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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.
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==Reviews of the The Best New Books==
'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br>
'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].''' <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--> '''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].
{{Frontpage
|isbn=17807240471529428289|title=A Dictionary Grave in the Woods (A Bruno, Chief of Interesting and Important DogsPolice Novel)|author=Peter J ConradiMartin Walker
|rating=4
|genre=PetsCrime|summary=I struggle to resist a book about dogsBecause of various property transactions, people were searching for the grave but I did wonder why this one was so ''thin'': given that I've never encountered a dog who wasn't interesting or important - and probably bothwhen they found it, I was expecting a massive tomeit came with three sets of bones. But ''A Dictionary They dated back to World War II and it fell to Bruno, the Chief of Interesting and Important Dogs'' is actually ''a rich compendium Police for St Denis, to discover the identities of the world's most significant bodies and beloved dogs'' and it's certainly establish whether or not a rich treasure trovecrime had been committed. We begin with Peter J ConradiAs if this isn's four collies: Cloudyt enough to worry about, Sky. Bradley and Maxthe Dordogne River - normally tranquil - is flowing at record levels. They're consecutive rather than simultaneous dogs, but what comes over is ConradiIt's love for each not just the local autumn rains that have caused the problem: various dams upstream on another river have had to release water and every one St Denis faces the possibility of them. I knew that I was in safe handsa devastating flood.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1785769294152919640X|title=Man at the Window (Detective Cardilini)The Suspect|author=Robert JeffreysRob Rinder
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=ItThe nation's when we read favourite daytime TV presenter, Jessica Holby, was murdered live on television and it seems that a young boy is creeping reluctantly to a teacherthere's bedroom only one October night suspect. He's celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks and his contract stated that we realise something is badly wronghe must not serve anything containing miso to Jessica Holby. She's seriously allergic and carries an EpiPen in case of emergencies. Everything seemed as normal - as normal as they can be in a busy, live television studio - and Brooks served a ragout to Holby. Her EpiPen was nowhere to be found and she was dead within minutes. Nowadays you It was soon clear that this was no accident.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008385068|title=The Midnight Feast|author=Lucy Foley|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=It's midsummer on the Dorset coast and guests gather at The Manor. It'mights their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised. It's all headed up by Francesca Meadows. The Manor was her ancestral home and she' hope that something would be done about s converted it fairly quickly but this into an impressive retreat for the wealthy and famous. Her husband, Owen, was 1965 the architect and child abuse was generally regarded as malicious mischief work is still ongoing on the part parts of the childsite. The boy would heat is oppressive and amongst the guests are enemies as well as friends. Old scores are going to be settled and it won't be safe that night though long before a body is found.}}{{Frontpage|author=Ashley Hickson- albeit Lovence|title=Wild East|rating=4.5|genre=Teens|summary=Written in the most horrific fashion. When he reached Captain Edmundverse, this is Ronny's bedroom he found the man dead on the floorstory, the top of his skull missinga young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who suddenly has to move to Norwich and start at a mostly white school. The schoolmove is initiated by Ronny's mum who is worried for Ronny's initial reaction was that this was safety after a tragic event, and so Ronny finds himself trying to settle in a dreadful accident: there had been new town, a cull new school, and keep himself out of trouble. He listens to music constantly, and has always dreamed of kangaroos being a rapper. But now, in some nearby fields this new school, his teacher encourages him to be part of a poetry writing workshop group and, slowly, Ronny begins to see the connections between rap and poetry, and it was obviously a stray bullet which had killed the Captainpower of creativity and crafting your words.|isbn=0241645441
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=17866952271635866847|title=Invisible in a Bright LightThe Lavender Companion|author=Sally GardnerJessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci
|rating=4.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=It's strange, the things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for you. Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepage. I don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally. (There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it. Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I ''loved'' this book already.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Rob Keeley
|title=Childish Spirits: 10th anniversary special edition
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Around here, we're big fans of children's author Rob Keeley. He's a ball of happy positivity, he understands children, and he writes for their pleasure and enjoyment, not to lecture or hector.
The ''Childish Spirits'' series is one of his greatest achievements. It'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
|isbn= 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
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Kieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton
|title=Dungeon Runners: Hero Trial
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=The beginning Meet Kit. Like most of this excellent story will leave the reader more than a little confused: who is the man people in the green suithis world, it seems, what he is an avid fan of Dungeon Running – the Reckoningsport where a team of warrior, mage and why are rows of people in a cave? But stick healer enter specially prepared, century-old, magical mazes, and race to the exit, perhaps bothering with it – Ms Gardner is very cleverly letting us experience the same disorientation as our heroinetreasure or the big bad and the points they grant you along the way. We watch in dismay as Unfortunately for Kit, the only thing he's seen of the latest race on the strange maninn TV equivalent is that one team has been retired, who seems to have no eyeseaten, and a new trio of questors is needed. Possibly very unfortunately indeed for Kit, does his best he has taken to persuade her to answer the goading from the token bully of his questionsworld and stumbled into declaring he'll enter as a team. But for some reason Celeste What chance does this friendless, despite her bewildermentmuscle-free-zone have in actually managing that, remains wary and gives nothing away.how could he possibly hope to succeed?|isbn=1839945184
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1912374854Saima Mir|title=Violet|author=S J I HollidayVengeance
|rating=3.5
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=I've never been but understand that travelling is all about meeting new people and forming instantaneous bonds with people was instantly intrigued by the premise of this novel – an organised crime syndicate in often chance situationsthe north of England run by a Muslim woman. Well The fact that's exactly what happens when it was the two main/only characters meet second in a travel agency in Beijing - Carrie is unsuccessfully trying to get series I hadn't read didn't stop me – I've jumped midway into a refund few series before (on an extra ticket for the Trans-Siberian train page and Violet is trying to unsuccessfully buy a ticket for the same sold-out journey. As the two team up, travelling through Mongolia, Serbia screen) and into Russia, it couldneedn've been the start of a beautiful friendship but this t be a thriller after all so hindrance if it quickly becomes 's good enough. And that wasn't a tale of obsessionproblem here. Vengeance swiftly brings you up to speed, manipulation and toxic friendshipsI never felt lost.|isbn=0861541561
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1912374838Stuart Douglas|title=Nothing Important Happened Today|author=Will CarverLowe and Le Breton Mysteries - Death at the Dress Rehearsal|rating=43.5|genre=General FictionCrime|summary=Nothing Important Happened Today is 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 darkreservoir. The police seem happy to assign it as an accidental death, twisted, difficult read. Stories but something about cults often arethe whole thing bothers Lowe, but this is different; it's written with a sense and he enlists the help of style that is quite unlike anything I've read before. I can't remember ever having read a novel with such an oddfellow actor, distinctive narrative voiceJohn Le Breton to help him investigate matters further. While a slim They travel across the country during their days off filming, uncovering more possible murders and relatively small book, seemingly, a link to death during the slow-moving nature of Second World War. But is there really a link between the plot makes it feel far larger than its 276 pages.deaths? And will they manage to uncover who is responsible before more people lose their lives?|isbn=1803368209
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn= williamabbeyB0CYV674G2|title=The Pursuit of William AbbeySwanton Morley (John Tanner)|author=Claire NorthDavid Blake
|rating=3.5
|genre=ParanormalCrime|summary=When William Abbey fails to prevent the lynching of It seemed like an open-and-shut case. A man, covered in mud and blood - and carrying a young boy in 1880's South Africaknife, comes into the police station shouting that he finds himself cursed by hasn't killed the grieving motherman. A naïve English Doctor, he slowly learns body at the weight bottom of the curse upon hima freshly dug grave at Swanton Morley church - he's been stabbed to death. DCI John Tanner is just back from his honeymoon, as which coincided with the shadow birth of his daughter Samantha. You would think he'd be grateful for an easy answer but the dead boy begins to follow him across the world. Never stopping, always growing – it crosses oceans words 'perverse' and mountains in pursuit of William'John Tanner' were made for each other. As he finds himself unable He's sleep-deprived to resist speaking the truths that point of falling asleep at work but he hears in others, he also learns that the dark shadow is deadly – and seeks 's determined to kill the one keep going - probably because he loves the most…can't get any sleep at home.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=16437850361787333175|title=The Wondrous ApothecaryYou Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here|author=Mary E MartinBenji 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 {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to Hurt}}, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography. ''You Don't Have to be Mad...'' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the work of a psychiatrist. I did wonder whether it 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=Those who have known Alexander WainwrightAnuri spent her childhood on display to the world, the landscape artist famous for his Turner prize winning ''The Hay Wagonthanks 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 Rinaldo, renowned conceptual artist would say that they're chalk she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and cheeseto get her life back, if not sworn enemiessuing her step-mother to take down the content about her. If you've watched the relationshipAnuri is battling alcoholism, as has our narratorfailing to start her PhD, art dealer Jamie Helmsworth, you'd have said that they were magnets, drawing undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and repulsing each other in equal measurereceiving money from them for doing so. Wainwright was at Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the socially acceptable end new focus of the artistic continuum, but with Rinaldo it was all too obvious that there was but a fine dividing line between conceptual art and public nuisance. As time has worn on, heOphelia's frequently been brought to the attention of the policeonline empire. On this latest occasion we see him charged Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with arson and theft of ''The Hay Wagon''.her father at the same time?|isbn=0861546873
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Mary H.K. ChoiDavid Chadwick|title=Permanent RecordHeadload of Napalm|rating=4.5|genre=TeensThrillers|summary=Pablo, a college drop-out, is working at a New York bodega. HeIt's massively September 1973 in debtHicks, he's avoiding his mother, and he finds his joy in creating unusual snacks with random ingredients! Whilst working one evening, he's surprised to discover that the girl he California. Hicks is chatting a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with as he serves is a super-famous pop star its nearest neighbours of LA and, as unlikely as it may seem, they start Las Vegas both a relationshipsignificant drive away. With one character who is trying very hard not to be seen or noticed by anyone, Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and a defence contractor are the other who is seen and followed and hounded by everyone all over the worldmain local employers but otherwise, itthere's an interesting clash as they come togethernot much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. This isn't just a love story thoughLife is quiet, and actually it's really just Pab's story, about the journey he takes in his life via his meet-up with Leanna Smartuntil....|isbn=0349003459B0D321VJ76
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1609809319Tom Percival|title=Long-Haired Cat-Boy Cub|author=Etgar Keret, Aviel Basil and Sondra Silverston (translator)The Wrong Shoes
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=One day Will's life is difficult, in a boy multitude of ways. He is in bullied because he has 'the zoo with his fatherwrong shoes', when he has the man gets called away on urgent business. The boy isnwrong shoes because his dad can't hustled into a cab work and taken home first, though, no – hedoesn's given hot dog t have enough moneyfor even the most basic of things like food, and taxi moneyhis dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, and told to just stick around was working a cash-in-hand job on his own a building site and enjoy himselfhad an accident. WellThrow into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, itand Will's no surprise that the orphan-for-an-afternoon sensation the lad feels doesn't make him happylife seems bleak in every direction. And yet, and so he thinks still has a tiny amount of a species name for himselfhope. He is good at art, and curls himself up into an empty cageclings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, as if he were that feel like a light at the end of a new exhibitlong, dark tunnel. And it's then the drama begins… |isbn=1398527122
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Sylvie Cathrall|title=A Letter to the 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 one of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}{{Frontpage|isbn=17857855160008517061|title=Fucking Good MannersDeath in a Lonely Place|author=Simon GriffinStig Abell
|rating=4
|genre=LifestyleCrime|summary=Manners maketh manFormer Metropolitan Police detective, they sayJake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. It certainly makes life easier if everybody abides by There’s perhaps a set little uncertainty about the future of conventionshis life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, some as moving in together would mean a lot of which are ages old compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and other which have evolved over time. Manners are not relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about how much to tip whether or how you should behave if you get not this 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 invitation old house in Norwich - the site was going to Buckingham Palacehold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway. There was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, they have nothing to do Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with class or financial status: DCI Harry Nelson. theyIt's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn're about getting t, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the basics right one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before we try long, not least because Ruth is prone to deal with more difficult matterssudden bouts of sickness.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4. Of course we all have more relaxed manners when we5|genre=Crime|summary=It're with 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 friends, but ithe's best if we learn prepared to distinguish between our public tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and private lives 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 act appropriatelybe transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she'Fucking Good Manners'' aims s even prepared to help us on do the wayother 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=00083248590008405026|title=Fowl TwinsA Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Eoin ColferJane Casey
|rating=5
|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Relax, everyone – our It's sixteen years since nine-year-old friend Artemis may be off planet, but the baddies aren't getting away with skulduggery any time soon because they now have not Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one but two members of summer night. She was never found and the Fowl family investigation ground to contend witha halt. Those cute little twins are now eleven (and Now, her mother, franklyHelena, cute no longer) and her father are dead in this, their first independent adventurebed. Initially, they meet it looks like a troll straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and without even trying manage her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to make two deadly enemies: be an open-and-shut case is now a nobleman obsessed with immortality whatever complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the cost explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (to other peoplesuch as Derwent's boss, Una Burt), and an unusual interrogator-nun. The boys are chased, kidnapped, arrested and even killed (though not for long), all with the help of one trainee fairyless convinced.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=14722557980571379877|title=The Bad Fire (Bob Skinner)Kellerby Code|author=Quintin JardineJonny Sweet|rating=43.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=Nine years ago local councillor Marcia Brown took her own life after being accused of shoplifting from Edward Jevons is a local supermarketworking-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. It Robert's always been assumed that she couldna theatre director. He't live with the shame. People were surprised that she committed suicide just before the court case when she had been adamant that she would fight s also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to clear her namerun errands for him. She said that she'd Edward has been set up because she was hot on the trail of corruption in the council. Her exlove with Stanza since their university days -husband has contacted Alex Skinner, Solicitor Advocate as well as retired Police Constable Bob Skinner's daughter, and asked that she look into clearing Brownhe's name: itdrunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Most men in Robert's something which he feels position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he has 's not like most men: Edward is left to do stumble upon the two of them kissing in memory of his son who was murdered recentlya dark passageway.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=B07X6GLQ3QJo Callaghan|title=See Them Run|author=Marion ToddLeave No Trace
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=D I Clare Mackay When a man is still relatively new found crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to St Andrewthe case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock. It's: she was their first live case together, having previously at Maryhill Rd station in Glasgowbeen very successful with several cold cases. She's left quite But when there is a lot behind including a relationship that wasn't going anywhere after Tom failed to support her when the chips were down. She also left second body found crucified a nasty situation, of her own making but not her faultfew days later, and St Andrew's Kat is a fresh start. Not long into the job she's faced suddenly struggling with a hit potential serial killer and run death and there's little doubt a very high profile case that it wasn't accidental - the card with the number five suggests murder. Andy Robb was married draws a lot of unwanted attention to Sandratheir AI Future Policing project. You could say that Will they had an open marriage but there seemed be able to be a lot of solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the 'open' case and very little , potentially, out of the 'marriage' left - on both sides, but would she want him deada career?|isbn=139851120X
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=17865409911399613073|title=The Impossible BoyMoral Injuries|author=Ben BrooksChristie Watson
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident ReadersThrillers|summary=''Oleg Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and Emma entered their den to find friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a cardboard spaceship standing where they usually satcentury. Slowly Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, the front door openedwhich is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Smoke billowed out Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. And out stepped a boy, dressed in Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a long coat with an even longer scarf, wound around his neckGP. When we first meet them they'' ''"My namere at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's Sebastian Cole," the boy said, "But you already know thatgoing to end in tragedy." We don'' And indeed they dot know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Ever since Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the summerthree friends. This time, when their friend Sarahit's mother had moved her away, Oleg and Emma have been unable to find a new friend to take her placetheir teenage children who are involved.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=14472813570241636604|title=Salvation LostThe Trading Game: A Confession|author=Peter F HamiltonGary Stevenson|rating=4.5|genre=Science FictionAutobiography|summary=In 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 jeans replaces the twentypin-third centurystripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, humanity is enjoying a comparative utopiapoverty and injustice. Yet life There was no posh public school on Earth is about his CV - but he had been to change, foreverthe London School of Economics. Feriton Kane's investigative team Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has discovered the worst threat ever a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to face mankind – and we've almost no time to fight backbe stupid. The supposedly benign Olyix plan to harvest humanity, in order to carry us to their god It was his ability at the end of the universe. And as their agents conclude schemes down on earthwhat was, vast warships converge above to gather this cargo. Some factions push for humanity to fleeessentially, to live in hiding amongst the stars – although only a chosen few would make it out in timecard game which got him an internship with Citibank. But others refuse to break before the storm. As disaster looms Eventually, animosities must be set aside to focus on just one goal: wiping this enemy from the face of creation. Even if it means preparing for turned into permanent employment as a future this generation will never seetrader.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=14711863931035021803|title=Photographer of the LostThe Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=Caroline ScottC L Miller|rating=43.5|genre=Historical FictionCrime|summary=May 1921. Edie receives a photograph through It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the post. There is no letter or note with itEnglish country village where she grew up. There is nothing written on the She's back now because of the photographa request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. It Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is a picture of her husbanddead and the circumstances seem suspicious, Francisto say the least. Francis has Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been missing for four yearsback to the village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. TechnicallyEven though they were in business together as antique hunters, he she has been "missing, believed killed" but that is not something that a young widow can believefelt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. She hangs After the split, she worked in a cafe, met and married James (on the word 'missing'rebound from the love of her life, disbelieving the word killedwho was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1783784350AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through BritainAll Tomorrow's Knitted HistoryFutures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Esther RutterBenjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
|rating=5
|genre=HistoryScience Fiction|summary=It was December and Esther Rutter was stuck in her office job, writing ''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to people shecome.'' I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you'd never met and preparing spreadsheetsre eighteen. The job frustrated her and even her knitting did not soothe her mind. January was going to be Well, I must confess that there have been more than a time for making changes and she decided that she would travel the length and breadth few decades of the British Isles with occasional forays abroad, discovering and telling the story of wool's history and how it had made and changed the landscapetechnology in my lifetime. SheI'd grown ve kept up on a sheep farm in Suffolk - reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I' a free range child on m left with the farm'feeling that it' s all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - and learned to spinquite frightening. Of course, knit I could research the possibilities and weave from her mother the probabilities and her motherend up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I's friendm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. This was I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in her blooda way I could understand.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1401286208Sunny Singh|title=Black Canary: Ignite|author=Meg Cabot and Cara McGeeHotel Arcadia
|rating=3.5
|genre=Confident ReadersThrillers |summary=Meet Dinah LanceThe 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. Frustrated that her policeman father will not allow her As Abhi continues to try and follow to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in his footstepsthe hotel, and seemingly lumbered he forms a bond with being a cheerleader at schoolSam who refuses to be cowed by events, she is desperate and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to find her voice. But itcapture what's actually more a case of her voice finding happened through herphotography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as when she gets frustrated or plain dissed at school her vocal outcry can shatter glass better than any opera singer. You could almost call it a weapon, or a power. But in order for her to call herself a superhero, there has Abhi tries to be a whole path of steps for help her keep safe and they both wait to take – one of which see if they will be into her past…rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|isbn=086154742X
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=17890179771529153298|title=Ronnie and Hilda's Romance: Towards a New Life after World War IIThe List of Suspicious Things|author=Wendy WilliamsJennie Godfrey|rating=45|genre=HistoryGeneral Fiction|summary=Ronnie Williams was the son of Thomas Henry Williams It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (known as HarryA woman? I mean, honestly...) and Ethel Wall. ThereShe's some doubt as to whether or not they were ever married or even Harrywhat's worrying Miv's birthdate: he claimed to family, though. Women have been born in 1863disappearing. Well, they've been murdered, but he was already many years older than Ethel and he might well to have shaved a few years off his age'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. For a while Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the family was quite well-to-do but disaster struck in the 1929 Depression and five-year-old Ronnie had to adjust to 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a very different lifestylefrightening, foreign place, best avoided. One thing he did inherit from his father was his need For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and she'll do anything to be well-turned-out and this would stay with him throughout his lifeprevent that. He joined She's not worried about the army at eighteen in 1942dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking - to anyone.
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=15420154211398524085|title=The Royal Baths MurderHas Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=J R EllisNicci French|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=When Damian Penrose Charlotte Salter was murdered there was no shortage of suspects: he was a deeply unpleasant manexpected at her husband's fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. In fact the only surprising thing was that there wasn't more of a queue waiting to do the dirty deedHer children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but - strangely - her husband, Alec, is not. What was a bit of a headline maker was that Penrose was a crime writer Shortly afterwards, Etty and that he was strangled in Greg, find the midst body of HarrogateGreg's crime writing festival. He went for a swim at the Royal Baths and never returnedfather, Duncan Ackerley, his body being found by in the receptionistriver. DCI Jim Oldroyd It was an easy assumption for the man tasked with investigating police to make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when he couldn't stand the crimeguilt. It would The Salter children are not be the only death, and it was only because of the quick actions of his sergeant, Andy Carter, that Oldroydconvinced but there's was not one of themlittle else they can do but get on with their lives and wonder about what really happened.
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{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Daniel Kraus1035906708|title=Blood SugarDiva|author=Daisy Goodwin|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=This is a difficult read. And not because We tend to think of the dark subject matter – that'll come later – Maria Callas as Greek, but because of the way she was born to Greek parents in which it's told. This might put a lot of readers offManhattan, New York, in December 1923 and only moved to be honest it'd be hard to blame themAthens when she was thirteen. Kraus tells the story in a distinctive voice unlike any other I've read; an erratic dialect with heavy and frequent slang. The immediate effect is disorientating and distracting, and Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it takes some time to feel natural. It's a struggle to acclimatise to JodyCallas's voice, to make it more manageable in the States. When she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get acquainted with his mannerisms, but appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the story wouldn't be the same without it, Nazi occupation by a mother who mercilessly exploited her and somehow it works. It shouldn'tmade no secret of her preference for her elder sister, but it doesJackie.|isbn=1789091934
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