Picture drawn by Maggie Stiefvater, 2009. Header made by S.F. Robertson, 2010.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Sometimes Never, Sometimes Always by Elissa Janine Hoole

Sometimes Never, Sometimes Always by Elissa Janine Hoole
"For Cassandra Randall, there’s a price to pay for being a secret atheist in a family of fundamentalists—she has nothing good to write on an online personality quiz; her best friend is drifting away; and she’s failing English because she can’t express her true self in a poem.

But when she creates a controversial advice blog just to have something in her life to call her own, there’s no way she can predict the devastating consequences of her actions. As her world fractures before her very eyes, Cass must learn to listen to her own sense of right and wrong in the face of overwhelming expectations."- summary from Amazon

This was just an okay book. I went through it fairly quickly, and may have skimmed some of it (so easy to do when reading an e-galley). It's an interesting concept and my fascination with religion, particularly the fundamentalist kind, probably kept me reading this long after most people would have stopped. I think readers will identify a bit with Cassandra, but her lack of self did get on my nerves sometimes. I also liked her gay brother and the subplot surrounding him and his boyfriend; it was nice to see that issue brought up in this particular setting. The element of the Tarot cards was intriguing and I liked learning about them along with Cass throughout the novel. There's also a cute little romance between her and a boy in her English class, which was sweet to read.

Overall, a good debut that shows some promise. It's not a bad way to spend an afternoon; if the summary sounds good to you, I'd recommend picking it up. It's a paperback too, so doesn't cost much!

FTC: Received e-galley from Netgalley. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

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