'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
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{{newreview
|author=Anna Burley
|title=Bipolar Parent
|rating=3
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Anna Burley keeps telling herself that she is a responsible adult now and works on the idea that most people would see her as a normal, well-grounded person. What people ''don't'' see is the story of her childhood. She wrote it down to get rid of it, to get it out her system and rid herself of those pockets of pain which live under her skin. She's decided that she's not going to run from it all any longer. ''Bipolar Parent'' is the story of her childhood and the parent who had such an influence in making her into what she is today.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1456775332</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David McKee
|summary=Letty Fleming, recently widowed, is driving her three children hundreds of miles north to a new and hopefully happy life on a remote Scottish island. We get a peek at the personalities of the children straight away: Alba is opinionated and strong-willed, for example. Still young she's managed to acquire a list as long as her arm of her 'hates' in the world - fish, English teachers and doors which are ajar all feature and I didn't care as I couldn't help liking her. At least she knows her own mind. What will she be like when she's grown up, for heaven's sake?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330519069</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Cees Nooteboom and Ina Rilke (Translator)
|title=The Foxes Come At Night And Other Stories
|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=There's a bold statement on the front cover from, as it happens, one of my favourite authors, [[:Category:A S Byatt|A S Byatt]] saying that Nooteboom is ''one of the greatest modern novelists'' so I thought that I was in for a treat. But I didn't enjoy the first short story. Not the greatest of starts. I was disappointed to say the least and was wondering what all the fuss was about. Then I started to read the story entitled ''Thunderstorm'' and things started to pick up. I appreciated the sparse and elegant language. Lines such as 'Five people at an outdoor cafe: two women ... a solitary black man ... a couple at a table nearby. Enough for a film.' How lovely and evocative is that last line, I'm thinking. I read it twice as it was so good.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857050230</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Celine Ibe
|title=Shadow of a Thief
|rating=3
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Obinna's childhood had been gloriously happy, living in the Nigerian village with Mama. But when he was fifteen years old Mama told him that she was not his mother, but his grandmother and that his mother and father were dead. Stunned and almost disbelieving he went to bed only to be woken by a loud noise in the night. It came from Mama's room but when Obinna went to her she was dead on the floor. The boy could have lived with neighbours who would have been only too glad to have him, but he set off as soon as he could to his only living relative, his Uncle Raffia.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907629149</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Lian Hearn
|title=Blossoms and Shadows
|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=I see from the front cover that Hearn is already a best-selling author with her ''Tales Of the Otori'' so I was looking forward to a good read. However, I did slump a little when I opened the book and was presented with several pages of the story's characters - sub-divided into fictional and historical.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857382977</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kate Maryon
|title=A Million Angels
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=Mima's father is the light of her life. She loves him more than anything. But he's also an army officer and this story opens with him leaving for a six month tour of Afghanistan. Her mother is heavily pregnant and her grandmother is spending all her time thinking about her childhood sweetheart. Her friend Jess is busily trying to make friends at school - army brats are forever having to make new friends. So nobody really has time to pay attention to Mima, who can't get her fears about her father being killed and injured out of her mind...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007326297</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kit Berry
|title=Moondance of Stonewylde
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=[[Magus of Stonewylde by Kit Berry|Magus of Stonewylde]] left us at a crucial turning point with Yul receiving the Earth Magic at the Solstice instead of Magus. However, ''Moondance of Stonewylde'' begins with Stonewylde operating normally, and the population unaware of the significance of the previous festival. Nevertheless, even the Machiavellian Magus can't keep covering the cracks that are beginning to show in Stonewylde's community for ever, and there are subtle signs of a revolution brewing. However, things take a turn for the worse when Magus discovers a way to use Sylvie to rejuvenate his Magic, and it is up to Yul and his only other ally, the ancient Mother Heggy, to stop history from repeating itself and save the girl that he loves.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0575098856</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Nadia Shireen
|title=Good Little Wolf
|rating=4
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Rolf is a good little wolf. He always eats up his vegetables. He is kind to his friends, including Little Pig and Mrs Boggins - who looks a lot like Little Red Riding Hood's grandma. One day he runs into the Big Bad Wolf, who opens Rolf's eyes to the kind of shenanigans that most wolves get up to. Will Rolf give in to his lupine heritage, or will he stay true to his well-behaved self?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780080018</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jennifer Weiner
|title=Fly Away Home
|rating=3.5
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Sylvie Serfer married Richard Woodruff and from that day on made herself the perfect politician's wife. The senator came first in everything, even before their children. That's not to say that the girls were neglected – it's just that they never came first. The senator's image, his convenience, his schedule and his clothing were of paramount importance to Sylvie. There's a problem though – the senator has been having an affair and as with all such matrimonial earthquakes in political circles it broke on the national news rather than in the privacy of the matrimonial home. What's Sylvie to do?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847390250</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=D J Taylor
|title=Derby Day
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=I read (and reviewed) Taylor's [[Ask Alice by D J Taylor|Ask Alice]] and took to Taylor's style straight away. Is this one going to be as good - or even better? Time to find out ... To set the tone we first meet a couple of no-gooders as they plot and scheme and it's all about horses and the Derby. And by degrees, Taylor introduces his main characters, chapter by chapter, to his readers. As this novel runs to over 400 pages, there's plenty of time for flesh to be heaped upon the bones of many of these characters. So, for example, we have a rather cold and calculating daughter living with her elderly father who appear right at the start of the novel. I got the sense that things were about to happen - and they certainly did. There's a strong sense of emotions just bubbling under the surface with this duo.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701183586</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Manning Marable
|title=Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention
|rating=5
|genre=Biography
|summary=People's preconceptions about Malcolm X are vast. This is no surprise given his dramatic life, untimely death, and subsequent increased fame through the likes of {{amazonurl|title=Spike Lee's 1992 film|isbn=B00005A7TO}}. {{amazonurl|title=His autobiography|isbn=0141185430}} is a must-read for anyone interested in his life, or the tumultuous race struggle in the US in the 1960s, but it must be viewed in context. It was completed after Malcolm X's death, by co-author Alex Haley, and many aspects were highlighted or played down, to suit Malcolm X's ends. Manning Marable's biography, years in the making, looks at his life with a new perspective.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0713998954</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Helen Moss
|title=Adventure Island: The Mystery of the Whistling Caves
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=There must be many a parent around who grew up devouring Famous Five adventure stories. I certainly did, so I was excited to read the first in a new series of stories by Helen Moss which bring a flavour of Blyton's famous books into the present day.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444003283</amazonuk>
}}
