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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Book 60 of 2025 finished 22/5/25 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ellie, Magda and Nadine are all grown up. The girls are turning 40 and we find them all living very different lives. Ellie’s life hasn’t turned out the way she expected it to. Although she uses her creativity in her job and she has a beautiful daughter, she feels like she is living in autopilot.
Someone from her past has resurfaced and there could be potential for romance. She has also made a new friend who could help her to make a huge career change. But will Ellie be bold enough to navigate this transition and take the plunge into something new.
My thoughts: I loved the nostalgia of revisiting these characters. I feel like they’ve grown up with me (although I’m not quite forty yet!). I really enjoyed
Despite being forty Ellie still has the thought process of a teenager. She is so unbelievably immature and this comes across in every element of the book, friendships, parenting, relationships, dating…you could be forgiven in thinking Ellie was still 14. I was hoping she had grown some self confidence and learned how to communicate properly so I found this really disappointing.
The story has no depth, there isn’t much character growth, and there are plenty of loose ends just left dangling in the wind.
Overall this isn’t a bad book, it’s great for nostalgia but it’s very predictable. And if you take out the ‘romance’ scenes it reads like a YA novel.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Oh dear. Jacqueline Wilson’s books were the cornerstone of my formative reading years. I wished for an adult novel for YEARS, but having finished Think Again I’ve realised not all wishes need to come true.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I found this a difficult audiobook to get through, I thought Ellie’s character was really annoying which if that was what Jacqueline was trying to do then she achieved it. I could see the ending coming from a mile away. I assume Lottie story with her dad and her and Alice’s relationship has been left out in the open to start another book but I just felt it lacked depth by not rounding a few things up. I think Jacqueline Wilson is a fab writer but I think she should stick to young adult/children books
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Comfort read but didn't go as far as I would have liked.
Haven't read the Girls series leading up to this but went in for a nostalgia trip with JW being one of my fav authors growing up.
Unfortunately, feels like it's going to stay in the past as I really began to hate some characters by the end and there were a lot of lack of research on some elements.
Enjoyed the first portion of the book but as soon as Ellie finds her love interest and that narrative is repeating... It got frustrating for me.
Haven't read the Girls series leading up to this but went in for a nostalgia trip with JW being one of my fav authors growing up.
Unfortunately, feels like it's going to stay in the past as I really began to hate some characters by the end and there were a lot of lack of research on some elements.
Enjoyed the first portion of the book but as soon as Ellie finds her love interest and that narrative is repeating... It got frustrating for me.
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book felt nostalgic as I read so many Jacqueline Wilson books when I was younger. It had heartwarming moments, relatable moments and sad moments and the story felt somewhat realistic. However, it didn’t feel completely finished to me. I would have loved some of the storylines to have reached more of a conclusion but the book ended quite abruptly. This could be relevant to the style of the book as it represents that in life, storylines aren’t always complete and finished, but it lessened the book for me personally.
The book follows Ellie on her entry into her 40s. She feels a little bit stagnant in life and like she’s not being a proper adult. She has been single for a while, her comic strip weekly column in a newspaper was cancelled and her daughter has gone off to university. Her love life picks up when she starts dating Gary, her former art teacher (only a ten year age gap). Alongside this, her new friend Alice also makes her life brighter and Ellie starts a new venture into creating a graphic novel. The writing felt quite simple and the characters seemed quite shallow. There didn’t seem to have been much character development since the three girls were teenagers, lots of the characters felt very one-dimensional and were a little bit forgettable. My favourite character was probably Lottie who didn’t feature for a lot of the book.
I laughed and cried whilst reading this. When Ellie’s dad had his cardiac arrest, I felt as emotional as Ellie and was delighted when he recovered. I felt Ellie’s frustration when Gary was being controlling and felt that frustration even more when her friends didn’t listen to her. I loved reading about Alice and Ellie’s new blossoming friendship and started questioning whether it would turn in to more, and loved it even more when it did, even if it felt a bit forced from Ellie’s side. It just didn’t feel fully finished to me. I wanted to know if Ellie told Magda and Nadine about her relationship with Gary ending and her feelings for Alice. I wanted to know how Lottie’s relationship progressed with her father and if Ellie told her about her experience. I don’t think I’ll be running to read Jacqueline Wilson any more and think I’ll keep my memories of her books from when I was younger.
The book follows Ellie on her entry into her 40s. She feels a little bit stagnant in life and like she’s not being a proper adult. She has been single for a while, her comic strip weekly column in a newspaper was cancelled and her daughter has gone off to university. Her love life picks up when she starts dating Gary, her former art teacher (only a ten year age gap). Alongside this, her new friend Alice also makes her life brighter and Ellie starts a new venture into creating a graphic novel. The writing felt quite simple and the characters seemed quite shallow. There didn’t seem to have been much character development since the three girls were teenagers, lots of the characters felt very one-dimensional and were a little bit forgettable. My favourite character was probably Lottie who didn’t feature for a lot of the book.
I laughed and cried whilst reading this. When Ellie’s dad had his cardiac arrest, I felt as emotional as Ellie and was delighted when he recovered. I felt Ellie’s frustration when Gary was being controlling and felt that frustration even more when her friends didn’t listen to her. I loved reading about Alice and Ellie’s new blossoming friendship and started questioning whether it would turn in to more, and loved it even more when it did, even if it felt a bit forced from Ellie’s side. It just didn’t feel fully finished to me. I wanted to know if Ellie told Magda and Nadine about her relationship with Gary ending and her feelings for Alice. I wanted to know how Lottie’s relationship progressed with her father and if Ellie told her about her experience. I don’t think I’ll be running to read Jacqueline Wilson any more and think I’ll keep my memories of her books from when I was younger.