I love pretty much every creation from this author and this just got added to the list.
It’s full of life lessons and thought provoking contest. Beautifully and thoughtfully written.

Thank you for my copy of this book to read and review.

I never read Jacqueline Wilson growing up so I’m new to her work and this has just blown me away.

I loved everything about this book, especially Laura. Her innocence and vulnerability came across really well, and I could almost feel the longing to be accepted by Nina & her family in the first half.

I thought the difficult topics were handled really well and sensitively. It’s heartbreaking to know this sort of thing really happened.

One of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I already want to go back and read it all over again. A massive 5 stars, I can’t praise this book enough.

This title was featured in '22 children's books to look out for in 2022' on Caboodle, the rewards programme from National Book Tokens.

Baby Love by Jacqueline Wilson and illustrated by Rachel Dean (13+)
For Jacqueline Wilson fans old and new comes a heartbreaking, compelling and timely story about teen pregnancy, family trouble and unlikely friendships, set in 1960. When Laura's family learns that she is having a baby, they are horrified. Sent away to save them from shame, Laura meets girls just like herself, whose families have given up on them - and they become a family for each other at the most difficult time in all their lives.

Like many millennial girls, I grew up with Jacqueline Wilson’s books!
However it’s been years since I’ve picked one up but this book has made me want to read all the books I’ve missed out on since my teens, and it’s one that will appeal to adults too.
Baby Love is set in the not so swinging 60s and follows innocent Laura, a conscientious grammar schoolgirl, living in a prefab with her overprotective parents.

Naive Laura is only 14 when she’s sexually assaulted and doesn’t even totally realise what’s happening, or tries to block it out until a bump grows and she realises she’s pregnant. Scared she’ll be judged and outcast for life, her mum sends her to a mother and baby home where she prepares to give birth and face some difficult decisions about hers and her baby’s futures, together or separate as they might be.
As ever Wilson tackles a serious issue with sensitivity and realism. I just wanted to give Laura a huge hug, and knowing that this happened to thousands of young girls is astounding. Laura was judged so much for being “fast” but she was taken advantage of and didn’t even know it,
It reminds me of the importance of sex education in schools, and how important it is to talk about things instead of surrounding them with stigma.

The book is written in such a way to be suitable for young teenagers and could hopefully lead to open and honest conversations.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Penguin Books and NetGalley for providing me an ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was utterly phenomenal! I haven’t read a Jacqueline Wilson book in ages, but this was the first one of her books where I couldn’t stop reading. The honesty, innocent, and personalities of all the characters were so raw. I know I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

There’s nothing I disliked about this book. While the start of it may have seemed a bit drawn out, by the end of the book you realised how important it was to the overall plot of the book. The reader needed the long beginning to get to know Laura to understand her throughout the narrative.

I’m one-hundred percent going to be purchasing a physical copy of the book once it is released. It will be a prized possession on my shelf. I highly recommend this to the upper end of young adults and above - especially those who read books tackling difficult subjects and those who want to read a different historical fiction.

Well done Jacqueline Wilson for making me fall utterly in love with this book! It’s one I won’t be forgetting in a hurry

This book is good, very different to normal Jacquline Wilson teen books, you do need to know what you’re getting into and hopefully with content warnings you’ll understand why. Jacquline clearly has decided this area/topic needs publishing and it does, and it’s a good way to get people to think about these issues like adoption in the 1960s. It’s not too long and is just the right length for a YA book

Jacqueline Wilson is renowned for her children's literature and Baby Love digresses from this track.
Set in the 1960s, Laura is a teenager who is navigating the tricky world of friendships, puberty, and families.
Laura strikes up a friendship with a Dr's daughter - Nina and it's this friendship that leads her down a different path - Laura has one encounter in a park and finds herself pregnant as a result.
Laura's family are mortified and ashamed and they send her away from her grammar school and banish her from her home Laura moves to a home for teen mums and it's here she strikes up the most wonderful friendships.
The story is very well done, it tackles some really emotive issues but these are handled with care and compassion.

A recommended read.

I absolutely love Jacqueline Wilson’s books. Having started reading them at 8yrs old, I’m still a fan now I’m 31yrs old.
This new treasure from Jacqueline Wilson is aimed at older readers, and tackles the sensitive issues of teenage pregnancy and consent, but set in the sixties. Wilson handles it brilliantly, as ever, and had me captivated from start to finish. As always, there are some fantastic characters, touching moments, moments of humour, and of heartbreak. I would definitely recommend.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Children’s UK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was another well written, and hard hitting book from Jacqueline Wilson, who is an author, that for as long as I can remember, have loved reading, and most definitely ignited my love for reading and writing.

This book was both charming, and humorous, but tackled multiple topics with a realness that made me quite emotional. The characters we meet were all written with a childish wonder and vulnerability, which made it much more emotional to read, especially as they were going through such hardships. The book being set in the 60's also helped heighten the awareness for how badly young girls were treated and the pressure they faced and continue to face, regarding their rights and their body.

Laura was a compassionate, and bright main character, who despite her anxiety, never loses hope in herself or those around her. The family dynamics added another emotional layer to the story, and matured Laura as she prepared for her motherhood journey. I am sure this book will be another favourite among young readers and become a vital educational tool for young girls.

This book, like every other Jacqueline Wilson has written, will continue to resonate with me for years, and I can only hope she continues to write books with the same fearlessness and emotional depth. I strongly believe this is a book that all parents need to read immediately, and take Laura's story along with them.

I’ve always been an avid reader of Jacqueline Wilson ever since I was young. I have so many positive memories of reading her books as a child (and even rereading them as an adult) and I’m so excited to read a book set for young adults and one of a more adult and sensitive subject too.

I knew it would be well written and sensitively tackled as Jacqueline Wilson so often does and I knew it would be handled well. There are trigger warnings with this, which the author well prepares the reader for and it was a brilliant book.

I’m finding it so hard to find the right words for this review as it was just a truly stunning, beautifully written, heartwarming, heart-wrenching, amazing and perfect beyond measure. Never did I think upon reading this book that I would be so connected, invested and intensely engrossed as I was when I picked it up. It was just amazing.

Set in the 1960’s, Jacqueline Wilson transports you back in time, to the days of Elvis and the ‘swinging sixties’. We see a different side of this era, following Laura along her path of childhood to early motherhood. The authors writing perfectly encapsulated the innocence and young nature of the main character, Laura, expertly writing her and capturing the confusion, whirlwind and uncertainty that was being a young, unmarried, pregnant girl in these times.

It was such an easy book to get into, pick up and read. Watching Laura and her friend Nina navigate teenage hood and become interested in sex, boys and ‘growing up’ (well, in Nina’s case anyway), and I honestly can’t believe how quickly I eagerly devoured this book. I truly felt I was there and was so heartily rooting for Laura, I had no idea if this was going to be a tragedy or not but can safely say my heart soared and was full by the end of reading this book.

In efforts to stop this book review from turning into an essay, I’ll leave it there with a take home message. Honestly such a beautiful book and one I would whole heartedly recommend to all.

Babylove
By Jacqueline Wilson

"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things”

All through my late childhood , and teen years I adored Jacqueline Wilson books . They were my safety blanket and I look back on them with fondness and comfort , and was eager to read one now I’m in my early 30s with the view of picking up from where I left off but my goodness this book is not a comfort blanket.

When and why do we suddenly decide what we should and should not read , do , say and dress . Is it peer pressure or do we do this ourselves ? I always loved her books but why did I stop reading them ?

This book was a reality check for sure ! I’m not sure if Jacqueline Wilson is now writing for a different type of teenager than 20 years ago or if I am reading her book as a person who has experienced things I never expected 20 years ago but this did not feel like a ‘teen read’.

Yes it was in an easy to read format but the writing was highly emotive and the plot was gut wrenching

This stands alone as a great fiction book and should not be categories only as a young adult book in my opinion .

I can’t understand how Jacqueline Wilson can completely understand teenage anxiety and make her characters come to life in such a fluid way.

This book is dark but real and I was captivated by all of the themes surrounding the main plot (don’t worry I won’t give away any spoilers!)

I could picture Laura’s parents so perfectly. Within a few lines I felt I knew them personally and I could identify with Laura immediately. Although we later learn they are not ‘sunshine and roses’ it also didn’t feel like they were completely vilified.

This book is set around the 60s and I have learned through first hand experience how common place it was for people to hide secrets in this generation.
Also I found it heart wrenching how It described the pain of a loss of a baby but the reality that just because it was not discussed openly the pain was always present.
It made me think of my own family, my baby uncle passed around this period, when he was just a few weeks old and my Nan never ‘forgot’ him and would frequent his grave often however when she passed we discovered so many more possessions and reminders she had kept in secret .

This generation was always remembered as so strong and ‘stiff upper lip’ and trying always to do the ‘decent’ thing but it made me question, decent for who?
Although this is set in the 60s I think it is just as relevant now.

The language used was sweet but didn’t feel like it was pandering .
I half expected a fairy tale ending.

One fantastic addition since the days when I was a YA were some notes from the author detailing what young readers might be relating to and how to access help with full details of some of the help on offer which I found to be a truly fantastic idea.
I wish this had been in more books 20 years ago

So how would I sun this up … honest , gut wrenching yet sweet at times , emotional and heartbreaking but i would classify not just as a great YA book but as a great book period.

I now need to go and dig out all of my old Wilson books to see if they are as innocent and comforting as I remember !

Oh My Gosh I adored this book. I have read Jacqueline Wilson since I was a child and Tracy Beaker has always been a firm favourite, one that Wilson has not, for me, been able to topple off of the top spot, until now. This is possibly one of the best books of hers that I have ever read, it is incredible. It is so well written with such well developed chatacters and a uplift, yet in many ways heartbreaking storyline.
This has quite dark undertones within the book as the proitagonist is a 14 year old girl, who with a lack of sex education in schools doesnt even realise she has had sex and then finds herself pregnant. Whilst reading this book I realised that I was shocked by the attitudes towards Laura when she finds out she is pregnant, representing in issues such as consent, victim blaming and young people getting pregnant that was happening in the 1960's, but then I also realised that actually as a society, we havent actually moved on that much in terms of victim blaming and so forth. This book has actually inspired me to look more into it.
This book was hardhitting, emotive and yet sensitively done, one of the best books I have read this year so far, and possibly contender for one of my best books ever. I loved it

I’m absolutely lost for words after reading Baby Love. It Jacqueline Wilson has ever written a great young adult book set within the 1960s.
This is a heaver read than many of Wilson’s books that I have read. Being a big Jacqueline Fan it has been exciting to see her write in a different style than normal. Fantastic book

It's 1960 and Laura is a fourteen year old girl from a poor area that goes to the local grammar school. Her parents have to work hard for them to get by but they're so proud of their daughter. Having no sex education at school, Laura kisses a boy who wants to take things further and she doesn't even know if she's had sex afterwards. Laura falls pregnant and is sent away to live at a mother and baby home.

This is for older readers than the other books that Jacqueline Wilson writes (think more like the Girls In Love series) and is an excellent read. It sheds light on how things used to be for young women and is a gripping read throughout- I pretty much read it in one sitting!