Bobby March Will Live Forever by Alan Parks @AlanJParks @blackthornbks @RandomTTours #BobbyMarch #HarryMcCoy

Bobby March Will Live Forever
By Alan Parks
Rated: 5 stars *****

The plot is both gritty and gripping and very quickly gets into full-swing from the outset, with twists and turns to come throughout. It’s quite the page-turner on such an interesting dark back drop in Glasgow. Although this is book 3 in the series, it works very well as a standalone as well as part of the Harry McCoy series.
This is a book praised by Ian Rankin and Peter May.
Thanks to Blackthorn publishers for providing a book and for RandomThingsTours for inviting me to be part of the blogtour.
Follow on down to find out more about the author, the blurb and my review as well as website and social media links.

About The Author

Alan Parks has worked in the music industry for over twenty years. His debut novel Bloody January was shortlisted for the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière. He lives and works in Glasgow.

Bobby March Will Live Forever is the third Harry McCoy thriller

Blurb

Harry McCoy investigates the suspicious overdose of a rock legend and the disappearance of a young girl in this gripping thriller.

WHO IS TO BLAME WHEN NO ONE IS INNOCENT?

There’s a heatwave in Glasgow and the drugs trade is booming. The whole force is searching for missing thirteen-year-old Alice Kelly. All except Harry McCoy, who has been taken off the case after a run-in with the boss, and is instead sent alone to investigate the death of rock-star Bobby March, who has just overdosed in the Royal Stuart hotel.

The papers want blood. The force wants results. McCoy has a hunch. But does he have enough time?

Themes include inner-city poverty, gang warfare, the rise and fall of rock & roll stardom, illegal narcotics distribution and the growth of the IRA, seen through the eyes of his good-cop-in-a-gray-world, Detective Harry McCoy.
Will appeal to fans of Ian Rankin, Denise Mina, Peter May, William McIlvanney and Val McDermid, as well as TV series such as Idris Elba’s Luther

Review

Ingeniously, Alan Parks has chosen months of the year to be within his titles, the first being Bloody January, followed by February’s Son and this is his latest installment – Bobby March Will Live Forever. Set in 1970’s Glasgow in the underworld during a heatwave (proving it does get hot in Scotland), Harry McCoy is facing a hard time of it as he has involuntarily been taken off the case investigating the death of rockstar – Bobby March. It’s dark and twisty as well as evocative in this latest book in Tartan Noir.
The book is most definitely Glasgow with Central Station, The Barras and the named press being The Daily Record and The Evening Times all being mentioned, so there is plenty that people will recongnise or an familiarise themselves with.

The music scene is set-up well with Bobby March heading to London to do an important recording in the 1960’s. Fast forward to the 70’s – the era the book is predominantly set in, during a drugs and rock n roll world and the book captures the culture well, around this time and Bobby March seems like he’s a music legend, with graffiti around saying “Bobby March Will Live Forever”. He’s a character readers get to know as the book goes along and get a real feel for who he was and the grim lifestyle he had lived.
The book also takes a look at the social aspect of these times in the more impoverished parts of Glasgow, where there were people living who were very much set apart from the music scene, before focusing back onto the case, which leads them to the Barras to do some digging around. McCoy has quite the work ethic and an interest in finding the truth and bringing about justice, even when it means a few scrapes along the way.

There is a missing 13 year old and Harry McCoy has to find her, off the record. The pressure to discover more about Bobby March and his presumed overdose and the missing teen, can be felt as the pages turn.

Gritty and gripping on the dark backdrop of the music and drugs scenes of 1970’s Glasgow; Bobby March Will Live Forever is the latest Harry McCoy Thriller that keeps feeding the curiosity to the end.

I have read an extract of the next book – April Dead and readers are in for something equally as explosive and dramatic!

#BookReview by Lou – Happy Publication Day to @HollyH_Author for Coming Home To Brightwater Bay by Holly Hepburn @simonschusterUK @RandomTTours

Coming Home To Brightwater Bay
By Holly Hepburn
Rated: 5 Stars *****

It is with great pleasure that I am kicking off the blog tour for the delightfully romantic – Coming Home To Brightwater Bay. It is a book that will charmingly feed all senses with its scenery, food and lush looking guys, that may well have readers wanting to visit Orkney.

Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to review and for sending me a book via Simon and Schuster publishers.

Follow onto a bit about the author, the blurb and full review to read more of my thoughts on this wonderful book.

About the Author

Holly Hepburn is the much-loved author of commercial women’s fiction. She lives near London with her grey tabby cat, Portia. They both have an unhealthy obsession with Marmite.

Follow Holly on Twitter @HollyH_Author.

Blurb

**The BRAND NEW series from Holly Hepburn, perfect for fans of Cathy Bramley and Katie Fforde**
On paper, Merina Wilde has it all: a successful career writing the kind of romantic novels that make even the hardest hearts swoon, a perfect carousel of book launches and parties to keep her social life buzzing, and a childhood sweetheart who thinks she’s a goddess. But Merry has a secret: the magic has stopped flowing from her fingers. Try as she might, she can’t summon up the sparkle that makes her stories shine. And as her deadline whooshes by, her personal life falls apart too. Alex tells her he wants something other than the future she’d always imagined for them and Merry finds herself single for the first time since – well, ever.

Desperate to get her life back on track, Merry leaves London and escapes to the windswept Orkney Islands, locking herself away in a secluded clifftop cottage to try to heal her heart and rediscover her passion for writing. But can the beauty of the islands and the kindness of strangers help Merry to fool herself into believing in love again, if only long enough to finish her book? Or is it time for her to give up the career she’s always adored and find something new to set her soul alight?

The brand new series from Holly Hepburn, first published as four ebook parts: BROKEN HEARTS AT BRIGHTWATER BAY, SEA BREEZES AT BRIGHTWATER BAY, DANGEROUS TIDES AT BRIGHTWATER BAY and SUNSET OVER BRIGHTWATER BAY.

Review

Merry Wilde (Merina) , a bestselling author and her other half, Alex, just no longer fit together as snugly as, say, a jigsaw piece as that uncomfortable relationship chat comes. Whether you’ve been the instigator of it or on the receiving end, the feeling is relatable. She then moves to Orkney to begin a new life, after seeing an advertisement for a Writer in Residence ro promote reading for pleasure around the island and work with the libraries, despite currently having a case of writer’s block to deal with. On the island she meets Bridget McGinty, who is a friendly, welcoming sort of woman, who intorduces her to Niall. It is great that he isn’t “typical” librarian-like in how he looks.

The author – Holly Hepburn seems to have a passion for Orkney that oozes out of the pages in the tone and descriptions of the island as Merry sets out on her new life adventure, looking for escapism and to start her new job.

The book is warm with glints of humour sprinkled throughout, the type that is laugh out loud and is a joy to read. Readers attitudes and attitudes to events, especially when held in a library, is captured especially well and are slightly pointed, which is brave realism and will perhaps have people really taking note and find thought-provoking, before turning to a positive to her Merry’s actual writer’s event to have the story carry readers onwards.

Magnús Ólaffson may well be a Viking, readers will have to find out, but he captures Merry’s eye, so does Niall. As Merry is such a likeable character, she is easy to root for, hoping she gets a good life in Orkney and that her broken-heart does mend. She is also a character with anxieties of doing events and also not wanting to jump into any new relationship straight away and commit, which is rather commendable and also plays on the “will she, won’t she” element. There is also the ex, who left her in a state, leaving her little texts. This is a book that also heartwarmingly demonstrates strong friendships and just what that means, but there is some tension there too, over a guy.

There is the romance of the scenery, food and the lighthouse, which just delights on the pages.

Coming Home to Brightwater Bay has a warm, cosy feeling to it, that whisks readers away for some escapism. This charming book keeps you guessing until the end as to who or even if Merry will ever fall completely in love.

Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse – What You Urgently Need To Know @NinaDSchick @Octopus_Books @RandomTTours #DeepFakes

Deep Fakes is quite some read, but I wanted to take it on in the blog tour that I was invited to by Anne Cater from Random Things Tours because it seems to me to be one of the most important books within this technological age to help innocent people from being caught up in the deep fakes that people do, as cons and also to create fake news and much more. It is a great book that seems to me to forewarn and forearm against this type of, lets face it, despicable activity. I also thank Octopus Books publishing company for giving me a physical book to review from.
Please find the synopsis and my full review below.

“In writing this book, it is my modest aim to help you understand how dangerous
and untrustworthy our information ecosystem has become, and how its harms
extend far beyond politics – even into our private and intimate life. It is my hope
that this understanding can help us come together to bolster our defences and
start fighting back. As a society, we need to be better at building resilience to the
Infocalypse. Understanding what is happening is the first step.”

In Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse, Nina Schick warns us urgently of the impending
information overload (known as the ‘Infocalypse’) and explains the dangerous political
consequences of this Infocalypse, both in terms of national security and what it means for
public trust in politics. Deep Fakes have been around for less than three years, to silence
and for revenge and fraud. Government, business and society are completely unprepared.
Schick also unveils what it means for us as individuals, how Deep Fakes will be used to
intimidate and to silence, for revenge and fraud, and how unprepared governments and
tech companies are.
The malicious use of Deep Fakes is not only a real threat for democracy but they take
the manipulation of voters to new levels. With the impending US election, and with vast
amounts of money being spent of social media, it is expected that Deep Fakes will become
a huge story later this year – – AI generated fake content is here for good, and we will have to
figure how to navigate a world where seeing is no longer believing.

Review

Technology is moving at a great rate and the probability of most people coming across deep fakes is high, as this book suggests that with every new bit of technology. It feels a deeply uncomfortable read, but one that is sadly necessary to be better informed and armed to spot deep fakes. It is a very important book for our times. One that I wish didn’t need to even be considered having to be written, but glad that it has been and it really hits hard the way that segments of society is so menacing that innocent people get hurt, as get reported on our news and consumer programmes at times and global issues get knocked askew.

It is very informative and even if you are unsure of what a deep fake is, Nina Schick has carefully taken time to explain in plain language what one is before really delving into the misuse of technology and how it has been used to skew politics and other normal things we partake in our lives on everyday platforms like You Tube and more. It also doesn’t miss out deep-fake porn either. It’s enough to make anyone with a conscience to think about the real and dangerous, harmful consequences of deep-fakes. As uncomfortable and real this is, the author has managed to not go down any scare-mongering route tactics.

She goes into what has been happening within Russia and the US in part and brings it right up to 2020 and what has been put out about Covid 19 from people who are supposed to be trusted and hold the most power, not just in their respective countries, but in the world to what is being put out about shootings in the States. The book shows across the world there are internal and global threats that there is a huge impact on everyone’s lives when social media is filled with fakes and misinformation and also goes further still in showing how much damage has been caused to people’s lives who have been victims of fraud.

After, responsibly alerting people to how dangerous the Infocalypse has become it ends on a slightly more positive note saying where to check your facts, such as BBC Fact Checker. Basically safe places where you can get up to the minute facts on what you’ve seen around the web, including social media, so that you can get the truth and figure out if what you’ve seen has been a fake or not and gives practical ways to up your defense in the onslaught of cyber-crime and fakes.

The book is there to help build some resilience and knowledge to protect yourself a bit more against the people who get their kicks out of conning innocent people. There are nuggets of how AI can be good as well, but it is more of a focus to educate people, so they can be better prepared for the parts where technology itself will not protect and it does it in a thought-provoking and considered manner.

Escape To The French Farmhouse by Jo Thomas @jo_thomas01 @TransWorldBooks #RandomThingsTours #BlogTour #Fiction #BookReview #EscapeToTheFrenchFarmhouse

Escape To The French Farmhouse
By Jo Thomas
Rated: 4 Stars ****

Today I present my review of a book that is a treat for the senses and a great French escape that has its twists and warmth.
Thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on the Random Things Blog Tour and publisher Transworld Books for sending me a PDF copy of the book. My review is unbiased.
The book is published 9th July 2020.

About the Author

Jo Thomas worked for many years as a reporter and producer, first for BBC Radio 5, before moving on to Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and Radio 2’s The Steve Wright Show. In 2013 Jo won the RNA Katie Fforde Bursary. Her debut novel, The Oyster Catcher, was a runaway bestseller in ebook and was awarded the 2014 RNA Joan Hessayon Award and the 2014 Festival of Romance Best Ebook Award. Jo lives in the Vale of Glamorgan with her husband and three children.

Blurb

Can she find her recipe for happiness?
Del and her husband Ollie moved to a beautiful village in Provence for a fresh start after years of infertility struggles. But six weeks after they arrive, they’re packing the removal van once more. As Del watches the van leave for England, she suddenly realises exactly what will make her happier… a new life in France – without Ollie.
Now alone, all Del has is a crumbling farmhouse, a mortgage to pay and a few lavender plants. What on earth is she going to do? Discovering an old recipe book at the market run by the rather attractive Fabian, Del starts to bake. But can her new-found passion really help her let go of the past and lead to true happiness?
A heart-warming tale about reclaiming your life, set amongst the lavender fields of Provence.
Perfect escapism from the author of Late Summer in the Vineyard and The Honey Farm on the Hill.

Review

I felt to get me in the mood for my adventure to France, I would surround myself with French classical music, just for fun as I immerse myself in France amongst lovely patisseries, market places, coffee shops, lavender and the French Farmhouse, Del has escaped to. This is far from a whimsical story. It is one of courage, hope, sadness, happiness and moving onwards with life. It makes for a great escape to Provence, France. It is a very pleasant read indeed and one that I enjoyed.

Rifts appear in relationships as other things happen in life and just mount up. This is what is portrayed with great emotion and tenderness at the start of Del and Ollie’s tale. This is a tale about entering into a new era of life. For Del and Ollie it will be apart.
France however sounds idyllic with its market stalls selling anything from chandelier’s to lavender and then there are the patisseries with their lovely baking. For the bakers out there, there’s plenty of inspiration from macaroons to using lavender as a herb for tulles.
The contrast is stark between this and the other realities of life that Ollie and Del have to deal with. A place can look nice, but there can still be so much going on, including the challenges that being expats can impose and the decisions that have to be made, whether to stay or leave. It casts a story of how being an expat takes some getting used to as there is a whole new way of living with so many differences, even small ones, to get used to and it isn’t that you wake up in another country and can or should expect it to be like that one you left.

There is strength of character depicted through Del, it’s realistically written though, from the heartache and difficult decisions to make, to the moving onwards with her life. She does however make a friend in Carine and her dog – Ralph as you follow their lives and follow the scent of lavender throughout.

Taking second chances and giving second chances also features as does romance and emotional challenges to overcome when people move on. There are however some really nice feel-good factors and warmth to be found throughout this book.

Although occasionally rushed near the beginning, the book is a very good read and I recommend it. So, escape to the French Farmhouse and explore a new life in this vibrantly bound book.