I feel I need to start this review by saying the following assessment has NOTHING to do with me being a Gemini :) In fact, the title was what drew me to this book. I know we're all constantly battling with our evil inner twin, but that's just part of our charm!
Anyway, on to the book. This almost became a DNF as I found the writing style pretty terrible - mainly due to the main character's use of replacement swear words that literally no self-respecting teenager would ever use. It triggered a thought in my head about who the target audience for this book actually is - an LGBTQ+ YA romance that uses language that most YA readers stop using by the age of 10, and would find super cringe. I get that they can't use the language that most teens use, but the puerile joke words felt really infantile.
Added to that a super irritating protagonist, Cat Phillips, who brings a whole new dimension to desperate teenager - obsessing over her best friend Alison, but dating a boy, Jamie, to fit in with her friends. But yeah, Geminis are the problem...
An unbelievably irritating book.

Well, hasn't this just triggered a lot of people?! But before I critique other critiques, the book… First off, I thought this would be tremendously twee and sappy and stupid about the star signs, but thankfully I found this reined in a little. Our heroine is a very exaggerated, and very exaggerating, kind of girl, forever using weirdly food-based quips and neologisms, but never really convincing. She's in with a kind of in-crowd, none of whom can be friendly enough to pick up on her sexuality, even when they're the target of her insane-level lesbian crush. In fact they all manage Heathers-surpassing bitchiness against no end of people, making them very hard work.

So I got yay far in this, and was happy to skip to the end and find my expectations from the plot fully met, only to find multiple scathing one-star reviews about the girls' attitudes, the book's failure to address the uber-woke message it allegedly had to bear, and of course the arson. I'm sorry, what? Yes, the plot would at least appear to have a free-falling bonkersness, making us seriously fear for the sanity levels of the sequel I see is on the cards for 2024. That incompleteness of the story was another reason for me to ditch this, which as I hope comes across did not really rattle my cage – or certainly not in the ways I thought. But the fact that the screaming responses from all the woke reviewers failing to find the entertainment in this was perhaps slightly more joyful than the actual book was the final straw. I'll leave them to their capitalised "a gay book is not a good gay book unless it is MY KIND of gay book!!" foot-stamping, and close with the other thing that arose from seeing prior reviews. No, this is nowhere near Louise Rennison heights, so don't even think it.

The book is stupid, but not completely devoid of fun.

Have to admit that it was a slow start, I couldn’t believe just how clumsy Cat was, it seemed very exaggerated, I also wasn’t sure if she was truly gay or not really sure and was curious to find out if it was definitely known or experimentation. Turns out, her preference for girls is real and it was interesting to follow her though her rather enforced ‘boyfriend’ experience. Her blind love crush on her friend was major and we are led through how she daydreams over a girl in the way that many girls are lovestruck after a boy, only to also find out that actually they don’t have a chance. I was glad that in the end she saw though Alison and realized how selfish and to some extent manipulative she truly was. The whole girl gang dynamic was curious as on one hand there was a lot of ‘Queen bee bitchiness’ going on, but in the end there was an amount of decency. All thorough the book Cat lives according to what the stars tell her, but is the ideal (but straight) Piscean what the stars have planned for her, can the male Cancerean work out, or will it be the Uber cool Irish Gemini when you can NEVER trust a Gemini!!
Overall a good book any girl, but helpful too for a girl unsure of her sexuality and thinking out coming out to relate to and enjoy.

Almost everything about this cover is catnip to me and to be honest, I had no idea what was in store within the pages. It turned out to be a very British, YA lesbian rom-com with several ingredients for an easy Pride month recommendation but sadly, it kinda missed the mark for me.

Cat has been in love with one of her best friends, Alison Bridgewater, forever. Even though Alison doesn’t appear to be into girls, Cat simply can’t get over her. So she resorts to desperate measures and starts dating her mum’s best friend’s son Jamie Owusu, an aspiring musician who loves biscuits and apparently Cat. But Cat knows that a boyfriend just isn’t for her. Then she meets the mysterious, beautiful Morgan Delaney and Cat thinks that she might just be perfect but there’s a catch -Morgan is a Gemini and Cat really doesn’t think she can ever date one of those.

Cat is heavily into horoscopes, which was a side to her that was super interesting. This might be a weird comment to make but despite this being mentioned several times, I couldn’t quite believe that Cat was a genuine astrology nerd. It may be a sweeping generalisation but I’m not sure many real-life teens who are super into astrology are also part of the school popular crowd. Something about those two parts of Cat’s life wasn’t gelling with me and I think the author really should have just picked one of these things for her heroine.

I was quite disappointed that not many of Cat’s friends were properly introduced to us. In fact, they were all severely lacking in personality apart from the truly horrendous Queen Bee Siobhan. Zanna is Cat’s closest friend in the group and apart from her being Cat’s sole confidante regarding her sexuality and crush on Alison, I really didn’t feel like I knew her at all. She was just ‘Cat’s Slavic Sagittarius friend’ -whatever that means. She does give some good advice for Cat to ignore though!

Cat’s sister Luna was probably my favourite character and although she definitely seemed older than 12, she was highly entertaining. She’s a caricature of far left politics and at times, I thought that the author was poking fun at liberal ideals through Luna’s character but she was also a loyal, smart sister and I loved her very much.

One thing that was done really well and authentically was the dynamics of high school society and hierarchy. When one Queen Bee is overthrown, there’s always another waiting in the wings to swoop in and take her place. There can never be complete peace and harmony, especially between teenage girls. That power struggle was definitely evident in my own school days and I know that every reader will recognise it from theirs too.

Jamie’s terrible songwriting was most of the comedy for me. I would have loved more of it because Jamie disappeared for a large chunk of the narrative. I understand that it wasn’t his story but for me, he was much funnier than Cat, which brings me to my biggest annoyance of the book.

Cat’s voice was so intensely irritating. I think she was supposed to come across as endearingly awkward but her constant use of alliteration when it wasn’t needed i.e. ‘we were silent salamanders’ to illustrate just not speaking in social situation really grated on me. There was also a scene that could have been adorably cute and romantic but she describes it as ‘saucy lasagnes’ while it was happening and it completely ruined that potentially sweet and magical moment. The most annoying thing about it is that if these funny expressions had been more sporadic and not all the time, it might have been more effective as a comedic device. As the whole book was told from Cat’s point of view, I don’t think I’ll be picking up the sequel.

Never Trust A Gemini had a lot of potential to be a highy readable, funny and relatable queer rom-com. However, the protagonist’s voice was far too annoying and insufferable for me. I also didn’t feel like I got to know her friends well enough. If I had, I could have definitely said that the characters reminded me of Louise Rennison’s Ace Gang in the Georgia Nicolson books, which I imagine is what the author was aiming for. Unfortunately, the characters in this book didn’t have the same likeability or authenticity that Rennison’s do. However, I can definitely see how some readers would enjoy Cat’s narration and therefore would have a much better time with this book than I did!

Cat Phillips has her head in the stars, but her romantic fantasies may ruin her shot at real-life love in this sweet and funny lesbian story. It’s Libra Season, and Cat Phillips is ready to run headfirst into love. The only problem is that her crush is on her best friend, Alison Bridgewater, who is more interested in chatting with boys. Maybe Cat should take this as a sign to get over Alison, even if that means dating the musically challenged Jamie Owusu. After all, a new boyfriend is the best cleanse, at least according to Cat’s friends. Unfortunately, having a boyfriend is a lot harder than Cat expected. And then Morgan Delaney swoops in with her green glasses, enigmatic smile, and talent for teasing Cat in ways that make her feel überlicious . But Morgan is a Gemini, and there’s no way that’s in Cat’s horoscope. Will Cat finally get the girl of her dreams? Or is there a chance there’s more to life than Alison Bridgewater? The stars align for the cast of this energetic romp full of comedic misunderstandings and sparkling language.

This book is sweet and a little whimsical but overall has a great story behind it. Some aspects were slightly cringe but then you have to remember the main characters are only fourteen years old. I still enjoyed this and got through it very fast.

Never Trust a Gemini is a funny romp through the age of fourteen, featuring a chaotic lesbian disaster of a main character, teens being messy and imperfect (and learning), and just in general, a plot that keeps you entertained. It was a book that I wholeheartedly enjoyed reading.

This is a coming of age tale for Cat, our zodiac-obsessed protagonist, who has a ginormous crush on her straight best friend. You can imagine, based on my description of her as a chaotic lesbian disaster, the kinds of situations this leads to. Because of this, there were several parts of this book that made me laugh out loud.

Probably the best part of this book was how it let its cast be messy and imperfect, sometimes (often even, for some) mean, but it let the characters be forgiven for it where possible. No one is perfect at fourteen. No one has perfect ideals or behaviour at that age. Fourteen year olds are nowhere near fully formed, so a book which allows them not to be, which allows them to make mistakes, to be less than polite and politically correct (for want of a better phrase) at times, is very welcome. Of course they’re pulled up on it! But gently, so they can learn. I think, also, that will help its younger readers a lot. These are fourteen year olds who feel like fourteen year olds. Characters you might see yourself reflected in a little. It’s all very well having characters who are (mostly) perfect, but people, especially kids, really aren’t.

The second best part is how chaotically wild it is. It feels a little unbelievable at times, it’s true, but in a fun way. In a way you can’t help laughing at. It reminds me a lot of the books I read as a kid, the Jacqueline Wilson type ones, and I think maybe that nostalgia is also a reason I enjoyed it this much.

Pretty much, then, this is a book I would definitely recommend to people, especially ones who are looking for imperfect teens, who are given the space to grow across the course of the novel. And also, the lesbian flags all over the book are just really cute too.

I can picture my KS3 students (and more mature UKS2 students) enjoying this book. This reads like a teenage LGBQT version of the Bridget Jones' Diary. It is about a girl called Cat Philipps having a crush on another girl , Alison Bridgewater.

I love the writing style of the author. The protagonist reminds me of my teenage self. I can just picture how my students can identify with her because of the way that she talks / writes in the book.

A heart warming, uplifting and all kinds of joyous read that will leave you smiling well after the final page.