'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
__NOTOC__
{{newreview
|author=Teresa Solana and Peter Bush
|title=A Shortcut to Paradise
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=The characters are introduced to the reader one at a time. The main ones have a whole chapter or two to tell their story, including a bit of background information but aside from all of this, they all seem to have some sort of connection to a swish, literary event. So, for example, there's a young, rather frazzled husband called Ernest. You can tell that he's a kindly, mild person. He takes his role as father, husband and (although meagre) breadwinner very, very seriously. He's a translator. He's had some bad luck to contend with lately and the household bills are piling up but he spares his wife the sorry details of their current financial state. But all he's doing is piling on the pressure for himself. Something's got to give ... and it does. Big-time. And without wishing to spoil the plot in any way, I think I can safely say that he ' ... decided to put himself into the shoes of the heroes he translated and, for the first time in his life, he took the bull by the horns.'
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904738559</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewplain
|summary=If the disappearing spoon of the title doesn't pique your interest, the subtitle is bound to get your juices flowing: ''and Other True Tales of Madness, Love and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements''. As far as popular science books goes, it's got all the umm... right elements (sorry, sorry, sorry). We're taken on a tour through the periodic table, hearing exciting tales of scientific discovery and marvel.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857520261</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jeff Kinney
|title=Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=It's all change for the wimpy kid. He's still as flummoxed by school life, and the social kudos gained by certain second hand textbooks. He's still not sure why he's not getting the attention at home that's now being delivered on his younger brother. He's not certain what to do now his mother's gone back to work and the menfolk have to do the catering and cleaning - but there's nothing odd about that, for none of the males have a clue. So what is changing? Well lots of things - inside and out. Just as he and his friends are gaining muscles, deeper voices and zits, and interest in mixed-sex partying, so the school are segregating the genders, and showing educational videos you need parental permission to watch. Who is going to guide him through this time in life - especially as he's dumped his best buddy?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141331984</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Robin Price
|title=Cleocatra's Kushion (Spartapuss Tales)
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Spartapuss is now a wealthy, elderly, rather overweight cat. He is on his way back to Rome from the land of the Kitons. His son - known as SOS (Son of Spartapuss) keeps sending him messages requesting more money. SOS falls in love with the beautiful Haireena, only to have her taken from him as a gift for the emperor's retired gladiator. SOS is sent to Hades Row, and all that can save him is a ransom payment from his father...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906132070</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Lee Monroe
|title=Dark Heart Forever
|rating=2.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Jane Jonas has been troubled by dreams lately. Dreams so vivid, it's almost like they're real. In them is a green eyed boy who believes they are each other's destiny. But in the real world, Jane has met Evan. Charming, charismatic, damaged Evan – intoxicating, incredibly attractive and just a little frightening. Jane has never been the sort to have friends, let alone boyfriends. And Evan is perfect, isn't he?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444901893</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Massimo Carlotto
|title=Bandit Love
|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=In 2004 three criminals-turned-good are approached by a stranger to investigate a drugs haul, stolen from a fully-secure institute. Rather than be pressurised into the job by a man who cannot state what info he needs, nor for whom nor why, they let him die, leaving his ugly bling ring behind for his operators. In 2006 one of them has the nightmare of his girlfriend being kidnapped, and replaced by the same ring. Can the trio work out the identity of a man dead two years, involved somehow in the federal theft, and counter the current crime?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>193337280X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
|title=The Shadow Speaker
|rating=2.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Set in Western Africa in 2070, in a world which has been forever changed by Peace Bombs, released years ago by an environmental group to counteract the effects of a US nuclear bomb, teenage heroine Eiji grows up knowing she is different. The Peace Bomb has given many people superpowers, hers being to communicate with shadows. But five years ago, the warrior queen Jaa beheaded Eiji's tyrannical father, and Jaa has returned seeking Eiji's help. While her mother forbids her from leaving her town, the shadows tell Eiji that if she doesn't go with Jaa war is inevitable. What can she do?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1423100360</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Liz Kessler
|title=A Year Without Autumn
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=It just takes one action, one small, apparently insignificant word or deed to change your world forever. You miss a plane and it crashes. You change your usual numbers and win the lottery. You miss a party because you have a spot, and never get to meet your soul-mate. For Jenni, things are even worse because somehow she ends up a year in the future, when the damage is done and the fallout is already destroying the safe, happy life she knew.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1842555863</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=B R Collins
|title=Tyme's End
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Bibi feels like a fish out of water. She's right in the middle of the most difficult of teenage years, the ones in which you don't feel as though you belong anywhere. Bibi's feelings are exacerbated because she is adopted. Friends of the family took her in after her parents died and they have done their best by her. They love her and, despite everything, Bibi loves them. But she doesn't feel as though she belongs to this family and she thinks constantly of her real parents and her real home in the Middle East.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408806479</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Robert Ashton
|title=How to be a Social Entrepreneur: Make Money and Change the World
|rating=4
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=This book is aimed at those individuals amongst us who want to make a difference. They may have an idea of what they want to achieve but not sure of how to take that vital first step. This is where this book comes in, says Ashton in his conversational style. He takes the reader by the hand and guides him/her through the business maze. And before we go any further, what, exactly do we mean by the perhaps woolly phrase of 'Social Entrepreneur'? Many think it means doling out charity of some description to vulnerable individuals. Not quite. It's all about helping people to help themselves - and in doing so, they in turn are helping their families by lifting them out of poverty, joblessness or even hopelessness. And I found that the inspirational elements of this book were uplifting.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857080601</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Amanda Taylor
|title=The Chinaman's Bastard
|rating=3
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=I found the title of the book excellent and I was keen to find out more. The blurb on the back cover does its job - until the last bit, which becomes a bit irritating. It claims the book 'is very captivating'. Well, to be brutally honest, it's either captivating or it's not. The word 'very' is not needed. And sadly, no, I didn't find the book captivating at all.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843865440</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David Ovason
|title=Shakespeare's Secret Booke: Deciphering Magical and Rosicrucian Codes
|rating=3
|genre=Spirituality and Religion
|summary=One group of people that were convinced the Chilean miners, Los 33, would be relieved of their ordeal, were numerologists. For hundreds of years, it seems, they have held the number thirty-three in good stead. It represents a lot of expression of the ego, or the soul, or the transformation of the spirit from one world to another. It doesn't boil down to just the 33 years Christ was supposed to have held His human incarnation, but refers to many ethereal, magical, alchemical transformations from state to state. And who can deny the Chilean mine was 2010's most vivid embodiment of hell - and that the 33 were reborn in coming back to life on earth?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905570260</amazonuk>
}}