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'''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].{{newreviewFrontpage|author=John E SmelcerOnyi Nwabineli|title=The Great DeathAllow Me to Introduce Myself|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Anuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-mother Ophelia'As Western Europeans settled Alaskas 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, they brought with them diseases against which suing her step-mother to take down the indigenous people had no natural immunitycontent about her. At the beginning of the twentieth century Anuri is battling alcoholism, fully two thirds of all Alaska natives perished from a pandemic of measles, smallpoxfailing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and influenzareceiving money from them for doing so. No community was spared. In most cases Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, half who is the new focus of a villageOphelia's population died within a weekonline empire. In some cases Can she save her sister, there were no survivors. It was the end of an ancient way of life. Natives still refer to the dreadful period as and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the Great Death.'same time?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1842709194</amazonuk>0861546873
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Maxine BarryDavid Chadwick|title=River DeepHeadload of Napalm|rating=34.5|genre=Women's FictionThrillers|summary=Two young women It's September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of LA and Las Vegas both have a love significant drive away. Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and a defence contractor are the main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of the Thamesnote other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiet, until.... Melisande Ray|isbn= B0D321VJ76}}{{Frontpage|author=Tom Percival|title=The Wrong Shoes|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Will's beloved hotellife is difficult, the Ray in a multitude of Sunshine is on the river bankways. ItHe is bullied because he has 's here that guests come who want to be pampered and looked after in the way that only wrong shoes', he has the best hotels wrong shoes because his dad can do well, but when Wendell James checks in to the hotel it's not pampering het work and doesn's looking t have enough money for. He's buying a piece of land not far from even the Ray most basic of Sunshine things like food, and his dad can't work because he's sussing out lost his job at the competitioncollege, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. ThereThrow into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's something personal life seems bleak in there too – if his new hotel means every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the Ray end of Sunshine goes under then that would be an added bonusa long, dark tunnel. |isbn=1398527122}}{{Frontpage|author=Sylvie Cathrall|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary= There's just are few greater joys than a slight doubt in his mind when book which lives up to a red-haired maid catches his eyecompelling premise. And this is one of them.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0709088930</amazonuk>0356522776
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Joe Gores0008517061|title=Spade and ArcherDeath in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=Sam Spade decidesFormer Metropolitan Police detective, bravelyJake Johnson, to set up has settled into his one-man detective agencyrustic life at Little Sky. It's the 1920s in San Francisco so we have There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the prohibition era and all that that entails. Many locals, future of coursehis life with his vet girlfriend, choose to disobey the law, stick two fingers upLivia and her daughter Diana, so to speak and as moving in together would mean a result there's lots lot of bootleg liquor. Straight away, it's evident that Sam compromise: 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 a man of few words. the future she wants for herself and her daughter? He has For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the mannerisms of a cat - stealthy, quick future on his feet. He's also a compulsive chain-smoker, but then again, most people were. In that era, holding a cigarette was an elegant, almost essential accessory. How times have changedthe back burner.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140911323X</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Michael Morpurgo and Emma Chichester Clark1786482126|title=The Best of TimesJanus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Most children enjoy a good traditional tale and this lovely book by Michael Morpurgo seems Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to have all hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the right ingredients – bones of a handsome prince and child beneath a beautiful princess who fall in love, get married and live happily ever afterdoorway. There was no skull. Or do they Was this a ritual killing or murder? Sadly Inevitably, not long after Prince Frederico marries the lovely Princess Serafina, she becomes very sadDr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. Nobody It's difficult as Ruth knows what has caused such great sadness, but poor Prince Frederico Nelson doesn't, that she is desperate to find a cure for his wife's misery. He tries everything in his power and eventually decides to offer pregnant with his kingdom to anyone who can make her happy again before she dies of child as a broken heart. Lots result of people come to the palace to try and help but in the end the solution is a simple one provided by night they spent together some very kind travellersthree months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405232552</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Shirley Jackson0008551324|title=We Have Always Lived In The CastleDevil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster
|rating=4.5
|genre=Literary FictionCrime|summary=Mary Katherine Blackwood, also known as Merricat, It'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 eighteen, struggling in prison and lives with her older sister Constance in he's prepared to tell the family home police where 'Blackwoods had always lived'. Merricat quickly draws the reader into her world by body of a series of matter of fact but bizarre statements – her likes include missing person is buried and who was responsible for her sister and death cap mushrooms. This person, he promises, is someone big and everyone else in her family it will be worth the police doing what he wants. And what he wants is deadto be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The wealthy Blackwood family has always kept the house new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she'steady against s even prepared to do the world', shutting out other people, thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and they live near a village. Merricat believes that 'The people of the village have always hated usanyone who works with him is kept well away from what', and tells us that she hates them toos happening.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141191457</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Simon Weston0008405026|title=Nelson to A Stranger in the RescueFamily (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=45|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Nelson used to pull Mike the MilkIt's milk float, but he has now retiredsixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. He lives in She was never found and the stable at the back of the dairy along with investigation ground to a couple of tricky ratshalt. Now, Rhodri and Rhysher mother, a pigeon who has no sense of directionHelena, a frog who thinks he's a secret agent spy and an old racehorse who spends most of his time sleepingher father are dead in their bed. Rhodri and Rhys find Initially, it looks like a mysterious message on Mikestraightforward murder/suicide but there's fridge and something about the positioning of the animals believe bodies that Mike has been invited to Buckingham Palace to receive an MBEmakes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. Somehow our hero, Nelson, finds himself travelling down What looked as though it was going to London, pulling a ceremonial coach for Prince Charles as well as giving a TV interview about his experience.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848510454</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Elizabeth Baines|title=Too Many Magpies|rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Becoming be an open-and-shut case is now a mother brings a whole new world of fear into your lifecomplex double murder. Suddenly you see Kerrigan is convinced that the danger explanation lies in every situation, and fear and trepidation can be become your constant companions. In this novella, we meet a young mother who is married to a logical scientist. They attempt to control their childrenRosalie's futures on a scientific basis, growing their own fruit and vegetables, giving their children nothing sugary, eating no eggs for a whole year until any adverse affects from them were disproved. But after meeting with an enigmatic stranger our young mother begins to struggle disappearance: others (such as he introduces ideas of freedom into her world. She begins an affair with himDerwent's boss, begins to let things slip at home and with the children, yet finds she is still continuously haunted by the sense of an ever-present dangerUna Burt) are less convinced.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1844717216</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Katherine May0571379877|title=Burning Out|rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Violet has it all – a well-paid job, and a luxurious apartment all to herself. Everything is catered for; her meals, her clothes, and her health are all how she would like them to be. But the life she is leading is beginning to take its toll. On the verge of snapping, a drained and somewhat out-of-sorts Violet, withdraws back to her home town. There, she meets someone familiar, a ghost reminding her of how she used to be ten years earlier – a young carefree girl, full of life. Only this isn't a ghost, but a girl living the life Violet once lived – exactly the same. Haunted by the past Violet realizes history is repeating itself and is convinced events will happen again. Events that will in turn haunt the girl.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906727392</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewThe Kellerby Code|author=Amanda Downum|title=The Drowning CityJonny Sweet
|rating=3.5
|genre=FantasyCrime|summary=In Edward Jevons is a nutshellworking-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, youRobert and Stanza. Robert're reading this because yous a theatre director. He're wondering whether The Drowning City is goods also self-obsessed, demanding, bad or mediocrehandsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him. You Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and he've probably glanced at the rating and guessed the latters drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. IMost men in Robert'm afraid its position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he's not quite that simple. This like most men: Edward is a debut that provokes decidedly mixed feelings. I started off convinced that I was going left to love this book. The cover art is effortlessly cool, stumble upon the premise intriguing, the characters laden with potential for greatness and the backdrop is certainly evocativetwo of them kissing in a dark passageway.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841498149</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Tove JanssonJo Callaghan|title=The True DeceiverLeave No Trace|rating=54|genre=Literary FictionCrime|summary=Most people When a man is found crucified on the top of my age will have come across Jansson's work unwittinglya hill in Nuneaton, via DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the televised renditions of case alongside her sidekick, the Moomin talesAI detective Lock. The readers amongst us would then have It's their first live case together, having previously been entranced very successful with several cold cases. But when there is a second body found crucified a few years ago days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to discover that at last Thomas Teal had set about their AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to solve the translation into Englishcase in time, first of The Summer Book or will Kat find herself taken off the case and then , potentially, out of a collection of short stories which were published as 'A Winter Book'. career?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0954899571</amazonuk>139851120X
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Daniel Kehlmann 1399613073|title=Me and KaminskiMoral Injuries|author=Christie Watson
|rating=4.5
|genre=Literary FictionThrillers|summary=After reviewing several long booksOlivia, it's been refreshing to read such Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a fluent yet pared down story as 'Kaminski and Me'century. In it Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, Sebastian Zollner, the obnoxious main character, shoves himself forward in which is a desperate attempt bonus when you aim to research be a best seller which will re-ignite his career as an art criticcardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Kaminski, Anjali is the free spirit of the proposed subject, was group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a fashionable painter long ago, but now, ancient drug and alcohol-fuelled party and chronically ill, has virtually slid into oblivionit's going to end in tragedy. So We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the secondconsequences. Twenty-rate writer is on a loser unless he can dig up some juicy details to hook five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the art world and general publicthree friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847249892</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Louis Barfe0241636604|title=Turned Out Nice AgainThe Trading Game: The Story of British Light EntertainmentA Confession|author=Gary Stevenson|rating=4.5|genre=EntertainmentAutobiography|summary=Light entertainment is often looked down upon, as if it's If you were to bring up an image of a bit naffcity banker in your mind, tepid and ignorable. Whatyou's often forgotten is that it's hugely popular, enjoyable and much re unlikely to think of it is of the highest qualitysomeone like Gary Stevenson. Louis Barfe's Turned Out Nice Again tells A hoodie and jeans replaces the complete story of British light entertainment.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843543818</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Jim Helmore pin-stripe suit and Karen Wall|title=Oh No, Monster Tomato!|rating=4|genre=For Sharing|summary=Marvin his background is entering the Great Grislygust Grow-OffEast End, but just like himwhere he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his tomatoes aren't growing very big. He takes CV - but he had been to the only sensible course London School of action: Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he sings his tomatoes has a songfacility with numbers which most of us can only envy. The results are spectacular. Victory is surely within his grasp.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140524741X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Joseph Delaney |title=The Spook's Stories: Witches|rating=4|genre=Teens|summary='Warning: Not He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be read after dark,' are the only words on the back of ''The Spook's Stories'', and on the inside flap, 'The Times' warns us that this book is 'seriously scary'stupid... The whole thing kicks-off relatively tamely It was his ability at what was, thoughessentially, with a story about a young Spook (a sort of monster-hunter) who falls in love card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a witch and is forced to bear the consequences when the witch's sister comes to stay and exhibits a taste for the neighbor-childrentrader.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0370329961</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Lisa Unger1035021803|title=Die For YouThe Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller
|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=Best-selling novelist Isabel Connelly is married It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to successful video game designer Marcus Raine. Or so the English country village where she thinksgrew up. But when She's back now because of a request for help from her husband fails to return from workbeloved aunt, Carole. Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, she realises something is wrongdead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. Going Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to his office to try to find out what happens to himthe village: Arthur, she gets attacked and ends up in hospitalfeels, while his co-workers are killedlet her down badly. Things get worse for her Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, however, when investigating detective Grady Crowe reveals that Marcus Raine she has been dead for several years, and not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she married was using a false identityloved. Infuriated by After the betrayalsplit, and the realisation that she's been living worked in a lie for the past five yearscafe, Izzy takes matters into her own hands met and sets out to find her husband and work out why he lied to married James (on the rebound from the love of her for so long. Ignoring police warningslife, she delves deeper who was murdered) and deeper into a nasty underworld, Freya and finds a tale which has its roots in Prague and rivals anything she could James have plotted in one of her novelsnow divorced.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099522179</amazonuk>
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover
|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt
|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
|rating=5
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.''
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jaclyn Moriarty Sunny Singh|title=The Spell Book of Listen TaylorHotel Arcadia
|rating=3.5
|genre=TeensThrillers |summary=Listen Taylor's father The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has just moved in with his girlfriend and they suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are adopted into the Zing familyrampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, with all of its delightful eccentricities a wartime photographer and unusual behaviour – Abhi, the Zings meet every Friday night hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for dinner and then disappear into the garden shed to work on residents who are still alive in the 'Zing Family Secret'. Marbie Zing is terrified of doing something wrong and losing Nathaniel and Listen. Her sister Fancy is becoming increasingly disillusioned hotel, he forms a bond with her home lifeSam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her daughterroom to try to capture what's year two teacher is coming to terms with a break uphappened through her photography. The stories of these people come together Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to create a tale of life, love, help her keep safe and ultimately, what being part of a family meansthey both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0330446363</amazonuk>086154742X
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=F G Cottam1529153298|title=The Magdalena CurseList of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=2.5|genre=HorrorGeneral Fiction|summary=Mark Hunter It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is the sort of father who would do anything for his sonPrime Minister. After losing his wife and daughter in a tragic accident (A woman? I mean, his surviving son Adam has become his whole worldhonestly.. And Adam is an exceptional child – beautiful, incredibly smart and mature beyond his ten years – only recently he.) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though. Women have been channelling the voices of the deaddisappearing. Plagued by horrific dreams Well, able they've been murdered, but to speak Russian in have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the hours after he wakesfamily 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, drawing occult symbols when he doodlesDown South is a frightening, Hunter believes Adam to be possessedforeign place, best avoided. Doctor Elizabeth Bancroft is sceptical For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, until she meets AdamSharon, and witnesses she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the horrors the poor boy endures for herselfdangers or that her Mum's stopped talking - to anyone.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340980982</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jon Berkeley1398524085|title=The Lightning Key (Circus Trilogy)|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=I shall start with a word of advice. When you're being hounded by a circus master, and a magician, for the soul of a tiger that's contained in a tiger's egg that's contained in the brain of your teddy bear, and your best friend - a fallen angel - is trying her best to make sure the other angels do not turn on you in a big way - then you're probably living the third book in a fantasy trilogy. Still - never mind, the angel's efforts will involve you entering a dream world of flight and cloud cities, the chase after your enemies will take you across the world to desert oases and back, and friends new and old will be on board to help.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847384447</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewHas Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Sue Townsend|title=Adrian Mole: The Prostrate YearsNicci French
|rating=5
|genre=General FictionCrime|summary=Adrian Mole is now 39¼ and living, quite literally, in a pigsty, sharing an all too thin party wall with his parents and working in a bookshop. ItCharlotte Salter was expected at her husband's not quite how life was supposed to turn outfiftieth birthday party but never turned up. As he spends his days wrestling his strong willed 5 year old Gracie into her school uniform Her children, trying to reassure glamorous wife Daisy that life in the provinces is not as bad as she would like to believesons Niall, Paul and Ollie and desperately attempting to talk his mother out of her quest to appear on the vile ''Jeremy Kyle'' showdaughter, worrying over his increasingly frequent visits to the toilet is really the last thing he needsEtty. And yetare all worried but - strangely - her husband, Alec, the worst is still to comenot. Think a crumbling economy Shortly afterwards, redundancyEtty and Greg, affairsfind the body of Greg's father, deathDuncan Ackerley, a family member challenging him in the novel writing stakes river. It was an easy assumption for the police to make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and a query over the big C – itthen committed suicide when he couldn's going to be a tough year for t stand the Moles, and guilt. The Salter children are not convinced but there's little that ol' Adrian else they can do except sit back but get on with their lives and watch his life spin out of control around himwonder about what really happened.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718153707</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Lauren Kate1035906708|title=FallenDiva|author=Daisy Goodwin
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Set in India, familiar territory for Theroux, ''A Dead Hand'' tells the story We tend to think of a travel writer suffering from writer's block (also known Maria Callas as 'dead hand') until a chance letter from an American ex-patGreek, but she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, the mysterious Mrs UngerNew York, relating a story of a mystery of a dead body in a hotel leads him December 1923 and only moved to release his creativity in very unexpected waysAthens when she was thirteen. The story is Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas' to make it more about obsession and infatuation than it is about the mystery itself as manageable in the narrator falls under Mrs Unger's Tantric charmsStates. But does When she have more to hide than was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she's letting on?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241144639</amazonuk>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.
}}
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=As soon as heroine Polly turns her back, Lucas and leaves the town of Lamonic Bibber his friends are all booked in for a day movie marathon at the seasidetheir local cinema, Mr Gum falls out with his best friend, causing carnivorous carnage all over a place that has the placenickname of 'The Black Hole'. Meat is getting thrown around like itAll big movie fans, they's going out re looking forward to lots of fashionexciting 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 we have they are swept up into an adventure they couldn't even imagine. But as they lurch from one film genre to doubt whether Polly and her companions the next, can they figure out what on earth is going on? Will they ever utilise get back to the power of love cinema, and put things to rights. Especially as this book does not contain a magic unicorn called Elizabeth.their real lives?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1405248246</amazonuk>1839942738
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Rachel Greenlaw
|title=Compass and Blade
|rating=3.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=''I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.''
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jean UreJames Sherwood Metts|title=Fortune CookiePlanet Storyland
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Fudge Cassidy and the Cupcake kid are best friends. If the names remind you of Things have been a certain film then you'd be spot on as that's where Fudge's father got bit sticky for the idea fromEarthlings. TheyAI and automation have been proceeding apace, often replacing jobs they're actually chalk paid to do and cheese – Fudge is loud mouthed and opinionated and Cupcake is quiet and thoughtful – but the combination worksother tasks that took time to accomplish. They've just started at secondary school Just as they were beginning to get used to all this technological change and Cupcake has rather a lot on her platestarting to think of other, new ways to spend time, along came an awful pandemic. Her brother Joey has muscular dystrophy Life was pretty much shut down and his problems are becoming more obvious. Add to this that her father couldn't cope , along with it, all the problems and he now has another family. It's just Cupcake, Joey and her mother – and not a lot of moneymany daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0007224621</amazonuk>1736128426
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jenifer RobertsMatthew Tree|title=The Madness of Queen Maria: The Remarkable Life of Maria I of PortugalWe'll Never Know
|rating=4.5
|genre=BiographyLiterary Fiction|summary=Born in 1734 in LisbonTimothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to be different from his father, a drunk and chronic underachiever whose dreams of being exceptional at that time the richest and most opulent city in Europe, Maria was destined to become the first female monarch in Portuguese history. Married to her uncle Infante Pedro, seventeen years her senior, she had six children (outliving any of his artistic passions all but one of them), failed miserably and became Queen in 1777. A conscientious woman, she who had the misfortune to be born in during the 'age endless crises of reason', when church and state were vying for supremacyself confidence. Instinctively a supporter of the old religion, with a humanitarian approach So Tim applied himself to state affairs, she was no Queen Elizabeth, no Catherine the Greathis studies, cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and wore her crown rather reluctantlyset himself high but achievable ambitions.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>095455891X</amazonuk>B0CVFXPGP8
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=A G Slatter
|title=The Briar Book of the Dead
|rating=5
|genre=Fantasy
|summary='' There's a part of me that wants to keep this just to myself for however long I can. This secret magic of my own, all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a while.''
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dave Eggers1529900360|title=The Wild ThingsGhost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman
|rating=4
|genre=General FictionCrime|summary=Meet Max. When I say he sometimes gets the wrong end of the stick about adults, or dislikes his motherIt hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's new boyfriend, or gets a bit feisty when fault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he feels the need for revengefelt responsible and even after Alex recovered, I am certainly understating the facts. He is a bit of a rascal Sturgis was reluctant to say the leastask for his help on difficult cases. But all His assertions that might change when he finds himself travelling to a strange land of roisterous animals, there were only open-and ends up installed as their king.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241144221</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Jeremy Strong|title=Christmas Chaos for the Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog |rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Trevorshut cases which didn's troublesome dog, Streaker, has had three puppies. They were fathered, according to local bully Charlie Smugg, by one t need the help of his Alsatiansa psychologist only worked for a while. Trevor would ideally like to keep themFinally, it was Robin, at least until ChristmasDelaware's partner, but his parents have other ideas and put them up who nudged Milo into asking for salehelp again. Charlie Smugg declares She knew that he's entitled to half of the money from involvement was something that the sale of the puppiesman she loved needed. The next case did look simple, but before they can be sold though. Two lovers were murdered in the three puppies go missing swimming pool of a remote property in Bel Air. He was the park heir to an Italian shoe empire and she is married to an extremely rich man and it's up to Trevor and his best friend Tina to try and track not the Italian. But which of them down before Charlie demands his cash!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141327243</amazonuk>was the primary target?
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sarah Beth Durst1529395224|title=IceLetting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Secret Life of a Vet|author=Sion Rowlands
|rating=3.5
|genre=TeensAnimals and Wildlife|summary=Cassie lives on an Arctic research station in AlaskaSiôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally. She loves the ice His father was a GP and the wilderness of her remote home and sheRowlands didn'd definitely prefer t want to spend her time follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on tracking polar bears and fending off frostbite rather than -call put on mixing his father's life. When he was seventeen he took the opportunity of doing work experience with her peers a family friend who was a vet and enjoying college and home comforts back in Fairbankswas convinced this was the job for him. However Before long, things arenhe was at Liverpool University. It hadn't all rosy. Cassie's mother died when she - as with so many students - been his dream since he was just a baby and she canchild. If anything, he't help feeling d wanted to be a huge hole in her heart. Her scientist father is remote and unloving and her grandmother left the station after an argument with him when Cassie was still very youngprofessional footballer. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847386571</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Iain Smyth and Michael Terry0861541774|title=The Wide-Mouthed FrogA Nye of Pheasants|author=Steve Burrows|rating=4.5|genre=For SharingCrime|summary=Do you know the joke about the wide-mouthed frog? You must have heard it. ItDCI Domenic Jejeune's close friend and former colleague, Danny Maik, has taken a classic. It's one that you really need short holiday in Singapore to tell in person, meet up with your fingers pulling your mouth wide openan old ally, but to hopefully spark your memory, the wideGuy Trueman. Maik was involved in a street brawl -mouthed frog introduces himself to he would later maintain that he was facing a number of animals until he finally comes across man armed with a crocodile who eats wideknife -mouthed frogs, and the frog does his best to disguise who he is whilst saying ''Ooh, you don't see many of those round here, do you?'' I'm hardly doing it justice, but it's very cheesy and funnykilled a Ghurka. Anyway Initially, this is he faced a book charge of manslaughter but evidence came to light that joke.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408804964</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Dr Aaron Carroll and Dr Rachel Vreeman|title=Don't Swallow Your Gum|rating=5|genre=Lifestyle|summary='''BANG'''suggested that he might have planned to murder the man. That's Now he could be facing the sound of copious urban myths being shot downdeath penalty. '''BANG'''. That's the sound of the old wives slamming the door, Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to help as their tales get revealed as baseless. '''CLICK''any interference from another police force could provoke a diplomatic incident and wouldn't help Danny at all. That's the noise lots of ill-informed websites make as they get closed down. All noises come due to this brilliant book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141043369</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Annie TaylorAlexander McCall Smith|title=VioletThe Perfect Passion Company
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident ReadersGeneral Fiction|summary=Violet The Perfect Passion Company is a very special hippodating 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. She Katie is extremely small but that does not make her adoptive parents Albert coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and Mavis 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 her any , thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the lessIsabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. However Katie has no experience in running a business, or in match-making, they are slightly worried that Violet but Ness has a full confidence in her abilities, and there's always her very unusual habit of turning pink without warning helpful (and for no explicable reason.rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1906847371</amazonuk>1846976596
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Hilary Dixon0811771741|title=When Rooks Speak of LoveInstaKnits for Baby|author=Melissa Leapman
|rating=4
|genre=Literary FictionCrafts|summary=Arthur Transcombe is Melissa Leapman's ''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a middle-aged, grey-haired, self-effacing poetcollection of knits from toys to blankets. Unremarkable really Some will be quick knits - on others are of the outside'long, cosy afternoons in front of the fire' variety. He hasThe projects are divided by the time they'll take to complete - less than five hours, howeverfive to ten hours, managed ten to achieve some success with his poemstwenty hours and more than twenty hours. (Being a guest speaker at All the Cheltenham Literary Festival is no mean feat)projects are attractive, modern and useable. He is also a babe magnet!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904529429</amazonuk>I perhaps show my age when I wonder about 'social-media-worthy projects' but that's me being picky.
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=A J HealyDean Koontz|title=Tommy Storm and the Galactic KnightsThe Bad Weather Friend|rating=34.5|genre=Confident ReadersParanormal|summary=Meet Tommy StormBenny is having a terrifically bad day. Heloses 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 one of five teenagers snapped up from around possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the universe very last person to be deserve all this bad luck. He is a gang of heroic detectives charged with rescuing EVERYTHING from destructionnice person. A really nice person. Not just So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the planetdelivery to his house is a new friend, or the solar systema bad weather friend called Spike, or even the galaxy, but EVERYTHINGwho has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. Nobody seems Spike is going to know whattake care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's going to cause this destructionenemies, if he, or whenBenny, but he and his friends and their ship seem to be the only people proactively going about saving the day. So it's Harper (a pity that they start this book strung up by a nasty loony waitress slash Private Investigator whofinds herself roped into Benny's about to kill themwild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847247555</amazonuk>1662500491
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Graham McCannAdam Stower|title=Bounder!: The Biography of Terry-ThomasMurray and Bun
|rating=4.5
|genre=BiographyConfident Readers |summary=When I was in my early teensMurray is supposed to be a humble, tidy and friendly cat, it sometimes seemed as if Terry-Thomas was one who is able to sleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of the stars of almost every other five-star British comedy film aroundtwo. He was certainly one of the most recognizable characters of all with his gap-toothed grin, cigarette holder and inimitable But he'Hel-lo!s a bad magician's cat, 'Hard cheese!'so his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, and best of allthe catflap they both use can chuck them out, not into the angry, 'You're an absolute shower!'|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845134419</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Richard Jay Parker|title=Stop Me|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=Spam E-Mails can be incredibly annoyingregular back garden, but most into a world of us will have had to deal with themfrightening adventure and whiffs. Fortunately, we can hit the delete button and forget about This time round it drops them as quickly as they came. I certainly prefer not to torture my friends by sending such rubbish oninto a Viking land, no matter how bad my luck where a troll hunter is supposed to become if I don't. But I wonder how many of us would react if a spam E-Mail actually expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was a matter of life and death, rather than just claiming to be?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749007079</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Jeanette Winterson|title=The Battle of the Sun|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=London 1601. Elizabeth I is getting on in years. Her capital city is a busyhonest, bustling place. Boats fill the river and people fill the streets. Jack is happy because itbut he's his birthday turned up and his present is his hearthe's desire: an excitable black puppy named Max, who's a ''licking and a running and a leaping and a jumping and a tummy in the air and a tail wagging and a barking, racing, braking, spinning energy dog of delight''. ll have to do…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>140880042X</amazonuk>0008561249
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