|summary=Gloria Carmody is a society princess in 1920's Chicago. Engaged to Sebastian Grey, both powerful and handsome, she is expected to be little more than an ornament to him. After spending a night at the notorious speakeasy the Green Mill, though, Gloria knows that there's more to life than balls and socialising...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0552565040</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Catherine Jinks
|title=The Paradise Trap
|rating=3.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=When Marcus's mum has to economise over their holidays, it means just the two of them, revisiting a campsite she herself knew as a child, in a grotty old second-hand caravan. It's a greasy, shabby, squeaky little closet of a caravan, and no-one can agree on what the awful stink pervading it reminds them of. But when the trip is hyped up as a great time for both, it seems to have a chance of coming true, for a bizarre cellar to the caravan leads everyone to their dream trip - if only, unfortunately, one way...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857386735</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jeffrey Masson
|title=Dogs Never Lie About Love: Why Your Dog Will Always Love You More Than Anyone Else
|rating=3.5
|genre=Pets
|summary=Readers come to books for strange reasons but I don't think that I've ever before picked up a book, looked at the title and being intrigued not by what was suggested but by how anyone could think differently. 'Dogs Never Lie About Love' is a statement of the obvious to me. I've lived with and around dogs for most of my life and I know that dogs are incapable of pretence. I've never met a dog I couldn't trust: if it doesn't like me, it will tell me so straight away. It will not attempt to trick me. I only wish that I could say the same about most of the humans I encounter.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099740613</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ken MacLeod
|title=Intrusion
|rating=5
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Pregnant Hope doesn't want to take the Fix, a genetic cure-all pill that corrects the DNA of an unborn child and protects it from all sorts of diseases. Hope's husband Hugh doesn't really understand her objections to the Fix - in fact, Hope never really articulates them at all - but supports her right to choose.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841499390</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Chil Rajchman
|title=Treblinka: A Survivor's Memory
|rating=5
|genre=History
|summary=Here comes yet another book about the Holocaust, and yet another with more than enough damning indictment of those events and their perpetrators, with more than enough horrific reportage to make your blood run cold, and with more than enough distinguishing features to make it a necessary purchase. The latter is partly down to where it came from - while Dachau started out as a camp for political prisoners, and Auschwitz I was a work camp based round barrack blocks that you can squint at and see a bad private school, this is coming from Treblinka, which was constructed purely and simply to kill. It has rightly been called a 'conveyer-belt executioner's block'.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849163995</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Sadie Jones
|title=The Uninvited Guests
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=On a spring evening in 1912 preparations were being made for a supper party to celebrate the twentieth birthday of Emerald Torrington. It was taking place at Sterne, the much-loved home of the family, although finances were uncertain and no one was quite sure how much longer they would be able to stay in the house. Emerald's mother had hopes that she would be able to marry Emerald off to John Buchanan, a local entrepreneur, but Emerald was far from convinced. Her step-father was in Manchester trying to raise the funds to keep the house going but Emerald and her brother Clovis, Patience Sutton and her brother Ernest along with Buchanan and the household staff prepared for what they hoped would be a delightful evening.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701186712</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Etgar Keret
|title=Suddenly, a Knock on the Door
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=In the opening, titular story, Keret is forced by several people to create, and alter, a short short story. It's a plain metaphor for the history of Israel, but it proves that this modern Scheherazade is not too far removed geographically from the original. And what follows are probably the sort of short, tantalising, open-ended, rough-round-the-edges and surreal results of being compelled to carry on telling tall tales on a nightly basis.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701186674</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Nicky Singer
|title=The Flask
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Twelve-year-old Jess is dealing with a lot. Her beloved Aunt Edie has just died. Her mother is expecting twins - but these new babies will be Jess's half-brothers and will complete Jess's mother's marriage to her stepfather. But will they complete Jess's family? Will they even survive? Because the twins are conjoined. And in 70% of separations, only one twin lives. And if this weren't enough in the way of trials and tribulations, Jess's best friend Zoe is moving towards a relationship with a boy. Does this mean she will leave Jess behind?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007438761</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Margie Gelbwasser
|title=Pieces of Us
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=Every summer Katie and her sister Julie meet up with Alex and his brother Kyle at a lakeside community in New York. They leave behind their problems - which are legion - and find comfort in each other. But when a dark secret of one of them leaks out, the four are all left reeling by the far-reaching consequences.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0738721646</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Steve Cole
|title=Cows in Action: The Viking Emoo-gency
|rating=3.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=The future world's balance between cows and humans is a lot different to our own, as the bovine species has evolved into something a lot more intelligent; so much so that in order to gain the upper hand, both parties are using time travel to snatch advantages in other times and places. In this episode of the series, it's a robotic ter-moo-nator and a fundamentalist scientist who have gone back to Viking times, leaving just three special cows from the current age with the task to go back and sort things out on the side of a happier, human-friendly existence. Can they succeed, or will much of what we know of since the Viking era be re-moo-ved from our history books?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849414017</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kate Griffin
|title=The Minority Council
|rating=5
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=In Matthew Swift's London, just about anything is possible. As the Midnight Mayor, protector of the city, Matthew has incredible power and resources at his disposal. Not that he really wants them. In fact he'd rather not have all the hassle, if he's quite honest. But a new drug is swamping the streets of London - Fairy Dust. This deadly magical drug eventually turns its users into fairies, who then disintegrate into the dust that they've been taking, ready to be collected and sold again. And this perverse practise is not Matthew's only issue. Some teenage vandals have had their souls sucked out and social worker Nabeela wants the help of the Midnight Mayor to work out exactly how that happened. But the more Matthew digs into both issues, the more he starts to realise that the source of the problem may be closer than he initially thought.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356500632</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ellie Boswell
|title=The Witch of Turlingham Academy
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Boarding school, midnight feasts, a crowd of best friends and cute boys to gaze at (though mostly from a safe distance): what more could you ask from a story for girls of twelve and under? Well, how about throwing a bit of magic into the mix? Perfect, huh?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907410953</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Stephanie Guerra
|title=Torn
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Stella Chavez is a fairly ordinary girl until she meets Ruby Caroline. She gets pretty good grades, has friends she's grown up with, and is a soccer star. New girl Ruby, on the other hand, is trouble with a capital T, right from the moment she storms into her first class wearing a band-aid of a skirt and swearing like a trooper. There's something about Ruby, though, that draws Stella to her, and the pair quickly become inseparable. But as Ruby's behaviour gets more and more erratic, and she's drawn into bad habits and an unsuitable relationship, can Stella save her friend - or will she get dragged down with her?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0761462724</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David Cavill
|title=Canine Perspectives
|rating=3
|genre=Pets
|summary=David Cavill has spent much of his adult life around dogs, with the Finnish Spitz holding a special place in his heart. Amongst other things - he was founder of the Animal Care College, worked as a senior manager at Battersea Dogs' Home, judging and advising on the selection, care and training of pedigree and mongrel dogs - he wrote a regular column for ''Our Dogs'' newspaper and ''Dogs Monthly''. It's these and other articles which are reproduced here and as there's a time span of fifteen years they allow the reader to see what has changed and - probably more importantly - what hasn't.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1468104780</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Roger Stevens
|title=What Rhymes With Sneeze?
|rating=4
|genre=Children's Rhymes and Verse
|summary=Poems often seem to lose their appeal as we get older. They become tricky things that must be interpreted and understood and written about in essays rather than the instantly enjoyable experiences they are when you're a child. This book contains a wide variety of poems, written by the author but also some written by other poets, and the author uses them to show children about the different sorts of poetry, various rhyme schemes and how to go about writing your own poems too.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408155761</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Rachel Joyce
|title=The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Harold and Maureen Fry were unremarkable: one long marriage, one adult offspring and a long retirement stretching out in front of them like a prison sentence. One morning everything changed. The catalyst was a letter from Queenie, an ex-colleague of Harold's. He knew he needed to respond and thought that posting a letter would suffice. However, a chat with a girl at the local petrol station made him realise that a letter couldn't be enough. He had to provide Queenie with hope... he had to walk.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857520644</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Barbara Mitchelhill
|title=Road to London
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Elizabethan London, made all the more wonderful by the splendour of the court and the magic of Shakespeare's imagination, is a perfect place to set an adventure. Mysteries, plots and conspiracies abound, and the stark contrast between the lives of the rich and the poor makes for a colourful and thought-provoking story. Add to that the privileged position we find ourselves in as we follow our young hero Thomas and his good friend Alice from the stinking streets full of cutthroats and foot-pads right into the presence of the Good Queen herself, and young readers are in for a treat.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849394075</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=John Lanchester
|title=Capital
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=With a gentle nod to the great commentator of London life of the past, John Lanchester sets his wonderfully entertaining state of the nation book around Pepys Road. With a huge cast of characters, he looks as a cross section of London life and while in some ways not quite perfect, it comes pretty darn close.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571234607</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Antonio Damasio
|title=Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain
|rating=4.5
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=What makes us, us? How is awareness of one's own being created in the human mind? What makes ''me'' who got up this morning ''me'' that went to bed last night, and the same ''me'' that got up on most mornings in the preceding forty-odd years? How is it that we see, remember and understand things, other humans and the world in general? And who is doing the understanding? How is it that we are conscious of our own experiences, and how is it that we are conscious of ourselves being conscious?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099498022</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Liz Pichon
|title=Tom Gates: Everything's Amazing (sort of)
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Tom Gates, our chronicler of all that happens in Year 5, is back with more stories of all that's happening at school and at home. He and his friend Derek decide to enter Derek's dog, Rooster, in the local dog show, but they might have been just a little over-enthusiastic with the shampooing and Rooster ends up looking rather more fluffy than usual. Tom and his sister Delia are still at daggers drawn over, well, just about everything and she's not impressed by the noise that Tom and his band make when they're practicing. Still, Tom has a birthday coming up and his only worries are that some of Granny Mavis' baking might be just a little too unusual and if his Dad does DJ then the whole thing might turn into a disaster.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407124412</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Russell Banks
|title=Lost Memory of Skin
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Some readers may understandably be deterred from reading Russell Banks's ''Lost Memory of Skin'' due to its controversial subject matter and there's no doubt that it's a morally complex read. The main character, known only to us at 'the Kid' is a young man who is a convicted sex offender. Set in south Florida, he is forced to reside, with other offenders and his pet Iguana, under a causeway. While living here, he encounters a huge and enigmatic man, known only as 'the Professor' from the local university who is apparently studying homelessness amongst sex offenders and the two form an uneasy friendship.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846685761</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Oakley Graham
|title=When I Dream of 123
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary='When I dream of 123' is an enchanting book that would make any bedtime very special. It is a counting book that starts at number one and goes all the way to one hundred which is a bit unusual for many picture books. This also makes it an ideal book for slightly older children as well as the very young. It is also a lovely book because each number is accompanied by a gorgeous illustration and some unusual and often comical information about what is seen. It reads like a non-fiction book but all of the pieces of information are mainly imaginary.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849567239</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Maureen Jennings
|title=Under the Dragon's Tail: Murdoch Mysteries
|rating=4
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Murdoch is a lonely man, still grieving for the fiancée who died over a year before. He busies himself, when he is not working, with training for the police sports' day, learning to dance, and trying to overcome his attraction to the charming lady who lodges in the next-door room. She is a charming young widow with a young son, but since she is not Catholic, he knows, sadly, that he can never find married bliss with her.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857689886</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Anne Tyler
|title=The Beginner's Goodbye
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Aaron's wife, Dorothy, was killed in an accident. An oak tree fell on their home, demolishing the sun porch where Dorothy happened to be at the time. He worried that if he had done things differently (a matter of some biscuits and a television set) Dorothy might not have been where she was and might still be alive and for a while he camped out in the wrecked house until further damage forced him to move in with his sister. It was then that he realised that Dorothy wasn't really dead - well, not dead as we understand it - as she materialised in odd places, wearing the clothes she used to wear and eventually staying with Aaron for longer periods of time. And gradually they began to bicker, just like a long-married couple...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701187190</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ray Fawkes
|title=One Soul
|rating=4.5
|genre=Graphic Novels
|summary=When reading this it soon becomes very clear we're reading not one, but nineteen, stories. With each page divided into a regular 3x3 grid there are eighteen images on each double page spread, and every one shows an episode, or a beat, of a different character's life in turn, from being a babe-in-arms to death. However, the way they join up - everyone's figurative moment comes at once, at times the artist's heavy black ink makes all eighteen images coincide into one image - proves there is a separate, individual tale around and behind the others, one which will end with the most delightful moral - that the ability to be anything one imagines is in our DNA.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1934964662</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Sax Rohmer
|title=Fu Manchu - The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
|rating=4
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=A couple of years after their encounter with the villainous Dr Fu Manchu, Dr Petrie and Nayland Smith are reunited once more to take on the returning evil genius. When the Rev JD Eltham vanishes after conversing with Petrie, the two realise that Fu Manchu has returned and must risk life and limb to save their friend.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857686046</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Elizabeth Haynes
|title=Revenge of the Tide
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=Genevieve worked as a sales executive by day and a pole dancer by night but her dream was to buy and renovate a boat where she could live. That was why she persisted in the pressured, chauvinistic world of software sales and the increasingly sleazy world of the private gentleman's club where she could earn a four figure sum each evening as well as getting a good workout. It was nip-and-tuck as to whether or not she made it but after a few months on the boat at a marina on the Medway she was feeling good enough about her life to hold a boat-warming party. It was planned as a mixture of the people she'd met at the marina and some of her sales colleagues from London. But on the night of the party a body washed up at the side of her boat and Genevieve knew the victim.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956792642</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Frankie Owens
|title=The Little Book of Prison
|rating=4
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=It’s probably pretty safe to assume that the sort of prisons shown on TV, and their portrayals of life inside, bear as much resemblance to real jails as the doctors in Grey’s Anatomy or House do to their NHS counterparts. That’s why Frankie has written this book: to provide a guide to what life inside is really like and how best to survive it with your sanity, and body, intact.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904380832</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Peter Stone (editor)
|title=Lotteries in Public Life
|rating=5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=Peter Stone's reader is an examination not so much of examples of lotteries in public life, but of the theoretical and conceptual issues which the use of 'sortation' in decision taking raises. There are essays here about the use of the lottery in politics, in allocating scarce resources (such as school places or human organs) and even on the problems of defining the lottery and the methods for assuring fairness. Because lotteries are used in many societies to resolve issues and perhaps because of recent discussion of the use of the lottery to allocate school places, this is a hot issue which raises fundamental questions about democracy and choice.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845402081</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Mij Kelly and Katharine McEwen
|title=Quack Quack Moo, We See You!
|rating=5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Poppa Bombola has lost his darling daughter! He's hunting high and low, under tables, under chairs and all around the farmyard - but she is nowhere to be found.... Or is she? Maybe Poppa Bombola isn't looking close enough...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192757466</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Gareth Edwards and Kanako Usui
|title=The Big Jungle Mix Up
|rating=5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Big Bear is teaching little bear all about the animals in the jungle as they are out walking one day. But Big Bear keeps mixing them up and little bear has to keep putting him straight:
'We might find a monkey, with feathers and beak, pea-green, carrot orange, we'll teach it to speak…
You've got it mixed up! As orange as a carrot? A beak that can speak? Then it must be a… *open flap* PARROT!'
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444903047</amazonuk>
}}