Blog Tour, The Genesis Inquiry, by Olly Jarvis. @hobeckbooks.

Welcome to my spot on the blog tour for the amazing new book just published by the very talented Olly Jarvis. I am very happy to be sharing my spot with Louise https://bookmarksandstages.home.blog/. We will be telling you our thoughts on the brilliant new book The Genesis Inquiry. Thanks to publishers and blog tour organisers Hobeck Books for my copy of the book and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

I have been a big fan of Olly Jarvis since his first published book . In fact I have read and reviewed all his books, which you can read on my blog by searching Olly Jarvis.

But today I will tell you my thoughts in his new book The Genesis Inquiry. Please check out all the other bloggers on this tour and see their lovely posts too.

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Description.

Is there one last undiscovered, great truth?

A moment zero, a place in time that links all cultures and creeds.

A revelation that will unite us all and change the way we see history forever.

Brilliant but burnt-out barrister Ella Blake accepts an apparently simple brief: investigate the mysterious disappearance of an African American polymath from his rooms at Cambridge University. The Inquiry quickly becomes the greatest challenge of her life – solving the mystery of Genesis.

Facing danger at every turn, can Ella find the answers to the riddles and clues left by the missing genius?Reunited with her estranged daughter, the Inquiry sends them on a quest across the world and through ancient texts.

What is the secret that binds us all?Who is behind the dark forces that will stop at nothing to prevent the world from knowing the truth

Published October 12th 2021

My Thoughts.

The Genesis Inquiry is a little different from Olly Jarvis’ previous books. The Author still uses his own experience of legal knowledge but in an alternative and very interesting way than his previous books. The Genesis Inquiry is a book that entertained and taught me a lot of factual information. It is obvious that a lot of research has gone into this book.

The main character Ella Blake is a barrister who was well known in her area but has been on an extended break for a while. Ella is offered a job which seems a lot simpler in the beginning than how it actually turns out to be. Ella does know that it will bring her closer in distance to her daughter and that has to be a good thing. As the pages turn, we follow Ella, her daughter and a few other interesting characters as they search for a missing polymath from Cambridge and try to find out what was so important about his work before other not so savoury people find it. The book leads us across many locations as Ella cracks the clues she finds along the way.

Legal thrillers are my favourite kind of book. But this one is a little different as the legal work does not happen in court. Ella uses her legal knowledge to try to solve the mystery of a missing man and what he was working on at the time. The Genesis Inquiry made me consider many worldly issues and made me think about both history and the future of the planet and humanity. It’s a book that I got totally engrossed in as I wanted to really understand the theories that the missing polymath was studying and the clues that led Ella to find out what it was. I would say it’s a book that needed concentration and is not a light read. But it is highly entertaining, clever and extremely well written. I love Jarvis’ writing style and he is absolutely my go to author that I wouldn’t need to read the blurb on any of his books before I bought one. I know i will enjoy whatever he writes.

There is an eclectic bunch of characters in the story. My favourite was a young computer hacker called Jay. Young, a little down on his luck but full of optimism and compassion, he and Ella help each other along the way. Like Ella did, I also grew to have a soft spot for this young man.

The Genesis Inquiry is packed with intrigue, mystery, thrills, intensity and spectacular knowledge. I’m already wondering if Jarvis will write a sequel? I for sure would love to see Ella Blake again.

Follow this blog tour for the rest of this week. There are sure to be so many great things said about this book. Also check out Hobeck books for many more titles.

Links.

Blog Tour, The Genesis Inquiry, by Olly Jarvis. @hobeckbooks.

• Goodreads
• Twitter
• Amazon

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Queen Bee by Jane Fallon. Book Review.

Jane Fallon is an Author whose books I would read without knowing the blurb, plot or seeing the cover. I have read a few of her previous books and all the ones I have read, have a similar style. They have a style that I love. I had no doubt that Queen Bee would be the same. Thank you to Netgalley and publisher Michael Joseph for gifting me a copy of this book. These are my unbiased thoughts on Queen Bee.

Description :

Welcome to The Close – a beautiful street of mansions, where gorgeous Stella is the indisputable Queen Bee . . .

It is here that Laura, seeking peace and privacy after her marriage falls apart, rents a tiny studio. Unfortunately, her arrival upsets suspicious Stella – who fears Laura has designs on her fiancé, Al.

When Laura stumbles on the big secret Al is hiding, suddenly Stella’s perfectly controlled world, not to mention Laura’s future, are threatened.

Taking a chance on beating Al at his own twisted game, these two former strangers are fast becoming best friends.

But has Laura forgotten that revenge never comes without a sting in the tail?

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My Thoughts:

Although I was sure I would love this book going only by the author, I wanted to read a few reviews first.  One of the reviews I read mentioned a similarity to the set up of Desperate Housewives. I used to love that series so that made me more excited to read Queen Bee.

The plot is set around a Close of expensive mansions, rich couples who have nannies and house keepers and ” keeping up with the Jones'” is very much a thing.  The men work and earn far to much, and the women go to spa’s and organise parties. But then along comes Laura who rents the back house from one of the couple’s until she is able to find her next real home. Having nothing in common with these people Laura is not immediately accepted. In fact she is ousted due to no fault of her own.

The relationship between Laura and the Queen Bee of the street is a complicated and strange one.

I found Queen Bee Stella to be an intruing character, at some points I found her to be a little unbelievable

“…doesn’t even know how to warm up a pizza”

Can that really be true that first world women don’t know how to heat up a pizza because they have had people do it for them forever? That just shows how spoilt Stella is. Laura is the opposite and has to survive independently and work for everything she has. It was very interesting to see these 2 women navigate their lives together and separately. 

The Jane Fallon books I have read before have involved a revenge theme quite a lot. I was expecting the revenge to be against Queen Bee, but it wasn’t, in some ways this made it even better.

The book holds all the perfect escapism, easy reading, funny and engaging words that I hoped it would.

The book is up to date and modern with even a mention of my latest favourite Netflix binge watch.

” I don’t think that’s how it works.  I wish I’d stuck with Ozark” 

Jane Fallon’s books are addictively brilliant. I have loved all the ones I have read and this one is no different. Yes, different characters and a different plot, but the same fun, satisfying, escapism read. I loved it. Now I’m awaiting the next book Jane Fallon writes.

Links:

Twitter @JaneFallon

Goodreads

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

 

Book Review: For The Love of Ash, by Taylor Lavati.

Thank you very much to Author Taylor Lavati for providing me with an ARC copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

Description:

Maggie Larken is a reformed party girl. After her parent’s death, she’s left to raise Asher, her nine-year-old brother.

Luke Wilson has done everything his parents have ever asked of him. A new teacher, Luke constantly questions where his life is headed.

When Luke and Maggie meet, neither is in the market for a relationship. But sometimes life has other plans. Both navigate new waters as they try to decide where their priorities should lie, while also seizing what they want.

In this heartbreakingly real tale of love, Maggie and Luke discover what being a family truly means.

Published March 9th 2015

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My Thoughts:

This is the first book that I have read from Taylor Lavati, I suspect it won’t be the last. I really enjoyed this book. The book tells of Maggie and Asher whose parents have died, so Maggie takes over the Mum role and gets custody to look after her much younger brother Ash. Maggie meets Luke in one of her classes, we hear all about Luke’s story and his family too. The story mostly revolves around Maggie, Asher and Luke. This is a contemporary romance story which felt real and had me believing and being right there with the characters. 

I felt that I could empathise with Maggie and Luke. The characters were written so well that you managed to get an insight into their heads and why they made the decisions that they made. I didn’t always agree with the decisions, but you could understand them. I didn’t really have a favourite character in this book. Ash seems like a great kid and I got an image of him in my head as a cute little boy with dark curls and innocent eyes.

There were plenty of supporting characters, each who came with a smaller storyline of their own. Luke’s siblings, Lindsay, Lauren, Lisa and Liam. Yes, they all begin with the letter ‘L’, I suspect that that was to show the control of their parents? But mine and my two brothers names all begin with the letter ‘A’, so I’m not sure. I would like to ask Taylor what her thoughts were on this inclusion.

Luke is a good character, you can tell he has a huge heart, but has gone through some tough times in his life. Maggie asks him about one of his tattoos, which is a clock. Luke’s response in his explanation of the clock was that the clock reminds him not to loose track of time:

“…time is constant. Its always moving, and I just don’t want to forget about my priorites”.

I like this quote for myself too, and it does give an insight into Luke’s mind. There is a nice bit towards the end of the book where Luke is talking to his therapist, he wants to understand what’s wrong with him!! Look out for it if you choose to read this book.

Maggie’s entire world and thoughts revolve around Ash and making everything the best she possibly can for him, she is quite an inspiring character. The way she came across to me, made me want to be her friend and say, Hey Maggie, you’re doing a great job, relax!

The storyline was more exciting than I was expecting, I love that it had a few twists and turns, it was enticing and made you want to keep reading to find out what would happen to each of the characters. I continued to think of Maggie, Ash and Luke after I finished this book, I even thought about Luke’s brother Liam too!

Lavati is a talented writer, her descriptive words are great for my senses:

“I was assaulted by the smell of freshly ground coffee beans. I loved coffee – everything from the scent, to the rush, to the warm way it swam down my throat. Just thinking about it made me want to snuggle by my non existent fireplace”

Its quite amusing actually as Maggie orders her coffee, drinks it without enjoying it because she didn’t realise that she has to add her own milk and sugar from a different area! Then claims to Luke it’s because she is more of a ‘Dunkin Donuts’ girl! I did chuckle to myself.

Overall, this book is great and I recommend it to you all. I will be following Lavati on Twitter and seeing what other books she has written and is writing. She is talented writer with a flare for emotional characters and great descriptive writing.

If you choose to read this book, or have read it already, I would love to hear your thoughts.

You can find Taylor Lavati here – @taylorjlavati

and here –    taylorlavati.com

Happy Reading!