Never trust a Gemini by Freja Nicole Woolf

Cat lives in Kent with her parents and is two years older than her more sensible, tree-hugging sister, twelve-year-old Luna. The two main influences in Cat's life are Taylor Swift and “The Bible to the Stars”, her astrological guide to everything. Her secret main obsession is classmate Alison Bridgewater, ‘the Prettiest Pisces Princess” p15 and she dreams about kissing her and decides to write her a poem. When Alison asks her to meet after school Cat is ecstatic but when she sees Alison talking to a boy, she is so distracted she steps in front of a bus. Cat is not badly hurt and her friends rally round to cheer her up. Best friend Zanna is her main supporter and knows about her crush but Cat is part of the popular, pretty group at school ruled by queen bee, Siobhan who gets to decide who is in and who is out and Cat wants to fit in so keeps her preference secret. The girls know Siobhan is a bully but want to be included in her group for protection. At weekends Cat’s mother has a sewing group and her best friend’s son, Jamie Owasu, regularly spends time with Cat though they have nothing in common. When Cat accidentally mentions she thinks he is good looking Jamie starts gazing at her in a different way and then she tries to hide her crush on Alison from Siobhan and her group by saying she likes Jamie. Before she knows it, they are boyfriend and girlfriend and Cat’s life gets even more complicated. When new girl, Morgan Delaney, a Gemini and not one of Siobhan’s group, rescues Cat’s journal from the river things start to change and Cat must reassess the horoscope assertion ‘never trust a Gemini”. Packed with fun alliteration like ‘brutal broomsticks” and ‘dancing dingoes divine” Cat’s is a fun story for young middle school girls (the characters seem much younger than their stated age). Racism and casual xenophobia are called out with a light touch, a bit too light really, and it does shine a light on peer group bullying and the importance of standing up for others; again, rather weakly and late in the piece, similarly with homophobia. I was a bit disturbed by the disappearance of Jamie on page 147 with no follow up on his welfare, and the lack of any good male characters was a shame. The fast-paced dialogue-rich narrative is broken up with occasional poems and group chats. This is very much a girls’ book, a bit shallow and thoughtless but it will no doubt appeal to its intended audience.

Themes: LGBTQ+, friendship, astrology.

Sue Speck