Name: Genesis Girl
ISBN: 9781942664956

Jennifer Bardsley

Eighteen-year-old Blanca has lived a sheltered life. Her entire childhood has been spent at Tabula Rasa School where she s been protected from the Internet. Blanca has never been online and doesn t even know how to text. Her lack of a virtual footprint has made her extremely valuable and upon graduation Blanca, and those like her, are sold to the highest bidders. Blanca is purchased by Cal McNeal, who uses her to achieve personal gain. But the McNeal s are soon horrified by just how obedient and non-defiant Blanca is. All those mind-numbing years locked away from society have made her mind almost impenetrable. By the time Blanca is ready to think for herself, she is trapped. Her only chance of escape is to go online."

Genesis Girl

Sven Test

This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.

What drew me in was the title of the book. It has my name on the cover! When I read what it was about, I knew I had to read it. I can barely live without my phone. I'm glued to it! The idea of someone who's a total virgin when it comes to the Internet was mind boggling to me. In this generation, pretty much everyone has at least accessed the Internet, whether its social media or to search for an assignment.

In the world of Genesis Girl, people came up with the idea of having their children completely clean of the Internet due to an epidemic of using phones, which caused cancer. These children would grow up in a school devoid of Internet and would be auctioned off. These virginal-Internet teens were very valuable and their bidders would pay a lot of money to own one of them. They wouldn't even have a virtual fingerprint. No one would even find a picture of them in the Internet.

For a Vestal, a clear Internet history is the most important thing. Without that, I'm nothing. Our elusive privacy is what makes us valuable.

Blanca is taught to receive orders and comply them. She doesn't have a mind of her own, thoughts of her own. Everything she does has to come from someone ordering her to do it. She won't make decisions. They have to be made for her. This would frustrate me so much. I get that that's how she was raised, but it was sad to see her being so lost without having anything to do. I loved the first page of Genesis Girl. Blanca is kicking someone's ass! So for me to later find out she's not like that was disappointing. Throughout the novel, Blanca grows so much! It was so gratifying to read.

Overall, Genesis Girl is a very entertaining, imaginative and unique story that will intrigue you from beginning to end.

I received a finished copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.

Helena Cristina Nogueira Pereira

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

I was immediately intrigued by the idea of GENESIS GIRL at first glance. I, for one, am attached to my iphone pretty much every waking hour, so the idea of someone having absolutely no virtual footprint, never having been online at all, was, to say the least, pretty interesting to me. You see, after the iphone cancer-causing epidemic that occurred, families decided to start a safe school where children would be raised away from the internet. There, they grew up to be Vestals, a person with no virtual footprint, and were considered to be very valuable. At a certain age they would be auctioned off to the highest bidder, where they would leave the school and go to live with that person for the remainder of their days. What was even more intriguing to me was the way these characters were raised. Blanca, a Vestal raised in this fashion, had no idea what she wanted on a daily basis, never mind for her future, or even how to make her own decisions. She looked to her purchaser to make every decision in her life, down to the way she acts and responds to situations, and even what she could or could not say to others in a simple conversation.

I have to admit GENESIS GIRL started off a bit slow for me, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this world of Blanca’s. I, for the most part, am not a sci-fi reader though, so I continued on with the hopes of my getting more invested… and that I did! I really enjoyed the way the story progressed, how Blanca’s life changed so much, and even the relationships that were formed between the other characters. Blanca also achieved a great level of personal growth throughout this time, which was quite fulfilling to witness.

Blanca’s purchaser, Cal, paid millions for Blanca and planned to use her for a very different reason than she expected. Rather than helping to sell soap as expected, Cal wanted Blanca to try to get his son, Seth, to come back home and talk to him. Seth, you see, was the complete opposite of Blanca. He was internet-addicted and ran a blog that focused on outing Vestals. He went so far as to post a picture of Blanca on the internet without her permission. Blanca had a tough time relating to Seth and his internet-obsessed ways, but soon she found herself becoming more and more interested in him in a romantic sense. She refused, however, to admit this… unless, of course, Cal told her to. Even when it came to her feelings for others, she couldn’t act on them or even speak them without Cal telling her to. Can you image living like that?? I think I’d go all crazy-pants!!

GENESIS GIRL was such an entertaining and unique story. I loved Jennifer Bardsley imaginative take on this futuristic world Blanca lived in. An imaginative, thought-provoking and fast-paced read that will leave you eagerly awaiting book two!
 

* Thank you to LovingDemBooks Bookstagram Tours & Jennifer Bardsley for including me in the bookstagram tour that’s scheduled for later this month, as well as for sending me a finished copy of Genesis Girl. *

Find this review and others like it at Lost in Literature!

Rachel

I received a free ARC copy from Month9Books to provide an honest review.

Genesis Girl takes a few pages to get into and understand the world Bardsley built. Blanca is a 18 year old girl who is pure from the internet, technology and virtual image. In this world there was a brain cancer epidemic caused by cell phones and other wireless technology and some parents wanted their children to be raised without it, making them Vestals. Vestals are harvested by companies to be their models and construct their public image for the masses to follow, or they are harvested by private citizens, also known as going Geisha. Blanca's future is at risk when a viral (journalist/paparazzi) breaks into the school, takes her picture and uploads it on his website. She ends up being harvested by a private citizen, who's estranged son was the viral who took her picture. She must now confront this viral in order to make her purchaser happy by reuniting them. Blanca is very obedient, but upset that she didn't get the typical Vestal life. She learns a little about technology and the Vestal history through the story, making her question everything she believes. 

The story takes on the extreme of tech addiction and tech avoidance showing both are not the right answer, but a happy between is possible. The pace is fast and the story builds/moves fast. It keeps the reader hooked. A lot happens in the last 80 pages or so and it was a bit confusing until it's explained better at the end. There was some short unnecessary subplot reveals that at this point feels unnecessary, maybe in the future books it will play a bigger role, but it just felt stacked onto everything else that was going on in the end. I really enjoyed the book, it was a fast read and kept me wanting to find out more about this world.

Genesis Girl

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