Sometimes Never, Sometimes Always

September 30, 2013
Faced with an English assignment to sing herself à la Whitman, 17-year-old Cass Randall can’t find much to sing about. Bent on finding something that’s all hers, she hits on Tarot cards, even though her family’s religion condemns them, and starts an anonymous Tarot-based advice column. Hoole (Kiss the Morning Star) takes up the perennial problem of a teen figuring herself out and loads her story with plot. Cass’s older brother is gay and thinking about coming out; a sad sack from her church group wants to be friends; Cass can no longer ignore the distance between her and her best friend; and a nice guy in English class seems to like her—a rare bright spot for her. Amid a storm of bullying and small acts of cowardice and denial, Cass finds bravery and a sense of who she is. The messages—that bullying has real costs, that bystanders aren’t innocent, and that you have to be yourself—are familiar, and this, combined with all the setup the plot requires, keeps the book from catching fire. Ages 12–up. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary Agency.

October 15, 2013
Cyberbullying, religious doubt and coming out are just three themes shoehorned into a well-meaning but unsuccessful novel. Already stressed from keeping her atheism and her brother's sexuality a secret from her religiously conservative family, Cass is devastated when an online survey convinces her she is the "least interesting" person she knows. She reacts by starting an anonymous advice blog, which quickly becomes a magnet for cyberbullying. Unsure of the proper response and further distracted by academic struggles and a potential new romance, Cass' failure to act leads to disaster. Cass' internal struggles as she realizes her developing values differ from her friends' and family's are deeply believable. The fear of personal rejection that prevents Cass from seeking help with her personal struggles and the resulting panic-fueled decisions that inadvertently draw her into a malicious social circle likewise resonate. Less credible are her parents, whose ideologies conveniently shift to speed resolution. Much of their characterization centers on their religious faith, which describes gay-rights activists as attempting to turn believers "away from God's path." Despite this, they immediately support their son's public declaration of love to his boyfriend. This so contradicts the rest of the novel that it feels contrived rather than heartwarming; several other conflicts resolve with equal lack of credibility. Ultimately, the credulity-straining number of plotlines compressed into the narrative obscures Cass' potentially candid voice. (Fiction. 12-18)

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November 15, 2013
Grades 8-10 Cassandra's family life revolves around the Joyful News Church. But her parents don't know that their son, Eric, is gay and that Cass is a nonbeliever. When Cass has a chance to work on the school newspaper with the popular girls, she takes the opportunity to start an anonymous advice column based on the tarot, another no-no in the family. The column gets out of hand, eventually leading one girl, Drew, to attempt suicide. Cass has ignored Drew's friendship overtures throughout the story, which makes her feel doubly responsible for Drew's breakdown. There's a lot packed into this debut novel: bullying, first romances, gay issues, and of course religious questions. These themes are not always well integrated, but readers will see themselves in various aspects of Cass' struggles, especially her guilt about the way bullying can lead to unintentional consequences. This is respectful of strict churches (though some of the members come across as stereotypes), but it makes the point that children don't always believe the same way as their parents.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)