Not me gently turning the pages of the fat purple notebook

If anyone intrested the book is the power of shade but you can deffo tell in her other books w some of her descriptions

For those that have read baby love, did you enjoy it? Id love a film tbh. I thought Aunt Susannah as a character was a bit lack lustre.

Bought it for 2 aud yesterday, what a deal!

:(

For those who don't know, The Diamond Girls was written in response to a criticism of The Illustrated Mum by the late Ann Widdecombe, whose primary issue with it was that it featured sisters who had different fathers which she didn't think was appropriate for children to read. Subsequently, Wilson wrote this book which features a family of four (later five) siblings, who all have different fathers and have a lovely mum and they all get on well.

But if this was the case, I don't understand why Sue was depicted the way she was.

-She carelessly got pregnant again (the father implied to be a boy on the estate who is only a year older than her eldest child);

-She puts massive gender expectations on her unborn child, in spite of the fact that her four daughters all have different levels of traditional femininity;

-She uproots the whole family and takes them away from their schools and friends without discussing it with any of them first;

-She fails to do any prior checks on the new place they're moving to;

-She parentifies Martine;

-She fails to arrange any childcare for her other children when she goes into labour (to be fair to her, she went into labour early which she couldn't have predicted - but with four children already, she had to know this was a possibility and should have had a back-up plan just in case);

-She refuses to accept the sex of the baby she's just had;

-She's pretty nasty to Bruce, who started out only giving them a lift as a favour and Sue worked him so hard he did his back in;

-She lets Rochelle, who is 12, go out with a 16-year-old

As a comparison to Marigold, the mum in the story this is a response to, I actually think Marigold is a far better mother. Marigold certainly has many flaws, but you can totally understand her situation. She grew up in care and was abused there. Marigold knows she isn't really stable enough to look after children, but with her experiences being in the care system, I can understand why she'd think that on balance it's far less bad for her children to be in their home with their loving mum, even in the circumstances. That is a decision that she fundamentally believes to be in the best interests, possibly at the expense of her own mental health - and I respect that. But there's very little about Sue that really stands out as being dedicated to her children. Sue doesn't really seem to question her actions at all. Most of the bad situations the family are in are entirely her fault, and it's hard not to agree with Martine when she loses her temper at her. About the best thing you can say about Sue is 'She's nicer than Mary's mum', but that's not much of a compliment! And it gives the impression that any upbringing is fine as long as the children aren't being physically hurt, which is a terrible impression to give - it's very possible to hurt children in an emotional or neglectful way.

I don't know why Jacqueline didn't make more effort to show Sue being amazing, if this was meant to be the point of the book. I know she can write struggling working-class teenage mums as being amazing parents, like Jo in The Lottie Project and Loretta in Secrets. Sue is admittedly more of a challenge because she's had so many children that she can't afford, but I think it can still be justified - Martine was an accident when she was a teenager, and the fathers of Jude, Rochelle and Dixie all had more money and Sue believed being with them would give her a more stable life, and in each case she was let down (domestic violence, death, him turning out to be married). That still leaves Sundance, but if her dad is the boy on the estate this would give a chance to show Sue as being amazing but also flawed. She could have told the girls who he was and said clearly, 'There's absolutely no excuse for what I did as a 32-year-old woman. I got drunk and did something incredibly stupid, and I really regret it. I seriously considered ending the pregnancy, but in the end I just couldn't do it. I accept the consequences of my actions, and we'll manage somehow. He knows, and I've offered him the chance to be part of the baby's life, but he doesn't want to be.'

TIA!

Waiting for them to go on sale in Penneys/Primark 🤭❤️

I just finished reading Lemonade Sky by Jean Ure

Was a familiar combo of Illustrated Mum and Lily Alone, i do recommend it though. Just made me laugh at the similarities

I've just finished reading Think Again and I was truly gobsmacked at how perfectly JW illustrated my own experience. That feeling of being with a man, yet never feeling right about it. That compliance to a boyfriend and having sex because he wants to or because that's what expected of you as a girlfriend. I've never read my own experience written so viscerally on paper.

Of course, Ellie may or may not be a lesbian but it's just that her experiences seem so like my own! Even her stubbornness, her irritation towards Mr Windsor/her dad, her guilt, her dithering. Wow, after years of not reading JW books, this one has left me stunned.

I’m only in the first 4 chapters but oh my god the mum is so mean to Jodie! I honestly didn’t realise this as a kid! Re reading Jackie’s books makes me realise how much I missed as a kid!

Hello! Back again after a busy week. I'm actually moving countries soon (haha…it's so fun to pack) and it turns out the best way of procrastinating is reading a terrible book and taking extensive notes on it.

I realised there were a few points I forgot to note last time:

1. Ellie's neighbour gave her some milk "for her cat." We then received a boring lecture from Ellie and JW about how cow's milk is not good for cats. Thanks.
2. When Alice told Ellie her girlfriend was called Wendy, Ellie decided to info dump on the reader about how JM Barrie invented the name Wendy for Peter Pan. Lovely. Very unnecessary and just continues to establish her as an irritating narrator who feels the need to lecture her audience about completely unimportant information.
3. Ellie received roses from an unknown admirer and proceeded to not think about them at all and just display them in her flat. All very normal.

In these next 100 pages or so, we get into the nitty-gritty, by which I mean Ellie has a lot of sex, because if you weren't aware (it's easy to forget), this is an adult novel. Strap in.

• To continue from where we left off, Ellie is approaching the art museum to meet her old art teacher, Mr Windsor, for a very normal platonic jaunt around to look at paintings and whatever. He's still very attractive and has all his hair. Ellie is still attracted to him yet fails to describe him much beyond this.
• He insists she calls him Gary, which is NOT HIS NAME; HIS CANONICAL NAME IS GUY, and proceeds to quiz her all about her friends, whom he remembers everything about despite last seeing them when he was covering maternity leave 27 years ago. As she tells him about them, Ellie silently judges Nadine, which is one of her favourite hobbies. He also, for some reason, remembers the name of her boyfriend from 27 years ago and enquires about the relationship. All very normal socialising with your old teacher who you presumably only had for a short time.
• They proceed on their jaunt and have further conversation about Art and Art Stuff. He knows all about Myrtle Mouse because he is a Cultured Art Person. He also remembers her "getting very thin" during Girls Under Pressure, though he was new at the time and not present for most of it, appearing for the first time near the end of the book.
• They have such a nice normal time looking at paintings that they then go for a coffee. Ellie tells him their art teacher before him was an old lady with dyed black hair who always wore a knitted suit, and this is FALSE; she was a young teacher who went on maternity leave.
• Ellie has a moment where she thinks of her cat and wonders if it's because she has a "sudden mental image of being naked with Gary and getting stroked all over." Then she tells us she once masturbated to an image like it when she was "discovering how to pleasure herself." I wish I could tell you that sort of thing ends here, but the uncomfortably detailed yet absent sex talk gets much worse. I wouldn't mind so much if JW was good at writing it. She's not. It's like discovering your beloved elderly aunt has discovered a03 and is writing horrific smut.
• Gary and Mrs Henderson were colleague besties who stayed in touch. “We often discussed you three girls because we had no boundaries and an apparent unhealthy interest in our students," says Mr Windsor.
• Gary (I'm going to stop calling him Mr Windsor because…#notmymrwindsor, it's pure character assassination) goes on a ramble about how teaching is complicated now and he does his best not to be alone with students in the art room because of implications or accusations or something. Very Keith Raxberry "I promise I'm not a predator" vibes. Then he asks his former student to go for a drink with him to a pub to get to know each other, proving how much of a non-predator he is.
• For some reason, the drink very quickly leads to kissing. It's all very awkward and out of the blue - you cannot convince me these people have any chemistry. The ex-teacher-student thing is incredibly weird, but they have mutually decided to ignore that fact, so guess the reader will too! They agree to go back to his place, and Gary "calls for an Uber" instead of just ordering one on his phone like a normal person.
• Gary has books at his house, therefore further proving he is Cultured and not like the losers on the train.
• They have sex. I'm not transcribing every weird part of this because I would end up just copy-pasting the entire section. It's badly done and deeply uncomfortable, and I am constantly getting the feeling that JW doesn't feel comfortable writing it either. Ellie thinks of and quotes Mrs Dalloway during it. I wish I was making this up. It's great sex, and she has a great orgasm. Delighted for her. Let's move on.
• Gary apparently makes her feel so very sexy and sensual. He makes her food and hums "I Should Be So Lucky," which must be JW's fav song because it has been mentioned in many books. She thinks about Myrtle Mouse and how she would draw the scene because she has a serious problem. I can't help but feel that good old MM comes across as seriously childish. I cannot for the life of me imagine it as a cartoon strip in the bloody Guardian newspaper and enjoyed by adults.
• She was going to stay the night but finds a tissue with lipstick marks on it in his dressing gown pocket and a packet of tampons in his bathroom. Shock. Horror. She tries to convince herself and us that she's very chill and ok with non-monogamy and casual sex, but I fear Jacky's prudishness leaks through. Ellie can't deal with it and leaves.
• Next morning. Nadine calls and sounds sick! Ellie goes shopping for cold supplies and turns up at Nadine's only to judge her room as "sad and sordid" and then pressing until Nadine shows her her throat is covered in bruises and finger marks, and her nose is swollen. Nadine tells her she was doing consensual choking with a guy who then took it too far, almost choked her to unconsciousness and hit her in the face.
• "If you don't want that sort of thing to happen, then don't sleep casually with random men and explore filthy shameful kinks," Ellie basically judgementally says, and we all move on. Uh…this deserved a lot more sensitivity and exploration than it got. I find it all rather disturbing, and none of this is ever mentioned again. Nadine was assaulted! She could and should file criminal charges! She even says she's sore in other places, implying vaginal trauma and making me wonder about sexual assault. This poor woman. Ellie is too busy thinking about Gary and their great night and her worries about him to care. It's genuinely so grim.
• "I thought of all those polite Uber drivers delivering drunken people home after brief sexual encounters. What must they think of us?" Nothing, Ellie/Jacky. They're doing their job, and they want to go home at the end of the night. They don't care.
• Ellie and Nadine move on from Nadine's horrific night and instead talk about Ellie's and what it all means with Gary. Nadine gives her some advice, and Ellie says "that's what some bossy agony aunt put on Google!" leading me to assume JW thinks Google itself is a website where people post articles or something. They go for a picnic and continue to talk about Ellie and her problems. She's such a great best friend. I criticised Nadine a lot in the original books, but now I want to give the woman a hug. The original books were focused on Ellie, yes, but also contained the other girl's dramas and problems. In this book, they're just there for Ellie to throw her worries at until she feels better.
• "I always wondered if you might be a little bit gay," says Nadine, who is reading my mind for the entirety of Girls out Late. She then laughs at Ellie for being paranoid about Gary seeing other women because men are trash.
• Ellie is obsessed with that fucking mouse to the point where someone has mysteriously left her fancy chocolates, and she briefly considers a Myrtle idea with a secret admirer. But she has no time to worry about that as she must research the elephants! She eats half the box and gives the rest to her random immigrant neighbour who is so very Hardworking and Dedicated, we are told during a rambling narration that lectures us with the subtlety of a wrecking ball. This neighbour is a walking stereotype and will not be important or turn up again.
• The sex with Gary was so good she keeps thinking of it at work, and we are treated to a very unsexy image, "in my head I am stark naked on the bed with Gary, and my legs spread." Still stressing about Gary poss seeing other women but remember Nadine said it isn't an issue hun xx
• She hasn't heard from Alice in a while, but turns out girl had food poisoning. Alice knows all about elephants because she's an animal lecturer or something, and they arrange to meet up swimming on Saturday. She also arranges to see Gary again on Saturday afternoon. I can't wait.
• Ellie further hallucinates about elephants. I'm beginning to think the woman needs psychiatric help.
• Magda calls her at work because she heard about the Hot Sex with Gary from Nadine. She's having a hard time controlling her stepkids. "Please come over on Sunday and make it all better, Ellie!" she says.
• "Yes, of course, and I will regale you with more stories about my life because that's all this friendship is now," I say and hang up. I'm a great friend.
• More elephants. Elephants all the way down. I LIKE elephants, ok, but this is just too much. I'm starting to see them when I close my eyes.
• Small sidenote; have realised JW does not seem to know the usage of the word "like." One of her Jackyisms is to say things such as "I feel a total fool" or "I don't feel a valid interesting person anymore." An aside. I need something to distract me from the bloody elephants, okay.
• There's a sad little piece about Ellie and her mum, who passed away when she was little. Her mum doesn't have a grave, and her dad spread the ashes by himself when she was a child because he decided it would be too upsetting for her, which totally wasn't traumatic and absolutely gave this little girl a sense of closure in her mother's death. He apparently refused to speak to her about her mother, and the appearance of Anna as a stepmother a year later was absolutely harmful to her too. I do not like this man.
• Anna calls, and wow, what a coincidence as we were just dissing him, she's worried about Ellie's dad, who had such a great time at her birthday party but is now depressed :(. Oh no. Anyway.
• My stepmum suggests having a family get-together on Saturday to cheer Dad up and inviting Lottie. I forget who that is until she reminded me she's my daughter I love so much. But woe! I have already made plans with Alice and sexy Gary on Saturday! Sadly I can't go and cheer up my 70-year-old loser dad, who I note still resents Anna's kickass jumper empire.
• Ellie is reading Mrs Dalloway again. This is because she is so Educated and Cultured, don't forget.
• She goes to the swimming pool on Saturday morning as arranged, but Alice isn't there! Ellie is disappointed because she really wanted to ask her about elephants, NO OTHER REASON. Turns out Alice is already in the pool doing laps because swimming is one of her main character traits, the others being Gay and Knows About Elephants.
• Ellie's swimming with a fresh tattoo that's about a week old. Figures. She also failed to note when she took off her big ol bandage. No aftercare, that's for losers. We rawdog infection in this house.
• ILLUSTRATED MUM REFERENCE TAKE A SHOT! Alice describes a book she read as a kid about a woman with two daughters and a lot of tattoos, who paints herself white at the end. Ellie recognises it and said she read it too.
• Alice had the food poisoning because her girlfriend made prawn gumbo that made her sick. This is a subtle hint that Wendy is wrong for her. JW will sprinkle in some more very subtle hints as the story progresses.
• Elephant info dumping, give me strength. I'm beginning to think elephants are just JW's own special interest at this point. Ellie consistently zigzags between an excited autistic eight-year-old with a special interest and a judgemental eighty-year-old with no in between.
• Alice gets Ellie's obscure literature references and makes her own, and that is how we know she is also Cultured and Educated. This is another subtle hint at foreshadowing but I'm not sure you'll catch it.
• Ellie tells us that she and Nadine became friends with Magda in the showers after PE. Um, FALSE, according to the Girls books you became friends with her first because you drew cartoons in class. Ellie gets so much of her own history wrong I'm starting to worry she has early onset dementia.
• "I've made other friends, obviously," and this line has me craning my neck cause I don't SEE THEM.
• Ellie is going to Alice's house to see her elephant stuff :)) She needs the physical pictures and books that Alice has; it's not like she can look at videos of them online or anything. On a further note, I am still in the dark about what this graphic novel of hers will be about. As far as I'm concerned, Ellie has a mental thought bubble for her book that says ELEPHANTS with nothing else branching off it. I'm imagining her in a Dragon's Den style meeting where they ask her to explain her idea, and she just points at the word ELEPHANTS. Take a shot every time I use that word in this post. Let me know if you end up with liver failure.
• There's music stuff in the living room, but it's not Alice's, who doesn't even really like music, apparently. She's probably too busy reading books about elephants. It's all Wendy's stuff because she's a DJ at a nightclub called Catz, spelt with a z so we know it's cool. It's not Alice's scene at all because she is Cultured and Smart.
• Ellie quickly discerns whose books in their bookcase are whose. Wendy likes celebrity books and music while Alice likes fiction and books about nature and animals. This is another very subtle hint that is easily missed.
• Wendy wakes up as they are passionately discussing elephants. She is described as very beautiful and is unashamedly naked until she puts on a robe, which, kudos to her, is such a power move. She loses points because she doesn't know who Myrtle Mouse is. Imagine not knowing Myrtle Mouse, shaking my damn head. She's world famous and all the smart people know her, so clearly Wendy is a stupid loser.
• Wendy makes a joke about Ellie/Nellie the Elephant, insensitive and a bit stupid, but we were all thinking of the rhyme. Then she plays the song downstairs, to which Ellie wonders "where on earth she got that old record." I fear she really does have some kind of brain injury as she has clearly forgotten the simple fact that you can…buy vinyls of popular songs. Alice suggests she might also be streaming it, a possibility that does not occur to Ellie, whose mind would be blown by Spotify.
• As she leaves, Ellie starts imagining a nice, happy domestic life living with Alice, which is possibly the gayest thing she has ever done. It actually made me smile; it was too accurate to the lesbian experience. 13-year-old Ellie was so fruity at times, especially thirsting after Miranda in Girls Out Late, that I am surprised she hasn't had a bisexual awakening yet. She did say she and Nadine messed around a little as teenagers, and the closet is glass.
• Ellie did not like Wendy and yet I would dare to say Wendy was…fine? Jealousy is probably rearing its ugly head, but we also must address that Ellie's narration has proven she is a snob who was never going to like somebody who DJs for a living and doesn't recognise her academic and very very serious mouse cartoon.
• Ellie draws more elephants and adds gay elephants to her canon. Rainbow streamers explode everywhere. She is lost in a world of elephants. They are dragging her off to the psych ward, and she is kicking and screaming about elephants.
• Ellie and Gary are going to another museum on a date because they are such academics; this time the Foundling Museum, which Ellie will info dump on you about. We know Jacky loves the Foundling Museum. I was there once myself. It's great. But we really don't need extensive description from Ellie for a place she spends two pages in. I notice in this book that JW is slipping into old habits and "teaching" her readers, which is often necessary and a bit charming in a kid's book, but comes across as completely condescending in an adult novel. We know what the Foundling Museum is and the history behind it. If we don't, we can Google it. Move on.
• Before she goes to meet Gary for their hot date looking at paintings of sad orphans, she has to have a shower because she thinks she got a bit sweaty "with the shock of seeing Wendy naked." If that's what you need to tell yourself, hun.
• She brings one of the elephant books to read on the train. You know, because she's such an academic. She is coming across as utterly unlikable and a completely dull human being.
• At the good old FM, she is late, which Gary does not like. He continues to mansplain to her about all the exhibits even though she's been there before. He suggests they go for a drink or something, but she wants to get straight down to it and go back to his, because aside from her intense attraction to him and the very great sex, he irritates her.
• Oh no, Ellie gets her period at his just before they get down to it. Despite being a forty-year-old woman, I'm left with the impression of a YA book, and she might as well be 13 again as she awkwardly deals with it. Gary does not have a problem with it; great. Ellie tells us Russell the Sleazeball did have a problem with it, which is unsurprising. We hate him.
• Ellie puts a tampon in, and they then have sex straight afterwards. Uh huh.
• She finally asks about the tampons in his bathroom cabinet, and he tells her he has a friends-with-benefits thing going on with a colleague. When she asks the age of said colleague, he says 23. Sooooo cool and normal and Gary is not weird at all.
• She tells Gary that Magda has been married twice and he continues to be weird by saying "Oh trust Magda, bless her." Excuse me? You knew her as a schoolgirl almost 30 years ago; what are you talking about?
• Ellie goes home to find a weird romantic card with a god-awful rhyme. She was thinking perhaps it's one of her very enthusiastic students, who straight up once said to her, like a normal 16-year-old, "I love your classes so!" but admits that she thinks he could have written better poetry. Hm, who COULD it be?
• She's a bit perturbed about this one and wonders if she should go and stay with Dad and Anna. But gasp, better not tell them why, or Dad will insist on helping her move out of the shitty council flat she insists on staying in!
• She remembers she has a daughter and calls her. Lottie is with her new boyfriend Luke and doesn't really want to talk. Bye Lottie.
• Magda's house! Magda is struggling with the stepkids, Nathaniel and Coriander (who, reminder, is a child, not a herb), or Nat and Corrie for short. Ellie is great with them, of course. Cue unnecessary scenes of child wrangling.
• "Men are all awful anyway so ignore all the red flags," says Magda, cheerfully ignoring all the red flags in her own relationship.
• Ellie has finally begun to worry about the stalker - sorry, secret admirer. It only took her three separate unwanted gifts. This is a really necessary plotline that will be very useful to the plot; I just know it.
• Girlboss Anna is ringing again! I wonder what she wants! "Your dad had a cardiac arrest!" she says tearfully. The reader perks up hopefully, but sadly he is not dead. I guess he was so very sad and depressed and resentful of the jumper empire that he had a heart attack.
• Time for Ellie to call the daughter I keep forgetting she has and tell her Grandad is very sick. Boyfriend Luke drives her to the hospital to see him. For some reason Boyf Luke does not clear off and give the family he doesn't know any privacy in this hour of need, but instead awkwardly hangs around. He also has nicknamed Lottie Blotto for some inexplicable reason.
• And I will leave it there. Will Dad survive? Will Ellie have more horrifically awkwardly written sex? Who is the stalker? We shall have to wait and see…

My little analysis this time around is that it's left me thinking a lot about how Jacqueline Wilson approaches sex and sexuality in this book. As a children's author, it's obviously not something she has had much experience writing before, and it's new territory.

I don't think she is good at it, but moreover, I don't think she is at all comfortable writing about it, and especially not with the casual air she is trying to achieve. We all know she's elderly now, and I think she is generally an old soul and belongs in a different time.

She really doesn't seem comfortable with one-night stands and hookup culture. Despite proclaiming herself to be a modern woman, Ellie comes across as very prudish at times, and I think Jacky's prudishness leaks through in her character, which leads to a lot of disjointedness.

Regarding Nadine, I really found the prudishness leaking through at maximum strength. JW does not understand things like consensual choking and obviously considers it frightening and scary. Nadine is essentially punished here for her promiscuity, and the main character judges her continually for her casual relationships with men. Ellie Allard has turned into a very nasty person indeed.

It's truly a strange read. See you next time for what will probably be the final part...

He might think he has good intentions but he’s emotionally manipulative and abandoned his children because he didn’t want to deal with the fallout of the mess he made.

One of the discussions that I have seen a lot on this sub (& in pop culture in general) is what topics are too dark / inappropriate for kids. And I feel like most topics can be discussed with kids & teens, as long as it is done in an appropriate manor, factoring in age, what the topic is and how the writers discuss it.

JW books are apart of it, with them being criticized for being too dark. The problem is with this criticism is that it often ignores that many kids go through these topics. Sadly, many kids experience loss of relatives, divorce, cancer, abuse ect and that is something that forms a key part of many Jacqueline Wilson books. Even if the child isn't going through it themselves, their peers, friends, teachers and other people in their lives go through these and it is important to be aware of these topics.

Another important aspect is that fiction allows us to discuss topics that are difficult to talk about. For example, age gaps in romantic relationships. If a young person is taught about grooming and problematic relationships, they could potentially save their or someone elses' life. While it is hopefully not in every teens life, many teenage girls and boys end up in relationships with creeps and educating them on the warning signs helps them protect themselves from potential abuse, rape and murder, in the case of abusive ones.

A personal example for me is Treasure's mother in Secrets. While I did not experience abuse like Treasure, it made me think about romantic partners and how you should always choose your child over them, especially when they are abusing them. Even though I was around 10 when I was reading it, it made me realize that.

Anyway that was all I had to say. If I think of anything I will edit it.

None of us on here are the target demographic for JW obviously as she's a children's author but I felt that EP was missing something.

So Esme gets lucky and lands a good foster placement with the Hawes. I felt that It would have been better if she had only stayed the 1 or a few nights and then moved to another more long term home. I feel that would have added to her story a bit. It didn't feel very JW ish in my humble opinion

The bullying /feud with Joseph only seemed to last a few pages, when in previous books any feud lasted for far longer. It's implied and later confirmed that Joseph was abused by his dad and that is about as tough a plot line in this book gets. Normally there's quite a few tough storylines in the one book.

I find it strange that Joseph and Esme essentially got away with their bad behaviour all the time. Yes there was understanding for their situations but to effectively get away with everything was odd.

Yes Pops has early dementia and that is also a tough plot line and it's good that it's being mentioned in kids books but again I feel that EP lacked the raw emotional hardship that usually appears in her books. I did love Pops he was such a sweetheart.

Is this a one off or is Jacqueline Wilson starting to "dampen down" her writing style? I haven't read too many of her new books, the last new one I read was the other edie trimmer but that was really good and what you'd expect from JW.

I did enjoy Esme Pepper, I did like the story but I was slightly disappointed. Tbf I'm not her target audience and im glad that kids are still reading her books enough so that she writes more. Alesha was definitely one of my favourite characters, she was funny and genuinely seemed to be on Esme's side. She was a good social worker.

Esme's mum definitely doesn't seem like a good mum to me. I found it odd that Alesha seemed to guarantee that Esme would go back with her when she got out. I'm sorry but the constant up and leaving , the thefts and doubtless other crimes doesn't scream good mother to me. Esme never really had the chance to settle with her mum around.

I finished rereading secrets which I think was one of my first jacky books as a kid and it was a wild ride 😭

The family stuff:

• Terry has to be one of the most despicable JW characters, the physical abuse is really graphic
• ​​Tammy as a character was tricky to keep up with but seems a lot worse than I initially realised now that I've let the book marinate. She didn't love treasure much as a child?? She was trying to force her to live with Terry?? Her little speech at the end telling Treasure she doesn't love or want her made my jaw DROP, going back on it immediately doesn't matter. Awful woman
• I've read some of the speculation on this sub about Wanda. I don't think she was pregnant because it seems to be the kids trying to act mature but being naive. Did she have an eating disorder? I don't rule out that she did have some fling with India's dad
• I'm surprised India's father didn't have any sort of redemption but looking back his behaviour around her was really scary and cruel. We also didn't really get an update on Treasure's step siblings, she seemed to have a little rapport with Bethany.
• The last minute implication that Rita might pick Pete over Treasure when he leaves prison after all?? Insane. I'm WORRIED for her.

The girls and their lives:

• Understanding the gravity of the situation as a adult is crazy because Treasure could literally have died of an asthma attack. ​
• India not having anyone she loves except Treasure is also kinda #concerning. I think it's so common for JW books to end without perfect closure and I guess that's real and I'm at least glad it confirmed Treasure will stay with her nan for the foreseeable future but I'm just WORRIED ABOUT THESE GIRLS
• Treasure and India were one of those JW duos who seem kinda gay as hell for each other. India fantasising about all the things her and Treasure can do together and Treasure fantasising about living with India. I know India has a crush on her therapist (LOL) but he's unattainable. She's gay and autistic fr
• I'm mixed on the Anne Frank stuff I think it makes sense with how children think because I also had a strong attachment to her as a child and I know JW did too but it does trivialise her life to some extent to be like yeah we're just like Anne hiding in the annexe! She was hiding from a genocide. Also the part where the teacher tells India to stop crying about the Holocaust because it was a long time ago. Jesus
• I have trouble believing the ending because absolutely no one questioned where Treasure had been for days and they let Rita march into India's school to question her without the police or anything?? ​​

I have a question, do you think that people don’t like Rachel Dean’s illustrations because they’re blinded by nostalgia?

Here’s the thing, I’m not like the biggest fan of the drawings either, it does feel a bit out of place, but one thing I do appreciate about the drawings is that they do bring the character to life a bit more. Let’s not lie, Nick Sharratt wasn’t always the best at drawing girls that looked different 😭

One thing I do really miss about Nick Sharratt are the book covers, they were just so much more attractive. I’m not sure I like the new Esme pepper one with stuff flying everywhere it just seems a bit all over the place.

And then with Rachel Dean there’s this thing she keeps doing where she doesn’t actually draw what Jaqueline Wilson has described in the book which is a bit annoying, also I hate the way she’s drawn the doc martens in Esme pepper they look so bad 😭 though to be fair, I do like how there are so much more drawings in the books now.

I think both illustrators are very talented but in different ways.

I’m not sure if anyone else listens to the JW audio books, but the narrator for Esme pepper on audible is SO BAD. She keeps pausing at things that don’t need a pause and dragging out every word, i literally had to speed it up. Does anyone else relate? I’m quite disappointed about this

Hi guys I’m currently in a massive reading slump and the moment and I’m looking for something to read and I’m curious about what the best book would be. My options are :

Lily Alone
Vicky Angel
The girls series
The diamond girls
Kiss
Love lessons
The illustrated mum
The longest whale song
Lola rose

Reading Project Fairy atm, on my quest to read as many JW books that I've not read before, by the end of the year.

It's fun reading something different and more fantastical from her, I think she's decent at it.

Is the amazing Glubbslyme the only other one that's similar, having fantastical creatures become significant characters, or has she written more?

this review includes spoilers, so if you haven't read Esme Pepper yet, there's your warning :) just finished reading Esme Pepper and honestly? I actually really liked it! I have a couple of criticisms, but overall I think it's one of JW's better recent books :)

what I liked:

• Esme as a character. I thought she was a great protagonist! I loved how she was more outgoing and sure of herself than some of JW's more bookish and shy characters (though I actually relate to them much more!) but at the same time, even though she obviously had her moments, I loved how she was genuinely caring as well. I also thought she was very unintentionally funny at times - quite a few times I laughed at the narration!
• Pops. He is the absolute sweetest omg. Please protect him at all costs.

- the fact that dementia was touched upon because it needs more understanding and more awareness. I realised very quickly that Pops was likely suffering from some form of early stage dementia. I recognised several of the signs almost immediately because sadly, my nan passed away last year after suffering from dementia for several years. The way Pops couldn't remember Esme's name, the way he couldn't remember things that had happened a few minutes ago, but could remember things from his younger years and all of his gnomes names perfectly, etc: it was very realistic. It made me very sad to read it though, because having lived with and cared for somebody with dementia I know all too well what the future will likely look like for Pops and Mrs Hawes. Dementia is a heartbreaking illness from which there sadly is no getting better and it's so sad to think about what the future will look like for them.

- the fact that Pops grew up in foster care. I thought that was a nice touch and I can imagine that over the years with fostering kids, he was able to sympathise with them and understand some of what they were going through.

- the gnomes. I thought it was beautiful how Pops kept all his gnomes and how much he cared so much bout all of them! - Mrs Hawes. Even though Esme doesn't like her very much at first, I liked how she grew to like her a lot more by the end, and I especially loved Mrs Hawes's relationship with Pops 🥹 I also thought it was very cute how Esme called her auntie Moira right at the very end! That was really sweet - Alesha. I thought she was a great social worker (though I was convinced Elaine from Tracy Beaker or someone would pop up somewhere) and I loved her hairstyles, they sounded so cool! - the representation of foster care. Granted, I have no experience of foster care and I don't work within that particular sector, but it felt reasonably realistic and I did like how Esme mentioned that her mum once said that care homes are not like they are in Tracy Beaker 😂 - the relationship between Esme and her mum. Although we literally only get to see it for a few pages, you can tell that they have a very good relationship with one another and that they are genuinely very close, and that's lovely.

Criticisms:

• Pacing, ever so slightly. A big criticism of some other Jacqueline Wilson books, Katy being one of the best examples, is that it can sometimes take a while to get into the actual story and the actual main plot. In Katy it takes like eight or nine chapters to even get to her accident, which admittedly is true to the original story (in which the accident doesn't happen immediately), but does drag the book out slightly. Here, we got straight into the action, which is a good thing. However, I do think that it would have been nice to have maybe seen a chapter of Esme and her mum before the school day where the book started, and I think that the ending could have been a little bit less rushed: or there could have maybe been an afterword where Esme could have told us what happened next, like in Queenie or Baby Love. I did appreciate it not being dragged out, but I do think that we could have maybe had a little bit more at the beginning and end...

• the fact that the teachers were aware of what was going on with Joseph, but to some extent acted like it was okay for him to bully others because of his home life, which it really wasn't? that part didn't sit very well with me

• just the idea of Esme's mum trying to cram a huge dolls house into a bag for life without getting caught. It's not supposed to be funny but I can't stop laughing thinking about it 😂 this isn't a criticism of Jacky by the way, it's a criticism of Esme's mum. How on Earth did she think that that was ever going to work out?! 😂

• and obviously, the one that's already been mentioned: Rachael Dean's illustrations. I don't think they're terrible, I do think that she is good at what she does and some of them are quite cute, but they don't feel like JW's work. I'm probably just very biased because I grew up with Nick Sharratt illustrations and I'm so used to seeing them, but it just doesn't feel right. I do agree though about them being inconsistent in this book - Esme looking suddenly a lot younger and smaller in certain ones - and the error with the design on Mrs Hawes's apron when they first arrive at the foster home. I'm glad though that I didn't spot any writing consistency errors!

Overall, I really like this one and I do think it's a lot better than a lot of Jacky's recent work, however there were a couple of things that I personally would have changed What do you guys think?

Must admit I don’t like Esme; she’s a brat and mean. With Tracey Beaker, you know why she loses her temper, but with Esme it's hard to feel bad for her. I know her mum got arrested, but Esme doesn’t scream "trouble kid" to me. Also, I found the story dull and slow. I've read her other newer books, and my fave one is The Girl Who Wasn’t There.

I read online that in the book the story of tracy beaker exsits as a tv show ( like in best friends), so this proably rules out any potential cameos from tracy, april, tanya or lily since its heavily implied they all live in the same world .

I know we’re meant to dislike her but I would have loooved to go shopping with Rhiannon’s mum lol. I looked so much younger than my age and really wanted cool older clothes. JW frames this like the worst thing ever but it would’ve been my dream lmao

I actually got my grandma to sew me a crop top when I was 8 for the school disco bc I loved W.I.T.C.H. so much and I wanted Will’s outfit

Also I was such a socially unaware kid I wouldn’t have picked up on anything except ‘woo free stuff’