BLAME MY VIRGO MOON

Trying to blend friendships with romantic relationships can be hard.

Newly 15-year-old Cat really wants her new girlfriend, Morgan, to get along with her friends, but they’re just not gelling. English Cat is part of the fashion-conscious, makeup-wearing group surrounding her school’s queen bee, Siobhan, while Irish Morgan hangs with an edgier, goth-leaning cohort. To make matters worse, Morgan and Siobhan are both running for head girl. The competition gets fierce, and to avoid favoring one person over the other, Cat auditions for the school play, Romeo and Juliet—and lands the lead! Now she’ll be too busy to help out with any campaigns. Meanwhile, Cat’s best friend, the Polish Zanna, is acting weird—it seems like she doesn’t want to listen to Cat’s many woes. What’s up with that? This sequel to 2023’s Never Trust a Gemini, which traverses the zodiac calendar from the self-focused Aquarius to the grounded Taurus, allows for solid character development while still delivering plenty of farcical rom-com antics. Cat and Morgan’s relationship remains strong, despite various elements attempting to foil them, which is sweet and refreshing. Cat’s narration (and much of the dialogue) is still chock-full of slang as well as her own hilarious coinages (she’s fond of invoking Aphrodite and exclaiming “gooseberries!”), and her chatty style will draw readers in. Woolf’s sophomore novel firmly establishes her as a young adult author to watch.

Über-groovy!