'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
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{{newreview
|author=Patrick Woodhead
|title=The Forbidden Temple
|rating=3
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Luca, a mountaineer trying to escape from his disappointingly unsupportive parents and a past accident, witnesses something strange in the distance, while watching his climbing partner Bill put the kibosh on their latest sky-bursting Himalayan ascent - a mountain shaped like a perfect pyramid, circled by other peaks he's never seen before. Back in England nobody else seems to have seen them either, but colleagues mention mysterious Shangri-La style Buddhist sanctuaries - could this be the prime one, hidden from prying eyes for centuries? Nobody wants to declare it actually exists at all. Meanwhile, Himalayan natives are trying to pull the wool over Chinese occupiers' eyes regarding a very sacred personage.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848090773</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Abby McDonald
|summary=Meet Katherine Kenton. A movie star of great renown, she's always on TV as someone famous - or the wife of somebody who happens to be famous and male, whether they were actually ever wedded. She herself has had copious real-life marriages, making somebody out of a nobody on many an instance. Her shelves of 'best lifetime' awards are groaning, and their dusting is a job akin to painting the Forth bridge. The person who dusts them is narrator for this book, but she does more than that. She is everything to "Miss Kathie" - general housekeeper, housemate, and string-puller. But what might those strings be being pulled for? When Katherine meets a new toyboy, and our narrator seems to get in the way, to what purpose might this be?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224087150</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Andrew Lane
|title=Young Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud
|rating=3
|genre=Teens
|summary=With his father overseas in the British Army, his mother unwell, and older brother Mycroft busy working for the government, young Sherlock Holmes is forced to spend his school holidays with his unknown uncle and aunt. Looking forward to days of doing whatever he wants, especially after meeting urchin Matty Arnatt, he's initially displeased when Mycroft hires him an American tutor – but the tutor, Amyus Crowe, and his daughter Victoria end up teaming up with Sherlock to solve the mysterious deaths of two local men, and uncover a plot which could have far-reaching consequences…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>033051198X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Anne O'Brien
|title=Virgin Widow
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=The mighty Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, is famous throughout England as one of King Edward IV’s most trusted advisors. But as Edward is lured towards another influential family when he falls in love with Elizabeth Woodville, Warwick responds by backing the alliance between Margaret of Anjou and King Louis XI of France, aiming to put Margaret’s husband Henry VI back on the English throne. A helpless pawn, Anne is torn away from the man she loves, who will grow up to become Richard III, to be used as political capital by her father and his allies as they try to regain the kingdom of England.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0778303756</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Valerie Grove
|title=So Much To Tell
|rating=4.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=Kaye Webb’s career would be the envy of many a young bookworm. From 1961 to 1978 she ran Puffin Books, the children’s division of Penguin. I still have some paperbacks from that time with “Kaye Webb – Editor” on the first page inside the front cover.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846142008</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Sally Wragg
|title=Playing for Keeps
|rating=3
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=The Vernon family have been involved with Rislington Rovers Football Club – The Rogues - for generations. Presently there are three generations actively involved with the Club, although Eleanor Vernon, the matriarch of the family, wishes that husband Landon would spend a little more time with her. As the Rogues are facing relegation and a police investigation into their finances, stalwart Landon isn’t likely to be doing that any time soon and when the Club needs a new Chief Executive the appointment is one which divides the Vernon family and it seems that there’s not one of them whose personal life isn't in turmoil.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709089880</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Isobelle Carmody
|title=Obernewtyn (Obernewtyn Chronicles)
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=A nuclear catastrophe called the Great White destroyed most of the world, and only those who lived in isolated parts of the countryside were able to survive by refusing all contact with radiation-infected refugees from the urban centres. In time the cities grew again, but the fear of outsiders and of those who were different remained and became a religion, composed in part of half-remembered elements of faiths from the time before the apocalypse.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408806975</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Caryl Phillips
|title=In the Falling Snow
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=We are introduced to the central character Keith right away and discover lots about him. His personal and professional CV is laid bare before us. He's one mixed up, middle-aged, not-quite-middle-class man. He appears to be rather weak-willed and almost seems to fall into situations, rather than choose to be part of them. When in his marital relationship (now on a downward spiral), his wife most definitely wore the trousers. I found Keith a very infuriating person. I wanted to take him by the scruff and give him a good old shake and then shout 'wake up and smell the coffee, before it's too late.'
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099539748</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Mark Neilson
|title=The Valley of the Vines
|rating=3
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=The reader discovers that Sophie, the central character is living in rural isolation. She's supposed to be living the dream. She's separated from her husband and her two daughters are at boarding school back in the UK. She's also now a one-woman organization. And she's failing practically and financially for many reasons. Apparently, according to Neilson, there's a very small window in which to carry out the vital work of harvesting the grapes for wine. We are also told at frequent intervals about the enigmatic 'Old Ones'. They are 'The timeless custodians of the vines.' I'm afraid I found their too-frequent references rather annoying.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709090595</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Anthony Horowitz
|title=Legends: Battles and Quests
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Bringing things that are this old to an audience this young cannot be an easy feat. Anthony Horowitz must be more than able. An old volume of retold legends and fables from his typewriter in the 1980s has become a series of six books, rejigged on his computer, and presented very nicely by Macmillan. The first to hit the shelves ([[Legends: Beasts and Monsters by Anthony Horowitz|Legends: Beasts and Monsters]]) was a successful gift to us of five stories of olden beasties and baddies. Here we get a full half-dozen, and the quality is just as compelling.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330510169</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ali Sparkes
|title=Wishful Thinking
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=We first meet Kevin covered in sick. He doesn't travel well, and his day out with his gran in the car isn't going as well as he might wish for. He doesn't really seriously wish for anything, but a diverting list of things he'd like – a better complexion, a better chance with the school hottie, a Wii, etc – gets dropped into a stream. And lo and behold, the god of that river, someone called Abandinus, comes to life, thinking he's got a worshipper at last, and might just be prepared to grant some wishes.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192756117</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ian Mackenzie
|title=City of Strangers
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=Paul Metzger – mid thirties, with a failed marriage, a broken relationship with his brother (who converted to Judaism), and a dying father (who is an ex-Nazi). Straight away there are obvious flaws with his family dynamic. As his writing career fails to take off he's left to churn out thousands of words for articles that have no meaning to him, the dregs of the publishing world. His life isn't quite as high flying as he hoped. But then Paul gets offered a lucrative book deal; the one thing he has wanted for years. The only catch is he has to write about his father.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099531852</amazonuk>
}}
