Title: The Secret Sisters Club (Ginnie West Adventures #1)
Author: Monique Busheger
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction
Publishing Date: March 8, 2012
Publisher: Createspace
Length: 236 Pages
About the Book:
Twelve-year-old BFF’s Ginnie and Tillie, want to be sisters. Tillie’s divorced mom plus Ginnie’s widowed dad could equal a lifetime of round-the-clock girl talk and slumber parties. Too bad Dad vowed to never marry again. Ginnie and Tillie form a secret club. They come up with the perfect mission to change his mind: ‘Operation Secret Sisters’. Before long, Tillie seems happier about gaining a dad than a sister. Ginnie suspects that Tillie has turned ‘Operation Secret Sisters’ into a scam called ‘Operation Steal My Dad.’ Things get more complicated when Ginnie stumbles across her real mom’s hidden journals. Ginnie can finally get to know the mother she doesn’t remember and Dad doesn’t talk about. When Dad discovers she has the journals, he takes them away. Ginnie needs to figure out what the big mystery is before her relationship with her father and her best friend are ruined forever.
My Review:
I picked this one up because I thought it would be a fun read with a bit of a “Parent Trap” vibe. While it was present to some degree, this truly was it’s own story. The story was fast paced and always moving. Ginnie and Tillie came off as authentic tweens, along with all of the drama that comes with them. Many tween girls can probably relate to some of the raging emotions and insecurities that the girls face in this story. It’s good that while the kids have their freedoms, they also have strong parental figures that are both loving and firm. The book does touch on some difficult topics like alcoholism, domestic abuse, and loss of a parent. This should be kept in mind when allowing younger readers to dive into this book because it may not be the best fit for them.
*I received a copy of this book through JustRead tours. Thoughts and opinions expressed are mine alone.
Rating: 
***I read something in another review for this book that I strongly feel is worth the mention. I will admit I wasn’t knowledgeable about this but as a parent I would want to be made aware:
“While this is not listed as any type of religious fiction, there are references to the twins being in heaven before they were born. One place specifically talked about them being held by their grandmothers there. This is the Mormon teaching of human pre-existence and is not taught in the Bible, which made me uncomfortable to have it included in the story. This is the only doctrine that does show up here, so parents, you decide whether this is a concern in what is otherwise a sweet story.”
~Phyllis, Among the Reads
I liked the review.
Thank you 🙂