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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 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" cellpaddingisbn="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--><!-- Gilly Macmillan -->1009473085|title=The Conservative Effect 2010 -2024| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)|rating=5[[image:1780899831.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1780899831/refPolitics and Society|summary=nosim?tag=thebookbagSometimes it's simpler to explain a book by describing what it ''isn't'' and that applies to ''The Conservative Effect: 2010-21]]  | style="vertical2024 -align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Nanny by Gilly Macmillan]]=== [[image:4star14 Wasted Years?''.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] We know that something wrong is happening: a body is being dumped in deep water. The rower pulls away and rows back to If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the inside story about what ''really'' happened on certain occasions, then this isn't the boat house and then she walks back to Lake Hallbook for you. As you begin reading you suspect If that 's what you know who has been killed and who dumped the body're looking for, I don't think Anthony Seldon's book, but be patient: all will be revealed before too long. [[The Nanny by Gilly Macmillan{{amazonurl|Full Review]] <!-- Marrs -->isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|-| styletitle=''width: Johnson at 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;}}, can be bettered for those tumultuous years. It's a compelling read and should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics. ''The Conservative Effect''|[[image:1785038885.jpg|link=http://www.amazonis an entirely different beast. It's the seventh book in a series which looks at the impact a government has made and co-editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the most important.uk/dp/1785038885/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbagThis book follows the well-21]]established format: a series of experts from various fields review the state of the nation when the coalition took over in 2010, the changes that occurred and the situation in 2024.}}{{Frontpage| styleauthor=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''Max Boucherat|==title=[[The Passengers by John Marrs]]=Last Life of Lori Mills|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers [[image:4.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]We meet Lori on the first evening she's got the house to herself – no neighbour to pop in, babysitter poorly, [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] In the near futuremother at work, selfjust an avidly rule-drive cars are the norm - a convenient breaking eleven year old, on her lonesome. What could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in a blanket fort, she has one main intention, and easy way of transport. Howeverthat is to log on to Voxminer, when someone hacks into the systems of eight selfworld-drive carsbuilding, their passengers are set on critter-collecting game that is a fatal collision coursehit in Lori's world. As everyday commutes turn into terror-filled journeys But first Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn't find herself entirely on her own, and then she finds something even more spooky. For the public have server she and her bestie and nobody else should be able to judge who should surviveenter shows signs of tampering. But with every aspect of these passangers being examined by When malevolent eyes spark up on her phone screen, and her safe place in the public - will they game has been doctored – well, where is a girl to turn out to be what they seem? [[The Passengers by John Marrs|Full Review]]isbn=0008666482}}<!-- Toon -->{{Frontpage|-author=Jenny Lecoat| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Beyond Summerland|rating=4[[image:147117946X.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/147117946X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] General Fiction| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[If You Could Go Anywhere by Paige Toon]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women'Jean lives on Jersey with her mother where they are celebrating the end of the occupation. During the war, Jean's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] Angie is someone who always wanted to travelfather was arrested for listening to a banned radio and soldiers took him away one night, but it's taken leaving Jean and her 27 mother waiting for years to leave the small mining town in south Australia which has been for news of him. As the British finally free the Channel islands from the only home she's ever known. She doesn't do things by half thoughNazis, and once she does feel able to go (following the war is finally over, their hopes rise that they will finally learn what became of him. But will the truth come as a family death) she leaves not only the townrelief, or will it raise further questions around what else happened during the state and war? Who was the country, but also informer who told the Nazis about the radio? And what other secrets have been kept throughout the continent, and finds herself following in her mother's footsteps and heading to Italy. [[If You Could Go Anywhere by Paige Toonoccupation?|Full Review]]isbn=1846976537}}<!-- Nick Griffiths -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1529428289| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"A Grave in the Woods (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel)|author=Martin Walker[[image:1789018307.jpg|link|rating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789018307/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 4| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Crime|summary===[[Mayhem in Because of various property transactions, people were searching for the Archipelago by Nick Griffiths]]=== [[image:4stargrave but when they found it, it came with three sets of bones.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] In Latvia They dated back to World War II and it fell to Bruno, the conspirators meet in a rather unpleasant locationChief of Police for St Denis, but it's their plans which matter to them. In Moscow two men delight in all discover the uncertainty in identities of the Balticbodies and establish whether or not a crime had been committed. In Washington As if this isn't enough to worry about, the Undersecretary Dordogne River - normally tranquil - is a woman, but the personal pressures on her are the same as the men in Moscow are obliged to sufferflowing at record levels. In Stockholm three members of SÄPO, It's not just the Swedish Secret Service, know local autumn rains that have caused the time has come for them problem: various dams upstream on another river have had to make a move. They'd talk more, but their wives would get difficult release water and there's St Denis faces the possibility of a rather pleasing tart which mustn't be misseddevastating flood. [[Mayhem in the Archipelago by Nick Griffiths|Full Review]]}}<!-- Neal -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=152919640X| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Suspect|author=Rob Rinder[[image:1794467440|rating=4.jpg5|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1794467440/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  Crime| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Watchwords by Philip Neal]]=== [[image:4starThe nation's favourite daytime TV presenter, Jessica Holby, was murdered live on television and it seems that there's only one suspect. He's celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks and his contract stated that he must not serve anything containing miso to Jessica Holby.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] This satisfying collection of short stories has a provenance at least She's seriously allergic and carries an EpiPen in case of emergencies. Everything seemed as normal - as beguiling normal as the provenance of the antique watches that inspired it. Philip Neal lost they can be in a busy, live television studio - and Brooks served a watchragout to Holby. It Her EpiPen was a watch he was fond of nowhere to be found and had been told she was like a 1930s Cartierdead within minutes. Instead of mourning its loss, he began to collect vintage watches It was soon clear that resembled itthis was no accident. And that's how he became a watch collector. An eBay purchase led him to the Antique Watch Company watch repairers in Clerkenwell}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008385068|title=The Midnight Feast|author=Lucy Foley|rating=4. The eBay purchase was a fake, but the friendship that grew between 5|genre=Thrillers|summary=It's midsummer on the buyer Dorset coast and the repairer of watches was not guests gather at The Manor. It's their opening weekend and the seed of an idea for a book was bornsplendid celebrations are promised. [[ Watchwords It's all headed up by Philip Neal Francesca Meadows. |Full Review]] <!-- Stephen Booth -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0751567647The Manor was her ancestral home and she's converted it into an impressive retreat for the wealthy and famous.jpg|link=http://www Her husband, Owen, was the architect and work is still ongoing on parts of the site.amazon The heat is oppressive and amongst the guests are enemies as well as friends. Old scores are going to be settled and it won't be long before a body is found.co.uk/dp/0751567647/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage| styleauthor="verticalAshley Hickson-align: top; text-align: left;"Lovence|title=Wild East|rating=4.5|genre==[[Fall Down Dead (Cooper and Fry) by Stephen Booth]]===Teens[[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] DS Dev Sharma is delighted - if delight is the right word Written in verse, this is Ronny's story, a young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who suddenly has to apply move to Norwich and start at a murder case - but hemostly white school. The move is initiated by Ronny's mum who is worried for Ronny's got safety after a result when the husband of a murder victim is found with the knife, standing over the bodytragic event, and admitting so Ronny finds himself trying to the murder. DI Ben Cooper is concerned with settle in a new town, a suspicious death on Kinder Scout. A party of walkers - the New Trespassers Walking Group - got lost in the fog new school, and problems arose when one keep himself out of the party was injuredtrouble. The group split up He listens to find helpmusic constantly, or at least and has always dreamed of being a mobile signal, but when they're rescued they're one short and the body of Faith Matthew was found at the bottom of Kinder Downfallrapper. It looked like a dreadful accidentBut now, but Cooper wasn't happy about in this new school, his teacher encourages him to be part of a poetry writing workshop group and, slowly, Ronny begins to see the way connections between rap and poetry, and the body had fallenpower of creativity and crafting your words. Things are not always as they seem - in either case. [[Fall Down Dead (Cooper and Fry) by Stephen Booth|Full Review]]|isbn=0241645441}}<!-- Casey Cep -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1635866847| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Lavender Companion|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci[[image:1785150731.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785150731/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Lifestyle| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Furious Hours: MurderIt's strange, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep]]=== [things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for you. Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's [imagehttps:5star//www.pinelavenderfarm.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviewscom/ website]] [[:Category:True Crime|True Crime]] Sometimes you begin reading a book and before youthere've got to the bottom s a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the first page you know that it's going to be brillianthomepage. You sense the authorI don's effortless grasp of her subject matter t eat cakes and you already know desserts - but I wanted that her use of words is almost surgical in its precisioncake viscerally. The hands holding you are safe, which considering that this is (There's a book about two subjects where facts are recipe in short supply, is somewhat surprising. Our first subject is the Reverend Willie Maxwell. Over seven years, six people close to the Reverend had diedbook, with Maxwell benefiting substantially from insurance policies which heI'd taken out on their lives. [[Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud m avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and the Last Trial I was told to make a mess of Harper Lee by Casey Cep|Full Review]] <!-- Weir -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1472227727it. Notes in the margins are sanctioned.jpg|link=http://www You get to fold down the corners of pages.amazon You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem.co I ''loved'' this book already.uk/dp/1472227727/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]}}{{Frontpage|author=Rob Keeley| styletitle="vertical-alignChildish Spirits: top; text-align: left;"10th anniversary special edition|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary==[[Six Tudor Queens: Anna of KleveAround here, Queen we're big fans of Secrets by Alison Weir]]=== [[image:4children's author Rob Keeley.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] PoorHe's a ball of happy positivity, he understands children, and he writes for their pleasure and enjoyment, frumpy Anne of Cleaves always gets a raw deal by history, of all the wives of Henry VIII she is the one who is known for being rejected. Anne Boleyn and Katheryn Howard were the sexy ones, Jane the dutiful one who delivered a son, Katherine of Aragon clung on not to her crown and Katharine Parr clung on to her life but poor frumpy Anne of Cleaves just rolled over and moved along. Not any more! Alison Weir presents us with a different view of this young woman who saw the opportunity to live an independent life and took it. [[Six Tudor Queens: Anna of Kleve, Queen of Secrets by Alison Weir|Full Review]] <!-- Mel Sherratt -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0008271070.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008271070/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Tick Tock by Mel Sherratt]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] We're in Stoke on Trent. A group of young women who study at Dunwood Academy are running the cross-country course. One of them - Lauren Ansell - stops behind to tie her shoelace and is murdered, to the shock and devastation of her friends. Twins Courtney and Caitlin Piggott, Sophie Bishop and Teagan Cole cling together for support - or do do as much as they can given that their parents are understandably reluctant to let them out of their sight. One of the parents is journalist Simon Cole, boyfriend of DS Grace Allendale, who is charged with investigating the murder under the guidance of DI Nick Carter. It's a struggle to keep their professional lives separate. [[Tick Tock by Mel Sherratt|Full Review]] <!-- Mark Billingham -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0751566977.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0751566977/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Their Little Secret by Mark Billingham]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] There are times when two people come together and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts as in the case of, say, Morecambe and Wise. Sometimes two people come together and we get ''Folie à Deux'' - a shared psychotic disorder which produces devastating consequences. One of the prime examples is Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. But - I'm getting ahead of myself as our story started with a suicide. A middle-aged woman had been gulled out of £75,000 by a man called Patrick Jenkins, but once he had the money he disappeared and ghosted his former lover. She threw herself in front of a tube train. [[Their Little Secret by Mark Billingham|Full Review]] <!-- Motayne -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:147367591X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/147367591X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Nocturna by Maya Motayne]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] A thief without a face, a prince who was never meant to be king, Finn and Alfie collide, as if thrown together by fate, to bring about a series of catastrophes and set in motion the release of a darkness that seeks to consume all the goodness and magic in the world. These two unlikely allies must try to put their own personal battles behind them and join forces to stop the evil from destroying everything they hold dear. [[Nocturna by Maya Motayne|Full Review]] <!-- Eagle -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0571346308.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0571346308/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Secret Starling by Judith Eagle]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]]Clara has lived in the crumbling Braithwaite Manor owned by her guardian, Uncle Edward, since she was a baby. It has been a lonely life as her uncle is strict and forbidding and she has been home schooled. Her only friend is Cook who looks after Clara with kindness and tells her stories of her own family and their adventures. Clara has recently become aware that something is wrong as many of the prized possessions such as paintings and porcelain are disappearing and then cook is dismissed. Shortly afterwards Uncle Edward abandons Clara in the local village with a fistful of money and disappears. Clara is now totally alone. [[The Secret Starling by Judith Eagle|Full Review]] <!-- Leah Hazard -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786331608.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786331608/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Hard Pushed: A Midwife's Story by Leah Hazard]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]], [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] Over the past few years we've had a rash (sorry - no pun intended) of books by medical practitioners. Doctors have been at the forefront, but ''Hard Pushed'' is the first book I've seen by a midwife. It's an unusual profession in that it's one of the few callings within the medical system where most of the patients are healthy and the only one where one person comes into the system and (for the most part) more than one goes out. It's an amazing thing to be able to do - to escort new life into the world - and an enormous responsibility. Leah Hazard came to it after a career in television and ''Hard Pushed'' is the story of her career as a midwife - and the title tells more than one story. [[Hard Pushed: A Midwife's Story by Leah Hazard|Full Review]] <!-- Lucinda Riley -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1529014980.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529014980/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Butterfly Room by Lucinda Riley]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]] Paradise. That's what it seemed like to nine-year-old Posy Anderson. Her father delighted in indulging her and playing with her. Together they caught butterflies and examined them before her father took them off to let them go free. Her mother was rather distant, but her father more than made up for that. The only blot on the horizon was that her father was a spitfire pilot, recovering from an injury, and it seemed likely that he would have to go back to the war. Everyone thought that it was drawing to a close, but men still had to go and fight - and risk their lives. Posy was staying with her grandmother in Cornwall when the news came through that her father had been killed in action. Her mother had travelled from Suffolk to tell her what was going to happen to her. [[The Butterfly Room by Lucinda Riley|Full Review]] <!-- Carroll -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1471160645.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471160645/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Words That Fly Between Us by Sarah Carroll]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] Lucy is living in a beautiful, expensive house along with her joking, playful dad and her lovely mum. Everything should be perfect. Her dad is a property investor, making millions, and she and her mum don't lack for anything in their lives. But still, Lucy lives her life on edge, controlled by the words around her, whether they are spoken, or unspoken. You see, her dad is a bully, edging closer and closer towards physically abusing her mum, and Lucy is manipulated by him, unable to express her true feelings, or fully develop her artistic side which is where she feels her talents lie but her dad says won't ever lead to her having a successful life. [[The Words That Fly Between Us by Sarah Carroll|Full Review]] <!-- Kan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1911115847.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1911115847/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Nights of the Creaking Bed by Toni Kan]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category: Literary Fiction| Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] ''Nights of the Creaking Bed'' is a collection of short stories by Toni Kan. The series of stories tell of the lives and lusts of an assortment of characters living in and around Lagos, Nigeria. Nigeria, in this collection, is imbued with its very own heart of darkness. Danger stalks the shadows and people are killed for nothing more than a wrong look. Kan writes with a vitality and passion that allows these cynical stories to achieve a glimmer of hope. [[Nights of the Creaking Bed by Toni Kan|Full Review]] <!-- Macdibble -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1910646482.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910646482/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Dog Runner by Bren MacDibble]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] Set in a dystopian Australia, this is the story of Ella and Emery and their dogs travelling across the outback together. A red fungus has wiped out all the crops and grasses, and with the food chain grinding to a halt, society is collapsing. Ella's mum has been gone for a long time - she left for work one day and then never came home. Ella and her half brother Emery have been living at home with their dad and their dogs, hoping for the best, but one day their dad decides to go out and try to find Ella's mum. When he also fails to return, Emery decides that their best chance of survival is to set out with the dogs to travel across the outback to his grandfather's house where, he believes, there will still be food and a safe place for them to live until their father can find them again. [[The Dog Runner by Bren MacDibble|Full Review]] <!-- Sara Sheridan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1472127110.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472127110/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Indian Summer: a Mirabelle Bevan Mystery by Sara Sheridan]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime (Historical)|Crime (Historical)]] Life has changed dramatically for Mirabelle, our favourite fifties sleuth, since the war, and not always for the better. When she first settled in Brighton she was alone, rudderless and secretly grieving for Jack, the lover who died before he could leave his wife. As time went by she found in herself an ability to solve crimes, made friends including an ebullient and determined young woman called Vesta who refused to let a little thing like racial prejudice stop her doing what she wanted, and even found consolation in the arms of a rather charming policeman. [[Indian Summer: a Mirabelle Bevan Mystery by Sara Sheridan|Full Review]] <!-- Gomes -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0008291845.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008291845/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[We Are Not Okay by Natalia Gomes]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Set in a typical American town, ''We Are Not Okay'' tells the story of four teenage girls facing the difficulties brought on by high school and growing up as a girl in today's society. The novel is told from four different perspectives, those of Lucy, Ulana, Trina and Sophia, whose friendship statuses vary from BFFs to sworn enemies. The reader is presented with a glimpse into each of their lives, but more importantly their minds, and at times the thoughts of those characters could have been taken directly from my own. Gomes has created a heartbreakingly real and relevant novel that focuses on prominent topic areas which are becoming ingrained in our society, particularly in relation to the ''Me Too Movement''. ''We Are Not Okay'' reminds the reader of the importance of phrases like ''I'm With Her''. [[We Are Not Okay by Natalia Gomes|Full Review]]  <!-- Doescher -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1683691172.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.colecture or hector.uk/dp/1683691172/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Mean Girls by Ian Doescher]]===

[[imageThe ''Childish Spirits'' series is one of his greatest achievements. It's a sequence of ghost stories centring on Ellie, a stalwart young girl who can cope with anything the spirit world throws at her, and Edward, a spoiled lordling and the first spirit Ellie encounters|isbn= 1783064617}}{{Frontpage|author=Jenny Valentine|title=Us in the Before and After|rating=5|genre=Teens|summary=Elk and Mab are best friends, or more than that even, their friendship is a once in a lifetime connection. They meet as children one day on a trip out but unfortunately they don't get each other's contact details at the time. But then chance brings them back together, and they are inseparable. Something has happened though, something terrible and tragic, and now they must work through their grief, and their friendship, together.|isbn=1471196585}}{{Frontpage|author=Kieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton|title=Dungeon Runners:2Hero Trial|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Meet Kit. Like most of the people in his world, it seems, he is an avid fan of Dungeon Running – the sport where a team of warrior, mage and healer enter specially prepared, century-old, magical mazes, and race to the exit, perhaps bothering with the treasure or the big bad and the points they grant you along the way. Unfortunately for Kit, the only thing he's seen of the latest race on the inn TV equivalent is that one team has been retired, eaten, and a new trio of questors is needed.5star Possibly very unfortunately indeed for Kit, he has taken to the goading from the token bully of his world and stumbled into declaring he'll enter as a team.jpg What chance does this friendless, muscle-free-zone have in actually managing that, and how could he possibly hope to succeed?|linkisbn=Category:{1839945184}}{{Frontpage|author=Saima Mir|title=Vengeance|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers|summary= I was instantly intrigued by the premise of this novel – an organised crime syndicate in the north of England run by a Muslim woman. The fact that it was the second in a series I hadn't read didn't stop me – I've jumped midway into a few series before (on page and screen) and it needn't be a hindrance if it's good enough. And that wasn't a problem here. Vengeance swiftly brings you up to speed, and I never felt lost.|isbn=0861541561}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]]

{{Frontpage|author=Stuart Douglas|title=Lowe and Le Breton Mysteries - Death at the Dress Rehearsal|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=During location filming for his 1970's sitcom 'Floggit and Leggit', leading man Edward Lowe stumbles across the dead body of a woman on the edge of a reservoir. The police seem happy to assign it as an accidental death, but something about the whole thing bothers Lowe, and he enlists the help of a fellow actor, John Le Breton to help him investigate matters further. They travel across the country during their days off filming, uncovering more possible murders and, seemingly, a link to death during the Second World War. But is there really a link between the deaths? And will they manage to uncover who is responsible before more people lose their lives?|isbn=1803368209}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0CYV674G2|title=Swanton Morley (John Tanner)|author=David Blake|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It seemed like an open-and-shut case. A long time agoman, covered in mud and blood - and carrying a galaxy far awayknife, comes into the police station shouting that he hasn't killed the man. A body at the bottom of a freshly dug grave at Swanton Morley church - he's been stabbed to death. DCI John Tanner is just back from his honeymoon, all which coincided with the Star Wars films birth of his daughter Samantha. You would think he'd be grateful for an easy answer but the words 'perverse' and 'John Tanner' were crunched up against Shakespearemade for each other. He's sleep-deprived to the point of falling asleep at work but he's determined to keep going - probably because he can't get any sleep at home.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1787333175|title=You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here|author=Benji Waterhouse|rating=5|genre=Popular Science|summary=I was tempted to read ''You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here'' after enjoying Adam Kay's first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to Hurt}}, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography. ''You Don't Have to be Mad...'' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the marriage seemed work of a perfectly suitable onepsychiatrist. So much so – so easily I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the plots laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and characters converse understanding. }}{{Frontpage|author=Onyi Nwabineli|title=Allow 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's increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gain. Now Anuri is in Shakespearean dialogueher twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and to get her life back, suing her step-mother to take down the content about her. Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and behave receiving money from them for doing so. Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who 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?|isbn=0861546873}}{{Frontpage|author=David Chadwick|title=Headload of Napalm|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary= It's September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with Shakespearean stage directions – its nearest neighbours of LA and Las Vegas both a 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 note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiet, until....|isbn= B0D321VJ76}}{{Frontpage|author=Tom Percival|title=The Wrong Shoes|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the producers tried againfact that his mum and dad are separated, with [[William Shakespeareand Will's Get Thee Back life seems bleak in 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 end of a long, dark tunnel.|isbn=1398527122}}{{Frontpage|author=Sylvie Cathrall|title=A Letter to the Future! by Ian DoescherLuminous Deep|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary= 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=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary= Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a lot of 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 the future she wants for herself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on the back burner.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786482126|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|Back summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the Future]] bones of a child beneath a doorway. There was no lessskull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. And It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that workedshe is pregnant with his child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But simultaneously they put Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a real test outmissing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date. A film I can Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even really remember seeing was transcribed into prepared to do the original Elizabethan lingoother thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening. }}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008405026|title=A cult following I had Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never followed whatsoever was given found and the brand newinvestigation ground to a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, yet oh so ancientand her father are dead in their bed. Initially, dressingit looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. Here What looked as though it was going to be an open-and-shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the true challenge – explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0571379877|title=The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=Edward Jevons is a working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class 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. 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 I manage stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he's not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway.}}{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=When 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. It'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 unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to enjoy thissolve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?|isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=Olivia, based Laura and Anjali met on little foreknowledge? Oh damn those shiny gold stars the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for letting a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-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|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 your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game away… [[William Shakespearewhich got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035021803|title=The Antique Hunter's Much Ado About Mean Girls by Ian DoescherGuide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|Full Review]]summary=It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up. She's back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. After the split, she worked in a cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the love of her life, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.}}{{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.''

<!I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. 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 - DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->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.|isbn=086154742X}}