Disclosure: I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.
Welcome to the Blog Tour & Giveaway for Simply West of Heaven by Monique Bucheger, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: Simply West of Heaven
Series: Ginnie West Adventure #3
Author: Monique Bucheger
Publisher: True West Publishing
Release Date: 2020
Genre: Middle-Grade Contemporary Fiction
Twelve-year-old BFFs 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.
PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TOUR GIVEAWAY
(1) winner will receive a $50 Amazon gift card OR winner’s choice of Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Apple, or Kobo!
Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule linked below. Giveaway will begin at midnight October 12, 2020 and last through 11:59 PM EST on October 19, 2020. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
*NOTE: This post contains affiliate links.
Review
Simply West of Heaven is part of an ongoing series of books called the Ginnie West Adventures. The key character is Ginnie West and she is a feisty young lady. Her life is filled with a lot of drama caused by her family and friends.
Ginnie is a twin and lost her mother at a young age. This young lady is very eager to learn more about her mother. Her father takes away a set of journals that the mother wrote, because there’s something he doesn’t want her to see.
Ginnie battles with her father over the journals. She is best-friends with Tillie, who is the daughter of her father’s girlfriend. Tillie and Ginnie are opposites, but want to be real sisters, anyway. They are continually begging their parents to hurry up and get married.
Meanwhile, the other family members have plenty of drama. You’ll love all the relationships and how the family works together.
There are many more family secrets. Many of the situations in the book are tough reading for the book’s intended audience of middle grade children. Although many children have soap-opera type families, this book seems to be written for an older audience.
The book is written from the voice of Ginnie. She goes into great detail of her emotions and the emotions of others who are suffering inner conflict. These emotions could be helpful to young readers, who may have similar feelings and families.
The author works hard to make the relationships complex. There are the typical sibling misunderstandings and reasons given for anger and mistrust. The book is a long one, at over 650 pages. After reading almost to the end, I longed for a happy ending and resolution to all the conflicts. But, it was a to-be-continued ending. There will be another book to answer all the questions.
@2020, copyright Lisa Ehrman
Subscribe for the Bonus Words and Latest Book Reviews!