I don't think, no matter how old I get, I will tire of Jacqueline Wilson. Her characters are always well developed, relatable. And she just grips you right from the off. I love her.

This was my first ever Jacqueline Wilson book, so I didn't really know what to expect from her wriring. I needn't have worried!

Love Frankie is a gorgeous coming of age story about a 13 year old girl, her family, the boy next door, and the girl who is Frankie's enemy at school. Emotions run high throughout the book, which made for gripping read. I wanted to keep going to see how everyone dealt with the obstacles and choices they faced.

Frankie is a great protagonist. She's sweet, caring, kind, funny, and so relatable. I love the bond she shares with Sammy, but also how close she is to her little sister, Rowena. They don't have it easy as a family, but they pull together when things get tough.

Well written, relatable, and sensitive about difficult topics. I loved it!

My niece read this and enjoyed it. It is a book of self discovery. She was totally intrigued by the writing and story.

Loved it! I’m a lifetime fan of JW since my childhood and I’m so happy that she’s still transforming generations of kids into keen readers with her fantastic easy to read and wonderful stories.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

I started this because so many young people I know love this author. I missed the buzz when she first attracted young girls in particular to her craft and then again at every opportunity after. This is the third book I’ve started by her that I haven’t finished. I just somehow can’t get into her characters and plot lines but I realise I’m in the minority here. Not for me.

Frankie has many feelings, her Mum's MS is getting worse, the boy next door might love her, she might love the mean girl at school, she really doesn't want to see her father and his new girlfriend. She's worried, anxious, hurt, angry and in love. It's all very confusing for her.

This book was okay. I think it would definitely appeal more to the target audience. The author writes characters very well, they were very vivid and I completely understood where Frankie was coming from and I really enjoyed the ending. Frankie's Mum was my favourite character, the was she held the family together, she was brave and resilient and I loved her. I did not like Sally one bit, I didn't trust her and I was happy with the ending.

From a disability and blended family point of view it's a great book. For an LGBT story it was okay.

'Love Frankie' by Jacqueline Wilson was featured in '15 of the most exciting new books to discover at your local bookshop this winter' on Caboodle from National Book Tokens.

I really love this book, besides the serious issues being dealt with is a pleasant and easy read. The characters are all well worked out and the story wants you to keep going.

My daughter is a huge Jacqueline Wilson fan, and she loved this book, whizzing through it in just a few days. She gave it a rating of 9.5 out of 10! Perfect for slightly older readers, especially ones that are already fans of Wilson's novels.

I haven’t read a lot of Jacqueline Wilson’s vast output. I think I was already reading lesbian science fiction aimed at much older readers by the time her books began to be widely known. What I’ve read has always hit a chord, though. So when I heard she was writing LGBT+ romance, I knew that I had to try to get an advance copy. The book’s announcement was accompanied by Wilson’s rather low-key official coming out, giving this story additional levels of meaning, and it’s a great shame that its release has been delayed due to the ongoing pandemic, because a lot of isolated teens could do with reading it ’round about now.

Frankie is the middle of three sisters living with their mother, who is newly single and was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Frankie tries her best to care for her whole family, and for her dog, while also maintaining an appearance of normality at school, as well as with her best friend, boy-next-door Sam, who goes to a different school. Frankie’s mother’s condition has led to Frankie being the target of bullies, who believe her to be an alcoholic rather than ill – and Frankie is afraid to disclose the truth when her mother is yet to tell the head of the school she herself works for. When one of the bullies, Sally, reaches out to Frankie and discloses that her own home life is less than ideal, the two form an alliance, and Frankie starts to realise that she is attracted to Sally.

Sally’s parents are better off than Frankie’s and give her more freedom than either Frankie or Sam, and so the three end up having a series of misadventures over the parts of the Christmas holidays that they each spend at home. Frankie fears that Sally prefers Sam, or one of the popular boys at the school the girls go to, to herself, especially since Sally is a lot more outgoing and popular than Frankie. Meanwhile, Frankie’s older sister seems to be boy-mad and determined to get into all sorts of scrapes involving the local nightlife, leading to Frankie worrying that all this stress will affect their mother’s health.

I liked this book a lot, although I wish we’d seen more of the problems at home that Sally alludes to, rather than just giving us glimpses of a slightly problematic family who think everything can be solved with gifts and wild parties. The ending was a little ambiguous, but suited the characters perfectly. I’d love to revisit them all when they’ve had a few months more to grow into their lives.

I did love Frankie. Really interesting characters and storyline
I felt as though I knew every one of them

Read July 20

This is the book I would have wanted as a kid. I never went through with it but I always imagined writing to Jacqueline Wilson and asking for a girl meets girl story. Eventually – when I’d technically grown out of her books but was still buying them – we got ‘Kiss’ which was about Sylvie and her best friend Carl, who later reveals that he’s gay.

Now we do finally have my longed for lesbian themed book and I’m a little disappointed. I know Jacqueline’s speciality is children’s books and I’d guess this fit into the 11+ category (possibly! Ageing books is not my thing) but it could have done with being pushed a bit further and been longer in order to tie up all the loose ends.

I guess it's the fact that there is so much story. We have Frankie who is working out her sexuality, actually it would have been nice to have had more of her exploring her feelings. She was a bit 0-60. “I have feelings for one girl, I must be gay.” I did love the way she owned it though! Then we have her best friend Sam who has a crush on her. Her mum has MS which after causing a fall kids at school think she has a drink problem and start bullying Frankie about it. Her father left them for another woman - leading to a very awkward Christmas holiday scene. And on top of all that the girl she falls for is Sally, one of the kids who bullied her about her mum.

This is such a strange review for me to write! Firstly, I have to admit that I’d never heard of Jacqueline Wilson before picking up this book and was astounded to find out what a staple she has been in the book industry for decades now, penning books left and right and with all sorts of topics! Nevertheless, it made me really intrigued for Love Frankie. And while I did enjoy the story, it also left me a bit unhappy because I think I am so used to happy endings in fiction for adolescents that the opposite never even occurred to me.
But let’s break this down, shall we?
The good.
What I thought was handled incredibly well were the friendships Frankie has. It’s true what they say, you’ll never have friends quite like you do when you’re a teen and Frankie’s relationship with her best friend Sam was #goals whereas her friendship and potential romance with Sally is tumultuous and confusing.
I also thought that Sally as a character was really intense. She walked a fine line manipulating everyone around her to like and even love her while making sure she was the one in control – it definitely wasn’t anything I’ve ever read in adolescent literature before. Sally had me infuriated for most of the book (she’s definitely one of those characters that you love to hate for most of the book, begging for a redemption arc), the way she toys with people and Frankie in particular was heartbreaking but also rang very true and showed that the hot and cold aspect we’re so used to from older fiction can also happen to younger adolescents with disastrous consequences. It’s hard making a romance with a former bully work; it’s even harder to do so when that former bully is still somewhat of a tormentor to others. But Wilson did a fine job of showing that while Sally wants to change, she’s also confounded by her own actions at times.
On the not so great side, there’s a lot of repetition in this story. Frankie in particular goes back and forth on her feelings for Sally which is understandable, but in general, there is just a lot going on in this book and while some aspects might have not been necessary to mention every chapter, others were a bit neglected. Frankie deals with a lot – her mother’s MS diagnosis, her father leaving and dating someone new, Frankie’s struggles at school where people are bullying her and her squabbles with her siblings on top of her best friend maybe having romantic feelings for her all of a sudden. It’s a lot to deal with and the narrative showed how overwhelming it can all be, especially when you fall in love with your former nemesis in the midst of all that. The ‘teen speak’ was also trying a bit too hard and at times made me wonder if Frankie is thirteen going on thirty but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment too much.
I will say, though, this was unlike anything I’ve ever read when it comes to addressing queer love and figuring out your identity. Especially in books addressed to younger readers, first loves are usually soft and quiet; Frankie’s and Sally’s relationship feels more like a rollercoaster where you wonder when and how the ride will end. It was different than I expected but that’s not a bad thing.
Focusing on the more painstaking and confusing parts of first love, Love Frankie offers a realistic portrayal of heartbreaks and friendships and navigating tough topics. Whether you’ll grab your hair in agony or cry silent tears for Frankie’s broken heart, this one will stick with you for a while!

This story of 13 year old Frankie falling for mean girl turned best friend will do well, I think. The language does feel like it's aimed younger than Frankie's Year 9, but that said the intensity of teenage friendship and first love is pitched just right.

My daughter loves Jacqueline Wilson's books and was so excited to read this one and it didn't disappoint! She really enjoyed it. It is so great to her enjoy and be glued to a book like she was with this one!
Jacqueline Wilson always does a fantastic job of dealing with real life issues in her books including Health, money worries and relationships with others in a realistic way.
A fantastic read.

Thank you to netgalley and Penguin/Random House for the ARC copy.

Jacqueline Wilson can always be relied on to write a book that can be related to by the target audience. This more than fulfills the brief. With a teen age main character, a difficult home life, bullied at school and beginnings of romance, lots of issues are covered in a natural, non-preachy way that will help teens to realise they are not the only ones.

This was a lovely nostalgia trip back to my childhood and teenage years of reading Jacqueline Wilson books, and as a bisexual reader I was so happy to hear that she had finally written a gay protagonist. I enjoyed this one a lot - it kept a lot of familiar tropes from Wilson's earlier work which made it feel familiar, but I appreciated that it wasn't a totally neat and tidy ending. Parts reminded me of Wilson's other books such as Bad Girls, Kiss, Secrets, Midnight, etc, with the same kinds of realistic and flawed characters - for example, Frankie can be quite dismissive and judgemental of other girls (especially those who are more feminine) - and complicated relationships. Wilson has for a long time been a master of writing intense, complex female friendships, and so her progression into writing about a budding romance between two teenage girls feels completely natural and suits her writing style perfectly, I wish I had had this book when I was twelve - it has all the great hallmarks of an excellent Jacqueline Wilson novel but also a sweetly written f/f romance.

What a joy it is to return to Jacqueline Wilson's writing! I was such a huge fan as a child and was so excited to be approved for this. It has her classic feel but also feels incredibly timely.

Jacqueline Wilson writes such amazing books for children m I wish we’d had her when I was young. This deals with important issues like being a carer as a child, trying to deal with your sexuality as a teenager and of course trying to survive school life as a teenager. A brilliant read that also deals wonderfully with relationships, bullying and of course what love is. An absolutely brilliant story and should be read by parents as well as teenagers.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Somehow when I was growing up, Jacqueline Wilson’s books passed me by completely, meaning that, although I have obviously heard about them as an adult, Love Frankie is the first of her books that I have read.

Written in a style aimed at the younger end of the YA scale, Love Frankie is a book that I think lots of girls entering their teens will relate to. Alongside the bigger issues of coming out and being a carer for her mum, Frankie suffers the same trials and tribulations of everyday life as any other teenager, making this an enjoyable, relatable read for any teenager. Navigating secondary school is hard enough without having to care for a sick parent, or coming to terms with your sexuality. Jacqueline handles Frankie’s reality sensitively and I think for those who are dealing with similar issues to Frankie, this book serves as reassurance that they are not alone.

Frankie is a character that strikes as both old before her time and painfully young, something which resonates with my memories of being 14.

Having read this, I can quite see just why Jacqueline Wilson’s books have been so popular for so long.