'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
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{{newreview
|title=Ember and Ash
|author=Pamela Freeman
|rating=4
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Ember is about to be married. It's not just a romantic day for her personally, it's exciting because her wedding will seal the alliance of the Far South Domain and the Last Domain in the north, making a new kingdom which is a shining example of justice and peace. By fantasy standards, this sounds too good to be true. And so, of course, it is. Barely have the words which bind Ember to new husband Osfrid been spoken before he is consumed by flames, murdered by an elemental god her mother once angered. Soon after that, nearly every fire in the kingdom is extinguished. Shocked to learn that the world is controlled by elemental powers she knew nothing about, Ember enlists her cousins Ash and Cedar to go with her to Fire Mountain to bring back a piece of the mountain and relight their lost fires.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841498270</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|summary=Imagine a world where pigs can do quantum mechanics, and where female solicitors turn into chickens. Add a dry cleaner that moves (literally, from the roof tiles to the basement) from town to town every forty-eight hours, a couple of medieval knights who've fought every day for centuries, and a magical ring (or pencil sharpener, depending on the mood it's in). Stir in a bit of property developing, a thaumaturgical detective and an old man who lives in a cloud. Result? You haven't even begun to probe the depths of this crazy, absurd, complex and hilarious book.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841495077</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Gene Kerrigan
|title=The Rage
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=DS Bob Tidey has been round the block a few times. He's middle-aged, has a less-than-perfect home life, but on the upside, he loves his job - especially court work and court appearances. ''Bob Tidey felt at home here.'' He's going to have his hands full shortly. Enter Vincent, the other main character. Fresh out of an Irish prison, he's strutting all over the place. You could say he's looking for trouble. Fed up with small-beer crimes, he wants to land a big one. A big one with big rewards and then he can put his feet up.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846552567</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jane Vass
|title=Daily Mail Tax Guide 2011/2012
|rating=5
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=H M Revenue and Customs is now bigger than ever – it's taken on more work – but at the same time it's having to shed staff, many of them being the ones with experience and inevitably something will have to give. In the light of this the author rightly concludes that it's now more important than ever to keep a close eye on your tax affairs. Don't assume for example that your PAYE coding is correct.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846684722</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Karen McCombie
|title=Six Words and a Wish
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Jem has a dad who's a clown, a best friend who's a hypochondriac, a house where it's always Christmas, and a sister who's missing – or is she? Gracie left home after something Jem said, and the younger girl has always wondered whether she's to blame for her big sister's disappearance. When her mother receives a present from Gracie on her birthday, she thinks she might finally be able to ask her. As well as hoping her sister returns, Jem also tries to form a band, helps her dad do his clown shows, and may even have found a cute boy she likes…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407107887</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David McKee
|title=Elmer's Special Day
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=My daughter has grown up loving the Elmer the Elephant stories and even though she is now six, he still remains one of her firm favourites. His brightly coloured patchwork skin, along with his wise words and thoughts, is particularly appealing. In 'Elmer's Special Day', all of the elephants become as bright and colourful as Elmer, as this is their one opportunity to paint and decorate themselves as brightly as him. They do become rather noisy and excitable though which causes some of the other jungle animals to complain. Elmer is both wise and resourceful though and soon realises that the way to keep all of the animals happy is to invite them all to join in. He does this and the outcome is truly colourful with lions, monkeys, giraffes, as well as elephants and many more animals, all uniquely decorated and wearing elephant masks. All except one elephant that is. Because this is the day when all of the other animals can shine, Elmer goes and rolls in elephant coloured berry mud until he is the one that looks like an ordinary elephant. At that moment the parade begins and it is truly enjoyable and spectacular.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1842709852</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ann Patchett
|title=State of Wonder
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Anders Eckman is dead. The news has been delivered in the form an aerogram – remember those blue paper-cum-envelope things we used to use to write to foreign pen-pals when the notion of befriending a person you'd never met in a foreign country still seemed exotic?
This flimsy piece of paper was delivered to Eckman's employers. After all it was them that had sent him down to the Brazilian Amazon to find the enigmatic and evasive Dr Annik Swenson, and more precisely find out exactly how she was getting on with developing the drug that was costing the firm so much of their research budget.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408818590</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Bali Rai
|title=Killing Honour
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Sat comes from a prosperous Sikh family in Leicester. His mother spends a lot of time at the gurdwara but his father and brother don't and are not above breaking parts of the Sikh code - they both eat meat and drink alcohol. Overall, though, Sat's family is a traditional one and so when his parents hear a rumour that his sister Jas has a boyfriend at college, they withdraw her and arrange a marriage to Taz Atwal, a wealthy local businessman.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0552562114</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Rory Clements
|title=John Shakespeare: Prince
|rating=4
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=This is the third in the excellent Elizabethan murder mystery series, featuring John Shakespeare, brother of Will. An inexplicable murder is linked to a much deeper plot of political dimensions, leading Shakespeare into danger and tragedy. A series of bombings, which appear to be targeting the immigrant population causes huge unrest and fear, and leads to the uncovering of further political dimensions.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848544251</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Simon Stephenson
|title=Let Not The Waves of the Sea
|rating=4
|genre=Biography
|summary=The book opens after the catastrophic event and the narrator/author Simon is in the local area of Phi Phi. He describes it in glowing terms (which may sound a little strange) as he aims, on a rather arduous climb, to be rewarded with a stunning view. And immediately I'm struck with Stephenson's lilting style of writing. For example, ' ... an elderly lady carrying bags of rice over each shoulder as if they were no more than foam guesthouse pillows.' How lovely and evocative is that, I'm thinking to myself.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848545584</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Philip Norman
|title=John Lennon: The Life
|rating=5
|genre=Entertainment
|summary=For part of my formative years, John Lennon was one of the four most famous people in the world. All that we have learnt about him in the thirty years or so since his death has kept his name firmly in the public eye, if not always for the best of reasons. At over 800 pages, this is one of the lengthiest biographies written about the extraordinary life and times of the former Beatle. It's also surely one of the most impartial.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>000719742X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kate Johnson
|title=The Untied Kingdom
|rating=4.5
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Eve Carpenter is having a very bad day, and it is about to get worse. She comes round from a paragliding accident but everything is rather strange. Although she’s still in London, this is a city and a world she hardly recognises. There is just enough that is familiar to be totally confusing. In this world, England is a backward country with a population kept too busy fighting in a civil war to do much else. She is taken captive by a small group of soldiers who take her marching across the country with them. The leader, Major Harker, is obnoxious and scruffy, and is convinced Eve is a spy, or perhaps she is just mad. While they apparently speak the same language, they struggle to understand each other – their worlds are so different.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906931682</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Paula Rawsthorne
|title=The Truth About Celia Frost
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=Celia Frost has always been extremely careful, never playing with other children, always wearing gloves and long sleeves, and never getting into unwanted confrontations. For she knows from her mother that the rare disorder that she suffers from, which is not unlike haemophilia, will mean that just a small cut, a seemingly insignificant graze, can leave her bleeding uncontrollably until she dies. However, one day Celia snaps. When she humiliates a bully, the boy gets his revenge and with a small flick of a knife starts a cut that will kill her.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409531090</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ben Shephard
|title=The Long Road Home: The Aftermath of the Second World War
|rating=5
|genre=History
|summary=In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War Europe was in tatters, and millions of its citizens were stranded far from home. How to cope with these Displaced Persons was one of the biggest issues of the immediate post-war period. In 'The Long Road Home' Ben Shephard tells their story.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0712600590</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kelley Armstrong
|title=Darkness Rising: The Gathering
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Maya has lived her whole life in strange little rural town, Salmon Creek. Although 'little' means a population of less than 200 and 'rural' really does mean in the middle of nowhere, Maya is happy living where she does. Sure, she gets more contact with cougars than she does with people some days, but she's always loved nature and she's always been content at Salmon Creek.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907410171</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Carolyn Turgeon
|title=Mermaid
|rating=3
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=On a stormy night, two very different Princesses save the life of a drowning man.
The first, Lenia, is a mermaid, Princess of the sea. Tired of life underwater, she dreams of her eighteenth birthday when she's allowed to spend one day in the realm of humans. Though it's stormy and dangerous, she can't resist a trip to the surface, where a boat is sinking, human men drowning all around her. When Lenia lays her eyes on one man in particular, she knows she has to save him. Carrying him to the shore, she calls out to a human girl on the cliffs to do what she cannot – to bring him to real shelter and warmth.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755351207</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Carlos Ruiz Zafon
|title=The Midnight Palace
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=Calcutta, 1916. Lieutenant Peake sacrifices his life to save two twin babies from a terrifying and murderous demon.
Sixteen years later, the separated twins meet again. Sheere has spent her childhood moving from place to place with her grandmother - never staying still, always hypervigilant. Ben has lived in a Calcutta orphanage and has a band of friends - the Chowbar Society - who are all about to be released from care to make their way in the world.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444001671</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Patrick Ness
|title=A Monster Calls
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Conor wakes up from his nightmare at 12.07am. To. The yew tree from the churchyard has uprooted itself, transformed into a huge monster and is waiting at his window, full of threat. Conor, though, is unimpressed. Nothing could be as frightening as his nightmare. Nothing could be as frightening as his waking life, for that matter. So he snorts in contempt. But the monster shrugs off this reaction and tells Conor he must listen to three stories and then tell one of his own. And that fourth story must be The Truth.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406311529</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=John Green
|title=Looking For Alaska
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
|summary=When Miles Halter leaves his safe, comfortable life in Florida for Culver Creek – a boarding school his father used to attend – he's looking for what French poet Francois Rabelais called the Great Perhaps. Miles thinks he's found it in Alaska Young – beautiful, flirty, sexy, but messed up Alaska. Her mood changes like the flip of a switch. She smokes and drinks too much. Miles couldn't be more in love with her.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007424833</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Clare Jacob
|title=Ophelia in Pieces
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Barrister Ophelia Dormandy had been working hard – well, overworking – for the last six months and on the eve of her thirty-ninth birthday she decided that she would go home early and cook a decent meal for her husband and herself. She even decided that she would wear the red dress which Patrick liked. But when she got home Patrick and their son, Alex, were eating ice creams. He didn't seem in the least interested in dinner and then admitted that he was having an affair. Ophelia threw him out – and then began the long haul of trying to be a decent single parent in a job where the hours were long and the money uncertain.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907595147</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Elliott Hall
|title=The Children's Crusade
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=We back-track several years to get the low-down and history on Felix. It's interesting, very interesting. He's like some sort of American 007 but not all of his plans have been successful. Some have back-fired and he has the scars to prove it. In fact although in his prime years, Felix could be healthier and is forced to take regular medication. And throughout the story Hall tells us why that is. Chapter Two, which sees Felix in Nevada opens with the no-nonsense line ''I came to Las Vegas to kill a man.'' But who? And why? We get the answers all in Hall's good time.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848540752</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Stephanie Pain
|title=Farmer Buckley's Exploding Trousers
|rating=4.5
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=The history of science is filled with many miraculous discoveries. ...It's also filled with exploding trousers, self-experimentation, a coachman's leg that becomes a museum piece and gas-powered radios. ''Farmer Buckley's Exploding Trousers'' regales us with fifty odd events on the way to scientific discovery. Part popular science book, part trivia, each article is a treat to read, either as a fun-sized nugget, or when reading from cover to cover.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846685087</amazonuk>
}}
