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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--><!-- Tove Jansson -->Onyi Nwabineli|-title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|4.5[[image:0954221710.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0954221710/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] General Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; textAnuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-align: left;"|===[[The Summer Book by Tove Jansson]]=== [[image:5starmother 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.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[Literary Fiction]] Tove Jansson's short novel 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 Summer is several worlds away from the Moomintrolls she is most famous for outside her native Scandinavia. Book yourself an afternoon this Summer Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and take yourself secretly abusing people online and The Summer Book somewhere quietreceiving money from them for doing so. Most importantly, preferably within sight and sound of the seashe is desperately worried about her little sister, settle back and prepare to be transported. [[The Summer Book by Tove Janssonwho is the new focus of Ophelia's online empire. Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?|Full Review]]isbn=0861546873}}<!-- Lynda La Plante -->{{Frontpage|-author=David Chadwick| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Headload of Napalm[[image:1785768506.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785768506/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|Thrillers===[[The Dirty Dozen (Jane Tennison 5) by Lynda La Plante]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Jane Tennison had worked hard to get It's September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a place on the Flying Squad few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of LA and she felt that she was there on meritLas Vegas both a significant drive away. The Squad wondered who she'd slept with to get the place and bets were being taken as to who she'd sleep with Not much happens in the first weekHicks. What none A silver mine and a defence contractor are the main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of them - Jane included - knew was that she was there as an experimentnote other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiet, in the hope that a female presence would have a calming effectuntil.. The job had been advertised and Jane was the only female who applied who ticked all the boxes. She doesn't tick all the boxes for the head of the Squad, DCI Murphy. He wanted someone with at least ten years' experience, and the appropriate set of genitals - and he's determined that Jane will fail. [[The Dirty Dozen (Jane Tennison 5) by Lynda La Plante|Full Review]]|isbn= B0D321VJ76}}<!-- Coleman -->{{Frontpage|-author=Tom Percival| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Wrong Shoes|rating=5[[image:1785032461.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785032461/refConfident Readers|summary=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Girl at Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the Window by Rowan Coleman]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]] Trudy Heaton is going homeand his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, to was working a cash-in-hand job on a house where her roots burrow back through the centuries building site and to a mother she hasn't spoken to for sixteen yearshad an accident. HomeThrow into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, her refuge, Ponden Hall, where she can heal herself and try to come to terms with the traumatic loss Will's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of her husbandhope. She needs He is good at art, and clings to build bridges with her mother and convince her grieving son that his father is dead. Where better than the house full moments of light and shadowjoy when he is drawing, that nurtured her throughout her childhood? [[The Girl feel like a light at the Window by Rowan Colemanend of a long, dark tunnel.|Full Review]]isbn=1398527122}}<!-- Shackle -->{{Frontpage|-author=Sylvie Cathrall| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=5[[image:1473225213.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473225213/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Science Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008517061|title=Death in a Lonely Place|author=[[We Are The Dead by Mike Shackle]]=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=Crime [[image:4.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]] Mike Shackle has written Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a really interesting little uncertainty about the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and unusual story in ''We Are The Dead''; the tag line for the novel is 'No More Heroes' her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and that is what makes this story so different. There are villains galore but no specific heroes; rather the story is scattered relaxing life to move in with characters doing their own small part Livia or does Livia move to survive, to fight back, Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is the future she wants for herself and to find vengeance, in a world that has been utterly torn aparther daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on the back burner. }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786482126|title=The plot does not hang on any one character, no one is important, anyone can die and many do, but, like ants working together, each small character achieves their own part of a much larger plot that is rich and complex and keeps Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the reader glued site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the storybones of a child beneath a doorway. [[We Are The Dead by Mike Shackle|Full Review]] <!-- Vibrant Publishers -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1946383627 There was no skull.jpg|link=http://www Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson.amazon It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago.co Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.uk/dp/1946383627/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"0008551324|title===[[Cost Accounting & Management Essentials The Devil You Always Wanted To Know by Vibrant Publishers]](D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4.5|genre=Crime [[image:4.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business and Finance]], [[:Category:Reference|Reference]] IIt'm capable of drawing up a profit s unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and loss account (income statement in he's prepared to tell the police where the USA) and body of a balance sheet missing person is buried and I do so who was responsible for my own business and for another organisationher death. The accounts give me ''broadly'' what I need: I know whether we're making a profit or a loss This person, he promises, is someone big and I can look at it will be worth the expenses and see police doing what looks as though it could be trimmed back in future yearshe wants. My problem was that And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the accounts didn't really give me any help in making decisions, which was why I turned remainder of his sentence and to ''Cost Accounting and Management'', part of Vibrant Publishers' Self-Learning and Management seriesget an early parole date. Cost accounting provides the information required by authorities external Not much to the company 'ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so andshe'' to those within it who need s even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make decisions, so don't worry certain that youDS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what're going to have to draw up two sets of accounts! [[Cost Accounting & Management Essentials You Always Wanted To Know by Vibrant Publishers|Full Review]]s happening.}}<!-- Steve Burrows -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=0008405026| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey[[image:1786075776.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786075776/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="verticalIt's sixteen years since nine-align: top; textyear-align: left;"|===[[A Dance of Cranes by Steve Burrows]]=== [[image:4starold Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] DCI Domenic Jejeune is no longer with Lindy Hey Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bed. Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the estrangement being positioning of his making, not hersthe bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. He hasn't explained to her that he is doing this What looked as though it was going to be an open- and leaving for his native Canada - because he thinks that this will keep her safe from his nemesis, Ray Hayesshut case is now a complex double murder. Lauren Salter has been promoted to sergeant and now has her first murder case. It looks Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as though thereDerwent's an obvious suspectboss, but Salter isn't so certainUna Burt) are less convinced. Sgt Danny Maik is (unofficially) keeping an eye on Lindy Hey, whilst Jejeune embarks on a treacherous journey to rescue his brother, Damian, who has gone missing in one of Canada's largest national parks. [[A Dance of Cranes by Steve Burrows|Full Review]] <!-- Oates -->}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=0571379877| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet[[image:1785656775.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785656775/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="verticalEdward Jevons is a working-align: top; textclass young man, obsessed with his upper-align: left;"|===[[The Triumph of the Spider Monkey by Joyce Carol Oates]]=== [[image:4starclass friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert's a theatre director. He's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[ Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he's not like most men:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Bobby Edward is an angry, damaged man - damage that came from being abandoned as a baby left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a bus station locker, and then being thrown from one foster home or detention centre to another, never far from violence or abusedark passageway. 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 }}{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=When a capacity for acts man is found crucified on the top of extreme violence. Unpublished for 40 yearsa hill in Nuneaton, this edition of ''The Triumph of DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the Spider Monkey'' comes combined with a connected novella – ''Lovecase alongside her sidekick, Careless Lovethe AI detective Lock. It''. [[The Triumph s their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of the Spider Monkey by Joyce Carol Oatesunwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?|Full Review]]isbn=139851120X}}<!-- Pike -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1399613073| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson[[image:0192771604.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/0192771604/ref5|genre=nosim?tagThrillers|summary=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Last Spell Breather by Julie Pike]]=== [[image:4Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon.5star Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Rayne lives in Anjali is the small, hidden village free spirit of Penderin where the group and she is becomes a somewhat unwilling apprentice to her mother, the spell breatherGP. Not everyone can spell breathe, you have to born with When we first meet them they're at a magic spark drug and Rayne wishes she hadn't been born with one. Shealcohol-fuelled party and it's a terrible spell breathergoing to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This time, her attempts are always followed by disaster and she positively hates Mamit's spell book with it's sharp teeth that suck your bloodtheir teenage children who are involved. When a stranger finds their village one day, Mam must set off on a journey to the great library, leaving Rayne }}{{Frontpage|isbn=0241636604|title=The Trading Game: A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson|rating=4.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in the village as their chief spell breatheryour mind, but an unfortunate mistake sees Rayne breaking her motheryou's book and turning everyone in re unlikely to monstersthink of someone like Gary Stevenson. She must face her fear travel across A hoodie and jeans replaces the monsterpin-ridden country to find Mam stripe suit and restore his background is the book to save their villageEast End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. [[The Last Spell Breather by Julie Pike|Full Review]] <! There was no posh public school on his CV -but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - Carlie Sorosiak extremely bright -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:178800387Xand he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy.jpg|link=http://www He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid.amazon It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank.co Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.uk/dp/178800387X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"1035021803|title=The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3.5|genre=[[I, Cosmo by Carlie Sorosiak]]==Crime|summary= [[image:4It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up.5star She's back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Cosmo Freya's former mentor and Carole's family close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is in crisis. Mom dead and Dad argue all the timecircumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. Emmaline doesn't quite understand it because she's too little but Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: Arthur, she feels it, let her down badly. And Max, who is bigger Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, does understand it and is terrified by itshe has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. Long ago After the split, when Max was just she worked in a babycafe, Cosmo made a promise to protect Max forever met and so he sets about his mission married James (on the rebound from the love of repairing the family with everything he's got... [[Iher life, Cosmo by Carlie Sorosiak|Full Review]]who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.}}<!-- Fegan -->{{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:1925810097.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1925810097/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Science Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Don't Drink the Pink by B C R Fegan]]=== [[image:4star'Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] Madeline is very fond of Grandfather Gilderberry. He's always busy in his workshop, creating crazy potions, and he always has a smile on his face. Madeline's dad thinks he's a bit bonkers and Madeline's mum thinks the same but gives him a pass because he's old. But Madeline? She thinks Grandfather Gilberberry is just great. Particularly on her birthday when he unfailingly arrives with a selection of potions and allows her to choose one as a gift. And he always says the same thing... [[Don't Drink the Pink by B C R Fegan|Full Review]] <!-- Averill -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1077651538.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1077651538/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Years of Fading Magic by Kenelm Averill]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]]  ''What if you could subtly change the lives of ordinary people around you?'' Jessica Turner was one of the more radical teens to come out of Eastfield. A youth spent hanging out with a close crowd of friends was characterised by Jessica's role as trendsetter, as influencer, as leader. Strangely charismatic, Jessica invited fascination and obsession. Nobody who met her, forgot her. Or the days they spent in the Enclosure, a clearing in Eastfield woods that Jessica felt gave her power. But the group went its separate ways, as adolescent groups do, and her influence faded...[[The Years of Fading Magic by Kenelm Averill|Full Review]] <!-- Paula Daly -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1787632105.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1787632105/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Clear My Name by Paula Daly]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Tess Gilroy works for Innocence UK, a charity investigating the cases of prisoners who can convince them that they've been wrongly convicted and they're just moving on to their next case. She's somewhat surprised when Clive, the head of the charity, announces that she'll have someone shadowing her. Avril's in her mid twenties and rather gauche as well as prone to putting her foot in it. One of the reasons they're now going to look at the case of Carrie Kamara is that she's female and Innocence have never yet taken up the case of a woman: such impressions matter. [[Clear My Name by Paula Daly|Full Review]]  <!-- Georgianne Landy-Kordis -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1072549271.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1072549271/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Simple Act of Self-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide by Georgianne Landy-Kordis ]]=== [[image:4.5star.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:5starI'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|author=Sunny Singh|title=Hotel Arcadia|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers |summary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|linkisbn=Category: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.}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:{{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}}{{Frontpage|author=Rachel Greenlaw|title=Compass and Blade|rating=3.5|genre=Teens|Confident Readers]]summary=''I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.''

In late December Dylan Beaumont Rosevear, a remote and his sister Emily were partially forgotten island, survives on their way luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks. Mira, like her mother before her, is one of the seven who swim out to spend 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 week before Christmas at their grandfatherisland's leader and Mira's housefather. It was snowing heavily Desperate to save him from death, Mira makes a bargain with a wreck survivor who is as charming as he is secretive and you could sense with only coordinates to guide her, she sets off in search of a family secret that their parents were becoming annoyed at lies buried deep in the sea. With only nine days to unearth what might save her father, as her journey takes her from the bickering in watched streets of foreign islands to the back heart of the car. Emily was rather brusque with her nine-year-old brothersmuggler's behaviourterritory, but then that's your prerogative when youMira 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 a grown-up eleven year oldpaid 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. The snow Life was getting heavier pretty much shut down and , along with it, all the journey longer when Emily opened the car window just 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 couple drunk and chronic underachiever whose dreams of being exceptional at any of his artistic passions all failed miserably and who had endless crises of inchesself confidence. So Tim applied himself to his studies, cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and set himself high but achievable ambitions. |isbn= B0CVFXPGP8}}{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the Dead|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|summary='' There was 's a dreadful smell and Dylan saw a horriblepart of me that wants to keep this just to myself for however long I can. This secret magic of my own, all mine, snake-like figure clawing at the car windowlast. I just want to enjoy it for a while. [[Deadwood Hall by Linda Jones|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}}