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<metadesc>Book review siteExpert, with books full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, biographynon-fiction, crime, cookery and children's books & self-published books plus author interviews and & top tens.</metadesc><h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>Hello from The Bookbag, a site featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - [[:Category:Fiction|fiction]], [[:Category:Biography|biography]], [[:Category:Crime|crime]], [[:Category:Cookery|cookery]] and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library, the charity shop and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of [[:Category:Interviews|author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[features]] page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the [[Book Recommendations|recommendations]] page.

Reviews by readers from all the many walks of literary life. With author interviews, features and top tens. You'll be sure to find something you'll want to read here. Dig in! Find us on [[File:facebook.gif|link=https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk|alt=Facebook]] [https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk '''Facebook'''], [[File:twitter.gif|link=http://twitter.com/TheBookbag|alt=Follow us on Twitter]] [http://twitter.com/TheBookbag '''Twitter'''], [[File:instagram_classic_logo.png|link=https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/|alt=Follow us on Instagram]] [https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/ '''Instagram'''] and [[File:LinkedIn.png|link=https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-bookbag-1b12a264/|alt=LinkedIn]] There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews ]] at TheBookbag.

==Reviews of the The Best New Books==

{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--> <!-- Adele Parks -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|'''Read [[image:0008284660.jpgForthcoming Publications|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008284660/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21reviews of books about to be published]]. {{Frontpage| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|==isbn=[[Lies Lies Lies by Adele Parks]]===152919640X[[image:4.5star.jpg|linktitle=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Simon Barnes had his first taste of beer in 1976 when he was just six years old. Over the years it would become a habit and then a need. By 2016 and with a wife and child of his own he was a functioning alcoholic - a fact known by everybody except Simon. He's concentrating on wanting another child to complete his family. His wife, Daisy, isn't worried. They took a long time to conceive Millie, who's perfect in every way, so why tempt fate? Simon's not inclined to let matters rest though and it's at a fertility clinic that he receives the news that will change all their lives: he's sterile. [[Lies Lies Lies by Adele Parks|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts -->|-The Suspect| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Rob Rinder[[image:099334030X.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/099334030X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Can You Draw the Dragosaur? by Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts]]===Crime[[image:4.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crafts|Crafts]], [[:Category:Emerging Readers|Emerging Readers]] You're going to get a hint of what this bookThe nation's about very quickly. When you see the title pagefavourite daytime TV presenter, Jessica Holby, you'll find out what the book's called was murdered live on television and it seems that it's been written by Peter Lynas. Then we move on to who has done the illustration - and there's a gaponly one suspect. ''You'' are going to put your name there. ItHe's ''your'' responsibility celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks and his contract stated that he must not serve anything containing miso to provide the pictures for this book about one of the largest creatures ever to roam the earthJessica Holby. ThereShe's some help available, but your name is on the title page - seriously allergic and you have work to do! [[Can You Draw the Dragosaur? by Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts|Full Review]] <!-- Abercrombie -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0575095865carries an EpiPen in case of emergencies.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0575095865/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="verticalEverything seemed as normal -align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]] The chimneys of industry rise over Adua and the world seethes with new opportunities. But old scores run deep as ever. On the blood-soaked borders of Anglandnormal as they can be in a busy, Leo dan Brock struggles to win fame on the battlefield, and defeat the marauding armies of Stour Nightfall. He hopes for help from the crown. But King Jezal's son, the feckless Prince Orso, is a man who specialises in disappointments. Savine dan Glokta live television studio - socialite, investor, and daughter of the most feared man in the Union - plans to claw her way to the top of the slag-heap of society by any means necessary. But the slums boil over with Brooks served a rage that all the money in the world cannot control. The age of the machine dawns, but the age of magic refuses ragout to dieHolby. With the help of the mad hillwoman Isern-i-Phail, Rikke struggles Her EpiPen was nowhere to control the blessing, or the curse, of the Long Eye. Glimpsing the future is one thing, but with the guiding hand of the First of the Magi still pulling the strings, changing it will be quite another . . .[[A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Lynas found and Clare Lindley -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0993340334.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993340334/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Bunny by Peter Lynas and Clare Lindley]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] You might have seen Bunny on the beach where he lived. Like many beaches it she was full of sand and Bunny didn't like sand, not least because it got between his toes and ''scratched''dead within minutes. What he really liked It was juicy green grass. All the other rabbits lived on the top of the cliff, where Bunny could see a lot of tasty-looking grass. But the cliff soon clear that this was very highno accident. [[Bunny by Peter Lynas and Clare Lindley|Full Review]]}}<!-- Thomas Knauer -->{{Frontpage|-| styleisbn="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|0008385068[[image:1635860334.jpg|linktitle=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1635860334/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] The Midnight Feast| styleauthor="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|Lucy Foley===[[Why We Quilt by Thomas Knauer]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crafts|Crafts]] I've often wondered about the story that patchwork quilting began as a way for women (and myth would have it that it was always women) to make an extra blanket out of material which would otherwise go to waste. This undoubtedly ''did'' happen but when you think about it, you need an awful lot of material to make a quilt and the time could have been better spent if all that was required was bedding. Like Thomas Knauer I've come to the conclusion that it began as an art and has largely continued down that same road with fluctuations in popularity over the years. [[Why We Quilt by Thomas Knauer|Full Review]] <!-- Nicci French -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1471179230.jpg|link=http://www.amazon4.co.uk/dp/1471179230/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Lying Room by Nicci French]]==genre=Thrillers [[image:5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] When we meet Neve Connolly itIt's pretty obvious that she has something to hide. She crept into midsummer on the house after midnight, carefully putting her clothes into the washing machine Dorset coast and she can't wait to get husband Fletcher and children Mabel, Connor and Rory off on their various ways the next morning when she gets a text telling her to come to the flatguests gather at The Manor. He has a few hours to spare and canIt't wait to see her. Only, when she gets to the flat she finds Saul Stevenson, her boss s their opening weekend and lover, dead on the floorsplendid celebrations are promised. The hammer thatIt's been used on his brain is at his sideall headed up by Francesca Meadows. [[ The Lying Room by Nicci French|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0993340342.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993340342/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Madeleine Goes to the Moon by Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] Madeleine is a very lucky girl: in Manor was her room she has all a girl could ask for in the way of toys, books, games ancestral home and dollies. She's a very lucky girl in another way too: she has imagination and everything in her room can be used to take her on adventures. She spends all day there: Dad thinks that she likes to be alone, but Madeleine's not alone on all the trips she takes. We'll find out that yesterday she was told to tidy her room, but instead of doing that she went to converted it into an impressive retreat for the moon. [[Madeleine Goes to the Moon by Peter Lynas wealthy and Charlie Roberts|Full Review]] <!-- Ann Patchett -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1526614960famous.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1526614960/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Dutch House by Ann Patchett]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] When we first meet Danny and his elder sister Her husband, Maeve ConroyOwen, they're both living at The Dutch House with their parents was the architect and under the gaze of the portraits of the former owners whose oil paintings work is still hang ongoing on parts of the wallssite. It's a strange family dynamic: Cyril Conroy The heat is distant oppressive and amongst the closest Danny seems to come to him is when he goes out with him on a Saturday collecting rents from properties the family ownsguests are enemies as well as friends. Elna Conroy is loving, but absent increasingly often until the point comes when the children Old scores are told that she will not going to be returning. In other circumstances this might have affected Maeve settled and Danny deeply, but their primary relationship is with each other. Itit won's t be long before a bond which only death will breakbody is found. [[The Dutch House by Ann Patchett|Full Review]]}}<!-- Peter Lynas and Andy S Gray -->{{Frontpage|author=Ashley Hickson-Lovence| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Wild East[[image:0993340350.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co4.uk/dp/0993340350/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Very Rude Toytoise by Peter Lynas and Andy S Gray]]==genre=Teens [[image:5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] It was one of those blissful days Written in the forest. Mrs Rabbit was collecting carrots because she wanted to make verse, this is Ronny's story, a cake. Mrs Blue Bird was gathering twigs young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who suddenly has to build a nest. Mrs Spider was busily spinning a web move to catch juicy flies. Mrs Squirrel was piling up acorns. And Mr Bear sat comfortably in Norwich and start at a chair, fishing for lunchmostly white school. What could be better? And then... [[The Very Rude Toytoise move is initiated by Peter Lynas and Andy S Gray|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Lynas and Rosie Alabaster -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0993340318.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993340318/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Recipe Ronny's mum who is worried for Making a Snowman by Peter Lynas and Rosie Alabaster]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] Who knew it? You can even get a recipe book which tells you how to make a snowman - and thereRonny's no cooking involved! Mumsafety after a tragic event, Dad and the two children are absolutely meticulous though: they're going so Ronny finds himself trying to get everything rightsettle in a new town, even down to doing some mining to get the coal for the eyesa new school, searching through the bits 'n bobs jar for buttons for the snowman's coat and picking keep himself out the perfect piece of headgeartrouble. There's quite a choice availableHe listens to music constantly, but the family decide on the bobble hat, presumably to keep the snowman warm. The moth-eaten pair and has always dreamed of mittens simply won't do and a pair with purple and pink stripes are chosen. [[Recipe for Making being a Snowman by Peter Lynas and Rosie Alabaster|Full Review]] <!-- Melanie Martin -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789016304rapper.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789016304/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[War and Love: A family's testament of anguish But now, endurance and devotion in occupied Amsterdam by Melanie Martin]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:History|History]]this new school, [[:Category:Biography|Biography]] Melanie Martin read about what happened his teacher encourages him to Dutch Jews in occupied Amsterdam during World War II and was entranced by what she discovered, particularly in ''The Diary be part of Ann Frank'' but then realised that her own family's stories were equally fascinating. A hundred a poetry writing workshop group and seven thousand Jews were deported from the city during the war years, but only five thousand survived and Martin could not understand how this could be allowed to happen in a country with liberal values who were resistant to German occupation. Most people believed that the occupation could never happen: even those who thought that the Germans might reach the city were convinced that they would soon be pushed backslowly, that the Amsterdammers would never allow what happened Ronny begins to escalate in see the way that it didconnections between rap and poetry, but initial protests melted away as and the organisers became more circumspect. It's an atrocity on a vast scale, but made up power of tens of thousands of individual tragediescreativity and crafting your words. [[War and Love: A family's testament of anguish, endurance and devotion in occupied Amsterdam by Melanie Martin|Full Review]]isbn=0241645441}}<!-- Sedgwick -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1635866847| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Lavender Companion|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci[[image:1788542347.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co4.uk/dp/1788542347/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Snowflake, AZ by Marcus Sedgwick]]==genre=Lifestyle [[image:3.5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] This is a deep, interesting read unlike any book I've read in quite some time. The novelIt's story follows a young man named Ash in strange, the process of joining a community of sick people in the curiously named town of Snowflake, Arizona. These people are sick, but it's not a sickness things that make you've heard of. Instead, they're environmentally ill – affected by household chemicals and fabrics, pesticides, static electricity, and radiation – and their only ''cureimmediately'' feel that this is to stay in the town away from the real worldbook for you. Though it Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion''s about a real place, I visited the people in it are fictional. It really is a place apart, quite literally cut off from the outside world – people are even required to decontaminate themselves thoroughly before becoming fully integrated. [[Snowflake, AZ by Marcus Sedgwick|Full Review]] <!-- Moyer -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|author's [[image:178747920X.jpg|link=httphttps://www.amazonpinelavenderfarm.co.uk/dp/178747920Xcom/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Brightfall by Jaime Lee Moyer]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fictionwebsite]] Robin Hood is gone – denouncing both his former life and his love Marian, and retreating to a monastery – although no-one knows quite what led him to abandon all that he had built. Marionthere's life since has been relatively quiet - but when her friends start dying, Marion is tasked by Father Tuck to break the curse surrounding them and to save their lives. Setting off with a soldier, picture of a Fey Lord and a sullen Robin Hood, she becomes tangled in a maze slice of betrayals, complicated relationships, and a vicious struggle for chocolate cake on the throne…[[Brightfall by Jaime Lee Moyer|Full Review]] <!-- Hewitt -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1509896465homepage.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509896465/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag I don't eat cakes and desserts -21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Nightjar by Deborah Hewitt]]=== [[image:4but I wanted that cake viscerally.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]]  (There''The Nightjar'' is an unusual and exciting story. Alice Wyndham lives s a normal life recipe in London until she finds a box on her doorstep one morning and her life begins to unravelthe book, fast. From that very moment, her life is flooded which I'm avoiding with magic, loss, expectation and particularly, betrayal. As everything around her shifts, all that she knows, all that she thinks she knows, must change. Who can she trust? Who must she trust? Who will she trust? More importantly, can she even trust herself? [[The Nightjar by Deborah Hewitt|Full Review]] <some difficulty!!-- McGee -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0241365953.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241365953/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[American Royals by Katharine McGee]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Two and a half centuries ago, America won ) Then I started reading the Revolutionary War book and General George Washington I was offered the crowntold to make a mess of it. Today, the House of Washington still sit on the thrown with Princess Beatrice next Notes in line. Beatrice's whole life has been building up to her ruling the United States and the time for her reign is imminentmargins are sanctioned. [[American Royals by Katharine McGee|Full Review]] <!-- Nicola Monaghan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0857308025.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VRSX3SN/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Dead Flowers (Dr Sian Love) by Nicola Monaghan]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It was more than a little bit of a surprise You get to Dr Sian Love (and the rest of fold down the relatives) when her uncle Bobby left her his home - a former pub called The Loggerheads in the Narrow Marsh area corners of Nottinghampages. Then it was a shock when she found two bodies in the cellar before she'd even got settled in - and managed to break You suspect that smears of butter would not be a bone in her foot in the course of making the discoveryproblem. They'd been there for some time, but who - exactly - were the man and the woman, wrapped in each otherI 's arms? Having spent ten years on the Murder Squad, ending up as a DCI she knows what's going to happen next, but sheloved's not prepared for quite how personal it's all going to getthis book already. [[Dead Flowers (Dr Sian Love) by Nicola Monaghan|Full Review]]}}<!-- Renee Watson -->{{Frontpage|-author=Rob Keeley| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-alignChildish Spirits: center;"|10th anniversary special edition[[image:1526613689.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1526613689/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 4| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Some Places More Than Others by Renee Watson]]===Confident Readers[[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  AmaraAround here, we's twelfth birthday is coming up and she wants nothing more for it than a trip to New York to meet her fatherre big fans of children's side of the familyauthor Rob Keeley. But her father hasn't spoken to AmaraHe's grandfather for many years - Amara doesn't know why - and both her parents are resistant to the idea. But Amara is nothing if not persistent and a school family history project provides her with the perfect wedge. Eventually, her parents give in and off she goes... with a secret mission from her mother: to bring her father and Grandpa Earl back together again. [[Some Places More Than Others by Renee Watson|Full Review]] <!-- Graves -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:194927201X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/194927201X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Lakes ball of Mars by Merritt Graves]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]] Aaron Sheridan doesn't want to live anymore. His entire family is dead by his own handhappy positivity, killed in a shuttle crash. Unable to deal with the guilthe understands children, and he signs up writes for the Fleet expecting a fatal deployment to the Rim War, but instead ends up at their most prestigious command school, Corinth Station... [[Lakes of Mars by Merritt Graves|Full Review]] <!-- Ryan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:191280493X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/191280493X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Coming of Age by Danny Ryan]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]]  ''He began writing novels pleasure and poetry at the age of twelveenjoyment, but it was not to take him a further forty-eight years to realise that he wasn’t very good at eitherlecture or hector. Consistently unpublished for all that time, he remains a shining example of hope over experience...''  ''This a memoir from someone you have never heard of - but will feel like you have.'' [[Coming of Age by Danny Ryan|Full Review]]  <!-- Maxwell N Andrews -->|-| style=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1983376353.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1983376353/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[Lighthouse of the Netherworlds by Maxwell N Andrews]]===

[[image:3The ''Childish Spirits'' series is one of his greatest achievements.5star.jpgIt's a sequence of ghost stories centring on Ellie, a stalwart young girl who can cope with anything the spirit world throws at her, and Edward, a spoiled lordling and the first spirit Ellie encounters|linkisbn=Category:{1783064617}}{{Frontpage|author=Jenny Valentine|title=Us in the Before and After|rating=5|genre=Teens|summary=Elk and Mab are best friends, or more than that even, their friendship is a once in a lifetime connection. They meet as children one day on a trip out but unfortunately they don't get each other's contact details at the time. But then chance brings them back together, and they are inseparable. Something has happened though, something terrible and tragic, and now they must work through their grief, and their friendship, together.|isbn=1471196585}}} Star Reviews]] [[{{Frontpage|author=Kieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton|title=Dungeon Runners:Category:TeensHero Trial|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|Teens]]summary=Meet Kit. Like most of the people in his world, it seems, he is an avid fan of Dungeon Running – the sport where a team of warrior, mage and healer enter specially prepared, century-old, magical mazes, and race to the exit, perhaps bothering with the treasure or the big bad and the points they grant you along the way. Unfortunately for Kit, the only thing he's seen of the latest race on the inn TV equivalent is that one team has been retired, eaten, and a new trio of questors is needed. Possibly very unfortunately indeed for Kit, he has taken to the goading from the token bully of his world and stumbled into declaring he'll enter as a team. What chance does this friendless, muscle-free-zone have in actually managing that, [[:Category:Fantasyand how could he possibly hope to succeed?|isbn=1839945184}}{{Frontpage|author=Saima Mir|title=Vengeance|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers|Fantasy]]summary= I was instantly intrigued by the premise of this novel – an organised crime syndicate in the north of England run by a Muslim woman. The fact that it was the second in a series I hadn't read didn't stop me – I've jumped midway into a few series before (on page and screen) and it needn't be a hindrance if it's good enough. And that wasn't a problem here. Vengeance swiftly brings you up to speed, [[:Category:Confident Readersand I never felt lost.|Confident Readers]]isbn=0861541561}}

{{Frontpage|author=Stuart Douglas|title=Lowe and Le Breton Mysteries - Death at the Dress Rehearsal|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=During location filming for his 1970's sitcom 'Floggit and Leggit', leading man Edward Lowe stumbles across the dead body of a woman on the edge of a reservoir. The phrase police seem happy to assign it as an accidental death, but something about never trusting the whole thing bothers Lowe, and he enlists the help of a fellow actor, John Le Breton to help him investigate matters further. They travel across the country during their days off filming, uncovering more possible murders and, seemingly, a link to death during the Second World War. But is there really a link between the deaths? And will they manage to uncover who is responsible before more people lose their lives?|isbn=1803368209}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0CYV674G2|title=Swanton Morley (John Tanner)|author=David Blake|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It seemed like an open-and-shut case. A man, covered in mud and blood - and carrying a knife, comes into the police station shouting that he hasn't killed the man. A body at the bottom of a freshly dug grave at Swanton Morley church - he's been stabbed to death. DCI John Tanner is just back from his honeymoon, which coincided with the birth of his daughter Samantha. You would think he'd be grateful for an easy answer but the words 'perverse' and 'John Tanner' were made for each other. He's sleep-deprived to the point of falling asleep at work but he's determined to keep going - probably because he can't get any sleep at home.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1787333175|title=You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here|author=Benji Waterhouse|rating=5|genre=Popular Science|summary=I was tempted to read ''You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here'' after enjoying Adam Kay's first book by its cover {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is something I put on Going to Hurt}}, a par with comments about Marmiteglorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography. ''YouDon're supposed t Have to be Mad...'' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to love mental illness and the work of a psychiatrist. I did wonder whether it or hate was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding. }}{{Frontpage|author=Onyi Nwabineli|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Anuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-mother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gain. Now Anuri is in her twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and Ito get her life back, suing her step-mother to take down the content about her. Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them for doing so. Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the new focus of Ophelia's online empire. Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?|isbn=0861546873}}{{Frontpage|author=David Chadwick|title=Headload of Napalm|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary= It's September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of LA and Las Vegas both a significant drive away. Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and a defence contractor are the main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiet, until....|isbn= B0D321VJ76}}{{Frontpage|author=Tom Percival|title=The Wrong Shoes|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will'm halfway betweens life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, and likewise clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.|isbn=1398527122}}{{Frontpage|author=Sylvie Cathrall|title=A Letter to the old adage Luminous Deep|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is halfway trueone of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008517061|title=Death in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary= Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. From There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the cover future of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this I had is the future she wants for herself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on the back burner.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786482126|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child-friendly fantasybeneath a doorway. There was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, what Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that name she is pregnant with his child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and that attractive artwork he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. And what he wants is to be transferred to an attractive girl reaching for open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an attractive water plantearly parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008405026|title=A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. That She was only built on by never found and the investigation ground to a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bed. Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to be an open-and-shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the initial fictionalised quotesexplanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0571379877|title=The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=Edward Jevons is a working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert's a theatre director. He's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him. Edward has been in love with Stanza since their nonuniversity days -standard spelling, as if texts and he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he's not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway.}}{{Frontpage|author=Jo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=When a man is found crucified on the top of scripture a hill in this bookNuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock. It's world predated our standardised literacytheir first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. But why was I two chapters when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?|isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=Olivia, Laura and just finding more Anjali met on the first day of medical school and more characterstheir friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, both human which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and animalit's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0241636604|title=The Trading Game: A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson|rating=4.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and more jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and more flashbackshis background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no proof posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He also realised that this most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what Iwas, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035021803|title=The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up. She's back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. Freya's former mentor and Carole'd bought s close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. After the split, she worked in for? [[Lighthouse a cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the love of her life, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=''Opening up new ways of thinking about the Netherworlds by Maxwell N Andrews|Full Review]]shape of things to come.''

<!I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.}}{{Frontpage|author=Sunny Singh|title=Hotel Arcadia|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers |summary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|isbn=086154742X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529153298|title=The List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|summary=It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though. Women have been disappearing. Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking - to anyone.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1398524085|title=Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci French|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=Charlotte Salter was expected at her husband's fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but -strangely - DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE her husband, Alec, is not. Shortly afterwards, Etty and Greg, find the body of Greg's father, Duncan Ackerley, in the river. It was an easy assumption for the police to make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when he couldn't stand the guilt. The Salter children are not convinced but there's little else they can do but get on with their lives and wonder about what really happened.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035906708|title=Diva|author=Daisy Goodwin|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=We tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, New York, in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas' to make it more manageable in the States. When she was back in Athens -supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice ->she was raised under the Nazi occupation by a mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of her preference for her elder sister, Jackie.}}{{Frontpage|author=Christopher Edge|title=Black Hole Cinema Club|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Lucas and his friends are all booked in for a movie marathon at their local cinema, a place that has the nickname of 'The Black Hole'. All big movie fans, they're looking forward to lots of exciting films, and many, many snacks! However, as the movie starts, they very quickly realise that something about this new film format is very different, and they are swept up into an adventure they couldn't even imagine. But as they lurch from one film genre to the next, can they figure out what on earth is going on? Will they ever get back to the cinema, and to their real lives?|isbn=1839942738}}