Celebrate Lit / December 21, 2020

The Ginnie West Collection

About the Book The Ginnie West Collection

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.

Click here to get your copy!

My Thoughts on The Ginnie West Collection:

Book One

What a sweet story! The girls are cute. The story moves along quickly. My daughters are loving this series as well. It is definitely for middle-grade girls but I did find it cute and enjoyed reading it as well.

We have horses here on our farm. My girls love horses! In fact, I would think it’d be safe to say that most children are enamored with horses. So this is going to appeal to most children. Boys may not want to read it, but some boys will.

This is a cute book. It does discuss death, divorce, and some abuse. They’re not discussed in gory details but definitely more suited to middle school than early elementary.

For the first book in a series, it definitely did its job and made me want to read the whole series. I suggest you just buy the whole series, to begin with so you can read them all at once and not have to pause in between.

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received through Celebrate Lit. All views expressed are only my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC regulations.

Book Two

This is the second book in the Ginnie West series. We had the pleasure of reading and reviewing the first book in this series as well. They do read best if read in order, but you can read them out of order if you prefer to be a bit confused.

In Trouble Blows West we meet Pierce who happens to be the bully of the sixth grade. Ginnie and her twin brother are in that class and unfortunately, Toran finds himself the victim of the bully. That is until his sister fights back for him.

Ginnie realizes that might not have been the best move when both her brother and the bully are now mad at her.

Pierce plans revenge because he has to show the world he can’t be bested by some girl. It’s then that Toran helps his sister with a plan. Unfortunately, they find out that Pierce is who he is because he’s being abused at home.

The characters are loveable and you really feel for them. As the reader, you find out earlier in the book than Ginnie and Toran do that Pierce is being abused. It gives quite a bit of material for talking with your children about abuse and how we might be able to spot someone who is abused. From there it’s a good chat on what to do when you know someone is being abused.

The other heavy topic that leads to good conversations is bullying. What should you do if you’re being bullied or know someone who is?

This is a good book that we recommend.

Book Three

My kids have been loving the Ginnie West series and I love knowing that they have good books to read. This is a fiction series about two little girls who want their parents to marry so they can be sisters.

Within the book and the series are ups and downs and trials that the girls go through. I feel I can’t say too much about this book without giving too much away! It’s good and it’s full of twists and turns.

This book is geared for middle school girls. I would definitely say this is a good age for this. It’s not a book or series that I would recommend for younger children as it does have lots of topics that might be too much for them like the loss of a parent, divorce, bullying, etc.

All in all, I have enjoyed this series and think it is very age-appropriate to the age range it’s geared towards. My girl’s ages 10, 14, 15, and 15 have enjoyed the whole series.

About the Author of The Ginnie West Collection

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 Secret Sisters Club

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

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

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. And I hope to empower and uplift my readers and love it when they connect with me.

Laugh lots … love much … write on!

Monique Bucheger