Cliffhanger (Biscuit Barrel, 2)

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At the end of Emerald Star, Jem tries to propose to Hetty, but she turns him down this way because she knows she can't love him romantically. In Double Act, Ruby cuts all her hair to make her look different from her twin sister. This signals how the twins are starting to become more individual. Garnet tries to copy Ruby but Ruby threatens her not to. Marigold in The Illustrated Mum would count as one, although subverted when Dolphin later discovers Marigold is actually a natural brunette. Though she does leave her at one point in the story, Star won't tolerate anybody bullying Dolphin while she's around. Examples include The Suitcase Kid where every chapter is named after a letter of the alphabet, starting with 'A is for Andy' and ending with 'Z is for Zoe'

Honorary Uncle: Mona in Dancing The Charleston considers Mr Benjamin one. He is eventually revealed to be her real uncle. In The Dream Palace Lolly has an affair with Greg: an adult who's illegally "squatting" in an abandoned building and walks out on his previous girlfriend for her. He then stabs and seriously wounds her stepfather, forcing Lolly to go on the run with Greg, who suggests she become a prostitute to bring in money. The situation becomes so unbearable for Lolly that even though she still believes she loves Greg, she ends up handing him over to the police just to be able to return to a normal life. Death by Childbirth: In The Longest Whale Song, Ella's mother goes into a very dangerous and life-threatening coma from eclampsia after the birth of Ella's baby brother. The trope is ultimately averted as she wakes at the end of the book.

Phoebe in The Primrose Railway Children is the closest to her father, being the youngest and fond of playing imaginary games unlike her teenage sister and Literal-Minded brother. She takes it the hardest when she learns he is in prison, during which time she briefly decides she never wants to see him again.

Wilson's earlier novels were more prone to the Downer Ending; since she hit the big time with the first Tracy Beaker book, a Bittersweet Ending is more common. Never Learned to Talk: In Sleepovers, Daisy's sister Lily has never learned to talk because of her disability. Subverted in The Greatest Sleepover In the World, where Lily has now been taught to communicate via Makaton and become much more outgoing and sociable.

Be Careful What You Wish For: At the end of Rose Rivers, it is being arranged for Rose to go to boarding school and get the education she wanted, but at the cost of losing her family. Even though Rose is getting what she wanted, she loses what she had. Lolly in The Dream Palace dearly loved her late father and fitted this trope when he was alive. In the present day, she's desperate to hang onto her memories of her relationship with him, and hangs around a now-disused hotel where he used to take her for tea. Subverted when Greg tries to help her re-live a day trip she took with her father, causing her to remember that he wasn't so perfect after all. Monochrome Casting: All of her lead characters are white, as are most of the supporting characters, with the occasional Token Minority. Admittedly, the population of the UK is over 80% white.

Em in Clean Break adores her adoptive dad and is the closest to him of all her siblings, even though she's the only one that's not his biological daughter. She is devastated when he walks out on the family and the events of the book are driven by her desire to try to get him to return. Tilly from Rent a Bridesmaid has a mother who has been absent from the family for at least a year and a half. Prudence calls out her Dad at the beginning of "Love Lessons", though he has a stroke minutes later and she feels terribly about if even though she was right. Biscuits forgives Gemma in Best Friends for bullying, ignoring and stalking him, which she did because she blamed him for foiling her and Alice's escape attempt, which he didn't even do intentionally. Gemma lampshades this out loud, to which Biscuits replies jokingly that he enjoyed making her feel guilty.

Jodie in My Sister Jodie develops a crush on the gardener at Melchester (who is at least eighteen). Later after he deliberately runs over a badger with a tractor, she admits to Pearl that she knew he was a horrible person deep down but ignored it, liking the attention. LoveReading4Kids exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading4Kids means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. Family Relationship Switcheroo - In The Power of the Shade, May's "great-aunt" turns out to be her grandmother, who had an affair with her sister's husband. Mr. Harrison from The Illustrated Mum is shown to be quite intelligent, and even manages to stop Dolphin and Oliver from getting into trouble with their teacher.