The concept of this book was right up my street from the start.
It was a well-written YA coming-of-age novel that reminded me of being a theatre kid back at school and I loved it. I did feel that some of the pacing was off and some of the language, although I understand why, felt as though it was overused in an excessive and slightly annoying manner. I think the last few chapters really pulled this books rating up for me.

This book reminded me about all my favourite parts of being a theatre kid.

I loved the relationship between Kate and Anderson, although occasionally Anderson is a Horrible Friend TM.

I found the characters to be believeable and well written in a way I’ve come to expect from Becky Albertalli, and it was a lovely light read for Autumn.

I haven't picked up a YA coming of age book in a while so when I decided to give this a go I was really happy with the story. It is a really quick and enjoyable read with a strong main character who does have a good development arc within the story. It covers so many different issues such as disability, sexuality and identity which I feel in encompassed by the diverse range of character seen within the book.

The only downside I have is that you could easily guess what the end resolution would be and was too 'worked' into the story early on that a part of me was disappointment when it actually happened as I was just like 'is that it''.

Overall though it is a brilliant read and I am glad I had the opportunity to read this book so I can recommend it to all my friends.

I was instantly intrigued by this book; Becky Albertalli + theatre + LGBT+ representation = my kind of book!

Kate and Anderson are best friends who do everything together: carpool, consult each other on all aspects of their lives, and they also tend to get crushes on the same guys. When their most recent crush, Matt, turns up at their school, their lives are thrown upside down and their friendship could fall apart.

I will admit that it took a little longer than anticipated to firstly pick this book up (hence the late review...) and secondly it took me a good few chapters to get into the story and gel with the characters. I ended up loving the friendship group in this book, it felt natural and one I could easily picture whilst reading it - however I didn't take to Kate straight away, there was just something that made her unlikable for me until half way through. Even though he wasn't a 'main' character as such, my favourite character was Noah. I absolutely loved getting to know him and how his character and his relationship with Kate developed throughout the story.

I will continue to read anything Becky Albertalli writes!

Thank you #NetGalley for the arc

Kate in Waiting is very sweet and funny and exactly what you would’ve spect from Becky Albertalli. A diverse cast of older teens who are believable and likeable. A plot with just enough tension to keep it interesting. It’s all there.

Becky Albertalli tends to make me cry with her books, and this was no exception. Kate is fantastically determined, a good friend, and hopelessly clueless all at once. It's quite easy to recognise yourself in an Albertalli teen, because she had this canny ability to truly remember what it was like to be so young.
It's so easy to be sure of yourself and your actions when you're sixteen, and her books always catch that energy.
I think we've all had a relationship like Kate and Andy, the really intense friendship that sometimes consumes you a little bit. This is what I love in an Albertalli book, she's so good at writing these really heartbreaking friendships, the ones that make you cry and call friends you haven't spoken to in a while.
I adored this book, and raced through it in less than a day. Albertalli is always an auto-buy for me, and it's so fun to see that be true in the store as well!

This was not my favourite book by Becky Albertalli however it has been massively received by my students! It has been highly requested by them since we added it to the collection.

the last 30% really pulled this book back for me.

I think this is a solid YA contemporary, I just also think maybe i've outgrown Becky Albertalli. I thought the characters were fun and I loved the idea of the plot, but the excessive use of the word fuckboy and f-boy and squad just got on my nerves.

On top of that the pacing felt very strange to me. The chapters were so short and yet the book felt never-ending for the first 50/60%.

I definitely think if you are 15/16 you would enjoy this a lot more than I did. I think maybe i've just outgrown stories that take place in the first 2 years of high school, now that i'm an old lady.

Thank you so much, NetGalley and Penguin Random House Children's UK and Penguin, for the chance to read and review this book!

Kate and Anderson are best friends and absolutely not co-dependant, even though many thought so. They spend a lot of time together, they consult each other for every decision and they even pine for the same guy. When their long-distance crush starts to attend their school, though, everything becomes more and more difficult. Matt is funny and sweet and both Kate and Anderson like him What will that mean for their friendship?

I absolutely loved this book! It was hilarious, amazingly written (but we are talking about Becky Albertalli, so I wasn't surprised in the least) and it's a book about daring to step out in the spotlight in love and life, a book about oneself and the courage to be oneself, love and friendship. Intricate and skillfully set and written, the story is heartwrenching, full of love and passion, friends and school and incredibly funny. I love these characters will all my heart, they are so relatable with their problems and crushes, dreams and fears and Kate was the most relatable ever. I love her so much and this book is unforgettable.

This was a fun read, positive, entertaining. I like Albertalli's writing style. The characters were likeable nad well developed. So, I enjoyed my time a lot.
Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

I've been reading a lot of queer YA fiction this past year, so I was excited to give this book a go - especially as it's set in the world of theatre kids.

It was a fun read but I definitely didn't love it. I don't know if it was because the story is told from the perspective of a cis-het character or the never-ending use of the word 'fuckboy'. Either way, I was left feeling like this story wasn't exactly what I signed up for.

<spoiler>I felt especially uncomfortable that Kate didn't really have any real sense of her privilege as a heterosexual person compared with Andy and Matt's journey. This was touched upon very lightly towards the end (by Andy I think) but I feel like this quite important element for this story was kind of glossed over.</spoiler>

So when I started this, I really wasn’t sure I was going to like it. It seemed like something I should like, but I couldn’t really get into the right frame of mind to really enjoy it. I also felt like my 16 year old self would have been LOVING this book, but I wondered whether I was a little too old for it.

Fast forward a few chapters and I had changed my mind completely. I really enjoyed this book. Especially the second half. I cast away my thoughts of being too old for it and just embraced the story.

I really enjoyed how the author painted each character. It was so relatable and I could see a part of myself or my friends at 16, in the way each of the characters were written.

I loved how quickly Kate moved on, despite her fixation on Matt, it really did show that some times high school crushes are just that and ultimately, friendship comes first. It was great that Kate found teenage romance with Noah, I did foresee that, but it was never meant to be hidden.

All in all, young adults everywhere are going to love this. It’s a great book and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC!

I adored this book.
I love Kate so so much.

The main POV character in this book is not queer, or at least she doesn't mention anything about being queer in the book. Her best friend Anderson is gay and one of her other best friends is trans, her 4th best friend may be on the asexual spectrum but nothing is confirmed. So I technically wouldn't class this book as queer but that's just me.

This book had that undeniable Albertalli wholesome magic and made me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Kate & her best friend Anderson often have the same crushes but never do anything about them so it's just a bit of fun. That is until their summer camp joint crush transfers to their school and becomes attainable.

I feel like a lot of drama in this book could've been resolved with simple communication but Albertalli always does friendship and teen drama well.

I love how it kept you on your toes whilst
also being so funny and sweet.

I also loved the Rapunzel references, the theatre club, the musical references etc. (No HP references unlike in her previous books)

And I am obsessed with Kate and who she ends up with (no spoilers here but the quote 'its so fluffy I'm gonna die' definitely feels appropriate!)

This is now my second favourite Albertalli books after Simon vs and if you love sweet YA contemporary romance then you need to pick this up.

This book has gay rep, black rep, Jewish rep and trans rep, as well as divorced parents

A wonderful and lovely read. This is all about teenage romance and friendships and love.
A breezy, coming of age and growing up tale.

Best friends Kate and Anderson are very close and often crush on the same people. However, when their shared crush Matt starts and their school their friendship will be tested.

This was an ok read for me. I liked that this book focused on friendship but unfortunately, I didn't love the characters. I did find in places the story to be a little slow-moving and I wasn't particularly invested in the story or the characters.

Overall this was an ok read but I don't think the story or characters are particularly memorable.

As a theatre nerd I thought I’d enjoy this book more! A great book all around but I expected more from Albertalli. My least favourite of her books

Honestly, if you ever feel down then definitely try one of Becky Albertalli’s books if you haven’t already. They’re just so… feel-good it’s untrue!

Kate in Waiting centres around our main character… Kate, of course, as she’s dealing with the biggest crush of her life but, simultaneously her best friend Anderson is crushing on the same guy.

It’s a story around kind of friends over romance, with Kate really struggling with the situation overall. But the friend group is such a lovely thing to read about! They all support each other throughout and it’s just adorable whilst still completely believable. Kate and her friends are all basically theatre-lovers, and it isn’t something I could relate to but even still I understood everything that was happening, I think if you’re someone who loves drama classes though then this will definitely hit the nail on the head for you.

There are some recurring side characters that are pretty key to the story too. My favourite was Noah, Kate’s brother Ryan’s friend who was basically… blatantly a bit of a clown but in the cutest way. I adored whenever he was in the scene.

Now, a big part of this story is Kate and her friends referring to basically anyone popular as ‘f*ckboys’. Honestly, perfectly relatable. It’s a group of people who made Kate’s life a little hellish in the past so it’s understandable that they get seen that way as a whole, and with cliques in high school it just makes even more sense. It got a little monotonous at times, but I think towards the end Kate kind of has a rude awakening with it which causes her to grow as a person, so I’m all for it.

If you’re after a cute, quick read then definitely check out this book.

That's an ok book for me.
I was waiting for so much more but I didn't connect with the main character at all : Kate, how many times do you say f-boy in this book ? I haven't count but it's a lot to get me out of this story. I was mostly bored and I'm deeply sad to write that because I love Becky's writing...
That's too bad because the story involves friendship and relationship with a musical theme too... and this is something that i do enjoy !

Musical theater nerd Kate is waiting for her first great love and her return to the stage after a middle-school performance went viral.

Theater kids and best friends Kate Garfield and Anderson Walker are crushing on the same guy. Matt. They’ve got a word for this kind of thing, communal crush. Yup, it’s a thing. Their friendship is about two exits past codependent, but it’s also pure and unguarded, the kind of friendship capable of carrying you through life’s trenches. Dang, it’s a Disney-movie friendship. All flowing hair and slow-mo montages, and if there’s a bit of codependence… it’s a small price to pay.

But back to Kate in Waiting. So, Kate and Anderson’s friendship is turned upside down when communal crush Matt, who has until now remained firmly in the realm of summer camp fun, transfers to their high school. Soon their mutual crush is upgraded to falling in love, and for the first time, Kate and Anderson find their friendship in dangerous, untested waters. The ground rules are clear. No one is allowed to get hurt. And no matter who gets the guy, Kate and Andy won’t let it affect their friendship. But jealousy just isn’t a very rule-orientated emotion.

Kate in Waiting explores the deep bonds of platonic friendships and the confusing highs and lows of first love. Delivering feel-good fun that will leave you feeling heart-warmed and wishing for more YA rom-coms like this one. The dialogue is natural, witty, and magnetic. And the characters steal the show. Kate and Andy are relatable and awkward; the coming-of-age vibes are real and raw and feel at every point honest as football games and parties are attended. It’s high school in a bottle. Albertalli has crafted a brilliant cast of characters (with great LQBTQIA+ representation). Anderson is gay. Close friend, Raina, is trans. Kate and older brother, Ryan, are kids of divorce, and that split-into-two-ness (between households and co-parents) is well explored. Apart from masterful musical theater vibes, sweet flirtation abounds in this YA rom-com.

Lights, camera, action, you’re bound to love this one.

This book was just plain fun. Which is lovely.

I was a little weirded out at the start at the idea of a friendship so codependent that they can't get crushes on people without the other having the same crush, but at least the book admits it immediately and mentions a few times how odd it is.

I enjoyed the voice and it was a really fast read for me. It was a little bit younger in tone than I expected for some reason, but this isn't a bad thing necessarily.

My biggest complaint was that the paragraphs cut off in weird places that feel like the middle of the action, but in retrospect aren't really. It made the book feel a little choppy, especially with how short the chapters are. It felt like it was all a series of short events, barely linked together at times. Especially with the disconnect between the plot lines of Kate + Anderson crushing on Matt vs Kate and Noah having a cute flirtationship.

It made me smile though, overall. It's a very sweet book, with the brother-sister relationship with Kate and Ryan, and the main romantic relationship and the friendship between Kate and Andy.

It was just fun, which exactly what LGBT theatre kid books should be like in my opinion.