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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<!-- Ann Cleeves -->|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself|-rating=4.5| stylegenre="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|General Fiction[[image:1509889566.jpg|linksummary=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509889566/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbagAnuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Long Call (Two Rivers) by Ann Cleeves]]=== [[image:4starmother 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]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Now Anuri is in her twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and to get her life back, [[:Category:LGBT Fiction|LGBT Fiction]] When we first meet DI Matthew Venn he's at his father's funeral, although 'at' rather overstates the proximitysuing her step-mother to take down the content about her. He sees everyone - his mother Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and the preacher included receiving money from a distance - but he doesn't go itthem for doing so. He wouldnMost importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the new focus of Ophelia't be welcomes online empire. Those attending are part of the Barum Brethren Can she save her sister, and the teenage Matthew was thrown out when he told the congregation how wrong they were in their beliefs. It coincided perhaps herself and her relationship with him leaving university and joining her father at the police force. The announcement of Matthew'same time?|isbn=0861546873}}{{Frontpage|author=David Chadwick|title=Headload of Napalm|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary= It's marriage to Jonathan Church was September 1973 in the local paper Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of LA and Las Vegas both a significant drive away. Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and whilst he doesn't know if his father saw ita defence contractor are the main local employers but otherwise, he canthere't imagine that it will have gone down wells not much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiet, until.... [[The Long Call (Two Rivers) by Ann Cleeves|Full Review]]isbn= B0D321VJ76}}<!-- Day -->{{Frontpage|-author=Tom Percival| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|The Wrong Shoes[[image:0241351391.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241351391/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Confident Readers|=summary==[[Max Kowalski DidnWill't Mean It by Susie Day]]=== [[image:4s life is difficult, in a multitude of ways.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] When Max’s He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad finds himself in a spot can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of hot waterthings like food, and his dad can't work because he disappears for lost his job at the college, was working a few days, leaving Max cash-in charge of his three younger sisters, Thelma, Louise -hand job on a building site and Ripleyhad an accident. Max has no problem with stepping up to fill Throw into that mix the fact that his dad’s shoes mum and be the man in charge, but when his dad still doesn’t come home, he starts to panic that interfering grown ups will realise that the children are home-aloneseparated, and that they will step Will's life seems bleak in and separate the familyevery direction. So Max takes his sisters to WalesAnd yet, to hide out in he still has a friend’s cottagetiny amount of hope. It won’t be for longHe is good at art, surely? Because his dad wouldn’t miss Christmasand clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, would he? [[Max Kowalski Didn't Mean It by Susie Daythat feel like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.|Full Review]]isbn=1398527122}}<!--Merritt Graves -->{{Frontpage|-author=Sylvie Cathrall| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=5[[image:1949272028.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1949272028/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=[[Sunlight 24 by Merritt Graves]]=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=Crime [[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category: Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. If There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the game wasn’t fair beforefuture of his life with his vet girlfriend, it’s definitely not fair now. Or so thinks Dorian WatersLivia and her daughter Diana, part of the ever-expanding portion as moving in together would mean a lot of humanity who can’t afford the nanocompromise: does Jake give up his off-implant grid and genetic augmentation regimen known as Revision. And because he can’t afford Revision, he can’t get into college, he can’t get a job. And when he sees relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is the brilliant future she wants for herself and mesmerizing Lena for her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the first time, he knows he doesn’t have a chance with her, eitherpresent and putting the future on the back burner. And so, Dorian robs a house with his best friend, Ethan. Then they do it again. They’re able to keep at it until they have enough money saved up for their first Revision}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786482126|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4. Their initial choices 5|genre=Crime|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in selfNorwich -enhancement start impacting their future choices, which in turn impact their future Revision––on and on in the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a downward spiral of self-destructiondoorway. There was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. [[Sunlight 24 by Merritt Graves|Full Review]] <!-- Stephen Booth -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:075157628X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.uk/dp/075157628X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary==[[Drowned Lives by Stephen Booth]]=== [[image:3It'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:Crime|Crime]] When council officer Chris Buckley But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is approached by an old man buried and who wants his help in healing a decades' old family rift was responsible for her death. This person, he's reluctant to get involvedpromises, but then Chris is reluctant to get involved in anything but a pint in someone big and it will be worth the pub these dayspolice doing what he wants. It could just be the way that And what he wants is, or to be transferred to an open prison to serve the fact that he's just lost both remainder of his parents within three months of each othersentence and to get an early parole date. He's currently existing in the family home Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and wondering when heshe's going even prepared to be made redundant from his job with do the council. The short answer to other thing that one is 'soonHardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening. Chris does his best to deter }}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008405026|title=A Stranger in the old man, but itFamily (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=It's not before he's left a lot of papers with his neighboursixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. Then the old man is murdered She was never found and the police come calling on Chrisinvestigation ground to a halt. [[Drowned Lives by Stephen Booth|Full Review]] <!-- Kalpesh Ashar -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1949395324 Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bed.jpg|link=http: Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder//wwwsuicide but there's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious.amazon.co.uk/dp/1949395324/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag What looked as though it was going to be an open-and-21]]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| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"0571379877|title=The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=3.5|genre=[[Financial Accounting Essentials You Always Wanted To Know: 4th Edition by Kalpesh Ashar]]===Crime [[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business Edward Jevons is a working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Finance|Business and Finance]] Stanza. Robert's a theatre director. He'Financial Accounting Essentials You Always Wanted to Know ''gives people without an accounting backgrounds also self-obsessed, who have risen in a companydemanding, the knowledge handsome and entitled and uses Edward to understand the accounts which show how the company is doingrun errands for him. The book begins by looking at why financial accounting systems are necessary, then moves on Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and he's drunkenly confided how he feels to give an excellent overview of the types of accounting systems which will be encountered and the terms usedRobert. We then look Most men in detail at the balance sheet, the income statement and the statement of cash flows. If you understand these three sections on Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a set relationship had begun between them but he's not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of accounts they will tell you them kissing in a storydark passageway. You will understand the company (or indeed any other business) but if you don't understand what's there you will be missing vital clues as to whether or not the company is thriving. [[Financial Accounting Essentials You Always Wanted To Know: 4th Edition by Kalpesh Ashar|Full Review]]}}{{Frontpage<!-- Tamaki and Pugh -->|author=Jo Callaghan|-title=Leave No Trace| stylerating="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"4|genre=Crime[[image:1401283292.jpg|linksummary=http://www.amazon.coWhen a man is found crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock.uk/dp/1401283292/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh]]=== [[image:3 It's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, [[:Category:Graphic Novels|Graphic Novels]] Harleen Quinzel Kat is new in townsuddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. She always, Will they be able to me, seems new solve the case in town, even if she's been around a long time, for she always has a very fresh attitudeor will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, and seems to look out of those large eyes at everything anew each time. But here she is new in town, and the town is Gotham City. Expecting a year-long furlough from life with her mother, she finds her gran dead and herself with no option but to stay with career?|isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a bunch quarter of drag queensa century. She also finds school Olivia is a dragruthlessly ambitious, she also finds the whole neighbourhood which is being redeveloped by a large and uncaring corporation – but she also finds two characters that will have bonus when you aim to be a big impact on her lifecardiothoracic surgeon. One Laura is a civil-minded lass called Ivy, the other someone she only meets at night – a lad with a singular graffiti tag perfectionist and a mind for violence trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the group and chaos, who calls himself The Joker… [[Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and Steve Pugh|Full Review]] <!alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty- Tove Jansson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0241636604[[image:0954221710.jpg|linktitle=httpThe Trading Game://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0954221710/refA Confession|author=nosim?tagGary Stevenson|rating=thebookbag-21]] 4.5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Autobiography|summary===[[The Summer Book by Tove Jansson]]=== [[If you were to bring up an image:5starof a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[Literary Fiction]] Tove Jansson's short novel about Summer A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is several worlds away from the Moomintrolls she is most famous for outside her native Scandinavia. Book yourself an afternoon this SummerEast End, and take yourself and The Summer Book somewhere quietwhere he was familiar with violence, preferably within sight poverty and sound injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of the sea, settle back and prepare to be transportedEconomics. [[The Summer Book by Tove Jansson|Full Review]] <! Stevenson is bright -extremely bright - Lynda La Plante -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1785768506and 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. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.co.uk/dp/1785768506/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==[[The Dirty Dozen (Jane Tennison 3.5) by Lynda La Plante]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|linkgenre=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Jane Tennison had worked hard summary=It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to get a place on the Flying Squad and English country village where she felt that she was there on meritgrew up. The Squad wondered who sheShe'd slept with to get the place s back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. Freya's former mentor and bets were being taken as to who sheCarole'd sleep with in s close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the first week. circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. What none of them - Jane included - knew Arthur was that she was there as an experiment, in the hope that a female presence would have a calming effect. The job reason why Freya had not been advertised and Jane was back to the only female who applied who ticked all the boxesvillage: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. She doesn't tick all Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the boxes for man or pursue the head of profession she loved. After the Squadsplit, DCI Murphy. He wanted someone with at least ten years' experienceshe worked in a cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the appropriate set love of genitals - her life, who was murdered) and Freya and he's determined that Jane will fail. [[The Dirty Dozen (Jane Tennison 5) by Lynda La Plante|Full Review]]James have now divorced.}}<!-- Coleman -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover| styletitle="widthAll Tomorrow's Futures: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Fictions that Disrupt|[[image:1785032461.jpgauthor=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785032461/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Science Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Girl at ''Opening up new ways of thinking about the Window by Rowan Coleman]]=== [[image:5starshape of things to come.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]] Trudy Heaton is going home, to a house where her roots burrow back through the centuries and to a mother she hasn't spoken to for sixteen years. Home, her refuge, Ponden Hall, where she can heal herself and try to come to terms with the traumatic loss of her husband. She needs to build bridges with her mother and convince her grieving son that his father is dead. Where better than the house full of light and shadow, that nurtured her throughout her childhood? [[The Girl at the Window by Rowan Coleman|Full Review]] <!-- Shackle -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473225213.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473225213/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[We Are The Dead by Mike Shackle]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]] Mike Shackle has written a really interesting and unusual story in ''We Are The Dead''; the tag line for the novel is 'No More Heroes' and that is what makes this story so different. There are villains galore but no specific heroes; rather the story is scattered with characters doing their own small part to survive, to fight back, and to find vengeance, in a world that has been utterly torn apart. 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 the reader glued to the story. [[We Are The Dead by Mike Shackle|Full Review]] <!-- Vibrant Publishers -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1946383627.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1946383627/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Cost Accounting & Management Essentials You Always Wanted To Know by Vibrant Publishers]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Business and Finance|Business 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 so for my own business and for another organisation. The accounts give me ''broadly'' what I need: I know whether we're making a profit or a loss and I can look at the expenses and see what looks as though it could be trimmed back in future years. My problem was that the accounts didn't really give me any help in making decisions, which was why I turned to ''Cost Accounting and Management'', part of Vibrant Publishers' Self-Learning and Management series. Cost accounting provides the information required by authorities external to the company ''and'' to those within it who need to make decisions, 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 Publishers|Full Review]] <!-- Steve Burrows -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786075776.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786075776/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Dance of Cranes by Steve Burrows]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] DCI Domenic Jejeune is no longer with Lindy Hey, the estrangement being of his making, not hers. He hasn't explained to her that he is doing this - and leaving for his native Canada - because he thinks that this will keep her safe from his nemesis, Ray Hayes. Lauren Salter has been promoted to sergeant and now has her first murder case. It looks as though there's an obvious suspect, but Salter isn't so certain. 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 -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1785656775.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785656775/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Triumph of the Spider Monkey by Joyce Carol Oates]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Bobby is an angry, damaged man - damage that came from being abandoned as a baby in a bus station locker, and then being thrown from one foster home or detention centre to another, never far from violence or abuse. 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. Unpublished for 40 years, this edition of ''The Triumph of the Spider Monkey'' comes combined with a connected novella – ''Love, Careless Love''. [[The Triumph of the Spider Monkey by Joyce Carol Oates|Full Review]] <!-- Pike -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0192771604.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0192771604/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Last Spell Breather by Julie Pike]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Rayne lives in the small, hidden village of Penderin where she is a somewhat unwilling apprentice to her mother, the spell breather. Not everyone can spell breathe, you have to born with a magic spark and Rayne wishes she hadn't been born with one. She's a terrible spell breather, her attempts are always followed by disaster and she positively hates Mam's spell book with it's sharp teeth that suck your blood. When a stranger finds their village one day, Mam must set off on a journey to the great library, leaving Rayne in the village as their chief spell breather, but an unfortunate mistake sees Rayne breaking her mother's book and turning everyone in to monsters. She must face her fear travel across the monster-ridden country to find Mam and restore the book to save their village. [[The Last Spell Breather by Julie Pike|Full Review]] <!-- Carlie 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]] <!-- Fegan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1925810097.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1925810097/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Don't Drink the Pink by B C R Fegan]]=== [[image:4star.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 Rosevear, a remote and her brother Rudder have recently escaped from cult-like fundamentalist Christian sectpartially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the Pilgrimswrecks. Mira, along with their like her motherbefore her, is one of the seven who swim out to survey the ruins – rescuing any survivors and any treasure that lies within. While Mum works endless hours at agency cleaning jobs trying But when the Council Watch lays a trap to keep end the wrecking, they capture the rent paid on their tiny flatisland's leader and Mira's father. Desperate to save him from death, Rose Mira makes a bargain with a wreck survivor who is as charming as he is secretive and Rudder are trying with only coordinates to navigate guide her, she sets off in search of a family secret that lies buried deep in the worldly worldsea. ItWith 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 not easy when everything is 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 paid to do and other tasks that took time to accomplish. Just as they were beginning to get used to all this technological change and starting to think of other, new ways to spend time, along came an awful pandemic. Life was pretty much shut down and , along with it, all the rigid rules youmany daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily.|isbn=1736128426}}{{Frontpage|author=Matthew Tree|title=We've always lived by are suddenly missingll Never Know|rating=4. [[Rose5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Timothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to be different from his father, Interrupted by Patrice Lawrencea drunk and chronic underachiever whose dreams of being exceptional at any of his artistic passions all failed miserably and who had endless crises of self confidence. So Tim applied himself to his studies, cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and set himself high but achievable ambitions.|isbn= B0CVFXPGP8}}{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the Dead|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|Full Review]]summary='' There's a part of me that wants to keep this just to myself for however long I can. This secret magic of my own, all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while.''

<!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}}