My heart is literally bursting. There were so many moments in this book where I melted into a puddle because of how frickin cute it all was.

Kate and Anderson are best friends, so close that they even share the same crushes. Pining from afar. But when their latest crush from summer camp, Matt Olson, shows up at their school and in their town things start to get a little bit messy.... Communal crushes are no longer fun when feelings are involved.

Firstly I want to say how much I LOVED the theatre references and the fact it was building up to the schools musical which they were all a part of because I'm a big musical theatre lover myself so all of the name drops, songs, casting etc I was all here for it. I must admit that the story line was incredibly cliche and I guessed how it was all going to play out but for me that's not an issue, it's a feel good read and I really enjoy teen/rom com books like this because they get my spirits up and are comforting. Think 'To All the Boys I've Loved Before' and 'The Kissing Booth' if you enjoyed those then you'll love Kate In Waiting.

All of the characters and their friendships were so heartwarming, I just wanted to give them all a huge hug! I loved them all and wish I was part of their little clique too.

Extra special mention here to the incredible representation in this book too! Becky Albertalli is amazing. I think it's especially important in YA books too because young minds are so impressionable and for a young person seeing themselves represented in a book whether that be sexuality, race, personality traits, disabilities or anything that they believe makes up their identity can make the world of difference.

I pretty much read this book in one sitting, if you're looking for something uplifting and feel good then I'd 100% reccomend this book.

Thankyou so much to @netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This book was the breath of fresh air I needed right now. The characters were fully formed and completely identifiable and the plot took me back to being 17, it was so realistic. I also loved that the focus wasn't just on falling in love for the first time - the most important relationships were the friendships. Loved it.

What can I say about this book apart from it was bloody brilliant? Kate in Waiting is such a fast read and I got so engrossed I couldn’t even sleep at one point. I loved everything about this book but Kate and Anderson’s friendship is what made it for me. The friendship they have is so pure and real it just made my heart feel all happy. This book is definitely very corny in places but I surprisingly liked it and this book was also very humourous in places too I was definitely laughing out loud.

Okay so one of my favourite parts about Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda is the fact that the author CLEARLY loves musical theatre, and absolutely understands the thrill of being in a show and GOD. It’s me. I love it. This book just wrapped me up in the story so completely, and I loved and felt every. single. part. of. it.

Kate and Andy are the CUTEST platonic relationship, ho-ly fuck. I didn’t realise how much I needed to see a relationship like this (reminds me of me and my best friend, actually) in a YA rom-com, but Albertalli DELIVERED. I appreciate their communication SO MUCH, and the amount of love these two have for each other is just. Oh my god.

Actually, on the communication front – this is one of the ONLY YA books to like, not make me want to bang my head against a wall. Obviously they both have feelings, and obviously someone is going to be upset, and the whole emotional climax is only to be expected. But they try, so damn hard to keep it together for each other. The sheer amount of love in this book is fucking monumental.

My heart broke for them so many times (no really, I spent the last 30% of this book in a state of constant tears) but the ending was so worth it.

As for the rest of the cast, Brandie and Raina are really adorable as friends – I love that they’re part of a group, it’s not just KateandAndy as a duo. This really encaptures the spirit of queer friend groups and I fucking adored it. If another book comes out about Brandie in a few years, I will not be surprised and I will absolutely be in line to buy it.

Matt was adorable and so so sweet, and I can’t even be mad at him being a lil dense about the whole situation because this is a lad who drinks his respect people juice and just. He does his best to be a stand-up guy. Hell fucking yeah. You go, Matt!!

And then we have MY BOY NOAH. KAPPY. WHAT A LAD. His whole arc is so so well done, and though it was fairly obvious that the book was headed in ~that~ direction, I’m not even mad because the whole Tangled reference was adorable.

Once again, Albertalli manages to writes queer, racially diverse characters without making this huge fuss; these are just characters who exist, and I will forever be grateful for these rom-com books that make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside from their sheer existence.

(Complete sidenote, but I feel so called out by the Teen Wolf and Maze Runner references. 14 year old me would have lost her shit reading this book. I’m literally wearing my Beacon Hills Lacrosse hoodie right now.)

Becky Albertalli does it again. The Queen of teen rom-coms returns with a Theatre twist to the classic tropes. This will be a smash hit with my students for sure.

Kate in Waiting is a fantastic book, it just made me so happy and nostalgic in the best way. I can’t actually believe how quickly I read this book, I was just enjoying it so much that I flew through it and definitely had that one more chapter feeling so much so that I stayed up way too late just to see what would happen.

There was just so much to love about this book, the friendships, the musical, the love interests, the LGBTQ+ representation, I have to say I actually kind of loved that Kate and Anderson’s shared crushes because I remembered that it was often the same for me and my friends and it just brought back so many funny memories, although we never went beyond crushes so luckily we didn’t have the drama. What I really loved about this book though was even though it was really fun it also didn’t shy away from the more difficult aspects of the story, it didn’t hold back when it came to the issues that popped up in Kate and Andy’s friendship because of the crush, and it was nice that even though romance was involved this book definitely had a lot more focus on the relationship between Kate and Andy.

I did love the relationship between Kate and Andy, how supportive they were of each other, how close they were despite people maybe finding that closeness a little weird at times, but I also loved that even though they both knew that really liking the same boy was going to end in disaster they both put themselves first and navigated the jealousy and feeling left out in a way that tried not to cause too much upset to the other person, even though it didn’t always work. There were some other notable characters in this book, Noah was definitely my favourite, cheeky but in a cute way and forward but in a loveable way, the kind of character that I couldn’t really figure out at first but ended up totally enthralled by. I like how his friendship with Kate blossomed throughout the book in a way that felt very natural, and I loved their witty banter back and forth, every time they had a conversation I had a huge smile on my face.

Matt was lovely, it was hard to get to know him much past the crush that Kate and Andy had on him, a lot of what the reader knows of him is portrayed through Kate’s thoughts or experiences but he still made a lovely impression and I feel a lot of affection toward him because he was in the middle of two friends and that can’t have been easy. I did wish that we got to know Raina and Brandie a little better, they were part of Kate and Anderson’s squad and they were interesting characters but I feel like there was a lot more that they could have contributed to the book, surely they noticed that things were becoming awkward between Kate and Andy and would have had more of an opinion on this.

The fact that the characters were putting on a musical was kind of the cherry on top of the cake, another thing that brought back lots of happy memories, and I could feel the nervous excitement from the characters, also it very cleverly played into the dynamic between Kate, Matt and Andy. Add to that all the emotions I was going through with everything going a bit wrong between Kate and Andy and then something else unexpectedly happening, it made for an ending that made me feel tense with a few little tears and then filled me with a lot of joy.

I loved Kate in Waiting and I would highly recommend it, although I would give a small warning that if you are sensitive about a lot of swearing you might have some reservations but overall it was a book that had a lot of wonderful characters, some very cute romance and left me feeling so infectiously upbeat.

A super fun, YA read that focuses on friendship.
I thought this would be more romance heavy, but was happy to read a friendship driven story instead!
The first half was a bit of a drag. I really didn't think I was going to enjoy this much at all. However, the second half was really great. I finally got invested and binged read the rest.

I went into this book feeling a little trepidation because in the past I haven’t clicked with Albertalli’s books as much as other people seemed to and I was worried that this one would be much the same. Thankfully, I ended up really enjoying it and the giddy happy high that I felt as this book ended has continued to flow through me each time I think about it—and don’t you just love when a book can make you feel that way?

This was ultimately such a feel good read and everyone in it was just… Precious? 🥺 There was definitely a bit of angst but it’s also high school and so it’s more than a little expected. Albertalli deals with the minimal drama and angst quite well and it was refreshing to see these teenagers have a greater sense of self-awareness, and taking responsibility and owning up to faults when they need to. Needless to say, this might just be my favourite of Albertalli’s books! 😍

The author does an incredible job of capturing the essence of high school life and of being a teenager; as I was reading, I constantly thought about how accurately these teenage voices, thoughts, and emotions were depicted! The friendships, the uncertainty and awkwardness, the many ‘firsts’ experiences—first kiss, first crush, first relationship—were all so relatable and realistic. Considering I left high school many years ago, I found it amazing that Albertalli was able to make me recall those friendships and memories as if I’d just experienced them yesterday—I did a lot of walking, jogging and flat out running down memory lane while reading this!

I loved the friendship between Kate and Andy, and also with Brandie, Raina and Matt. Noah’s character was a welcome surprise and I absolutely adored his sincerity and fumbling awkwardness. I also loved that this explored the complexity of family dynamics. As someone who’s only 15-months younger than my brother, the sibling relationship between Kate and Ryan was so relatable to me, as I have the same type of relationship with my brother. I appreciated how Ryan showed how much he respected Kate by really listening to what she had to say and I loved how he wasn’t afraid to be emotionally vulnerable (despite technically being part of the ‘too-cool-f-boy-crowd’).

The aspect I was most unsure about before I started reading was the romance. I didn’t know what to think about Kate and Andy’s mutual dream crush turned real crush (as it came so close to angsty love triangle vibes for my tastes) but I ended up really liking how the situation was handled. These moments relating to the crush were obviously the most angst-filled parts of the story but I respected how much Kate and Andy strived to put their friendship first above all else. They’re clearly ‘ride-or-die’ besties and their interactions and genuine love and respect for each other was so heartwarming to see! The closeness of their friendship once again reminded me of my own and there were so many laugh out loud moments for me as I realised my friends and I have previously reacted in similar ways, too. 😂

The one thing that had me rolling my eyes as often as the word came up was the very excessive use of the word “fuck boy/fuck girl or f-boy/f-girl”. I mean, I get it—but also, I got really tired reading the word come up in every other sentence? It honestly made me feel a little old… 🤪 It definitely (obviously) wasn’t a deal breaker though cos I still enjoyed this so much! The short ‘scene titled’ chapters made it a very quick and easy read and by the time I got to the end, all I wanted was to keep hanging out with these characters to see where life takes them next.

I was excited about this one! It’s got such a great premise and I was intrigued by the idea of best friends liking the same guy. I wasn’t sure how you could make this work but Albertalli did it.

I’m going to be brutally honest here and say that I had a rough start with this one. I was about 20% of the way and not sure that I wanted to continue. I pushed through and I’m so glad I did. My biggest issue at this point was I was becoming rather annoyed with the writing. I don’t know how many times “f-boy or f*ckboy” was brought up to this point, but it was a lot. I had paragraphs where I could count the word on both hands! It was getting rather annoying and I wasn’t sure if I could take anymore. Thankfully, it cooled off a bit but just a bit. I would say, this is my biggest issue with this book.

Something that I loved in this book was the friendships! I do wish we got to explore Brandie and Raina’s friendship with the group a little more. Sometimes I felt like they were just thrown into the mix but I enjoyed what I did get from them. I loved Noah and he was an instant favorite (out of all) character of mine. He brought a lot of laughs and broke up some of the tension in a great way. On the flip side, I didn’t think we got enough of Matt. I didn’t connect with him and I don’t know that his character was fleshed out enough to really fall for him. I think for a character driven book we didn’t get quite enough from them.

Andy and Kate is a relationship that I think many people dream of in High School. Anyways, I love how they are trying to deal with their feelings for the same guy and not hurt each other. Albertalli did a great job with bringing out the true nature of something like this. They would want to support each other one second and completely flip to jealousy the second. It’s human nature, no matter how much you love your friend. I think seeing that made it feel all the more realistic. There are times that this book gets cheesy but it could be the age group.

I think one of my favorite aspects is how Albertalli brought in the sibling relationship. From the beginning, we don’t get much there but by the end, it’s so good. I loved Ryan’s character and I’m glad his relationship with Kate blossomed. I know, with age differences, siblings can kind of disappear. It was nice to see that no matter what that relationship is truly never gone.

Overall, I did end up liking this book. I think it’s such a sweet story and Albertalli handles it in a way that makes it believable. I did have some issues with the writing style but that could be my preferences. If you have enjoyed her previous work, you will probably like this one too. It’s a great palate cleanser and if you want something light and cute then this is a great option.

Missing theatre? I know I am. So join this YA Romcom and find out about Kate in this witty book about stage life and romance. So many teenagers/young adults will be able to relate, even if having to carpool to rehearsals isn't part of your life. From the first to the last page this book is very entertaining.

The book screams Teen-RomCom basically and lives in their communal world of SnapChat etc and the need to tell each other everything. There's the romance and the crushing end of one and also a lot of humour too with Kate, Anderson and Matt, the stars of the show, with a great supporting cast.
The vibe is brilliant within the book, even when everything changes and the script that seemed so planned before makes life a bit messy and the teens suddenly find themselves having to do some improv to figure everything out all over again.

Chapters become scenes and many other theatrical references are made. There's songs to practice and rehearsals to attend, but amongst all of that, there is school, which is entirely not as exciting, except it gives a bit of a chance for Kate to daydream, until she is interrupted...

Teens will be able to empathise with them all and feel the fun and the pain of those crushes and be there with them right to the very last page.

With warmth and so much humour, this is enough to brighten anyone's spirits!

This one was such a funny, wholesome read.
It tells the story of Kate and her male best friend, who is gay. They’ve always fancied the same guys, but before now that hasn’t mattered as nothing was ever done.
Enter, Matt. Coke-ad Matt, btw!
He’s not just a summer crush anymore, he’s very much real and very much around almost all the time.
Obviously when you have this, there’s PLENTY of drama, but it’s so subtle, you could miss it.
I adored how the story stayed focus on friendship, with the romance woven in so gently, it never took centre stage, which honestly I’m surprised I did adore it. I am a massive sucker for full on romance, usually.
We met Ryan, Kates older brother, very soon to be leaving for further education, who low-key worries about Kate, mostly about how the hell is she going to get around when he leaves?
Their relationship was lovely to see, and how they team up when it really matters.
Oh Noah, you are wonderful. Noah is the neighbour, but only when it’s a Dads night. His character had a lot of growth, he’s one of my favourites!

I won’t rattle on further, wanna know more? READ THE BOOK. You won’t regret it!

Thank you to NetGalley and PenguinHouse for an e-arc!

The idea of the book is great, however, I had an issue with the friendship between Anderson and Kate. It seemed that he was more than willing to abandon his friendship with Kate over a guy than talk to her. I decided not to finish the book, because I couldn't get invested in a friendship that seemed to have so many toxic elements.

When I heard Becky Albertalli was writing a new book I was fully here for it and this didn't disappoint at all!
A girl and her male gay best friend crushing on the same boy, I mean what's not to love!

Kate and Anderson have been best friends forever, they once kissed and then Anderson came out as gay, they have been platonically in love ever since, until Coke-Ad Matt comes along. They often have shared communal crushes but this time they both really like him. Its serious....
Matt Olsson is talented and great to look at but is he gonna be the downfall of Kate and Anderson's friendship?

I loved this book, okay it can be overly cheesy at times and can get a little repetitive with them constantly talking about Tangled but this had so many fun tropes that I enjoy. There was always going to be drama when two people are basically loving the same person but Becky Albertalli writes young Adult friendships really well. Kate In Waiting literally had me crying with laughter which is an achievement in itself as I tend to not find books even meant to be funny very humorous 😆. I loved the musical element it added so much fun to the story and it was very well written.
Overall this didn't disappoint at all as I knew it wouldn't its a book that is actually fun to read. I thought the gay/trans rep was done well and would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys YA fiction

This book was a cute contemporary as I've come to expect from Becky Albertalli and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Kate and her best friend, Andy have the crush on the same guy. They've had crushes on the same guy before as well, but since they usually never do anything about them, it hasn't been a problem. However, this time, the three of them are all trying out for the musical and spending hours on hours together, leading to complications in their friendship that they've never had to navigate before.

I especially enjoyed the setting of the book. The musical played a major role throughout and I had a lot of fun reading about it! I love when the character's passions are explored through the course of the book and learning to love musical through Kate's eyes gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling that is hard to describe.

Something else I really appreciated was how Kate wasn't always a very loveable character. She came off as judgemental to me a few times, as most teens are, and I loved how we were able to see these traits as well because they make the character more realistic and three dimensional.

I don't want to spoil much so I'll just say that this book lives up to all the expectations I've come to have when reading a Becky Albertalli book and you should pick it up!

4.5

Book source ~ TWR Tour

Kate Garfield and Anderson Walker are the bestest of friends. They share everything. They even have communal crushes. What’s that, you ask? Well, they crush on the same guys, but only if they are unattainable. Like, during Summer camp. However, when their Summer communal crush transfers to their school they are thrown into a complete tizzy. It’s unprecedented. Kate really likes Matt and so does Anderson. But they have no idea who Matt likes. When all three end up in the Fall musical together tensions rise. The only real question here is: will their friendship survive their communal crush if Matt chooses one over the other?

This is a great read! I honestly wasn’t sure when I saw the blurb for The Write Reads blog tour, because I don’t read much YA anymore let alone one centered around a school musical. However, I like stretching my reading muscles (since they’re starting to get a bit atrophied in this area) and it sounded like it might also be humorous. Humor saves many a book I otherwise might pass on. Who doesn’t love some humor? Especially when applied so skillfully.

This story took me straight back to high school. I’m 53, there’s not much I reflect on in that time period of my life except I was glad to graduate with my class (it was touch and go there) and get the hell on with my life. Long story. Anyway, the plethora of emotions in Kate and Anderson’s tale brought it all rushing back. The uncertainty, awkward crushes, best friends, tensions running high, diverse family dynamics, and the emotions. Yikes. All those emotions swinging wildly about smacking everyone around. And don’t forget the humor. Put it all together with a tight plot and fantastic writing and what do you get? A fucking awesome read. If you like YA books that will give you all the feels then pick this up. I give it a standing ovation.

THE WORLD:

The world of this book felt like a bit of an insight into my high school years. I was a theatre kid who spent most of her time with her friends either in the library or in the theatre studios where we ran lines and had fun and messed around with theatre stuff in any way we could. I loved how Albertalli created a relatable theatre kid world that felt more realistic in a way that something like Glee never did for me. It was very nostalgic in that sense (even though it’s set in America).

THE CHARACTERS:

I’m only going to mention the three characters in the blurb but before I do I just want to say: this book has a huge cast! HUGE! I loved almost every single one. But if I tell you all of them I might as well just read the book to you. Needless to say, this book is worth reading just for the amazing cast alone!

Kate:

As the blurb says, Kate is one of the main cast of the book. She is our protagonist. The shy, awkward, theatre kid who reminded me way to much of myself to be comfortable some of the time. But, she was a great protagonist. She really felt well-rounded. She was fun and witty and felt a whole range of emotions so quickly at times that I felt like I was on a rollercoaster. But, what I really loved was that she was human. She doesn’t love singing in public, outside of the theatre setting, because of a previous bad experience. I really loved how much dimension and depth she had.

Anderson:

Anderson was a super fun character and I loved his friendship with Kate the best out of any of the relationships in the book (which I guess is to be expected when they are the main characters)! Anderson is introduced as the kind of typical ‘gay best friend’ that has come up in so many contemporary books over the years, but it becomes very clear very quickly that he is so much more than that. He has a fun personality that hides a kind of vulnerability that we see through Kate’s eyes. He is loyal to a fault and never wants to upset anyone, especially Kate. I loved how caring he was, while still being amazingly vibrant throughout the book.

Matt:

Matt is the communal crush of Anderson and Kate. I’m not going to say a lot about him because it would spoil the story, but I will say this. I absolutely loved how Albertalli wrote his character. He wasn’t cliché or predictable in any way. He has his own story beyond the ‘crush of the main character’ and I loved that so much!

THE PLOT:

This was the thing that I loved the most about this book! The blurb instantly drew me in. A boy who is being crushed on by two best fiends? I couldn’t resist!

There was a small part of me worried that it wouldn’t feel very authentic, that the romance would overtake the friendship, but the friendship was done so well. I loved that the friendships were really the core of the plot. The ups and downs, the fight and breakups and makeups that come along with being a teenager. I loved the friendship groups and how they really became the heart of the story.

But, there is also the romance, and this was done so well that I was literally melting into gooey marshmallow on the inside! I loved how slow it was. Yes, there are instant crushes… but… it is more of the communal crush that Anderson and Kate have for the same boy (Matt). However, as the story went on the romantic relationships became deeper and more real and more diverged from the blurb of the book. In a good way though!

Honestly, I just really loved this book. It was funny while also being sad and serious at times. I cried, squealed and laughed super hard! I would highly recommend this read!

This one wasn’t really for me, I didn’t get on with the writing style at all which was a bit of a shame as I really liked the sound of the story.

Thank you for giving me the chance to read it

What a fabulously easy reading book this was. Combining YA with theatre, its hard not to fall into a comfortable chair and tuck in to this light and stress free read!

If you love fast paced story-lines, you will most likely really enjoy this snappy, short chapters book. Although its aimed towards the romance, love triangle elements, the focus on friendship in this book is just beautiful.

If you like musical theatre, there is plenty of it to dive into here. I'm not interested in it myself and didn't quite know what was what in some aspects of this topic in the book. However, I found it didn't derail my enjoyment of the plot even one bit.

Although predictable in a way, it does not take away from the overall story. It's still a fun filled fast paced book that would be perfect for all ages to enjoy.

Let me start my review by sharing why Young Adult Contemporary isn’t my favorite genre. It reminds me of high school and most YA Contemporary books have themes such as bullying, mean girls, friends/teens backstabbing each others, etc. I know they are relevant and important themes but they can be triggering for me so I usually end up not enjoying reading about them. And the blurb of this book made me think Kate and Anderson will have to back stab each other, or something like that. So I didn’t sign up right away. After reading the book though, I can say that I shouldn’t have doubted Becky Albertalli.

I don’t want to spoil anything but the friendship between Kate and Anderson ended up being my most favorite aspect of this book. Right from the start, I love their relationship. Friendship is a huge theme in this book and for that alone, I want to recommend this book to everyone. I also find the communal crushes a unique theme. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything that has it. Crushes are always cute and fun but to be honest, I feared about it here. I thought it will cause an irreparable conflict but I love how all the relationships turn out.

The setting, high school, as I said isn’t my favorite but it’s okay here. There’s bullying but it didn’t bother me as much as I expected it would be so I avoided being triggered by it. What stood out to me is the swearing. I wasn’t expecting it. It didn’t really bother me but it might bother others so I thought it’s worth mentioning. This is YA after all.

But overall, the writing style is amazing. Becky is such an amazing author. She knows how to make believable story that’s immersive and realistic. But I think it’s her characters that really pulled me into her stories. I always find her characters relatable.

Kate is a very realistic character. I thought her actions and feelings throughout the book were valid. She’s a very complex character that I think most readers would relate to. Yes even adult readers. We were all young adult ones. Yes, she’s not perfect but she grew a lot in this book. Anderson is another amazing character. I liked him a lot. He’s so sweet. I want a friend like him.

Matt, their crush, is very likeable too. He’s just overall nice. I think there is so much more about his character than what is shown. Another character is Noah. He is a surprise character because the blurb didn’t hit anything about him. And as a surprise character, he surprised me. By the end of the book, I love him.

Overall, Kate in waiting is a fun, quick read that made me think that it’s possible for me to love YA Contemporary someday. I just love how everything plays out in this book.

Kate in Waiting was an absolute joy to read.

This story is perfectly placed with short, snappy chapters or 'scenes' that gave the perfect amount of context while keeping the story moving. The conflict at the end was toned down enough to be believable but significant enough to be heartbreaking (which is definitely how I felt whilst reading it).

The characterisation in this novel was brilliant. Kate was a wonderful lead character who had to endure hardship and learn lots in order to find herself. She's strong, interesting and loveable. I found myself identifying with her a lot as a former musical theatre loving student which made her story even more impactful.

All the characters, including Kate, were flawed which was really nice to see. I also enjoyed that the author didn't villainize any characters simply because they had differing opinions to our protagonist. The characters were all likeable and their stories were captivating.

The romance in this book for me was more than swoon worthy. I genuinely had butterflies during some sections and found myself rooting for the love interest every time he appeared.

As always, Becky Albertalli has once again integrated LGBTQ+ characters seamlessly into this book which I applaud and admire. It makes this story so much more relatable and accessible to people in that community. I also loved the little snippet of mental health rep we had at the end of the book. Once again, it's something that is so important to include but Albertalli doesn't make a big deal out of it.