Welcome to the Reviewer Tour for The Secret Sisters Club by Monique Bucheger hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Series: Ginnie West Adventures: Book 1
Author: Monique Bucheger
Publisher: True West Publishing
Release Date: March 18, 2012
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction
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.
PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
My Review 💚
In The Secret Sisters Club we are introduced to the West family, revolving around 12 year old Ginnie West in particular. Ginnie has a twin brother, Toran, and a best friend, Tillie, who are her fellow musketeers, and a constant by her side. Ginnie and Toran lost their mother in a tragic accident when they were younger, and you can tell that it still pains their father to talk about her. Now that Ginnie is a preteen she is yearning to know as much about her as she can, craving that mother figure, and missing link, in her life.
Tille's situation is just as heartbreaking, with her father walking out on her and her mother a few years back. Tillie loves her mom, but sees the picturesque life her best friend has, and wants more than anything for Ginnie's dad to one day be her dad, and her and Ginnie can finally be real sisters.
It's with those feelings that the two girls hatch the "Parent Trap" plan, or Operation Secret Sister (OSS), focusing on getting their parents together. I have been obsessed with The Parent Trap since I was a little girl myself, so this instantly sparked my excitement. What neither girl realized was all the emotions that would come to the surface when the family dynamic starts shifting, and it is those emotions that I so deeply identify with.
I absolutely fell in love with the West family! Reading middle grade stories at my age is always such a trip. I can see both sides of the coin so to speak, understanding where both Ginnie and Tillie are coming from, while also identifying greatly with the adults point of view, especially since I too am going through the teenage years with my own children.
Ginnie is quite the spitfire, but is also incredibly emotional, and that is me in a nutshell. I can't even imagine what the West family went though, but love that the focus is on supporting all the members in your family, finding the truth, getting to the heart of the matter, and living in harmony. My favorite scenes where the interactions with the uncles, Uncle Jake and Uncle Ben. Uncle Ben is the wise patriarch that everyone wishes they had in their family and Uncle Jake is the comedy relief. I love them both so much, and could honestly see a book focused on them both.
The depth and emotion found in The Secret Sisters Club is not what I was expecting, but was age appropriate and perfect balanced, with wonderful writing that speaks a powerful message.
I'm so glad I found this sweet series and can't wait to see what next adventure awaits Ginnie and the West family.
My Rating: ★★★★
Other Books in the "Ginnie West Adventures" Series
Be sure to keep an eye out for future reviews from this series 💜
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
When Monique Bucheger 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.
CONNECT WITH MONIQUE: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram 
*I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from JustRead Tours. All views and opinions are completely honest, and my own.
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