|summary=At the start of 'How We Met', a group of friends - Fraser, Mia, Anna, Melody and Norm - are all meeting up in order to celebrate their friend's birthday. There would be nothing unusual about this apart from the fact that the friend is dead. Liv died tragically after falling from a balcony when they were all on holiday in Ibiza. The remaining friends feel that they need to honour her birthday but of course it is going to be a poignant occasion. As they are remembering their friend, Norm produces something that he found in the pocket of a coat he once lent Liv. It's a list of all of the things that she wanted to do before she was thirty, such as, learn a foreign language, swim naked in the sea at dawn and go to an airport and pick a random destination to travel to! As it would have been Liv's thirtieth the following year, the group decide to share out and complete all the activities on the list as a tribute to their friend.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007237448</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Adrian McKinty
|title=I Hear the Sirens in the Street
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=Detective Sergeant Sean Duffy's next case begins with a case - specifically an old suitcase containing the torso of an unknown victim. The setting is Northern Ireland in 1982. 'The Troubles' are at their height, the British army are heading to the Falklands and John DeLorean is producing 'Back to the Future' sports cars. Duffy is something of an anomaly - a Catholic officer in the predominantly Protestant RUC - which places him in a precarious position.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846688183</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=John Fisher
|title=Tommy Cooper 'Jus' Like That!': A Life in Jokes and Pictures
|rating=4
|genre=Biography
|summary=I grew up watching Tommy Cooper, and watching my dad do impressions of Tommy Cooper. I thought he was hilarious (the real Tommy!) and loved his expressions as he repeatedly tried and failed to do magic tricks! This book is rather unusual as although it is a biography of sorts, giving information about Tommy's life and his history in the world of entertainment, it isn't text heavy, and so mostly Tommy's story is told through photographs and pictures.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184809311X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Roger Silverwood
|title=The Diamond Rosary Murders: An Inspector Angel Mystery
|rating=2.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=Detective Inspector Michael Angel found himself very busy in December 2011. First it was the report of a body seen behind a local hotel but it had disappeared before Angel arrived. There was a suggestion that the girl had been involved in the theft of a rosary belonging to Mary Tudor. Before long he also had to deal with the death of local brewing millionaire, Haydn King who was found face down in his swimming pool - but two days before he'd told Superintendent Harker that he'd been tormented by a persistent nightmare that he died face down in his swimming pool. All this happened ''before'' the body count started mounting.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0719807336</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=John Bennett and Paul Begg
|title=Jack the Ripper: CSI: Whitechapel
|rating=4
|genre=True Crime
|summary=He was an avenging doctor, he was a foreign madman, he was royalty, he was a she – he was even ''Sherlock'' bleeding ''Holmes''. Whoever the actual Jack the Ripper was I doubt will ever be known. What is for sure is that new books that cover the subject with any conviction have to fall into one of two camps – those positing a new suspect, or those presenting the known facts about the crimes and their victims in a new fashion. This book is definitely in the latter category.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0233003622</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Mark Forsyth
|title=The Horologicon: A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language
|rating=5
|genre=Trivia
|summary=This book just had to be called ''The Horologicon''. Originally it meant a daily diary of devotion for a priest or monk. Our author knows it is a rare word these days and gives it to his modern Book of Hours, which is a guide to similarly obsolete, charming or unusually whimsical words set out, not as others do, as a dictionary, but in essays for every waking hour of the day, and the subject they're most likely to cover.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848314159</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Arthur Plotnik
|title=Better Than Great
|rating=5
|genre=Trivia
|summary=Better Than Great is a bravura, ingeniously inventive, roaringly intelligent thesaurus of praise and acclaim - oh, momma! Where has this paean-worthy, distressingly excellent book, which certainly goes the whole hog, been all my life?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0285641336</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Peter Unwin (editor)
|title=Newcomers' Lives: The Story of Immigrants as Told in Obituaries from The Times
|rating=4.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=I think I was not the only person who at first glance found the title and sub-title slightly misleading. For me it conjured up visions of those who came across on the ‘Windrush’ in 1948 and the life they led on settling in Britain – and, perhaps, the lives of the more famous (assuming there were some) in obituary form.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1441159177</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Penelope Bush
|title=Me Myself Milly
|rating=3.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Like so many twins, Milly and Lily might look identical but have very different personalities. Lily had always been the unruly extrovert, while timid Milly was content to be her twin's cautious shadow. But ever since 'The Incident', Milly has been forced into the forefront. When this is combined with a decision to change school and the arrival of new tenants to her house, including an unfriendly and enigmatic American boy her own age, Milly finds her life changing faster than she can keep up with it. Embracing her new life will mean letting go of the bottled up memory of The Incident, but will she ever be strong enough to do so?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848122527</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Charlotte Bronte and Karena Rose
|title=Jane Eyrotica
|rating=3
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Jane Eyre is a classic I studied to death in high school, but I didn’t mind because it’s a book I enjoyed then and still enjoy now. Jane Eyrotica is, to put it simply, a smutty version of the classic. Hot on the heels of the likes of [[Fifty Shades Of Grey by EL James]] this is a reworking in which the once demure Jane beds anything with a pulse.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749959428</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Rosanne Licata
|title=Blood Bonds: The Caravan
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=Raj is part Arab, part Roman. She's independent and strong-willed - too independent and strong-willed to fit well into a society where women belong in the home and only men can bring change to the world. So she runs away. Disguised as a boy, she is roaming the streets of Antioch when she encounters Bjornolf, a Danish king. Drawn to him in a way she can't explain, Raj stows away on the caravan he is guarding. As the journey continues, Raj must decide whether the terrible dangers to both Bjornolf and herself are worth risking if she reveals her true nature to him...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1770975667</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Deborah Levy
|title=Black Vodka
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=''Black Vodka'' is a collection of ten previously published short pieces of writing by Deborah Levy, many first published in the early 2000s. The most recent is the piece from which this collection gains its title which has been shortlisted for the 2012 BBC International Short Story Award. As a compilation of her writing, obviously these were not written to appear together, but some clear themes emerge from the collection, namely a deeply disturbing look at the search for love, particularly amongst those on the edge of society
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908276169</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Sharon Gosling
|title=The Diamond Thief
|rating=3.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Sixteen–year–old orphan Rémy Brunel is the headline act at a small, shabby travelling circus. Her grace and extraordinary ability on the high wire and trapeze ensure that she is highly prized by her cruel master, Gustave, but her skills as a jewel thief are what make her invaluable to him.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782020136</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Virginia Ironside
|title=No! I Don't Need Reading Glasses!
|rating=5
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary= Marie is enjoying the sort of hectic retirement that makes her wonder how she found the time to work. However, not everything is rosy. Her son and daughter-in-law are thinking about moving abroad, taking Marie's beloved grandson, Gene. Meanwhile Marie's partner, Archie, is becoming worryingly forgetful. On top of this, the derelict patch of 'park' at the top of the road may be replaced by a hotel. It's amazing how attractive it's seemed to become once it's under threat. But 'attractive' isn't the word that comes to mind when describing the resulting action group. Thank goodness there are always wine and good friends.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780878583</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Karen Swan
|title=The Perfect Present
|rating=4
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=What do you buy for the woman who has everything? Rob Blake thinks he has it cracked when he commissions a piece of jewellery for his wife Cat’s birthday. But this is no ordinary necklace. The bespoke bling will be like nothing she’s seen before, because he is paying the designer, Laura, a small fortune to dedicate all her time to it. She will interview Cat’s nearest and dearest, and design a charm that tells the story of each relationship.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330532731</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Lucy Birmingham and David McNeill
|title=Strong in the Rain: Surviving Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
|rating=4.5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=In 2011, Japan was hit by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, followed by a tsunami and a nuclear meltdown. The tale of this devastating trio of tragedies is told by two journalists who've lived in Tokyo for years, and the pairing of Birmingham and McNeil give us a real insight into just how this could have happened and the way that half a dozen people, from all walks of life, responded to it.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230341861</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Paula Weston
|title=Shadows
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
|summary=It's been a year since Gaby's twin brother, Jude, died in a horrific car accident. The sun, sea and sand of Pan Beach have done a lot to heal her body, but her mind is still raw with grief. Grief that manifests itself as terrifying nightmares of hunting and killing demons with a mysterious boy. So when Gaby meets Rafa, the boy of her dreams, literally, it raises a lot of questions about who she thought she and her brother were. Because Rafa claims to be Jude's best friend, and has the pictures on his phone to prove it. So why can't Gaby remember who he is?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780621582</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Celia Friedman
|title=Legacy Of Kings (Magister 3)
|rating=4
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Three years is a long time to wait between parts of a trilogy, especially one as good as Celia Friedman's Magister Trilogy. I'm not someone blessed with great patience, which has made the wait interminable, but finally I get to find out what happened to Kamala and the other Magisters and to see how Salvator Aurelius is coping with being the first Penitent King.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841495360</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Hayley Long
|title=What's Up With Jody Barton?
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Jody and Jolene are very alike. They have brown hair and dimples, they're both left-handed and they have feet which makes them look, according to Jody, like long-toed mutants. But in lots of ways they are very, very distinct. In fact, despite the fact that they're twins, they were born on different days and are different ages (because of the leap year thing. Read the book if you don't believe it). And as for their taste in music, school subjects and pretty well everything else . . . poles apart. Useful, though, as they divvy up their homework according to preference!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330523023</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Mary Francois Rockcastle
|title=In Caddis Wood
|rating=4.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Middle-aged, married and (comparatively speaking) middle class Americans Hallie and Carl seem, at first glance, to be happy. Hallie (a poet) and Carl (an architect) have all the trappings of success including two adult twin daughters and a holiday home in the beautiful Caddis Wood. However, Carl becomes a little shaky on his feet and, while he's able to shrug it off for a while, he begins to realise that something's seriously wrong. As his health deteriorates other cracks materialise as he realises his marriage isn't as steady as he thought and so he and Hallie must come to terms with her past and, indeed, future.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1555975925</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Francesca Segal
|title=The Innocents
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Francesca Segal's debut novel, ''The Innocents'' is set in upper class, Jewish, North London. Adam is about to marry his childhood sweetheart, Rachel, and is working as a lawyer in her father's business. Into this romantic idyl though comes Ellie, Rachel's wayward cousin who has been forced to flee the US following an appearance in an 'art house' movie of dubious repute and, it turns out, further scandal. Ellie is everything that Rachel is not; a model, worldly, sexy and tempting. As Adam gets drawn into wanting to 'rescue' her and look after her, his whole future with Rachel is thrown into doubt and the story becomes a will they, won't they get together narrative.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701186992</amazonuk>
}}