“A charming debut coming-of-age novel.”
Booklist
“Young and bright Itzel immediately endears herself to readers in this touching coming-of-age story. In the face of her father’s betrayal and the deaths of loved ones, the protagonist reminds us of the ways disillusionment both sears and shapes our younger selves. Vargas depicts the heartaches and triumphs of adolescence with tenderness, honesty and humor.”
Sahar Mustafah, author of The Beauty of Your Face, a New York Times 2020 Notable Book
“Nothing’s Ever The Same is a beautiful, bittersweet snapshot of a family in crisis told in the most believable voice I’ve read in years. The conversational tone is as straight forward and impactful as a kiss or a knife to the heart.”
Rob Rufus, ALA Award-winning author of Die Young With Me
“In Nothing’s Ever the Same, Cyn Vargas offers a deeply human, empathetic, and masterfully observed chronicle of family, love, and those years at the cusp of adulthood filled with wild and vivid emotion. This compact book contains a mighty heart.”
Jeff Zentner, award-winning author of In the Wild Light
"Nothing's Ever the Same is a work of restraint and understatement, its young narrator capable of stoic relating of events as well as emotional reaction. The effect is deeply moving."
Shelf Awareness
“Zeroing in on the moments when a young person is confronted by their parents' flaws, Cyn Vargas shares a tale of acceptance and coming-of-age with supernatural levels of poignancy and poetry. You will fly through this story, as it courses through your veins.”
Chris L. Terry, author of Black Card and Zero Fade,
co-editor of Black Punk Now
“With a keen sense of observation and a sharp sense of humor, Cyn Vargas fully inhabits the voice of Itzel, the narrator of Nothing’s Ever the Same. A moving story of family and the ways we hurt and survive one another, Nothing’s Ever the Same is like Itzel herself: smart, funny, poignant, and real. With this heartfelt novella, Cyn Vargas reminds readers once again why she was named “A Writer to Watch” by Chicago’s Guild Literary Complex. Watch her; read her.”
Patricia Ann McNair, author of Responsible Adults
“A heartfelt and bittersweet tale, told with the sort of insight and eloquence we’ve come to expect from the fiction of Cyn Vargas. A master of the ‘child dealing with the problematic behavior of adults’ short story, this time Cyn gives us a novella-length tale with a teen-girl hero you can’t help but root for, the paradise of a childhood innocence lost, and something like the beginning of mature understanding gained. A most satisfying read, to be sure.”
Eric Charles May, author of Bedrock Faith