All Together West by Monique Bucheger & G L Rasmussen Blog Tour Book Review

About the Book

Book: All Together West: A Ginnie West Adventure

Authors: Monique Bucheger & G.L. Rasmussen

Genre: Upper Middle Grade

Release date: December 5, 2024

Families are complicated… and no one knows that better than 12 year-old Ginnie West. With her dad engaged to her best friend’s mom, this summer should be a dream come true. However, the return of Tillie’s birth father muddles the girls’ celebration.

On the plus side, Ginnie’s dream of training on her beloved horse, Calliope, is finally happening. However, she soon discovers that her riding experience is not enough when Tillie, her best friend, and Toran, her twin brother, and their new horses outshine Calliope in performance.

To complicate matters further, Ginnie finds herself in the midst of an escalating prank war with her mischievous Uncle Jake, drawing the entire family into the chaos. The West/Stratton/Taylor families must come together and heal, allowing her great-uncle’s cherished motto, “When you’re here, you’re family,” to hold true once more.

Click here to get your copy!

My Review

This is the first book in the series I have read and I was a bit lost at the beginning. This novel is about a complicated extended family. There has been death and divorce and now a planned marriage where the woman is marrying the brother of her ex-husband. There are many children involved and I was glad there was a family tree given at the beginning. It helped explain why one child talked about two daddies, for example.

This is a book for horse lovers as there is much about them, their care and training. And that brings up some of the issues the tween characters need to deal with in this novel. Ginnie faces the challenge of learning the basics of horse care and riding when her mother was a star in shows, doing horse tricks. There is some sibling jealousy in this novel too. More than once there are hard feeling and then reconciliation. The dialogue contains lots of banter between family members. There are plenty of pranks pulled and also a fun treasure hunt.

This is a novel for tweens prepared to read about some serious family issues. Much has happened in this family before this story so I would certainly recommend reading the earlier books before this one.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

 

About the Authors

Monique is a bestselling author, a certified Farland Fiction Coach, and an empowerment speaker, dedicated to championing the underdog, in both her writing and real-life adventures.

Having a heart for families in crisis, Monique creates stories that capture the essence of real-life challenges and triumphs, with a touch of humor.

Monique’s upper middle-grade series, ‘The Ginnie West Adventures,’ delves into sensitive and weighty themes such as parental loss, abandonment, and overcoming abuse. She delivers stories not only for tween readers, but for those young at heart.

Drawing from her experiences nurturing a dozen of her own children and fostering over a hundred more, Monique’s experiences shape her books, creating novels in a number of genres, including a historical family saga, contemporary family dramas, a fun picture book, and a middle grade series weaving whimsy and heart into her tales.

A country boy by birth and by choice, Gary spent his youth working on the family farm, for local farmers and ranchers, on horseback or playing sports. Offered scholarships in Agriculture and Advertising Design, he opted for the bright lights and big city. Eight years in the advertising field convinced him that wasn’t where he wanted to be.

Gary freelanced in design and illustration, converted his love of writing for advertising to a newspaper column about the country lifestyle. He has also worked as a ranch manager, cowboy, rancher, and horse trainer. An avid painter and author, Gary shares  his talents through mentoring others, is a past president of the Western Art Guild and Idaho Writers League and is an active member of Western Writers of America.

Gary and his wife, Margie are the parents of four children and ten grandchildren and have traveled extensively throughout Europe, Great Britain and the United States.

More from Monique

All Together West: A Ginnie West Adventure is an accumulation of many arcs, including getting to know some family members that Ginnie didn’t even know existed not very long ago. These blasts from the past make Ginnie and Tillie’s present very interesting.

When Monique and G.L. wrote Book 5: Chase Your Dreams West: A Ginnie West Adventure, it turned into a very long book and was split almost in half–with some storylines going into Book 5 and others into Book 6. A new plotline was added to weave a more interesting tale that readers have really liked. In fact, while Ginnie and Tillie have puzzled along trying to solve some riddles, readers made some interesting guesses that have given the authors ideas to add to future novels.

So put on your thinking caps and jump right in with your best guesses as the girls go on a treasure hunt. Who knows what they might find as they search for clues from the present to fill in gaps from the past?  Their hunt might lead to an amazing adventure in the future.

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, December 5

Stories By Gina, December 6 (Author Interview)

For Him and My Family, December 6

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, December 7

Jodie Wolfe – Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, December 8 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, December 9

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, December 10 (Author Interview)

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, December 11

Fiction Book Lover, December 12 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, December 13

Vicky Sluiter, December 14 (Author Interview)

Artistic Nobody, December 14

Locks, Hooks and Books, December 15

Guild Master, December 16 (Author Interview)

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, December 17

Blossoms and Blessings, December 18 (Author Interview)

Giveaway

To celebrate their tour, Monique and Gary are giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card!!

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

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54110

I received a complimentary egalley of this book through Celebrate Lit. My comments are an independent and honest review. The rest of the copy of this post was provided by Celebrate Lit.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)