About the Book
Book: Chase Your Dreams West: A Ginne West Adventure (Book 5)
Authors:Monique Bucheger and G. L. Rasmussen
Genre:Contemporary Upper Middle -Grade
Release date: November 22, 2024
12-year-old best friends, Ginnie West and Tillie Taylor, navigate changes in their family. Tillie’s long-absent birth father reappears and she has to juggle two dads while Ginnie’s mischievous Uncle Jake escalates their prank war. Meanwhile, Tillie desperately wants a horse of her own while Ginnie is determined to follow her late mother’s equestrian legacy as a trick rider, something her dad has forbidden.
Can Ginnie shape her own destiny and persuade her dad to support her ambitions? Get ready for a heartwarming adventure filled with friendship, family, and the power of chasing your dreams!
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My Thoughts
This is my first exposure to Bucheger’s writing. While I struggled to get into the story, I can see it’s benefits for young girls who are learning to setting settle into a new family. The characters fluctuated from believable to unrealistic to me. The author did do a great job, however, of keeping the plot moving along. I did like the relationship between the sister and brother. It was cute to read their interactions, and Ginnie’s interactions with her soon-to-be sister Tillie. Overall, it was an okay story.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Celebrate Lit, this in no way influenced my review. All opinions are my own.
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
Chase Your Dreams West: A Ginnie West Adventure took me too long to finish. I was working on it when one of my sons was killed in a car accident. I paused writing for a few years as our family adjusted to losing Ryan.
An author friend invited me to a writer’s retreat a few years ago, knowing I was stuck and that week unlocked a lot of things for me. Including deciding to change where I placed what is now the first four chapters. I wrote them two books ago thinking they would make a great denouement, but after my son’s death, I realized they would make a better beginning.
This book is a little different from the first four as Ginnie explores horsemanship training with her mare, Calliope–with her dad’s blessing, and perhaps is given a little help from her mom. Ginnie is given back one of her mom’s journals and gets to know the mom she doesn’t really remember and her dad didn’t really talk about… until recently.
Blog Stops
Artistic Nobody, November 18
Life on Chickadee Lane, November 19
Simple Harvest Reads, November 20 (Author Interview)
Guild Master, November 21 (Author Interview)
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 21
Fiction Book Lover, November 22 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, November 23
Stories By Gina, November 24 (Author Interview)
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, November 24
Locks, Hooks and Books, November 25
Tell Tale Book Reviews, November 26 (Author Interview)
Library lady’s Kid Lit, November 27
Jodie Wolfe – Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, November 28 (Author Interview)
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, November 29
For the Love of Literature, November 30 (Author Interview)
For Him and My Family, December 1
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Monique is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card and an eBook copy of the book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.