tensionjust as she was the last time she saw her, as he rests up before actionshe starts to find pockets of memories coming back to her. And for a highly-charged young manyet as she remembers the past, there may be too much risk she is forgetting more and more in her day to be found in his high-octane downtimeday life. Will she uncover the truth about Lucy's disappearance before her move, and before her memories are gone forever?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099532220</amazonuk>1804181250

Told from a retrospective view, a young woman unravels the year-long relationship that once defined her. Overlaid with later wisdom, the narrator relives the affair with a man twenty years her senior from its inception – the summer after finishing university – to its sorrowful end the summer after. Set against the backdrop of an isolated Australian coastal town ''Thirst for Salt'' details the 24-year-old narrator's deepening relationship with her older lover, depicting its all-consuming nature, how it changed her perspective on both romantic and familial relationships and how it altered her irrevocably.|isbn=0861546490}}{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Molly Carr0008506337|title=The Sign of FearGarnett Girls|author=Georgina Moore|rating=35

|summary=Meet Mary Watson The love affair between Margo Garnett and poet Richard O'Leary was all-consuming, apparently on both sides. Margo was just sixteen when they fell in love. Richard was twenty-one and described by Margo's mother as 'an older man'. Her parents worried that Richard's influence would take her away from what they felt she could achieve - going to Oxford and having a distant second to John Watsonglittering career. In the event, who they eloped and Richard took her away from the Isle of course was Wight. Margo did go to Oxford and went on to become a distant second to Sherlock Holmeswell-respected journalist. The couple had three children: Rachel, Imogen and Sasha. Fed up with staying Life was lived in London and holidays were spent at Sandcove, the family home while her new husband spends too much time at 221b Baker Street, or away with Holmes sleuthing, on the Isle of Wight. Even then the doubts about Richard's drinking were never far from Margo's mind: ''she gets would never be able to dabble her own feet leave him in the underworld waters when a certain Professor Moriarty comes callingcharge''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907685006</amazonuk>Then Richard left them.

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jon Stephen Fink1914585402|title=A Storm In The BloodDashboard Elvis is Dead|author=David F Ross|rating=34.5

|summary=I reviewed David F Ross's book [[There'A Storm In The Bloods Only One Danny Garvey by David F Ross|There'' is based on s Only One Danny Garvey]] a true story involving the police force couple of years back and remember being absolutely floored by how powerful and the government of the day trying to suppress racial tensions in early 20th century Londonaffecting it was. It has resonance for our modern times as we grapple with similar situations was a gripping, emotionally wounding read, and problemsrereading my review of it my main takeaway was that I might not have lavished enough praise on it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956544517</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Allegra GoodmanLucy Ashe|title=The Cookbook CollectorClara and Olivia|rating=4.5

|summary=''The Cookbook Collectoryear is 1933. The place? Sadler'' is all about emotionss Wells. Ballerinas Clara and Olivia are sisters, twins no less. Concentrating Identical on twothe outside but not, youngwe learn, American women who are vastly different in many areas of their lives and also on their outlook the inside. And not on lifestage, Goodman digs deeper either. Because there's a lot that builds a dancer. Some things that can be taught or learnt – discipline, attention to find out what makes them tick detail – and some things, that ''je ne sais quoi'', that don't come from the classroom. A stage presence, a charm, a ''joie de vivre''. The difference between a hard- what makes them get up in the morningworker, and a star.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848875398</amazonuk>0861544080

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Craig SmithHeather Fawcett|title=Cold RainEmily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

|summary=Life was pretty good for Dr David Albo. HeEmily Wilde is an expert academic scholar on faerie lore, and she has travelled extensively, and researched meticulously, to write her life'd just had fifteen months away from his job as an associate professor s work, the very first encyclopaedia of English at a university in the mid-western USAfaeries. He lived on a plantation-style farmhouse Whilst she is brilliant at research and speaking to faeries, she is not so good with a beautiful and intelligent wife and a step-daughter who adored himpeople. He was even going back to work So when she finds herself far, far North in the expectation that he might well be offered a full professorship in small village of Hrafvsnik, having somehow offended the village matriarch, she is not-too-distant future sure what she has done, nor how to redeem herself and just to put the icing her final investigations for her book back on the cake heright track. Enter Wendell Bambleby, her dashingly handsome and insufferable rival who arrives unexpectedly, all charm and delight, much to Emily's been clear of alcohol for two yearsfrustration. Yes; life was very good.But why is he here? What does he want? And what exactly is going on with the faerie folk around Hravsnik?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>190580234X</amazonuk>0356519120

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Anna Gavalda1398515388|title=ConsolationThe Boy and the Dog|author=Seishu Hase and Alison Watts (translator)

|summary=We meet CharlesFirst of all, it was the earthquake, deep in the main character right at ocean floor, which created the start. And straight awaytsunami and this, it's no secret thatin turn, as a middle-aged professional (he's an architect and a successful one at that) he's jadedcaused the nuclear meltdown. Been-there, done-that The result was complete and got-the-bloody-tee-shirt just about sums him up pretty wellutter devastation. He's acquired (somehow) a beautifulThe deaths were uncountable, witty and clever partner and also a step-daughter whom he adoresthe loss of livelihoods was widespread. As the story deepens, I soon acknowledged The fact that many pets were separated from their owners came far down the steplist of priorities but -daughter seems to be about six months after the only true love in his lifetsunami - Kazumasa Nakagaki discovered a dog outside a convenience store. Hewasn't a dog person but the convenience store owner's luke-warm about the rest of his family and comment that includes he would call Public Health prompted Kazumasa to open his partner car door and his ageing parents. Is this man going through some mid-life crisis, would be an obvious question to askTamon the dog jumped in.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099531925</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sam HawkenChristopher Bowden|title=The Dead Women of JuarezMr Magenta

|genre=CrimeGeneral Fiction|summary=Although the story related here Christopher Bowden's latest novel is a work patient untangling of fictiona seemingly ordinary woman's life, the situation is based on factcarried out by her nephew after she has died. The Mexican border city aunt who always provided a safe harbour and a little bit of Juárez has indulgence to a shocking problem with female homicides (usually young nephew had had a much more interesting life than that nephew Stephen had ever realised and invariably pretty). Official statistics put the number of murders at 400 since 1993 while, we are told, residents believe that the true number of disappeared women is closer to 5000. But attention it seems to this problem is diverted by drug crime, although the two may not be entirely unrelated. Anything that raises public awareness of this terrible situation, such as Hawken's book, is him an obligation to be encouragedfind it all out. So much for the fact, what about the fiction?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>184668773X</amazonuk>B0B6Z9VJDW

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Pamela KlaffkeJennifer Mason|title=SnappedPartitions of Unity|rating=34

|summary=They say that a good idea is to write about what you know. WellHere at Bookbag Towers, we first met Elizabeth Cromwell, Klaffke seems to have heeded that piece of advice. She writes here about a fictional fashion writer called Sara B (note the pretentious second capital letter) who is the central character. And although Sara B is now dominatrix and unintentional detective in her middle years[[Preposterous: An Elizabeth Cromwell Mystery by Jennifer Mason|Preposterous]], when she's still acting like investigated and unravelled a teenagerseries of disappearances. SheIn ''Partitions of Unity''s got the younger boyfriend/lover, got the latest fashion look which she can deftly put sets her stamp on, got the invites mind to the best parties in the best venues with the must-be-seen-with minor celebritiessolving a murder... But - is she happy? I know, it seems a silly question, but is it?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0778304337</amazonuk>B09LQR9FRF

{{Frontpage|author=Will Carver|title=The Daves Next Door|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary= Five strangers come together in one moment as a suicide bomber prepares to detonate his vest on a London tube line. As their fates overlap, the story is told in backwards order, leading up to the fateful moment.|isbn= 1914585186}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Diane ChamberlainJennifer Mason|title=Breaking the SilencePreposterous: An Elizabeth Cromwell Mystery

|summary=As I've reviewed several of Chamberlain's previous books A struggling poetry zine, a mom-and enjoyed them, I was looking forward to getting stuck -pop mobile diner in to this one. We meet the central character; wife and mother to fiveNorthern California redwoods, a 400-year-old Emmameter hurdler who just missed the 2004 Olympics, Laura. Shea women's distraught. Her father track coach with a yen for bullwhips, a billionaire with a state-of-the-art S&M dungeon, a man serving a life sentence in Alabama, an enigmatic signature, K(Emma's grandfather, x) has just passed away but his dying wish has really upset Laura, on a cheap oil painting, an erotic art dealer in Georgia. It's a strange request and she doesn't know what to make of it. She confides in her husband thinking that two heads are better than one. He's ' This is just a brilliant academic sample of the cast of characters and could give some much-needed advicesettings in Preposterous. But he doesn't. In factAs you can see, he behaves some keeping up will be required! The basic premise of this mystery story goes like a five-year-old himself and almost has a tantrumthis. Odd. Now poor Laura's doubly confused, upset and doesn't know how to handle her grief. Tough times.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0778304140</amazonuk>B09STS96HS

{{newreview|author=Lola Shoneyin|title=The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|summary=The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives is one of those books that you read with a smile Move on your face. It's full of gloriously unsavoury characters caught in a terrible web of deceit. We are promised 'four women, one husband and a devastating secret' and it delivers on all three counts. Sure the secret is quite well signposted and Shoneyin doesn't really make much of an effort to divert the reader from putting two and two together, although it takes wife number four, Bolanle, an inordinate amount of time for the penny to drop, but it's not about discovering the deception - it's about the glorious journey of how things unfold.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846687497</amazonuk>}}[[Newest Graphic Novels Reviews]]