|summary=It’s the middle of the night when five year old Finn falls from the balcony at his home in a remote part of New Zealand. Leaving his twin brother and older sister in the care of a neighbour, his mother Martha stays with him as a helicopter races him to the nearest hospital. But as he is rushed into surgery, she is taken to one side for questioning, with first nursing staff then the police and social workers raising concerns. Was Finn really sleep walking, something he is prone to do? But if so, how did he come to have suspicious bruises on one side of his body, not in keeping with how he landed? And if it wasn’t the accident Martha is saying it was, was his mother involved or is she covering for someone?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>174331096X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
|title=Superworm
|rating=5
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Superworm is long and strong and he's a real hero as far as all of his insect friends are concerned. He always comes to the rescue when there is trouble. When Baby Toad is in danger of being run over on a major road, he turns himself into a lasso and scoops the baby away from the oncoming wheels. Another time, Beetle falls into a well and Superworm transforms himself into a fishing line in order to save him. In fact, Superworm can pretty much turn himself into anything and that makes him a very useful and helpful friend.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407132040</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Darren Shan
|title=Zom-B
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Strange news reports are coming out of Ireland. YouTube is buzzing with clips of zombie infestations and the military clearing remote villages. This is all taken with a pinch of salt by B Smith, schoolfriends, teachers and parents. Most people think it's all a promotion campaign for a new film, but there are also scatterings of various conspiracy theories. None of it really impinges on B and pals though - they carry on with life regardless. There's hanging out in the park to be done, after all. Various peer group scores to settle. Fake IDs to find and attempts to buy alcohol. You get the picture. Some silly fake zombies barely register.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>085707752X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Catherine Fisher
|title=The Obsidian Mirror
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Jake's father disappeared while working on a secret project with his best friend, the celebrated explorer and recluse Oberon Venn. Jake is sure that Venn is a murderer and sets out to prove it, dragging his teacher, Mr Wharton, into the investigation. But the truth is perhaps even more frightening: David Wilde isn't dead, he's lost in time. Venn and his sidekick Piers are intent on re-entering the past to find him, using a device called the Chronoptika. But it's dangerous and they aren't the only ones hell bent on using the time machine. There's Sarah, who can turn herself invisible, and who's being pursued by a murderous Replicant and his wolf. And there's the scarred man with his acolyte and his strange weapon. And there are the Shee, who keep their own counsel, but have their own ambitions, and who enchant the forest on Venn's estate...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340970081</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Michael Rosen
|title=Fantastic Mr Dahl
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Reading this book is rather like curling up in a deep, squishy armchair with a cup of cocoa and some squashed-fly biscuits while a favourite uncle chats to you about books. He tells you interesting things about Roald Dahl's life, and then he discusses how those events may have affected his writing, secure in the knowledge that you already know and love the stories. Just as important, he pauses in his chat from time to time to ask your opinion — and it's clear he's really interested in your answer. Do you prefer the original version of ''James and the Giant Peach'', or the one which was eventually published? Can you imagine how funny it would be to see your grandfather looking in through your bedroom window, like the BFG?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141322136</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Robert Muchamore
|title=Guardian Angel (CHERUB)
|rating=3.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Reviewers at the Bookbag have had mixed feeling about cherub in the past, so I wanted to start this review by saying I'm a big fan of the series in general. I thought [[People's Republic (CHERUB) by Robert Muchamore|People's Republic]], the first of the 'new' books, actually showed a significant improvement on the last couple of the James Adams books because Muchamore didn't use the long flashback which had irritated me in both of them. I really liked Ning, one of the new characters introduced in that one, and was looking forward to reading more about her here.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340999217</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Dorothy Koomson
|title=The Rose Petal Beach
|rating=4
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Tamia and Scott met at school and they were friends before they were anything else although it wasn't to the liking of either family. Scott's brother referred to Tamia as ''that'' - a reference to the colour of her skin. Tamia's family weren't racially prejudiced but they knew the Challey family and their reputation for criminality. It wasn't what they wanted for their daughter: they saw a university education, but were to be disappointed on both counts. It looked to be working well: the marriage seemed stable and they had two beautiful daughters, but then one night it all fell apart. Scott was arrested in front of his wife and children for a dreadful crime. As if this wasn't bad enough, Tami's world disintegrated even further when she discovered that Scott's accuser was someone whom she regarded as a close friend.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780874960</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jeet Thayil
|title=Narcopolis
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Novels about narcotic substances are notoriously hard to pull off. The challenge is to make the induced events interesting and meaningful to the, presumably, non-induced reader. In ''Narcopolis'', Jeet Thayil pulls this off surprisingly well for me, although it's fair to say that it won't be everyone's taste. It's not a book that the Bombay/Mumbai tourist office will be keen to promote. A cover quotation links the book to a similar vein (OK, that's a poor choice of words in the circumstances) to ''Trainspotting'' and that's not far from the mark.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571275761</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Debbie Macomber
|title=The Inn at Rose Harbor
|rating=3.5
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Jo Marie, who was recently widowed, feels drawn to an inn in a small town called Cedar Grove, where she believes she can find healing. She renames it Rose Harbor Inn and gets ready to welcome her first two guests.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099564025</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=James Long
|title=Ferney
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=History lecturer Michael Martin thought that the chance of love and marriage had passed him by. Then Gally, a history nut and lecture gate crasher, attended one of his lectures and dared to contradict him. Contradiction led to courtship and the marriage that had previously seemed so elusive but despite their love and accompanying emotional security, Gally has a dark subconscious that haunts her. She's unsettled by repeating nightmares and, worse, night terrors that can't be explained by counsellors' logic. However when Mike and Gally find their (or rather, Gally's) ideal home in the shape of a derelict cottage in the Somerset village of Penselwood, Gally's nightmares are augmented by a strong feeling of déjà vu. Meanwhile the Martins seem to have developed a benevolent stalker in the shape of aged local Ferney Miller. Mike considers him a bit of a pain while for Gally he represents something else entirely; something that she can't explain nor understand but will become a threat to her marital happiness and Michael's peace of mind.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780875304</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Janet Evanovich
|title=Wicked Business
|rating=4
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Following on from [[Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich|Wicked Appetite]], pastry chef Lizzy and paranormal bounty hunter Diesel continue to seek the seven powerful stones linked to the seven deadly sins. They're looking for the stone associated with lust and it becomes a bit of a treasure hunt as, accompanied by Gloria (the slightly wizardy un-witch) and Carl (the ill-mannered monkey) they have to work their way through a string of clues. However, they aren't the only ones looking; for wherever goodies seek power, the baddies lurk also. The baddies in question are again the deliciously dark (on many levels) Gerwulf (Wulf) Grimoir and his medieval minion Hatchet. Wulf may be Diesel's cousin but there's not a lot of family love in any room they both occupy so let the race to the stone commence.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>075538492X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Susan Waggoner
|title=Timedance 1: Neptune's Tears
|rating=3.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=The premise is both original and timeless: star-crossed lovers separated by an apparently unbreachable barrier. Two hundred years into the future, a healing empath meets a mysterious young man to whom she is immediately attracted. For Zee this could be a disaster, not only because falling in love so intensely is likely to damage her ability to do her work, but also because the boy has a secret so huge and terrifying it could destroy them both.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848122721</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Colin Mulhern
|title=Arabesque
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=When a group of amateur criminals find themselves suddenly short of twenty grand for an ambitious deal with a weapons dealer, one of them has the bright idea to kidnap a pair of semi-celebrity teenage girls, Amy May and Mia, to extort money from their wealthy parents. But when the kidnappers make a mess of the situation the girls find themselves in the hands of a decidedly more sinister villain. Galloway likes to think of himself as a higher class of criminal and when he realises that Amy May is an Olympic standard gymnast, he decides to take advantage of the situation, using a combination of sly manipulation, threats and blackmail to coerce the girls into working for him. Galloway isn't a fool and he has all the cards in his hand, but somehow Amy May has to push herself to the limit to save not just herself, but her best friend too.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846471486</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Zadie Smith
|title=NW
|rating=4.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Fans of Zadie Smith have had a seven year wait since her last book ''On Beauty''. In ''NW'', Smith returns to more of the issues addressed in her brilliant debut novel [[White Teeth by Zadie Smith|White Teeth]]. Set in parts of London that should be obvious from the title, the book takes the lives of four people who grew up on a rough estate and looks at how they have moved on - or not. All four still live nearby the estate where they grew up. There's multi-cultural tension and the have and have nots of power and money and Smith looks at how much individuals are in control of their destiny and ability to rise out of their upbringing, and how chance encounters can bring you back to your past with a bump.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241144140</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=John Buchan
|title=Huntingtower
|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Dickson McCunn is on his travels through rural Scotland when he meets a man he doesn't warm to at first, by the name of John Heritage. They are quite chalk and cheese – McCunn an older man, who has only just sold up his very well-known Glasgow grocery shop and made this trip his first steps into retirement on a complete whim. Heritage is younger, English, and a soldier. McCunn seems the old Romantic, Heritage modern poetry in contrast. But when they meet up it's at the edge of the Huntingtower estate, a coastal country house, guarded by suspicious landlords turning guests away and unfriendly foreign types, and found to contain a young beauty who just happens to be the love of Heritage's life, since they met a few years previous. She is being coerced into staying against her will, but lo and behold – the cynical Heritage can come over all chivalrous and try and rescue her – with desperate consequences for both men…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184697223X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jillian Larkin
|title=The Flappers: Ingenue
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Gloria Carmody and Jerome Johnson fled Chicago for New York to escape the mob and the police after Gloria killed a man. They thought that their love would be enough to get them through – but a white woman and a black man living together will need a lot more than that to get a happy ending. After witnessing another murder, Jerome's sister Vera knows that New York is about to get even more dangerous for the pair, but can she find them to warn them in time? Meanwhile Lorraine Dyer, formerly Gloria's best friend, is also trying to find them – but in her case she wants revenge on Gloria. As for Clara Knowles, former 'Queen Sheba of the flapper scene', she may be back in New York but she's not going back to the speakeasies and parties. She's happy with quiet, respectable Marcus Eastman. Until she gets an intriguing offer...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0552565059</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Robert Shepherd
|title=Westminster: A biography, from earliest times to the present
|rating=5
|genre=History
|summary=There seems to be no shortage of ways in which the history of London can be told, and as befitting an experienced historical and political biographer, Shepherd has found another interesting variation on the theme. In this superbly detailed and exhaustively researched volume, he brings us the story of Westminster, the royal capital that became the birthplace of parliamentary government and the centre of a world power. Over 1500 years ago it was Thorney Island, a secluded area on the banks of the Thames. It then became a village, yet a very grand one comprising a spiritual centre, a royal ceremonial stage and later a political capital, encompassing buildings such as the Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, and 10 Downing Street. Against this stage has been enacted the history of a nation, of the monarchs and politicians who for better and worse shaped the events of the last thousand years.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0826423809</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=James Mayhew
|title=Katie and the Starry Night
|rating=4
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=When Katie goes out with her Grandma to museums and art galleries interesting things always seem to happen whenever Grandma takes a little nap! This time Katie and Grandma have come to see an exhibition of Van Gogh paintings, and as Grandma rests Katie climbs into ''The Starry Night'' painting and begins her adventure!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408304651</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
|title=ParaNorman
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Things are not easy when you're the only kid in town who can see, and talk to, ghosts. You can't bury your own grandma in peace without other ghosts asking you to pass on messages to those they left behind. You can't study biology without the toad you're supposed to dissect asking for a better end. And you can't take an unwanted starring lead in the school pageant, even when it's a special one for the three-hundredth anniversary of the town's own witch trial, without getting a message from beyond that means the legacy of that historical event will be a life or death matter…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444909886</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Joss Stirling
|title=Seeking Crystal
|rating=3.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Crystal Brook has always struggled with her paranormal gifts, but meeting the Benedict brothers makes things even worse. While her sister Diamond finds her soulfinder in Trace, Crystal can't stand his conceited brother Xav. After an unforeseen attack, though, the unlikely pairing will have to pool their resources to save their families.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192793519</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Gavin Esler
|title=Lessons from the Top: How Successful Leaders Tell Stories to Get Ahead - And Stay There
|rating=4
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=As a journalist and broadcaster, Gavin Esler has interviewed everyone from Bill Clinton to Angelina Jolie, and now he’s taking what he’s learned from those chats to bring us ''Lessons from the top…how successful leaders tell stories to get ahead – and stay there''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846684994</amazonuk>
}}
