This was definitely a cute and light-hearted book, but not my favourite Becky unfortunately 🙈 At first I really loved it but as the book went on I kinda lost interest 😅 The constant use of the word f-boys and other similar words, and the (kind of) love triangle began to annoy me a bit. The end was for sure cute and I think people who love theater will also like reading this book, but there were just some things about it that I personally just wasn’t loving.

Thank you so much to Penguin Random House Children’s Books and Netgalley for the earc to read and review.

So much drama within the pages of this book.

Kate and Anderson, best friends, each other’s confidants and inseparable with their own langue with each other go through the first big challenge in their friendship when they both fall in love with Matt at camp and suddenly find him thrust into their everyday life as he moves to their school and their street. Everything changes from that point on.

I loved that it was all centred around musical theatre that’s what really drew me to the book In the first place. It was also about Kate and Anderson’s relationship which was both incredibly sweet and incredibly weird both at the exact same time.

There was a lot of drama around Matt, both really liking him and both slowly falling for him made it difficult for them to stay as connected as they had always been. Whilst reading it all I kept thinking was wow this drama could be all over if they take three minutes to go up to him and ask ‘hey Matt are you straight or gay and do you like like either of us.’ But that would have been way too simple and taken the drama away from the whole story.

I did love reading their relationships forming with Matt individually and how he was with both. I also loved reading about Kate and Noah’s relationship forming throughout the story. I loved their friends Raina and Brandie they were great additions to the story. There were so many great characters that each played a great part in making the story come together.

I must admit that I found so much predictable about this book. I didn’t predict everything but personally so much of what was going to happen I kind of guessed very early on. That was okay though as sometimes predictable is fun, because you got it right and it can make you happy. In my case that’s how I viewed it, yes I knew it was coming but I loved it all the same.

This was a very drama filled read, but I enjoyed getting to read it and be in the world of teen theatre kids and the relationship drama they go through. It was funny, and makes you gush with the characters, draws you into their lives and makes you ship couples so hard it’s unbelievable. This was such a great Teen/YA Contemporary.

I am obsessed with this cover. It's just so pretty and I adore it.

'Kate In Waiting' was such a fun read, which I read in one sitting because I could not put it down. This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and Becky Albertalli did not disappoint!!

'Kate In Waiting' follows Kate, who always ends up crushing on the same guy her best friend Anderson crushes on, and this time they both end up crushing on new boy Matt. They all get roles in the school production of 'Once Upon A Mattress' and the book follows them over the course of the rehearsals for the show.

I loved all the different relationships in this book between Kate and her friends; her family and Noah. I loved seeing her grow throughout the novel and seeing her realise that her friendships are the most important things. I also loved Kate's relationship with Noah and seeing them grow closer throughout the book.

I loved that Kate was not a perfect person and she made mistakes throughout, but she was able to grow and realise she was in the wrong and was able to own up to her mistakes and apologise to the people she had hurt.

The book was a bit predictable but there is nothing wrong with that when I enjoyed reading it so much. I loved all the little references to different musicals and young adult books throughout.

If you love any of Becky Albertalli's books, you should check this one out because you will love this one just as much. If you are looking for a good book about friendship and love set during a high school production of 'Once Upon A Mattress' then this is the book for you!

Thank you to Penguin Random House for providing me with an advance copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded.

Best friends Kate and Anderson do everything together and they almost-exclusively always crush on the same guy. Joking about their “communal crushes” is fun until it isn’t.

When Matt, their crush from summer camp they thought they would never see again, shows up at their high school, shit gets real. Kate and Anderson make a pact, regardless of what happens their friendship is more important than anything else, and they have to be completely honest with each other about any potential romance with Matt.

This is further complicated when Kate and Matt are cast as lovers in the school musical, and the friendship between Kate and Anderson is threatened like never before.

//

I’m a huge fan of musical theatre, Becky Albertalli’s previous books and anything LGBTQ+ so I expected to enjoy this book a lot more than I did. I didn’t particularly care for the main characters or the drama between them. However that’s not to say Kate In Waiting is not a good book but rather that I’m just too old for this story. I can only imagine I would’ve loved it more as a teenager.

I wish we saw more of Kate and Ryan’s relationship, they had such a special sibling bond but the ending when we find out why he was “clingier” than usual felt rushed. Ultimately the highlight of this book for me was Noah Kaplan, what an all-round good guy.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was so excited to get to read Kate in Waiting because I’ve read and loved all of Becky’s other books, Simon Vs being my favourite, and this one definitely did not dissapoint!

So let me start off by saying I absolutely loved so many things about this book:

• Theatre/musical setting - I’m a sucker for anything that takes place in or around a show so I loved this aspect of the book.
• Strong friendship group
• Tangled references - I loved all the tangled references because I too think tangled is one of the best movies of all time and don’t we all just want our own rapunzel/flynn floating lights scene?
• Matt - was a total sweetheart
• Noah - he came across as such a lovable guy, I was really rooting for him!

Spoiler: So I kind of guessed where this was going to go with Andy and Matt before it happened but the part when Andy told Kate he was dating Matt kind of broke my heart. I’m sure most people have been in a situation where they are totally crushed because they realise the person they like doesn’t like them back, but I can imagine it being 10x worse when it’s because they’re dating your best friend instead because that’s a double blow!
I’ve read a lot of books where this kind of thing has happened but something about this one in particular just got me right in the heart, I had to stop reading for a few minutes and gather myself because Kate’s emotions felt so raw.

The only thing that I got a bit tired of was the constant references to f-boys, it was just never ending and got on my nerves after a while!

I have to say though that I still thoroughly enjoyed this book, and even though the characters where younger (16/17) it didn’t make me enjoy the story any less than if they were more my own age.

I definitely recommend this is you like a book about musicals/theatre, friendship and crushes!

Like most people I loved Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda/Love Simon which was a great coming out story, so I was pretty excited to read Kate In Waiting.
Kate is a typical theatre geek; yes I can relate, along with her squad; Anderson who plays the role to gay best friend, Raina who is trans and Brandi who nobody is really sure about, her school life revolves around the upcoming musical and her low key anxiety about the auditions. To top it all off, Kate and Anderson’s summer camp crush; Matt, just turned up at school after moving to Roswell.
Kate and Anderson have always had the same crushes on boys, to the point that if Kate fancied somebody who Anderson didn’t she assumed it must have been wrong. It’s never been an issue before because they’ve never had the faintest chance with the objects of their affection, but when Matt is cast as Kate’s on stage lover, a relationship begins to blossom and Kate is worried how Anderson will take it.
I literally read this book in two sittings. It was such an easy read but also had me hooked. I loved the diversity of Albertalli’s characters without focusing too much on their protected characteristics; literally didn’t have a clue that Raina was trans until there was an explanation of her picking her name. The acceptance of all of the characters was literally lovely to read and I think it was pretty respresentative of how open and welcoming ‘theatre crews’ generally are. I also loved that the ‘f-boys’; what the squad titles the jocks, yet to be nicer guys than they’re stereotypically made out to be too; although the girls don’t get that chance.
All in all a lovely quietly diverse read, which reminded me that sometimes you just have to go with the flow and trust those you love. I gave it 4.5/5

Oh my goodness, this book was the cutest, most heartwarming book I have read in such a long time. I loved everything about this book, and it made my musical heart so happy. The characters were so fleshed out and the relationships between characters were to die for. I think this may be in the running to be my favourite Becky Albertalli book I've read, and I've read them all!
One more fact about this book before I go: I baked cinnamon buns today and these characters are more of a cinnamon bun than my actual cinnamon buns. That's how good this book is.

We all know Becky Albertalli excels when it comes to writing diverse books for a younger audience. Specifically we have POC representation, Jewish rep and of course a nice range of LGBT+ rep!

This is a nice and sweet YA contemporary romance, with a bit of a twist - The main character Kate has a crush on the same guy as her best friend Anderson.

I think this is the type of book I would have enjoyed as a 13 year old when my life revolved around friendship, school and crushes. It does such a good job of capturing that energy. Similarly, it was written well and suits a younger audience much more than it suited me. I see how it will be enjoyed, but it was just not my taste - I’m old now (lol) and I’m very much past the point in my life where the issues that come up in this book are as big a deal to me as they were back then.

Finally, I am not so sure why it’s so long... The chapters are nice and short (another reason why YA readers will like this!) but the book itself seemed to drag on a little bit.

First off, thanks to NetGalley for gifting me a ARC of this book for my honest review.

Like most of us, I loved the Creekwood series - possibly loved the sequels more than the original, but that's because I love Leah, so I'm gonna be biased there! And here's the thing - while I enjoyed Kate in Waiting, I'm quite sure I'm going to enjoy the sequels (if there are any...) more. The cast of supporting characters feel more interesting than the main character of Kate here. The challenge of YA I guess, is to write a good, realistic teenage character - and sometimes we're not going to like them when they're at their most introspective. Kate does come through the other side though (JUST), which is why I'm excited for her future cameos in the next book of the series (which hasn't been announced, as far as I know!!!).

The general jist of this tale, isn't just drama club vs the Jocks - but the drama club navigating the F**k boys at the school. And that word gets said a LOT - I'm all for it, but it might not be to everyones taste (FYI). The fuck boys as a group feel very stereotypical - although towards the end of the book we start to see them as individuals, they are almost a homogeneous mass for the first half!

But the last 50 pages or so saves this book, and gives it so much HEART and SOUL, that you can forgive what has gone before - or maybe it's my strong HOPE of more from this series that I'm optimistically rating it a 5.

If you're a fan of contemporary YA books with a main focus on friendship with a hefty side helping of lovable dork and musical theatre, this book could well be for you. I'm much more of a fantasy reader, but I enjoyed Kate In Waiting a lot, particularly as it got further through. I think it's the sort of book that several of my students would absolutely love.

There are other things going on, but ultimately Kate In Waiting is about the friendship between Kate and her best friend Anderson (described by other friends as being "codependent"). It's not always a healthy relationship, but it certainly feels a lot like the day to day friendship dramas of my real life high school students. Kate and Andy have a history of communal crushes but they're usually on people who are unattainable - so what happens when their latest crush moves to join Kate and Andy's school for senior year?

The chapters are short, making it a fast, easy read, and while a lot of the action is set around rehearsals for the school musical, the story isn't really *about* the musical, it just provides a background setting. I found the plot a little slow to begin with but once I got into it I enjoyed it a lot more, and I found myself racing through the last third late at night.

I'll be honest, about half way through, I thought this was going to be a two star read for me, but I did enjoy the second half a little more, it was just really slow to get going.

There is a great cast of characters here. A close group of friends, plenty of potential love interests, parents living their best lives and a theatre director just trying to keep it all together. I really liked most of them, and as with so many other reviewers, Noah was the star of the show for me from the first time we meet him. He was just adorable.

I loved the setting of the theatre, and it certainly reminded me of some of my favourite teen movies. I also appreciated the references thrown in every now and again to those very same movies. It was nice to see Kate look past a previous bad experience and be brave enough to take to the stage again, and there's a great message in there about doing what you love no matter what others think.

What ruined this book for me was the CONSTANT references to 'fuckboys' or 'f-boys' as they are called by Kate and her friends. At first it was a little funny, but it just grated on my nerves after only a few chapters. When I say its constant, I'm really not exaggerating, there are passages where the term is used every other line. The group are painted as this loveable band of theatre nerds, yet they judge literally everyone who likes or plays sport in any way part of the 'f-boy' gang. I don't get the logic, and didn't like the way they kept looking down their noses at everyone without even knowing anything about them...

Albertalli fans will no doubt embrace this one with their whole heart, but I don't think it was really for me, despite there being some cute moments.

Before I begin this, a thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am a little concerned that my review is going to be biased by the fact that I genuinely had a ball reading this book. I haven't had that for a while, but for some reason, Kate in Waiting just grabbed me completely.

Kate Garfield is a wallflower when it comes to her passion - musical theatre. She auditions, she waits patiently and then she's 'Villager number 3'. But she's okay with that because she's involved and gets to make memories with her best friend, Anderson Walker (or Andy to his friends). But this year, her and her BFF are in love with the same heartthrob and one of the f-boy squad is auditioning too. So this year might be a little different.

I'm a sucker for a BFF story. A BFF story where they never give up on each other and are on the same team. To quote Anderson: 'our friendship comes first. No matter what'. It's a trope that I think is underused and undervalued because romance sells more, or thrillers are easier? Who knows... but to authors, friendships often seem to run second to the story, always being the background.

I like the romances in this and how organic they feel. I love the characters and their roles in Kate's life, and at times it can feel unhealthy but I've been in a team like that and trust me, it can get overwhelming but that's what your squad can be. I love her family and how adjusted they seem and I enjoy that whilst there is clearly a hierarchy in the school, it's an idyllic space where people are mostly quite nice to each other. But honestly, it was those friendships that kept me wanting more.

Reading in Albertalli's acknowledgements about her real life squad made me see that both Becky and I are on the same page about her story. The romances are the fun that makes you enjoy the book but the friendships are the heart that make you want to talk about it. They are the main character for once, not the second string to the love affair. That to me was magical and I'm so grateful this book is out there. Teens need to see that you can find your tribe at high school and you can thrive within them and that it is okay for your friends to matter to you, more than you thought possible.

I thank Albertalli for her book. It reminded me of high school and I needed that. After finishing, I went onto my virtual world and sent a number of messages to people I haven't seen or spoken to in a long time and it was so blissful. My friendships, they matter most and it took Kate in Waiting to remind me of that.

This book has been super hyped, and was on my list of most anticipated reads of 2021.
I'm a huge theatre/musical theatre lover, and as a kid I was a massive theatre geek - now am a drama teacher haha. So, the premise of the book was right up my street. Also a fan of Becky Albertalli. So this book was a no brainer, I expected to love this.

However, I found it to be very slow paced and I just couldn't connect to the characters. I appreciate I'm a 30-something woman, and this is a YA book - but usually I love a bit of YA, this book just felt incredibly young and the characters incredibly immature. I couldn't get over the immaturity and the lack of connection to the central characters just distanced me from truly getting into this book. I have found Albertalli's previous books to be very sentimental and heart-felt - but this just seemed over the top and incredibly young.

The book was OK - but not up to Becky Albertalli's usual standard for me.

Was slow to get into but once I got past the halfway mark I begun to really enjoyed this one. I loved the focus on friendships and growing up. Full review to come

I have always enjoyed Becky Albertali’s books, they’re not my favourite books of all time or anything but they’re always fun and this was no different! It was an easy to read rom com that made me smile quite a few times!

What I will say and I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing, this felt like a mix of Simon and Upside, the characters and the story felt like a similar mix of them which isn’t a bad thing, take a formula that works and all that!

I really enjoyed the cast of characters! Especially Noah, an absolute sunshine but I really liked Kate, Ryan, Matt, Brady and Raina and Anderson and they were all fun to read about!

I liked the relationships explored here too, I will say, I think Kate and Anderson’s friendship could be seen as toxic in some parts and the way they talked about Matt like they owned him was kinda gross in some parts. ALSO one of my absolute pet hates in books is the “let’s use their sexuality as a plot twist” trope I hate it, it’s gross and fact it was used here I hate it. Anyway, also my main OTP for Kate got together which was great I shipped them for their first interaction but I felt in the end their getting together was a bit rushed but I still really loved them as a couple.

The ending as a whole was a little bit rushed for me but overall, I really enjoyed this story and I’m looking forward to seeing what Albertali does next!!

So,let me start this review by saying that I AM NOT a Simon fan. I'm SO not a fan that I didn't even pick the rest of the books in Somonverse because I wasn't interested. Like, at all.
When I got this book form the Publisher I didn't even notice that it was written by Alberalli, so I had zero prejudice.
Thank God for that bc I enjoyed that book very much.

It's not a perfect book, but the writing is decent and it's definitely a page-turner (I finished it in one day).
I liked how even though this book is about romance in theory, in reality it's about friendship.
It's also super diverse in a very efortless way and I love that.

The ending is superobvious from the second the *guy* has been introduced, but this time it didn't bother me that much.

I also liked the dnamics between Kate and her brother, how coparenting was shown and how in general family was shown.

I was excited to be reading the latest Becky Albertalli story, but this one left me cold. I didn’t like any of the characters. The musical theatre background story was very American (understandably) but made it harder to relate to the characters and setting as this school experience doesn’t happen in the UK. I work in a school so it felt very disjointed. The relationships were extreme, especially the love triangle between Matt, Anderson and Kate. Sadly unrealistic.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I absolutely loved it! I love YA fiction anyway, but this book is brilliant!!! I loved Kate and her fiery personality. It was one of those books that you could just escape into for hours!!! I now understand the hype and why everyone loves this author

I flew through the pages of Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli. I’m hoping there a sequel is in the works, because I’ll definitely be checking it out if there is!

Kate is a serious drama buff, just like her BFF Anderson (AKA Andy). Actually, her & Andy have a lot in common – right down to the boys they both crush on.
On the 1st day back at school, they discover that their shared summer camp crush, Matt, has moved to their hometown & is auditioning for the autumn musical. They just don’t know if he is gay (like Andy) or straight (like Kate).

As different circumstances put either Kate or Anderson at an advantage, over the other, of spending time with Matt, a wedge starts to develop between the 2 life long friends. Are they really going to ruin their friendship over a guy?

Meanwhile:
🎭Auditions are coming up. Will Kate get an actual part this year, or find herself in the background again? If she does get a good part, will she be able to perform after the ridicule she experienced in her past?
🎭Kate’s brother, Ryan, & his BF, Noah, are jocks & part of the group Kate & her friends call f-boys & girls. Noah has broken his arm, so he is stuck on the bench. Due to his injury, he has also been taken out of PE & reassigned to the coveted drama class, requiring participation in the autumn musical.
🎭Ryan has been around a lot lately – is he crushing on one of Kate’s friends?
🎭Kate owns a car with Ryan, but doesn’t have her license. She tells herself she is in no hurry to change this because she is happier in the passenger seat. So why can’t everyone else leave her alone about taking her test?

Kate has lots going on, but does any of it matter if she can’t share it with Andy?

Out the 22nd of April 2021, add Kate in Waiting to your Goodreads & TBR lists now.

4/5 🌟

My sincere thanks to Netgalley, Penguin Random House Children’s UK, and Becky Albertalli for the opportunity to read Kate in Waiting in exchange for my impartial review. All opinions are my own.

First of all I would just like to say a big thank you to the author and the publisher for an E-ARC of this book for a honest review! When I got accepted I screamed because Becky is one of my favourite authors so it was like ultimate fan girl moment.

Saying that though I wasn’t sure I was going to be 100% into this book, it didn’t really seem my thing but I was totally judging it a bit on face value which in hindsight was stupid because I absolutely loved this and will definitely be getting a physical copy as soon as I can to add to my book shelf.

It follows Kate and her best friend Anderson, they both have a crush on the same boy which is nothing new to them but this time it gets a little out of hand, almost threatens to pull apart their strongly built relationship.

I read this book in a day and could barely put it down, I became fast friends with Kate but oh my god their were times when I was shouting at this book, at her, for reasons I won’t say because I dint wish to spoil it for anyone but just COME ON, KATE. PLEASE.

The pacing was quick enough to keep me interested, this wasn’t some awkward love triangle situation which I was also really glad of, it was very well written and didn’t have me cringing even once. There were points I laughed out loud which always a sign of a good book. I really loved it, I’m so glad I’ve gotten back into reading lately because I probably would have missed this book and it would have been annoying to miss something so good.

So if you’re reading this and feel a little unsure whether it’s your thing I hope you give it a go because you’d be missing out for sure!

Also the LGBTQ+ inclusivity was so good, effortlessly done.

I’m off to go watch Tangled now....Bye!