This is a good debut from this author. It is so heartbreaking and kept my interest until the final page. It had some sad moments but also some happy ones. It was written well

I tried really hard to get into this story but unfortunately it was a DNF for me. I just couldn’t get to grips with the way Wendy narrated the story. She seemed quite immature and vulnerable to me and something about her just didn’t sit right with me.

A delightful story of love and friendship that’s beautifully written, the writing flows and therefore produced a gorgeous novel that’s an easy read and one to look out for!

I enjoyed this coming of age novel. There were times when I found some of the writing a little twee/overly jokey (without being very funny), but there’s no doubt that the relationship at the heart of the book was moving and I really felt like I went on a journey as the book progressed.

Ginger and Me is a beautifully written story about friendship and love. The main character, Wendy, is a complicated young woman. Her life as a bus driver enables her to meet and connect with so many people day to day but she is not conventionally sociable. Whether she is a person who has a diagnosis of one kind or another is never mentioned but she is certainly unconventional.

She teams up with Ginger who is younger and who presents as being very needy but, at the same time, she is street wise. Ginger’s living arrangements cause Wendy to care about her and they soon become close. Wendy, as an aspiring writer also develops a close connection, or could it be an obsession?, with a writer called Dianne.

What stands out for me in this book is the very effective characterisations. I almost believe I’ve now spent time with Wendy and Ginger. It’s a book I’ll remember, although it’s immensely sad at times and the reader is not expecting a happy ending.

My thanks to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary copy to read and review.

A huge thank you to @hqstories and @elissa_soave for sending me this beautiful finished copy of ‘Ginger and Me’ to take part in this blog tour!
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Synopsis: All nineteen-year-old Wendy wants is to drive the 255 bus around Uddingston with her regulars on board, remember to buy milk when it runs out and just to be okay. After her mum died, there’s nobody to remind her to eat and what to do each day. Each week she shows her social worker the progress she’s made, like the coasters she bought to spruce up the place, even if she forgets to make tea. But everything changes when Wendy meets Ginger. A teenager with flaming orange hair, Ginger’s so brave she’s wearing a coat that isn’t even waterproof. For the first time, Wendy has a real best friend. But as they begin the summer of their lives, Wendy wonders if things were simpler before. And that’s before she realizes just how much trouble Ginger is about to get them in…
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My Thoughts: The protagonist, Wendy, is brutally honest and the depiction of her grief following the death of her mother is raw and utterly heart wrenching. Although it has not been stated, it is clear that Wendy suffers from a form of autism which makes it difficult for her to form relationships with other people. Yet she is immediately drawn to Ginger, and these feelings are reciprocated. As soon as Ginger is introduced, it is clear that something is not quite right in Ginger’s personal life, and I can already tell that whatever is going on in her home is going to break my heart. I am absolutely loving Soave’s writing style and find myself unable to put the book down!

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest, independent review.

Wendy is nineteen and lives alone. Her parents are both dead.

She drives her bus around Uddingston with her regulars on board, updates her social worker Saanvi every week with her progress, and tries to remember to buy milk.

She's trying to put herself out there and joins a writing group, but the others in the group are not as good as local author Diane Weston - she is Wendy's idol.

Everything changes when Wendy meets flame-haired Ginger, who becomes Wendy's first best friend.

'Ginger and Me' opens with mystery - Wendy sitting in prison for something which is not her fault. As we delve into the story, we find out how Wendy got herself into the situation she now finds herself in.

Wendy is an unreliable narrator, and it is quite clear she struggles with social situations and is on the autism spectrum. However, you feel utterly taken by her, wanting what's best for Wendy and Ginger, and worrying about them in the difficult or awkward circumstances they find themselves in. Both Wendy and Ginger are vulnerable, complex characters who will stay with me for a long time.

Part coming-of-age and part mystery, I found 'Ginger and Me' funny, heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once. Many themes are explored, including abuse, neglect, sexuality, vulnerability and friendship.

The whole novel felt like a journey. The journey of Wendy experiencing grief and loneliness, the journey of Wendy forming friendships, and the journeys she takes on her bus with her regulars.

I had no idea what to expect when I started reading the first page, but I found 'Ginger and Me' engaging until the last page. Highly recommend - a fantastic debut!

When we first meet Wendy she is in prison, but it takes the rest of the book to find out why! She is nineteen &alone in the world after the death of her mother. After the death she has a bit of a breakdown, a social worker visits her weekly & encourages her to make friends, explore new interests, to expand her horizons beyond the bus she drives daily round the outskirts of Glasgow, here she is well liked by her regulars. She decides to join a writing club & discovers the work of Diane- a writer who seems to 'get' her. She follows her on Twitter & after talking to her briefly at a book signing she is sure Diane also feels that connection. Wendy also makes friends with Ginger- a fifteen year old girl. Ginger has a very troubled homelife & encourages Wendy to step outside her comfort zone - & into the danger zone! She becomes obsessed with Diane- convinced she needs to get her away from her husband & spends hours just watching their house. The reader starts to wonder what exactly got poor Wendy into jail?

This was an amazing read. The author did a wonderful job of capturing the setting. I felt I was on Wendy's bus, in Ginger's & Wendy's houses. I wanted to try & talk some sense into Wendy but I doubt it would have helped. Wendy, as someone on the Autistic spectrum would always follow her path. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read this original & heart-breaking book.

Wendy is lonely but coping. All nineteen-year-old Wendy wants is to drive the 255 bus around Uddingston with her regulars on board, remember to buy milk when it runs out and just to be okay. After her mum died, there’s nobody to remind her to eat and what to do each day. And Wendy is ready to step out of her comfort zone. Each week she shows her social worker the progress she’s made, like the coasters she bought to spruce up the place, even if she forgets to make tea. And she even joins a writers’ group to share the stories she writes, like the one about a bullied boy who goes to Mars.

But everything changes when Wendy meets Ginger.
A teenager with flaming orange hair, Ginger’s so brave she’s wearing a coat that isn’t even waterproof. For the first time, Wendy has a real best friend. But as they begin the summer of their lives, Wendy wonders if things were simpler before. And that’s before she realizes just how much trouble Ginger is about to get them in…

I’ve worked for 25 years in mental health and one thing I’ve learned is that there are almost always reasons people behave the way they do, but also that there is no such thing as a ‘normal’ life. I love books that relate the extraordinary lives of ordinary people and Wendy certainly lives a simple life. She’s happy driving the 255 bus through Uddingston, reading books and having a good go at writing her own. Concerned that her social worker thinks she’s stagnating a little, since the death of her mother, Wendy makes a decision to reach out. She joins a writing group to build her confidence and starts to make friends with some of her passengers, but then Ginger comes along. Ginger is going to push Wendy completely out of her comfort zone.

This is a great novel that shows how mental health issues can creep up on young girls and when they’re as alone as Wendy is, there’s no one to notice things going wrong. Life is hard for her, because she feels like she doesn’t fit anywhere. She can see that society has rules, but she doesn’t understand them and her ignorance of the rules means she’s socially awkward. Instead of upsetting others, it sometimes seems easier to withdraw altogether. There is a sense in which Wendy’s fallen through the net, with the double bereavement of losing her mum and dad leaving her especially vulnerable. Being stepmum to two teenage girls I know only too well how problems can suddenly escalate and be made worse by social media. This is a gritty story and I knew very early on that something bad has happened to Wendy, so I did have a certain amount of suspicion most of the time. It felt to me like Wendy was heading down a dark road, but the addition of the rather wild Ginger seems to accelerate the downfall. I felt immediately protective of this girl, because it felt like she was out in the world with a layer of skin missing. I wanted to give her a big hug and have a heart to heart over a mug of tea. I found myself thinking about her long after the book finished, so bravo to the author for creating such an incredible character in her debut novel.

I really liked this book mainly because of the "voice" of the main character. I just felt very quickly hooked in and I stayed that way. It was quirky and unusual Must admit it is a while since I read it - apologies as I forgot to do a review. And apologies as this book is a bit lacking in detail because of that. I think I'm right in thinking this is a debut novel - I'll definitely be looking out for more books from this author.

This is a touching story about two vulnerable women. it is about friendship and is a well written story that is funny, heartwarming and overall an enjoyable read.

This was unfortunatly a DNF for me.

I tried really hard but it just wasn't a book I clicked with. Some parts of the story were emotional and it does cover some subjects that could be hard to read about and I would recommend looking into the trigger warnings.

overall the book was well written but just not the book for me!

A high energy story involving a friendship between a naive neurodiverse young woman and a troubled teenager which reads a bit like a disaster plot where the reader can see how things are going to unfold, but the main character cannot. Sensitively written, it is not a comfortable read but the characters are interesting and engaging. Ginger’s motivations appear ambiguous and although it appears she may be taking advantage of the older girl, it is ultimately an exploration of both girls’ vulnerabilities.

With thanks to the publisher, author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

I'm still not entirely sure what I make of this one. The MC is on the autistic spectrum and exhibits certain traits such as taking people very literally, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, lacking certain emotional understanding and hyper fixating on special interests. Her voice is pitch perfect (as far as I can tell) and we're set up to believe that she is an inadequate narrator (ie one who is unable to give the full picture rather than an unreliable narrator who has an agenda and deliberately conceals facts.) However, as the story progresses, Wendy makes more and more questionable choices. I have friends who are like Wendy and what we've all found and agreed together, is that if they misunderstand something, they appreciate it if someone just explains what they missed. And we all agree not to be offended by each other's absolute honesty because you need that to fully communicate. But it felt like Wendy would have bull headedly gone ahead with some of the things she does even if someone had explained it to her. For example if someone had bluntly but kindly told her that Diane did not consider her a friend and was starting to find her a nuisance, and that the relationship you form with someone in your own head based on their tweets is fantasy compared to the relationship you may or may not have with them in real life. Wendy is impossible to shake from an objective once she gets set on it. And then bring in Ginger, 15 yr old girl who really should be removed from her current home by social services due to physical, sexual and psychological abuse. And some part of Wendy knows it but she ignores this in favour of the narrative that Ginger is her best friend.



This is beautifully written. It's compelling. Wendy is by turns likeable and unlikeable. And I'm not someone who subscribes to the idea that all 'representation must be positive representation'. A neurodivergent person can still be a villain, or flawed or selfish etc. But this ended with the uncomfortable parallel between people cutting Wendy slack for her behaviour because she was ND and the fact that her ND led her into criminal behaviour and causing a lot of harm. So was the author saying that ND people like Wendy are unreliable and likely to do things like this if not checked? I hope not. Or maybe she was saying that Wendy hid behind her ND and was actually a thoroughly self-centred person who refused to consider that other people were as real as her? I don't know. Maybe the story was just the story and meant to make you feel uncomfortable, even though it ends on a note of dark humour. If so it succeeded. Overall this was not a comfortable book. I just couldn't see to what purpose that was so.

Bleak but brilliant, Ginger and me will absorb you from the very beginning, and will break your heart throughout.

The story of Wendy and Ginger is at times beautiful, at times utterly tragic. A story of not belonging, a story of loneliness, a story of pain. But also one of friendship and kindness.

Compelling and beautifully devastating, Ginger and me is a book that remains in your heart long after the last page is turned.

Two unlikely girls make a friendship from very shaky foundations, one older but not as streetwise as the younger. Set in Scotland turning the everyday narrative into a very bittersweet but funny tale. A third person is introduced to us, in an ultimately weird fashion. The authors descriptions of a plain sailing setting elevates it into something else. I enjoyed this book and thank you to both netgalley and publisher for arc.

Touching, haunting and a darn good read that’s hard to put down.

This is an interesting book that I found myself totally wrapped up in the characters of.

It all begins in present times in Polmont Prison with a pressing question as to why this setting, in the beginning of the book and who is Diane? The book then returns to how this all really began as it becomes, not a prison story, but one that is out and about in the world and friendship and how far an admiration for someone can go…

For readers who don’t know, Polmont is a town in central Scotland and really does have a prison within it.

Wendy is the narrator, this is her story and she starts from the beginning, in Glasgow and the Greater Glasgow and surrounding areas. She talks of her support worker, Saanvi, her job and not having many friends and on top of that, her mother dying hit her so hard. It becomes increasingly apparent how vulnerable Wendy actually is and even more so without her mother instructing her, so now Saanvi is attempting to open up her world a bit, which she does as she joins a writers group and a great obsession follows. She gets to know more about the author - Diane Weston and it isn’t just that she follows her on Twitter, clicking a like here and leaving a comment there. It is a serious obsession she develops for her, which becomes intense to the point it feels spine-tingling. Wendy in some ways seems to think, partly that it’s normal and to a certain degree not, but the obsessive thoughts overpower the rationale.

The surprising thing is that the author even had space to add small bits of humour here and there.

It is interesting to see the friendship between Wendy and Ginger develop throughout the book and revelations of their personalities coming through to the fore and just how close they become, all the while the obsession of one author is never far away.

There are also some shady characters such as Uncle Tam and Roddy, who are doing things that Wendy and Ginger get mixed up in, some of which is chilling. 

It all ends in an unexpected way!

I highly recommend this book!

Ginger & Me is a thought provoking, touching story about two vulnerable young women, Ginger and Wendy. It is a book about friendship and obsession. A brilliantly written story told with humour and compassion. Looking forward to reading more by Elissa Soave.

A good debut novel but one that didn't quite hit the mark for me.

I liked the bus characters and would've liked them to have had more a role in the overall plot. The descriptions are great.

Things I liked less are it's overly long for a book where you know what's going to happen and rather repetitive. I also didn't find Wendy's voice convincing at times as it's inconsistent.

This is a minor point but I kept thinking about certain inconsistencies like how on earth did a teenager get a bus drivers licence and then when she drives a car she's really bad at it? And it seems her parents were not well off but she doesn't seem to have any problem eating out every day and buying things even when on no or low income.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

At times I found reading Ginger and Me uncomfortable, but that is because Elissa Soave has done such a brilliant job of bringing Wendy to life and her interpretation of events or situations.

A touching read, I wasnt expecting to feel for Wendy & Ginger as much as I did.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read Ginger and Me.