|summary=Sorcha Blades and her four closest friends do the best they can with what they have. Living in a post-apocalyptic world, they are from the wrong side of the tracks. Unable to live easy and glittering lives like the elite, they scam and forage and hack their way to some degree of comfort and still manage to avoid the - very unpleasant - state security apparatus for the most part. Not that there's much state left for the security apparatus to protect.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00904MC30</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Stella Newman
|title=Leftovers
|rating=3.5
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Susie Rosen is what a magazine calls a 'leftover' - she's thirty something and lacks her dream man, job or home. You might ''think'' that she has the job of her dreams as she's an account manager in advertising, but she finds it unfulfilling - and that's on the good days. On the bad days she resurrects her plan that she's going to get promoted by Christmas and then quit. Boyfriend Jake cheated on her and although the relationship broke up some time ago she hasn't got over him. Right now life revolves around the job, minimising the effect of some of the more dreadful colleagues and her girlfriends - but some of them are proving to be not quite as reliable as she might have hoped.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184756271X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Paul Moran
|title=What If... Humans Were Like Animals?
|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary='What If Humans Were More Like Animals' takes various unusual animal attributes and imagines what it would be like if humans had an equivalent behaviour, ability, or physical feature. For instance, if we had teeth like a shark, we wouldn't have to worry about eating too many sweets, brushing our teeth, or even chomping down on a hard object. Whenever a tooth fell out, a new one would take its place. If we had the comparative strength of a Hercules beetle, we could lift a double decker bus, and if we could jump the equivalent of a froghopper insect, we'd be able to leap over sky scrapers with ease. Not all of the animal traits would be so much fun though. We wouldn't want our parents to eat us if we were not as strong as our siblings like the vole, and while eyes on our hands like a starfish might have a few advantages, it would be very awkward as well - who wants to pick things up with their eyes?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780550421</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ace Atkins
|title=The Ranger
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=Every so often I read a book which just confirms how little I know about the USA. I don't quite understand the political system. I certainly don't understand the law enforcement system (and don't like the bits I do 'get'; I fear that our UK leaders seem to think that the politicisation of law enforcement that seems to be the norm over there is actually a good idea). And every so often I come across a branch of the military that I'd never heard of.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147210031X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Christopher Currie
|title=The Ottoman Motel
|rating=3.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Simon Sawyer is 11 years old, forced on a road-trip with his parents to visit his grandmother, Iris. Iris is living in some backwater town hemmed in on three sides by corn fields, and on the fourth by the sea. The town is called Reception in a heavy-handed attempt at irony, as we learn the town actually has no reception for mobile phones and is pretty much isolated from the rest of the world but for a few dirt tracks leading out.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908737190</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Susie Steiner
|title=Homecoming
|rating=3.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Ann and Joe Hartle are approaching their sixties and hoping to slow down a little. Their sheep farming life is starting to take its toll and it’s an enticing thought that they may be able to pass the farm on to their son Max. The only problem is that the farm is hardly making any profit and Max is not the most capable person in the world. Added to that, Max’s wife Primrose is expecting a baby and that is not without its difficulties. The Hartle’s other son, Bartholomew, is far away in London trying to run his own business and also scared about committing to his girlfriend, Ruby. The family has started to fall apart over the years but when things go badly wrong on the farm including a barn fire and a virus that spreads through the sheep and newborn lambs, there is the opportunity to pull together and start anew. Is this something that the family can do or will they fall apart even more?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571297196</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Val Harris
|title=The Song the Waves Sing
|rating=3.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Some time has passed since we [[Sea Creatures by Val Harris|last saw]] the Moon family. Charlie Moon has been released from prison. His sister Olivia is in New York but Jenna is still in Cornwall, where she's turned the family home into a B&B. Their father Brendan is a reformed character and he's moved to Looe, where he's a partner in an art gallery. But everyone's life has its ups and downs: Olivia is made redundant and the only logical move is back to the UK. Then Brendan overhears a conversation and realises that his business partner is deep in an art fraud.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0955599784</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Janey Fraser
|title=Happy Families
|rating=4.5
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Happy families are, contrary to popular belief, not all alike. Bobbie is a working mum of two children who we’ll call ‘spirited’ for want of a better phrase. Her husband works late a lot so she’s the one left trying to juggle running the house with wrangling the children and still fitting in her own job. Andy is dad to two teens who are perfectly behaved, or at least they are during the rare moments he spends at home. His wife Pamela is a goddess, and a Perfect Parent to boot. He’s a very lucky guy. And then there’s Vanessa, who feels her mothering days are behind her until her young grand-daughter comes to stay…and doesn’t leave.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099580853</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Brian McClellan
|title=Promise of Blood (Powder Mage Trilogy)
|rating=5
|genre=Fantasy
|summary= Adamat, investigator and ex-police inspector, is summoned to the Skyline Palace for, he assumes, an audience with the king. However, when he arrives, the grounds are in darkness and a greater darkness lurks within. The King's Hielman bodyguard are all dead and the royal family won't be around for much longer as Field Marshal Tamas of the home-grown Adros Military has led a coup. Tamas wants to hire Adamat for his investigating prowess but neither Adamat, Tamas nor the mages and sorcerers under Tamas' command realise what will be unleashed as a result… or perhaps Tamas does. Meanwhile a servant girl starts the fight for the survival of herself and a small but very important child.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>035650199X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Nicola O'Byrne and Nick Bromley
|title=Open Very Carefully: A Book with Bite!
|rating=5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Here's another brilliant picture book from Nosy Crow. If you haven't already heard of them, these newish publishers are ones to watch. They seem to be nurturing artists and writers with an ability to think outside the box, in a children's field already replete with creative talent.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0763661635</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Julie Cohen
|title=Dear Thing
|rating=5
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Everyone hopes for the happily ever after, and Claire and Ben expected that once they were married, once they had the house with a garden big enough for a swing, that the babies would naturally follow afterwards. So what happens when the babies don't? How long do you try to get pregnant? How long do you endure IVF? At what point do you say enough is enough, and let go of the dream? And what if, at that moment of feeling you simply cannot take any more, your best friend offered to be a surrogate mother, and carry your baby?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0593070828</amazonuk>
}}
