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<metadesc>Book review siteExpert, with books full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, biographynon-fiction, crime, cookery and children's books & self-published books plus author interviews and & top tens.</metadesc><h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>Hello from The Bookbag, a site featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - [[:Category:Fiction|fiction]], [[:Category:Biography|biography]], [[:Category:Crime|crime]], [[:Category:Cookery|cookery]] and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library, the charity shop and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of [[:Category:Interviews|author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[features]] page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the [[Book Recommendations|recommendations]] page.

Reviews by readers from all the many walks of literary life. With author interviews, features and top tens. You'll be sure to find something you'll want to read here. Dig in! Find us on [[File:facebook.gif|link=https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk|alt=Facebook]] [https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk '''Facebook'''], [[File:twitter.gif|link=http://twitter.com/TheBookbag|alt=Follow us on Twitter]] [http://twitter.com/TheBookbag '''Twitter'''], [[File:instagram_classic_logo.png|link=https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/|alt=Follow us on Instagram]] [https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/ '''Instagram'''] and [[File:LinkedIn.png|link=https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-bookbag-1b12a264/|alt=LinkedIn]] There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews ]] at TheBookbag.

==Reviews of the The Best New Books==

'''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].{{Frontpage|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingauthor="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->Onyi Nwabineli<!-- Vibrant Publishers -->|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself|-rating=4.5| stylegenre="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|General Fiction[[image:1946383627.jpg|linksummary=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1946383627/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbagAnuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Cost Accounting & Management Essentials You Always Wanted To Know by Vibrant Publishers]]=== [[image:4mother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gain. Now Anuri is in her twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and to get her life back, suing her step-mother to take down the content about her.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and Finance|Business secretly abusing people online and Finance]], [[:Category:Reference|Reference]] I'm capable of drawing up a profit and loss account (income statement in the USA) and a balance sheet and I do receiving money from them for doing so for my own business and for another organisation. The accounts give me Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the new focus of Ophelia''broadly'' what I need: I know whether we're making a profit or a loss s online empire. Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and I can look her relationship with her father at the expenses and see what looks as though it could be trimmed back in future years. My problem was that the accounts didnsame time?|isbn=0861546873}}{{Frontpage|author=David Chadwick|title=Headload of Napalm|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary= It't really give me any help s September 1973 in making decisionsHicks, which was why I turned to ''Cost Accounting and Management'', part California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of Vibrant Publishers' Self-Learning LA and Management seriesLas Vegas both a significant drive away. Cost accounting provides Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and a defence contractor are the information required by authorities external to the company 'main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of note other than dive bars and'' to those within it who need to make decisionsJoshua trees. Life is quiet, so don't worry that you're going to have to draw up two sets of accounts! [[Cost Accounting & Management Essentials You Always Wanted To Know by Vibrant Publishersuntil....|Full Review]]isbn= B0D321VJ76}}<!-- Steve Burrows -->{{Frontpage|-author=Tom Percival| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Wrong Shoes|rating=5[[image:1786075776.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazonConfident Readers|summary=Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways.co.uk/dp/1786075776/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Dance He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of Cranes by Steve Burrows]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]]things like food, [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] DCI Domenic Jejeune is no longer with Lindy Hey, the estrangement being of and his making, not hers. He hasndad can't explained to her that work because he is doing this - and leaving for lost his native Canada job at the college, was working a cash-in- because he thinks hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the fact that this will keep her safe from his nemesismum and dad are separated, Ray Hayes. Lauren Salter has been promoted to sergeant and now has her first murder case. It looks as though thereand Will's an obvious suspect, but Salter isn't so certainlife seems bleak in every direction. Sgt Danny Maik is (unofficially) keeping an eye on Lindy HeyAnd yet, whilst Jejeune embarks on he still has a treacherous journey tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, and clings to rescue his brotherthe moments of joy when he is drawing, Damian, who has gone missing in one that feel like a light at the end of Canada's largest national parks. [[A Dance of Cranes by Steve Burrowsa long, dark tunnel.|Full Review]]isbn=1398527122}}<!-- Oates -->{{Frontpage|-author=Sylvie Cathrall| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction[[image:1785656775.jpg|linksummary=http://wwwThere are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise.amazonAnd this is one of them.co.uk/dp/1785656775/ref|isbn=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]0356522776}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008517061| styletitle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Death in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=[[The Triumph Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the future of the Spider Monkey by Joyce Carol Oates]]=== [[imagehis life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a lot of compromise:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Bobby does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is an angry, damaged man - damage that came from being abandoned as a baby the future she wants for herself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in a bus station locker, the present and then being thrown from one foster home or detention centre to another, never far from violence or abuseputting the future on the back burner. Eager to succeed as a musician, he arrives in Hollywood to find his dream - but it soon becomes clear that his paranoid delusions and seething rage will enable a capacity for acts of extreme violence}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786482126|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4. Unpublished for 40 years, this edition of 5|genre=Crime|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury'The Triumph apartments - when they discovered the bones of the Spider Monkey'' comes combined a child beneath a doorway. There was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with a connected novella – DCI Harry Nelson. It''Loves difficult as Ruth knows, Careless Lovebut Nelson doesn''. [[The Triumph t, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the Spider Monkey by Joyce Carol Oates|Full Review]] <!-- Pike -->one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.|-}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|0008551324[[image:0192771604.jpg|linktitle=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0192771604/refThe Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=nosim?tagNeil Lancaster|rating=thebookbag-21]] 4.5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Crime|summary===[[The Last Spell Breather by Julie Pike]]=== [[image:4It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police.5star Neither side likes or has any respect for the other.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Rayne lives But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the small, hidden village of Penderin police where she the body of a missing person is a somewhat unwilling apprentice to buried and who was responsible for her motherdeath. This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the spell breatherpolice doing what he wants. Not everyone can spell breathe, you have to born with a magic spark And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and Rayne wishes she hadnto get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't been born with one. She's a terrible spell breather, her attempts are always followed by disaster think so and she positively hates Mam's spell book even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with ithim is kept well away from what's sharp teeth that suck your bloodhappening. When a stranger finds their village one day, Mam must set off on a journey to the great library, leaving Rayne }}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008405026|title=A Stranger in the village as their chief spell breather, but an unfortunate mistake sees Rayne breaking her motherFamily (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=It's book sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and turning everyone in the investigation ground to monstersa halt. She must face Now, her fear travel across the monster-ridden country to find Mam mother, Helena, and restore the book to save her father are dead in their villagebed. [[The Last Spell Breather by Julie Pike|Full Review]] <! Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to be an open-and- Carlie Sorosiak -->shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=0571379877| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet[[image:178800387X.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/178800387X/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="verticalEdward Jevons is a working-align: top; textclass young man, obsessed with his upper-align: left;"|===[[Iclass friends, Cosmo by Carlie Sorosiak]]=== [[image:4Robert and Stanza.5star Robert's a theatre director.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Cosmo He's family is in crisis. Mom also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and Dad argue all the timeuses Edward to run errands for him. Emmaline doesn't quite understand it because she Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and he's too little but she drunkenly confided how he feels itto Robert. And Max, who is bigger, does understand it and is terrified by it. Long ago, when Max was just Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a baby, Cosmo made a promise to protect Max forever and so he sets about his mission of repairing the family with everything relationship had begun between them but he's gotnot like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway... [[I, Cosmo by Carlie Sorosiak|Full Review]]}}<!-- Fegan -->{{Frontpage|-author=Jo Callaghan| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Leave No Trace|rating=4[[image:1925810097.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1925810097/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="vertical-align: When a man is found crucified on the top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Don't Drink of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the Pink by B C R Fegan]]=== [[image:4starAI detective Lock. It's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] Madeline But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very fond high profile case that draws a lot of Grandfather Gilderberryunwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. He's always busy Will they be able to solve the case in his workshoptime, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, creating crazy potionspotentially, and he always has out of a smile on his face. Madeline's dad thinks he's a bit bonkers career?|isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=Olivia, Laura and Madeline's mum thinks Anjali met on the same but gives him first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a pass because he's oldcentury. But Madeline? She thinks Grandfather Gilberberry Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is just great. Particularly on her birthday a bonus when he unfailingly arrives with you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a selection of potions perfectionist and allows her to choose one as a gifttrauma doctor. And he always says Anjali is the free spirit of the same thinggroup and she becomes a GP... [[Don't Drink the Pink by B C R Fegan|Full Review]] <! When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty- Averill -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1077651538five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends.jpg|link=http://www This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.amazon.co.uk/dp/1077651538/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0241636604| styletitle="vertical-alignThe Trading Game: top; text-align: left;"A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson|rating=4.5|genre===[[The Years of Fading Magic by Kenelm Averill]]===Autobiography [[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]]  ''What if you could subtly change the lives If you were to bring up an image of ordinary people around a city banker in your mind, you?'' Jessica Turner was one of the more radical teens to come out of Eastfieldre unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A youth spent hanging out hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with a close crowd of friends was characterised by Jessica's role as trendsetterviolence, as influencer, as leaderpoverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Strangely charismatic, Jessica invited fascination Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and obsessionhe has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. Nobody who met her He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, forgot her. Or the days they spent in the Enclosureessentially, a clearing in Eastfield woods that Jessica felt gave her powercard game which got him an internship with Citibank. But the group went its separate ways Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as adolescent groups do, and her influence faded..a trader.[[The Years of Fading Magic by Kenelm Averill|Full Review]]}}<!-- Paula Daly -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1035021803| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller[[image:1787632105.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/1787632105/ref5|genre=nosim?tagCrime|summary=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Clear My Name by Paula Daly]]=== [[image:4It'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.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Tess Gilroy works for Innocence UKArthur Crockleford, a charity investigating is dead and the cases of prisoners who can convince them that they've been wrongly convicted and they're just moving on circumstances seem suspicious, to their next casesay the least. She's somewhat surprised when Clive, Arthur was the head of reason why Freya had not been back to the charityvillage: Arthur, announces that she'll have someone shadowing feels, let herdown badly. Avril's Even though they were in her mid twenties and rather gauche business together as well as prone antique hunters, she has not felt able to putting her foot in itbe near the man or pursue the profession she loved. One of After the reasons they're now going to look at the case of Carrie Kamara is that split, she's female worked in a cafe, met and Innocence have never yet taken up married James (on the rebound from the case love of a woman: such impressions matterher life, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced. [[Clear My Name by Paula Daly|Full Review]]}} <!-- Georgianne Landy-Kordis -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover| styletitle="widthAll Tomorrow's Futures: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)[[image:1072549271.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1072549271/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Science Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Simple Act ''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of Self-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide by Georgianne Landy-Kordis ]]=== [[image:4things to come.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]], [[:Category:Reference|Reference]], [[:Category:Self-Publishing|Self Publishing]] I frequently meet authors who are struggling to be published by the traditional houses, but when I suggest self-publishing they explain that they don't have the big bucks required to go down that road with Author Solutions or Matador or their like. I then ask if they've considered Kindle and the answer is inevitably that they wouldn't know where to start. I can empathise with that. Despite having used a computer for about thirty years, running most of my life ''and'' a website on line, I'm still nervous when it comes to starting something new. I like someone to hold my hand as I go through it for the first time. That was why I was very interested when ''The Simple Act of Self Publishing With Amazon'' came across my desk. Author Georgianne Landy-Kordis doesn't profess to be a computer expert: she's simply someone who has done this many times and she's giving us the benefit of her experience and without any added chitchat. [[The Simple Act of Self-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide by Georgianne Landy-Kordis |Full Review]] <!-- S Kensington -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789018625.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789018625/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Just Another Girl on the Road by S Kensington]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] When Sergeant Farr and Corporal Valentine first encountered Katrinka Badeau she was just eighteen years old and fleeing from a farmhouse and a group of German deserters who had raped her. Despite being outnumbered she was giving just about as good as she got when Farr and Valentine intervened and finished the group off. It was 1944 and Farr and Valentine were part of the Jedburgh unit, EDMOND, lead by Major Willoughby Nye. Nye recognised Katrinka immediately - he'd worked on her father's merchant ship and Katrinka had once had a crush on Nye. When he offered her a job with his unit, she accepted. [[Just Another Girl on the Road by S Kensington|Full Review]] <!-- Patrice Lawrence-->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1444940651.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444940651/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Rose, Interrupted by Patrice Lawrence]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  Rose and her brother Rudder have recently escaped from cult-like fundamentalist Christian sect, the Pilgrims, along with their mother. While Mum works endless hours at agency cleaning jobs trying to keep the rent paid on their tiny flat, Rose and Rudder are trying to navigate the worldly world. It's not easy when everything is new and the rigid rules you've always lived by are suddenly missing. [[Rose, Interrupted by Patrice Lawrence|Full Review]] <!-- David Edwards -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789018870.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789018870/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Something to Tell You by David Edwards]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]] Sam Murray and Bert Leinster had been friends for a long time. Bert was Sam's boss at CERN, but this never seemed to affect the way that the families got on. Bert's wife, Natalia, was Russian and seriously rich. Their twins, fifteen-year-olds Allie and Josh, went to a private boarding school, but at weekends they were great friends with Sam's two children, Liam and Hannah. Sam's wife, Briony, was head of product research at Nestlé. Life was good for all eight of them, until Sam - a particle physicist - spotted that the rate at which Higgs Boson particles were hitting the earth had risen exponentially. It's enough of a problem for Sam and Bert to drag the head of CERN, Prof Ralph Moyeur, out of a family lunch. Then Bert started having conversations with a plant called Lily. [[Something to Tell You by David Edwards|Full Review]] <!-- Behrend -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789016789.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789016789/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[You're the Froth On My Soy Cappuccino: Poems for the Present by Don Behrend]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]]  ''You're the Froth On My Soy Cappuccino'' begins with ''A Modern Love Story'': ''You’re the froth on my soy cappuccino''<br>''You’re the spread on my paleo toast''<br>''You’re the nose of my GM-free Pinot''<br>''You’re organic, my love. You’re the most!''<br> Ha! How can you not laugh at this gently mocking take on love in the hipster world? [[You're the Froth On My Soy Cappuccino: Poems for the Present by Don Behrend|Full Review]]  <!-- Mary Scott Huff -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1419726625.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1419726625/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Mitten Handbook: Knitting Recipes to Make Your Own by Mary Scott Huff]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crafts|Crafts]] I love mittens - they're so convenient and much easier to get onto (and off) cold hands than a pair of fiddly gloves. They're not something you regularly see in shops, so I knew that if I wanted new pairs I would have to knit them myself. Well, actually, that's my rationalisation of the situation: in truth I love knitting mittens. They have just enough technique to make them satisfying, plenty of quick work and a pair of warm mittens in a few days. Patterns, though - where do you get them from? [[The Mitten Handbook: Knitting Recipes to Make Your Own by Mary Scott Huff|Full Review]] <!-- Evan Winter -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0356512940.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0356512940/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]] Every so often, as a reader, a book comes along that is utter and complete perfection. This book is one of those. Utter and complete perfection. Winter has created an absolute masterpiece of a novel, set in the fantasy land of Uhmlaba the reader is instantly thrown into war, a battle for survival for the Omehi people. Fleeing their homeland, they have to fight to remain on the only scrap of land they can reach. The culture of the Omehi people is rich and deep but not perfect, not sanctimonious. They have villains, they have faults, they are the invaders after all, but Winter creates a realistic and honest portrayal of a people desperate to survive, to save themselves and their culture for future generations. [[The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter|Full Review]] <!-- Sorosiak -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:178800387X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178800387X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[I, Cosmo by Carlie Sorosiak]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]  Cosmo's family is in crisis. Mom and Dad argue all the time. Emmaline doesn't quite understand it because she's too little but she feels it. And Max, who is bigger, does understand it and is terrified by it. Long ago, when Max was just a baby, Cosmo made a promise to protect Max forever and so he sets about his mission of repairing the family with everything he's got... [[I, Cosmo by Carlie Sorosiak|Full Review]]<!-- Linda Jones -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1999324803.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1999324803/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Deadwood Hall by Linda Jones]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] In late December Dylan Beaumont and his sister Emily were on their way to spend the week before Christmas at their grandfather's house. It was snowing heavily and you could sense that their parents were becoming annoyed at the bickering in the back of the car. Emily was rather brusque with her nine-year-old brother's behaviour, but then that's your prerogative when you're a grown-up eleven year old. The snow was getting heavier and the journey longer when Emily opened the car window just a couple of inches. There was a dreadful smell and Dylan saw a horrible, snake-like figure clawing at the car window. [[Deadwood Hall by Linda Jones|Full Review]] <!-- Denzil Meyrick -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1846974755.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1846974755/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Breath on Dying Embers (DCI Daley) by Denzil Meyrick]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Few government trade missions arrive by luxury liner, but the cruise ship ''Great Britain'' is berthed in Kinloch harbour and on board are high-powered international delegates. It's hard to avoid the suspicion that it's not ''entirely'' about work as the billionaires, entrepreneurs and their civil service minders tour the country, golfing and sightseeing with their entourage of security personnel. It's an event which DCI Daley hopes will pass quickly, particularly as his formal uniform is far too tight for comfort, but it's not long before one of the crew members and a local bird watcher go missing. [[A Breath on Dying Embers (DCI Daley) by Denzil Meyrick|Full Review]] <!-- James -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1781128952.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1781128952/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Starlight Watchmaker by Lauren James]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dyslexia Friendly|Dyslexia Friendly]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] This is a dyslexia-friendly, science fiction novella for young adults. It tells the tale of Hugo, an unwanted and rather lonely android, who makes a living for himself mending time-travel watches. When one of his clients demands that his broken watch be mended, Hugo realises there is a mystery to be solved, and is only too ready to help. An exciting journey of discovery unfolds, which takes Hugo out of his drab attic workroom and into a scary adventure with some amazing new friends, exploring regions of the planet never before known to exist. [[The Starlight Watchmaker by Lauren James|Full Review]] <!-- Stuart MacBride -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0007419449.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0007419449/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Cold Granite (Logan McRae) by Stuart MacBride]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] DS Logan McRae is just back from a year's sick leave after he was attacked by a killer. He's just about OK and he's supposed to be easing himself back into the swing of the job in a gentle way - until three-year-old David Reid's body is discovered in a ditch. He'd been missing for some time and it came as no surprise that he was dead but he's the first of several child murders. To add to the complications the police even have a body but no child reported missing. A serial killer, a child killer and abuser, is on the loose in Aberdeen and the press are missing no opportunity to bay for blood. As if that wasn't bad enough there seems to be a leak from within Force Headquarters: a local journalist, Colin Miller, quickly finds out everything that's happening. [[Cold Granite (Logan McRae) by Stuart MacBride|Full Review]] <!-- Angela Marsons -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:B07QPKB7N7.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07QPKB7N7/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Child's Play (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons]]==='

[[image:4starI've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen.jpg Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.}}{{Frontpage|linkauthor=Category:Sunny Singh|title=Hotel Arcadia|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers |summary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|isbn=086154742X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529153298|title=The List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|summary=It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though. Women have been disappearing. Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking - to anyone.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1398524085|title=Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci French|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=Charlotte Salter was expected at her husband's fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but - strangely - her husband, Alec, is not. Shortly afterwards, Etty and Greg, find the body of Greg's father, Duncan Ackerley, in the river. It was an easy assumption for the police to make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when he couldn't stand the guilt. The Salter children are not convinced but there's little else they can do but get on with their lives and wonder about what really happened.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035906708|title=Diva|author=Daisy Goodwin|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=We tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, New York, in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas' to make it more manageable in the States. When she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the Nazi occupation by a mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of her preference for her elder sister, Jackie.}}{{Frontpage|author=Christopher Edge|title=Black Hole Cinema Club|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Lucas and his friends are all booked in for a movie marathon at their local cinema, a place that has the nickname of 'The Black Hole'. All big movie fans, they're looking forward to lots of exciting films, and many, many snacks! However, as the movie starts, they very quickly realise that something about this new film format is very different, and they are swept up into an adventure they couldn't even imagine. But as they lurch from one film genre to the next, can they figure out what on earth is going on? Will they ever get back to the cinema, and to their real lives?|isbn=1839942738}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime{{Frontpage|author=Rachel Greenlaw|title=Compass and Blade|rating=3.5|genre=Teens|Crime]]summary=''I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.''

ThereRosevear, 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 prologue wreck survivor who is as charming as he is secretive and we know with only coordinates to guide her, she sets off in search of a family secret that welies 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.|isbn=0008664730}}{{Frontpage|author=James Sherwood Metts|title=Planet Storyland|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary= Things have been a bit sticky for the Earthlings. AI and automation have been proceeding apace, often replacing jobs they're dealing 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 someone it, all the many daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily.|isbn=1736128426}}{{Frontpage|author=Matthew Tree|title=We'll Never Know|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|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 is very disturbedhad endless crises of self confidence. The descriptions are horrifyingSo Tim applied himself to his studies, cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and set himself high but worst achievable ambitions.|isbn= B0CVFXPGP8}}{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of all is the coldness 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 the killermy own, all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while. [[Child's Play (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons|Full Review]]'

<!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.|isbn=1803364548}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529900360|title=The Ghost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman|rating=4|genre=Crime|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 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?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529395224|title=Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Secret Life of a Vet|author=Sion Rowlands|rating=3.5|genre=Animals and Wildlife|summary=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.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0861541774|title=A Nye of Pheasants|author=Steve Burrows|rating=4|genre=Crime|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.}}{{Frontpage|author=Alexander McCall Smith|title=The Perfect Passion Company|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|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 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…|isbn=1846976596}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0811771741|title=InstaKnits for Baby|author=Melissa Leapman|rating=4|genre=Crafts|summary=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 - DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE 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.}}{{Frontpage|author=Dean Koontz|title=The Bad Weather Friend|rating=4.5|genre=Paranormal|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.|isbn=1662500491}}{{Frontpage|author=Adam Stower|title=Murray and Bun|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers |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}}