The Ginnie West Collection

About the Book

Book:  The Ginnie West Collection

Author: Monique Bucheger

Genre: Christian fiction, middle grade

Book 1: THE SECRET SISTERS CLUB

Twelve-year-old BFF’s Ginnie West and Tillie Taylor, want to be sisters. Ginnie’s widowed dad plus Tillie’s divorced mom could equal a lifetime of round-the-clock girl talk and slumber parties. Too bad Dad vowed to never marry again. Ginnie and Tillie come up with the perfect scheme to change his mind: ‘Operation Secret Sisters’ (aka OSS). After all, if they can’t get Dad to move on, Tillie can’t move in.
Things get more complicated when Ginnie stumbles across her mom’s hidden journals. Ginnie can finally get to know the mother she doesn’t remember and her dad doesn’t talk about—if Dad doesn’t take them away.

Book 2: TROUBLE BLOWS WEST

Putting her body in motion before her brain is in gear creates a mountain of problems for 12 year-old Ginnie West. She is certain that defending her twin brother, Toran, from the biggest bully in sixth grade was the right thing to do. But Ginnie couldn’t be more wrong. She quickly learns that Toran doesn’t appreciate being rescued by a girl any better than Pierce likes being knocked down by one.

When Pierce seeks revenge on Ginnie, Toran sets aside his anger and helps her plot a payback prank at Pierce’s house. Sadly, Ginnie learns that Pierce has a reason for being a bully when she sees his dad drop him to the floor like a ragdoll. Realizing he’s a boy in big trouble, Ginnie decides to be his ally, because he won’t let her be his friend.

Book 3: SIMPLY WEST OF HEAVEN 

Twelve-year-old BFFs Ginnie and Tillie are matchmaking geniuses. Sweet! Not long after they schemed to get Ginnie’s widowed dad to fall in love with Tillie’s divorced mom, Ginnie stumbled upon her late mom’s journals, making life even more awesome sauce … until her dad confiscated the journals, determined to protect Ginnie from a danger he won’t name.

Ginnie is counting on her future sister’s help to make Dad change his mind, but Tillie’s not so sure the ghost of Ginnie’s mom will make a good addition to their new family tree. The girls’ world gets flipped upside-down when a blast from the past shows up and makes Tillie go nutburgers. Ginnie is torn between helping her best friend and what could be the answer to her deepest wish.

My Review:
I’m writing this review from the viewpoint of a Christian school teacher who spent many years teaching middle school.  This is going to be a longer review than normal.  Here’s what I would want my parents to know about this series:

The first three books of the “Ginnie West” series are gathered together in this one collection.  Each of these books are full length novels, and the whole collection contains 913 pages, so there’s quite a bit of reading here.  The targeted audience for these books would be middle school. The books are clean; contain no foul language; and uphold good standards.  When there’s a situation that a character steps out of line or has wrong behavior, it’s addressed in a corrective and moral way in the book.  Even though there’s mention of the characters attending church and Sunday School, I would not classify these books as Christian fiction. The adults in the book do not specifically reference Scripture in dealing with the situations that come up with the tweens in the story, but as I mentioned before, they are dealt with in an appropriate way.

The setting of the story would appeal to tweens.  There’s a ranch, horses, and interesting situations about life on the ranch.  The main character, Ginnie, is a spunky, impulsive twelve year old girl who lives life every much by her emotions.  Her twin brother, Toran, is laid back and mature.  Both are extremely loyal to their friends.  Even though Ginnie is impulsive and acts before she thinks things through, she genuinely loves her family and friends, and has a heart for helping others.  Tillie, who is Ginnie’s best friend has a very sweet, loving personality and supports the twins in all things.  Ginnie and Toran have been brought up by their dad, as their mother died when they were three.

In this series, Ginnie and Tillie decide that they want to be real sisters, not just best friends, and they decide to match up Tillie’s mom with Ginnie’s dad. There’s a cute “Parent Trap” vibe to their attempts, and it’s a fun part of the storyline that stretches through all three books. 
Here’s what I appreciated about these books:  The tweens in the story sometimes act without thinking and Ginnie especially could be mouthy.    However, the adults always corrected with love, but held them accountable for their words and actions.  These tweens are still very much twelve year olds, and the author kept their actions, emotions,  dress, and activities appropriate for the age.  Ginnie and Tillie are more tomboy than teenager.  That was a refreshing change in middle school literature.

Here’s why I would want a parent reading this series along with their child:  These tweens have fun, but some of the characters in this series face some difficult situations:  loss of a parent; bullying; verbal and physical abuse; battling fear; seeing a beloved member of the family handle their moral failure in a redeeming way.  The author handles these situations in an appropriate way with no graphic description, but a sensitive tween might need some conversation about what is happening with these characters.

Overall, I thought the author has done a nice job with this series. Even as a senior citizen, I found myself absorbed in the storyline and loved these characters.  I’m looking forward to see what happens next with Ginnie and her friends, and hope that the series continues with them as they grow up.  
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.  All opinions are my own.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

When Monique isn’t writing, you can find her playing taxi driver to one or more of her 12 children, plotting her next novel, scrapbooking, or being the “Mamarazzi” at any number of child-oriented events.

Even though she realizes there will never be enough hours in any given day, Monique tries very hard to enjoy the journey that is her life. She shares it with a terrific husband, her dozen children, twelve grand-darlings, too many cats, and many real and imaginary friends. She is the author of several books in three series and hopes to write many more.

More from Monique

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the Kickoff of The Ginnie West Collection (Books 1, 2, and 3) of the Ginnie West Adventures series. This omnibus edition includes The Secret Sisters Club, Trouble Blows West and Simply West of Heaven.

The series starts with The Secret Sisters Club and introduces the reader to 12-year-old best friends, Ginnie West and Tillie Taylor. Ginnie’s mother died when she was 3 ½ in a tragic accident and Tillie’s birth dad hit the road 6 years before the series starts.

Tillie, especially, wants a “whole” family again and who would make a better sister than her BFF? When she suggests to Ginnie that their parents would also benefit by marrying, their scheme, Operation: Secret Sisters is formed.

Things get more complicated when Ginnie discovers a box of her dead mom’s journals and reads one, getting to know the mother she doesn’t remember and her dad doesn’t talk about. Discovering the journals brings up questions and feelings that Ginnie didn’t expect and she struggles to reconcile her desire to know her real mom and while caring about her “new” mom.

Trouble Blows West takes a complete turn from Book 1 when the biggest bully in 6^th grade goes after Ginnie’s twin brother, Toran,  and results in Ginnie knocking the bully, Pierce, on his rear in front of the whole student body in the  cafeteria on page 2. Things get more complicated when the reader realizes that Pierce is being abused at home. Ginnie doesn’t find out right away—but when she does, Ginnie, Toran, and Tillie decide to become Pierce’s allies—because he won’t let them be his friends. Trouble Blows West is a story of kids on the opposite sides of many issues who try to come to some peaceful understandings.

Because of her great influence in my life, I made my high school creative writing teacher, Mrs. Marion Joyce Johnson, a character in this book years ago. A fun happenstance has recently occurred. Mrs. Johnson’s real life son is Col. Greg Johnson, pilot and astronaut for the Space Shuttle Endeavor. I reached out to Greg who read: Trouble Blows West and fell in love with Ginnie and her family. He has graciously written a Foreword for the book.

Simply West of Heaven starts three weeks after The Secret Sisters Club ends. The one thread that wasn’t reconciled in Book 1 is resolved in this book—and the thread opens up a whole lot of possibilities of fun and new adventures for Ginnie, Tillie, and the Wests. This book has my four best twists and guarantees the reader lots of surprises as the story unfolds. Hopefully readers will want to continue to read about Ginnie and Tillie in Book 4: Being West is Best.

The Ginnie West Adventures series truly is a labor of love for me. I enjoy sharing the West family and their stories with new and longtime readers. I especially love it when readers share with me their experiences of finding courage and peace to overcome their own trials and share those stories with me. I hope to empower and uplift my readers and love it when they connect with me.

Laugh lots … love much … write on!

Monique Bucheger

Blog Stops

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, December 16

Locks, Hooks and Books, December 16

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, December 17

Sara Jane Jacobs, December 18

deb’s Book Review, December 19

Blogging With Carol, December 19

Inklings and notions, December 20

For Him and My Family, December 21

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, December 22

Mary Hake, December 22

Texas Book-aholic, December 23

Sodbusterliving, December 24

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, December 25

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, December 26

She Lives To Read, December 27

Artistic Nobody, December 28 (Guest Review from Joni Truex)

Ashley’s Bookshelf, December 29

Splashes of Joy, December 29

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Monique is giving away the grand prize of a $75 Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Apple, or Google Play!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/104ff/the-ginnie-west-collection-celebration-tour-giveaway