For me, Jacqueline Wilson pretty much WAS my childhood. I read every book she wrote for years. And so it was truly wonderful to be able to revisit her work as an adult, especially with everything going on at the moment - it gave me a real sense of escapism and felt truly nostalgic.

Now, onto the book itself. Personally, I felt it was brilliant. A beautiful, nuanced exploration of the complexities of sexuality, disability, and just teenagehood in general. Frankie was a wonderful character, who is struggling with more than her fair share of hardship in her life. Through her friendship with Sally, you really see her blossom and grow into a lovely young woman. Now, I won't go into details on the plot, due to fear of spoilers, but I will say that the friendship that develops between the two girls felt very organic and natural, not sensationalised in any way.

All in all, a lovely book about a very important and topical issue that is handled in a mature and meaningful way. I would definitely recommend!

Books about LGBT issues are important to young people, so an author of Jacqueline Wilson‘s stature demonstrates gravitas to the subject matter. Although Jacqueline Wilson has written other teen novels, they are always read by pre-teens and this one too will reach top primary school children. However there is nothing unsuitable in this book as Wilson’s style is young and naive. She writes realistically about the feelings young girls have for their friends, the intensity of love that can and do border onto romantic love and the throwaway conversations they have in saying ‘ I love you’. The fall outs of girls’ friendships - enemies one minute, friends the next, is also a real thing. The party scene of young teens rings true as young people like the sound of ‘grown up’ parties but in reality they can be boring and you just wish yourself at home.
The naivety of Frankie in coming out and admitting she loved Sally romantically is a bit too simplistic, Sally’s reaction is far more true to life as she knew there would be name calling from peers and parents saying it’s just a phase, and so many young people try to hide their feelings for this reason.
So although I think this book will be read by a younger cohort than aimed at, this allows them to experience in a safe environment feelings it will be normal to have. This novel is a good addition to the genre.

In this book Frankie is enemies for a start with Sally a girl who's mean to her after assuming her mum is a drunk after an incident at their school.



However as the book goes on, Sally befriends Frankie after seeing her out with Sammy her best boy friend from next door who evidently likes Frankie a lot more...



As Frankie learns about her feelings she's dealing with, coping with the drama of her sister's, her mum's MS worsening and their dad's new life situation everything feels out of control for her to cope with.



It was a refreshing read to have a chronic illness as a central issue and a girl struggling to come to terms with her sexuality too probably the most relevant Jacqueline Wilson book about right now and I just know this will help many girl comes to terms with their feelings and accept them too I do wish that we saw more of the alcoholic storyline from Sally's mum though as many kids are also effected by that however maybe we can have a follow up book as the ending left one to be desired...



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

I enjoyed this, but it was not my favourite of her books. I've ready many wonderful books by Jacqueline Wilson and hugely admire her as an author, but this one fell a little flat for me. I didn't find the relationship between Frankie and Sally convincing and I felt the pace sagged until the end, which was better. Very accessible and easy to read as ever, with great characters, but I felt there wasn't anything new here. But a new reader may well feel differently.

Quirky, sweet, delicate, one-sitting read; Wilson's "Love Frankie" is an absolute gem that delves into themes of adolescence and love.

Love Frankie is a weird book for me to review, because it's essentially Jacqueline Wilson writing a novel that foregrounds a relationship between two teenage girls, and I think it would have meant a great deal to me when I was the age of its protagonists. While LGBT+ narratives have proliferated in young adult fiction (a welcome change from when I was a teenager and the only LGBT+ character I encountered was Andy in Sweet Valley Senior Year!), I still think it's important that someone of Wilson's stature is writing this kind of narrative. And she handles it well, sustaining her light touch while dealing with serious issues such as homophobic taunts and the persistent narrative that same-sex attraction in adolescence is 'just a phase'. While I found the attitude of the central character to her sexuality a little unrealistically optimistic, Wilson has a tendency to write naive, unworldly protagonists, and so this is in keeping with her usual style, even if, for me, it plays troublingly into the myth that LGBT+ teenagers no longer face any major issues (for evidence on the persistence of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia today, see https://www.britishlgbtawards.com/lgb...) And Wilson's instinctive understanding of the emotional intensity of teenage female friendships, and how, here, that bleeds confusingly into romantic attraction, is spot on.

However, although I've loved some of Wilson's more recent fiction (Katy is my favourite) I wasn't sure that Love Frankie really works as a novel. Most obviously, it's very long, and it doesn't really justify its length; there's a great deal of repetition. Interestingly, while the central character is fourteen, it doesn't really feel like YA fiction; I'm no expert, but I can imagine that this will be read by people who are rather younger that the protagonist. I don't see this as a problem - in fact, this is the sort of book that I'd like to see being read by confident Y5 or Y6 readers as it will hopefully act as a positive introduction to certain issues before they have to face the brunt of them themselves. As I say, the protagonist is pretty innocent and the worst she gets up to is a bit of underage drinking (I was struck by how different Wilson's portrayal of Y9 girls was in her much older Girls trilogy - this is not nearly as hard-hitting). However, given this, the length feels even more unnecessary. Ultimately, this is a book for pre-teens and teenagers, and so they will be the best judge of whether it works, not me. However, despite the promising subject-matter, as an adult reader, I got much less out of this than some of Wilson's other books, regardless of the age group they're aimed at.

Frankie is a thirteen year old girl who falls in love with one of the girls in her class. This is a really sweet story that deals with the subject sensitively and beautifully. As is typical of Jacqueline Wilson books, Frankie has some family problems as her parents are divorced and her mother has recently been diagnosed with MS. There's nothing overly sensational about this story which is what makes is so realistic and just a lovely read for YA/adults who will never stop reading JW books!

A few days ago I received a very exciting email saying that Penguin had approved my request to read Love Frankie by Jacqueline Wilson! I've been a massive fan for YEARS since I first read Glubbslyme and I've always been keen to read every one of her books. Admittedly, I'm a bit more old school and haven't read some of her newer books, but Love Frankie immediately stood out as a fine return to her more teen content (my faves!). So, it didn't take me long to pick this one up from the time that I received it.

I immediately was hooked; Frankie is such a likeable character and I found that I couldn't wait to keep reading. I found that the story was a fantastic way to explore all the complex emotions that come with being a teenager, and even as an adult I could really relate to the different characters in the book. There were so many different themes that were touched upon sensitively, there were bright moments and there were tough moments. The main theme of sexuality was handled very well and I particularly liked how the characters were so different in their approach to it - it made it feel very real and showed how people's reactions can be so different, whether they are the person with those feelings or whether they're on the outside.

I think it's so important that books like Love Frankie exist, especially from authors such as Jacqueline Wilson. It's such an approachable look at growing up, discovering new feelings and diversity. I felt that it really normalised feelings towards the same sex in a way that was approachable and I could imagine quite realistic. I felt that I could relate to the feelings Frankie was facing; first love is first love regardless of gender, and that Jacqueline, as usual, really captured what it's like to be a teenager and have all these different feelings and emotions and challenges.

I'd highly, highly recommend Love Frankie, particularly to fans of Jacqueline's teen books such as Kiss and Love Lessons. It made me feel very nostalgic to my early teen years reading those books and I think it'll introduce a new generation of youngsters to her wonderful books!

Frankie has not an easy status at her school at the moment. Some of her fellow pupils saw her mother take a fall and now they haunt her about her mum being a drunk. Little do the know, that Frankie's mum is battling a serious illness. Since her mum doesn't want everyone to know, there is little chance to clear things up. At home Frankie and her two sisters try top help their mum as best as they can. Frankie's father left for another woman and she is mad at him for leaving. The only support she gets is from her best friend and her dog bear.
When she comes clean with the worst of the girls to tease her, a friendship develops between Frankie an her. But is it only friendship for Frankie ?

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.
I will definitely recommend this book.