'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
{{newreview
|author=Guy Adams
|title=Countess Dracula
|rating=3.5
|genre=Horror
|summary=1970s Hollywood, and a small group of people on a rough-and-ready coach tour round the stars' homes and scenes of scandal gets diverted to the completely ruined mansion once owned by a true golden couple. Cue a major flashback to the days when cinema idols Frank and Elizabeth were living there, and growing a very singular approach to sex, drugs and each other. Their career – jointly and separately – has been going downhill, hers irreparably as talkies have proven she is not the home-spun American dream, but Hungarian. A freak accident suggests that, like her compatriot and namesake, Countess Elizabeth Bathory, the blood of young women will turn back the clock on Elizabeth's years, and make her youthful, the vivacious beauty of old. Cue a descent into the kind of excess that only Hollywood can produce…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099553864</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|summary=In 1919 the Great War - the First World War - was over and all that was left was to work out the terms of the peace treaty. Margot Rosenthal accompanied her father, a diplomat, to Paris, where he was part of the German delegation and in the invidious position of being disliked by the French because he was ''the enemy'' and mistrusted by fellow members of the delegation because he was Jewish. They'd previously been in England where they'd simply been the enemy. Margot could have gone home to Berlin but that would have taken her back to her fiance, who'd been seriously injured in the war. She'd rather fallen into the engagement, feeling that it was what she ought to do. Passion played no part.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848452039</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Terence Blacker
|title=The Twyning
|rating=5
|genre=Fantasy
|summary= Efren is a nobody in the kingdom of rats till he witnesses the kidnapping of the king. His future changes in a moment as he's sent up to the human world to rescue him. Talking of humans, 11 year old Peter is abandoned by his parents and left to scrape a living from London's streets. His affinity with animals gives him the name 'Dogboy' and employment with rat catcher Bob and scientist Dr Ross-Gibbon. The Doctor's ambition is to encourage humanity to annihilate the rats by dragging them into a war. Efren and Dogboy, both insignificant in their own worlds, must make both man and rodent see sense; easier said than done.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781850704</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Anna Wilson
|title=The Smug Pug
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=We first met Pippa Peppercorn and the pooch-pampering parlour in [[The Poodle Problem by Anna Wilson|The Poodle Problem]] and then in [[The Dotty Dalmatian by Anna Wilson|The Dotty Dalmatian]]. Pippa is a whole six months (and a little bit) older now but she still bounces off the page like a rubber ball with red pigtails. I did worry about her just a little bit as she didn't seem to have any friends of her own age. The elderly Mrs Fudge, the ladies who have their hair done at the salon and Raphael the postman are really no substitute for someone of your own age with whom you can have fun and giggles. And pass notes to each other in school - which is an essential part of growing up.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447200756</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Robert Burleigh and Mary Grandpre
|title=Flight of the Last Dragon
|rating=3.5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Told in rhyme, this is the tale of the very last dragon on earth. He hides away, deep underground, remembering the times when the dragons ruled the earth until one day a voice from the heavens calls him, summons him, up and away, to fly far, far into the sky and leave this world behind. I rather like the idea of dragons. They're one of those mythical creatures that I still sort of hope might actually be real! My daughter likes dragons too, although when she saw the title of this book she was prepared for a sad story, sensing that we weren't heading towards a happy ending.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0399252002</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Harriet Ziefert and Travis Foster
|title=The Princess and the Peas and Carrots
|rating=4
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Rosebud is a good girl, for the most part, neat and tidy and a happy little girl, at which times her daddy calls her ''Good Princess Rosebud''. But then sometimes things go a little bit wrong, or they aren't quite as Rosebud likes them, so perhaps there's a hole in her tights or snow in her boots or, heavens above, her peas are touching her carrots on the plate at dinner time! When this happens Rosebud becomes ''Princess Fussy'' and my, doesn't everyone know about it!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1609052501</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Joseph Wambaugh
|title=Harbour Nocturne
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=The Hollywood Station series is set (no prizes for guessing) in Hollywood. Hollywood is, almost by definition, a bit weird. A full moon is known as a Hollywood moon, because that's when all the weirdoes come out to play. But it's a district that needs to be policed like any other. It has its fair share of RTAs and domestics and sad and lonely people. Not for nothing has the night shift sergeant instituted pizza-rewarded awards for best 'True Hollywood Romance' or 'Quiet Desperation' reports from a given shift. You need a black sense of humour to work the mean streets.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908800550</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Bobbie Pyron
|title=The Dogs of Winter
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Little Mishka finds his cosy world turned upside down after the death of his beloved Babushka Ina. Unable to cope, his desperate mother finds solace in the arms of an abusive, alcoholic boyfriend and things go from bad to worse. When his mother mysteriously disappears, five year old Mishka flees to the heart of the city, where he joins up with a gang of street children, begging and stealing to survive.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849395217</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Catherine Fletcher
|title=The Divorce of Henry VIII: The Untold Story
|rating=4
|genre=History
|summary=Henry VIII’s protracted divorce from Catherine of Aragon, often referred to as ‘The King’s Great Matter’, has been described in detail many times before. In this book on the subject, the focus is on the role of Italian diplomat, Gregorio Casali, ‘our man in Rome’, as the hardback edition was titled. In the preface, Ms Fletcher explains that the average reader may be conversant with the basic facts of Henry and his six wives, but has probably never heard of Casali, who played a lengthy role in the proceedings.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099554895</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Andrew Fukuda
|title=The Prey
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=
Having escaped the vampires hunting them on the boat left by the Scientists, Gene, Sissy and the boys make their way down the river and arrive at the Mission. Food is abundant, the place is peaceful, and the Elders promise them a trip on the next train to Civilisation. Gene and Sissy can hardly believe it. But it's soon apparent that the Mission is not all it seems and Gene begins to wonder if they haven't simply exchanged one hellhole for another. Although they find out a great deal more about the Scientist - he developed the Origin, a cure for vampirism - understanding his plans is as frustrating as ever. And with the vampires coming ever closer, even to the Mission itself, and the Elders making moves of their own, time is running out and Gene and Sissy must decide what to do...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857075446</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Allan Plenderleith
|title=The Silly Satsuma
|rating=4
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Once there was a boy called Eric Greenbogle. I'd like to be able to tell you that he was a good boy, but that would be wrong. Eric was a bad boy and we all know what happens to bad boys on Christmas morning, don't we? Good boys (and girls) find lots of presents under the tree, but Father Christmas knows who has been good and who has been bad and Eric was about to be taught a lesson. There was just one present under the tree for Eric: a satsuma. Oh, there was something else - there was a note from Father Christmas explaining why there were no presents. Eric was furious. Eric cried, but then...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841613665</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Yelena Black
|title=Dance of Shadows
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=Vanessa is just one of many new students at the New York Ballet Academy - but while they're all trying to become the best dancer, she has her own reasons for being there. Three years ago her older sister disappeared from the school, and she's determined to find out what happened to Margaret. Can she find out? And will the two boys taking an interest in her, charismatic Zeppelin and incredibly intense Justin, help or hinder her search?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408829975</amazonuk>
}}