Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Children’s UK for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I sat down and read this book in one sitting, I absolutely adore Becky Albertalli, I think she's a fantastic author and I've absolutely adored all of her backlisted books that I've read, yet I felt this one was a bit of a let down in comparison. Kate in Waiting didn't give me that super fuzzy feeling inside like Becky's previous books have done for me. I still enjoyed this read but I just don't think it stands up to the 'Simonverse' that Becky has created.

As I am going through a really difficult time at the moment I can hardly find any time to read at all. But as I really wanted to read Kate in Waiting I bought myself the audiobook and listened to it whenever I had the chance. It sweetened my bicycle rides to and from work and into town. This audiobook is a real bliss. My teenage days are already long gone but I enjoyed that book immensely. Of course I suspected pretty early who Kate will end up with in a relationship. And I was right! And that made me happy because I thought he has always been the right choice. 

Kate is a simply loveable young lady who is have lived to have as a friend when I was young. Somehow they’re supposed to be the geeky theatre group but in realty they’re Cool and the Gang (or Squad as it’s called here). 

The book is an enjoyable, easy read with a lovely story. If you’re looking for in-depth teenage problems-solutions-drama you’ll not find it here. If you’re looking for a fun book to read that makes you smile and even laugh out loud a lot then you’ve found your book. 

The audiobook is also very excellent and the reader gives Kate an even more bubbly and happy voice. She sounds as I imagine a current American teenager to sound and it fits the book perfectly. I can definitely recommending getting this book as an audiobook.

(4.8 stars) I can always count on Albertalli to make me laugh out loud, and this was no exception! I was cracking up right from the get-go and there were plenty of truly hilarious moments sprinkled throughout the book. Aside from humour, Albertalli also sensitively depicts more serious topics, such as past cyberbullying, emotions around divorce and social anxiety. This also made the story context and characters a lot more realistic and complex, as we get extra insight which helped me connect more deeply to the characters, especially Kate.

Albertalli wrote Kate so well that I had physical reactions right alongside her. I felt like I had a gravity well in my chest during the angsty parts and felt like blushing when she did! Speaking of angst, surprisingly most of it was friend-related rather than romance – though, looking back at the blurb, I should have expected that! I absolutely adored the value and attention given to Kate’s friendship with Andy. A love for the ages and a strike back against amatonormativity! Kate’s relationship with her brother Ryan was another standout point, and it was so poignant and the development made me quite emotional (but somehow still stayed light and funny?!).

I also love how I’ve literally only just realised this was a love triangle. I’m not a fan of love triangles (they usually feel a bit contrived to me) but the messiness, intensity and awkwardness of Kate and Andy’s feelings and respective situations felt so real that I completely didn’t notice the trope, it was just what was happening. With the main romance (who I won’t specify because it’s spoilery), I shipped it so much! The love interest was one of my favourite characters, and the romance was super sweet, developed so naturally and was so utterly wholesome that I was grinning so much. If my heart could make noises other than lub-dub, it would be squealing.

I was somewhat of a ‘theatre kid’ myself so the framing of this book around a school play (ahem, a musical) was so fun to read. It was so cute that the chapters were ‘Scenes’ instead of regular chapters, and the way Albertalli wrote her acknowledgements like an end-of-show thank you speech. The main twist was a tad predictable, but I didn’t care at all. There were plenty of other things I didn’t guess! The drama didn’t feel forced either as you can clearly see the difficulty of the characters’ dilemmas, and Kate herself reflects on and critiques her choices, so this all made up for anything I saw coming.

I also appreciated the casual diversity, e.g. Kate and others are (own-voices rep) Jewish, Andy is Black and gay, and there are trans, lesbian, Latina, Asian and disabled characters too. I will say that there are quite a lot of characters which made it hard to remember the minor ones. The other two members of Kate and Andy’s squad, Raina and Brandie, were really interesting but I felt perhaps a little underdeveloped. I would definitely love to read a spin-off/sequel about their stories!

Overall, this was such a bingeable, funny and heartwarming read. One of my favourite April reads and I’m looking forward (as always) to what Albertalli writes next!

It took me a long time to read Simon and the Homo Sapien Agenda. I didn’t think it would live up to the hype, but I ended up adoring it. So, when The Write Reads announced that Kate in Waiting was going on tour, I knew I had to join in. I am so glad I did. Becky Albertalli stepped up her already magnificent game with this one. I loved it so much!

This story is so adorable. Kate and Anderson are the sweetest platonic couple I have ever read. Though when Matt came along, I didn’t know what was going to happen. I couldn’t decide if I wanted him to match with Kate or Anderson. Then Noah got all up in my feels. My heart couldn’t make up its mind at all.

I cried almost through the entire second half of the book. There were so many emotions that needed releasing. I went from sad to happy to excited and around again. I smiled so hard that I hurt my cheeks.

I am thrilled to award Kate in Waiting a full 5 out of 5 stars. If you want a wonderfully diverse story that will make you laugh and cry, you need to read this novel.

I’m so happy to be part of the blog tour of this book and share the excitement for its release with so many other readers, so Thank you to Dave from The Writers’ Reads blog tour, it’s a blessing since otherwise, I might not have read the book as soon as I did, and I really liked it! Above all, I think the friendship as such that’s portrayed during the story is absolutely beautiful and I love how it’s built and executed, it feels super real and honest, and I love seeing the characters interacting with each other and overcoming obstacles together, I think that’s the true soul of the book, but there’s romance in here and that’s also good.

In this book, we follow Kate and Anderson, two best friends whose bond seems to be unbreakable, but everything changes one day when their childhood crush returns to town. Turns out, communal crushes aren’t so fun when real feelings are involved.

This is a superfluid contemporary plot to read, that hooks you from the first moment, and it’s very easy to feel close to the characters, these are three super important aspects so that I personally can enjoy a book within the genre, since although I like to read Contemporaries from time to time, I usually gravity more towards those who have darker or more magical aspects, so reading something like this one, much lighter and “mundane” in some way, is unusual for me. I ended up enjoying it much more than I thought I would, I think it has a solid foundation of friendship that’s very pleasant to read, and I can say that itself is just enough to sustain the whole story until the end, it’s a very well-created friendship, executed and thought out, so you want to know what will happen between them till the last page.

Personally, don’t think the conflict in itself is big enough for me, but I respect that it was for them and this conflict in some way has been helpful in establishing a deeper and more honest line of communication between them, plus other things are revealed, some interesting situations and triggers extremely interesting scenes to read, so if you look at it from that perspective I think the conflict itself, of these friends sharing feelings for the same person, isn’t the main focus or it’s not what really catches you, you know? I mean, maybe it is for you and that’s great! because it’s also a great seasoning for the plot, but for me as a reader I was more interested in other aspects than that point as such, I hope you understand what I mean by this. Basically, the story is super-fluid to read, friendship is great and has wonderful family scenes too, but romance as such is perhaps not so protagonist for me.

It’s not the first time that I read the author, I’ve read, as most of us, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, so I was already familiar in some way with her writing style, which I find extremely relaxing to read, for some reason, I find it very easy to connect with her characters and get to feel really interested in everything that they do, I love that, I really recommend Becky Alberteli’s books.

It has its part kind of cheesy or cliche at times especially when portraying the experience of a teenager in high school since it’s something I’ve read many times, but this doesn’t mean that it isn’t still entertaining and fun to read, I just think it’s important to mention it in case this is something you don’t want to find. In addition to student drama, there’s also a musical going on, which I surprisingly liked in this book, it’s very well done and these are moments of great enjoyment for the characters and that makes it almost cross the pages, it was very fun, that’s for sure.

The characters are great and they’re very well created, each one of them, not only the main ones but also the secondary ones, have something that makes them unique and makes them stand out in wonderful ways, what can I say? I really adore the characters that the author creates, somehow they touch my heart. I loved Noah and Anderson, I would say they’re my faves, but really they are all great, and I like how within the group we know a little about their lives and even though this happens in a superficial way, we can understand where each of their acts come from and why they’re the way they are, which makes the characters feel even more realistic. I could mention in addition to Kate and the guys I mentioned above, Raina, Matt, and Brandie, all great. Maybe we could have more work a little more on some interactions between them and some dialogues I feel that sometimes they’re a bit short, you know? but even so, these are very small details, the book and the characters in their entirety are incredible.

To summarize my thoughts and feelings about the book, I want to say that I honestly enjoyed it a lot, I think the way in which Becky has given a deeper approach to friendship in this book was the right decision, this aspect made me love the story itself much more since even when all the elements are good, the friendship is absolutely stunning. I recommend it, no doubt, if you want to read a story that will touch your heart and make you feel many beautiful things inside, but also if you want to read a solid friendship that flows naturally and realistically. It has beautiful scenes that would have made the teenage me fall dead in love lol & it’s simply that kind of book that although it explores a stressful and dramatic situation for the characters, it’s super light and super easy to read at the same time, 400 pages that will pass you by as if they were 100. It’s a great work of the author that makes me want to read much more of her in the future, I hope she continues to focus on this type of plot more focused on friendship because I think it will get better and better.

I don't think Becky Albertalli knows what a fuckboy is.

This was fine...lots of side characters for inclusion purposes but we never really get their deal or spend time with them, none of them *do* anything or add anything to the story despite it being a 400 page book. This did not need to be that long.

Anyway, premise of mutual crushes and *only* mutual crushes aside this was a fun book...I just don't think it was necessary to have Kate and Andy to have a history of always having the same crush and no others it was just weird. It plays out exactly how you think it will and it's fine, just as I mentioned too long. There is also an overuse of the word 'f-boy' not fuckboy but f-boy, but sometimes it changes to fuckboy....it's just all very cringe for its misuse, overuse and idea of popular kids = skanky and mean. It is just the skank/whore popular kid trope and it's overdone, tiresome, and not cool....just really judgemental for no reason, especially for 16/17 year olds.

Similarly, there is quite a bit of not-like-other-girls in this book which I thought was a dead and dusted trope, but no our leading lady like to wear a hoodie and jeans and the popular girl wears a bodycon dress or a tank top and mini skirt. Please, it's 2021 no one wants to read that crap anymore.

But those were really the only two eye-roll inducing parts of the book! Gone is the teen male gay fetishising and Harry Potter references of her other books (and there are only two small references to Hamilton despite it being about Drama Kids and the school musical!). There are obviously quite a few second hand embarrassment moments and times when you want to shake the kids by the shoulders to tell them to stop being so self-involved, but that's being a teenager so I can't really fault a YA book for it - it wasn't over the top with it.

The "endgame" romance plots weren't really developed, one we don't see and the other one just happens - we see one side of it but nothing to show that it is a reciprocated crush but we see it's going to happen anyway...just a bit strange!

I liked the more up-to-date references Albertalli did include - the teens loving Tangled as that was *their* Disney film when they were young and channelling the confidence of Elsa - it made me feel old as both those films came out when I was in university

I haven’t read Teen/YA fiction in so long but after reading – and quite enjoying – Simon vs. The Homosapiens Agenda, I jumped at the chance to get involved with the blog tour for Kate in Waiting, Becky Albertalli’s latest release.

The book follows Kate Garfield and her best friend, Anderson “Andy” Walker as they navigate their communal crush against the backdrop of the school musical.

Initially, I was quite sceptical of the premise and the characters — finding Kate slightly annoying and I just thought why can’t one of them just fancy someone else!? —- but, as I carried on with this one, I grew to really like it.

Once again, Albertalli nails friendships. Though I do wish Raina and Brandie were fleshed out — and included —- a bit more, the friendship which did take centre stage (that of Kate and Andy) was gorgeous. They had sweet, tender moments with little sprinkles of drama which I lapped up, despite the fact I haven’t read Teen/YA Fiction in ages!

Another thing I really liked was the relationship between Kate and her brother, Ryan. Quite often YA/Teen Fiction tends to blab on about how annoying and gross male relatives are so I was pleasantly surprised by the close relationship the siblings had, though I do wish we got a bit more of an insight into his character.

Whilst my experience of drama is very much either sat in the audience or less than fond memories of whimpering out lines, forgetting lines altogether or some kind of costume malfunction, it was interesting to read about the work that goes into a performance- even one as basic as a high school play. I was initially quite reluctant to delve into this environment, probably due to my less than pleasant memories attached to it, but Albertalli writes about this part of school life with such warm and a great sense of community even drama sceptics can get behind it.

I also loved the romance in this. Albertalli hits the nail on the head about crushes, they’re exciting, they’re nerve wracking and – for the most part – they’re a massive pain. Though there were moments I wanted to grab Kate or Andy by their shoulders and give them a wobble, I think this communal crush was a great way to push the characters forwards and towards the sweet, if a little predictable, romances. The growth was brilliant and there were so many gorgeous moments between the characters. My heart couldn’t take it!

The only thing that bothered me was the repeated use of the word “f boy”, “f girl”, “f person” etc. I’m not someone who swears (at least not aloud!) but it doesn’t bother me. Saying that, though, I just found the repeated use of these terms a bit annoying and I wish this would’ve been reigned in a bit.

Regardless, Kate in Waiting is a sweet, fun story about friendship, communal crushes and drama.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is one of my favorite books of all time and ever since loving Becky Albertalli’s debut, I’ve of course had to read all of her new releases. So, my expectations for Kate in Waiting were very high. I’m happy to say that I was not disappointed and it’s now one of my new favorite YA contemporaries.

One of my highlights was definitely how the backdrop of the story was the musical that most of the characters were in. I was in all of my high school’s musical productions and the way it was described – from the rush as you’re about to find out what part you got to how close you grow with everyone involved – was just perfect. I also loved how this theme was taken literally and we saw Kate step into the spotlight as her character developed and grew.

I would say that Kate in Waiting is more about relationships in general than about romantic feelings and I really enjoyed how Kate’s connection to different people in her life was explored. The main focus is definitely Kate’s relationship with her best friend Anderson and how they try to navigate everything while both of them have feelings for the same guy. But I liked how romance still played a role and that we also got to explore her relationship with her older brother.

With some YA books it’s very obvious that they were written by middle-aged authors but the teens in Kate in Waiting actually read like teens. There were a lot of pop culture references and it just felt very realistic. It made the book relatable and a lot of the lines were also just very funny.

I also really appreciated the diverse cast of characters. Kate, her family and several friends are Jewish and many of the side characters are LGBTQ+ and BIPOC. I liked Kate a lot but all of the side character felt so fleshed out as well and it really felt like I got to know them.

I had such a great time reading this YA contemporary and I highly recommend checking it out. My only small criticism is that I personally didn’t love the pacing in the last third of the book but I think the ending made up for it.

Kate in Waiting will make you laugh out loud and it will warm your heart and it will make you want to call your best friend to tell them that you love them. An entertaining and heartfelt coming-of-age novel about the importance of friendship and having the courage to stand in the spotlight.

I gave Kate in Waiting 4.75 stars.

Kate In Waiting is such a fun entertaining book. This was my second book by Becky Albertalli, the first being Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda so I was already familiar with her writing. It’s quite easy and accessible and it makes for quite a good read.

Kate In Waiting is largely a character driven book. The characters are quite distinct with their personalities, I found that I want more of them. Their dynamics revolve around their friend group, which are a delight to read on. My favourite was definitely Noah. One thing I truly enjoyed about this book is how Becky Albertalli explores relationships. Romantic, platonic and familial.

However in as much as I liked this book, I did find it a bit lacking and I wanted more. The plot was all over the place as so much is happening and it was annoying trying to keep up with everything.

Kate In Waiting is such a heartwarming, charming read that is quite easy to get through. If Young Adult is something you truly love and enjoy, I definitely recommend this one.

ALL THE STARS. My favourite Albertalli book to date. I binged 80% of this in a day and before I even finished my e-arc, I’d ordered my own physical copy, because this is the type of book you’ll read over and over again, and it’s a definite comfort read.
This gave me so many feelings. All of the feelings. Every single one. I was a wreck at parts, but also found myself smiling and laughing throughout..
An absolutely beautiful story, with lots of different representation. Such strong friendships, I absolutely adore that this focussed more on the strength of friendship beyond anything else. Every aspect of the book was secondary. It was beautiful. So well written, executed brilliantly.
Kate was such a likeable character. I rooted for her from start to finish and absolutely loved how her story arced.

What a cute, gorgeous read!

Sometimes I crave a book with a sweet plot, not too much drama and a light dusting of romance. This book delivered all that plus some wonderful character development !

I received a copy of Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli for free in exchange for an honest review as part of a bookstagram tour for Pride Book Tours. Thank you so much to Pride Book Tours, Penguin Platform and Becky Albertalli for having me on the tour! This review is also available on my blog - Book, Blog & Candle.

I absolutely adored Simon Vs. The Homosapien's Agenda by Becky Albertalli so I jumped at the chance of being able to read Kate in Waiting! I don't think I've ever replied to an email so quickly before! I am so grateful and can't thank Pride Book Tours, Penguin Platform and Becky Albertalli enough for this amazing opportunity! Plus, I also have to take a minute to appreciate this gorgeous cover - look at how PRETTY it is!

Our main characters are Kate & Anderson, they are the best of friends who do absolutely everything together! When the boy from camp, who they both have a massive crush on, happens to move to their school can their friendship survive their crush?

I really enjoyed all of the characters, they were so fun to read and the friendship between Kate & Anderson was so special. I really liked having the story from Kate's perspective and you could feel all of the fun, joy and heartbreak throughout. The theatre element was so much fun and mini confession time...I was a little bit of a theatre kid in school! I can't sing, act or dance but I loved the atmosphere of being part of the school plays and I was part of a small production at a local theatre once but I need to keep some embarrassing stories to myself!

Becky Albertalli's writing is absolutely brilliant as usual and I really like the short chapters as well because it is so easy to say 'just one more chapter' and then the next thing you know it's 3am! The story flowed so nicely I didn't want to put it down and the pace was perfect for me!

In case you couldn't tell I absolutely loved Kate in Waiting! It was such an amazing and cute story of friendship, new love and trying new things.

Thank you so much Pride Book Tours, Penguin Platform and Becky Albertalli for my advanced copy!

Was it a page-turner? Definitely! I read this book in a couple of sittings as I just couldn’t stop. I don’t read a lot of YA fiction so I must admit that I had to push myself forward through the first few chapters. However, once I got emotionally involved – and that happened fairly soon – I was in for the long haul!

Did the book meet my expectations? I was drawn to the queerness of the book and – of course – by the reputation of the author so I did expect this to be good. In that sense, my expectations were met. On another level, my expectations were surpassed as I wasn't ready for such an emotional roller coaster. I did predict how it would end pretty early on but that didn't spoil my reading experience as the journey was one to savour.

Three words to describe it. Refreshing. Cute. Diverse.

Do I like the cover? It is a good fit for the book as it looks like a poster for a musical but I don’t love it.

Have I read any other books by the same author? No, and I don’t know why. I have no excuses so I will just leave you here and go make amends!

The Characters:
There was a great cast of characters in this book. Kate was a really good main character, I loved her friendships with the other characters. She was an interesting character to follow and I enjoyed learning more about her throughout the book. Anderson, Kate's best friend, was also a brilliant character. He was an excellent best friend and I loved his and Kate's dynamics. Their relationship developed so much throughout this book and I really enjoyed reading it. Kate's brother, Ryan, was a lovely character and I really wish we had seen more of him. I enjoyed his relationship with Kate and how honest he was with her. He was a brilliant older brother character! Noah, Ryan's friend, was another great character. I loved seeing him throughout this book, as he was a fun character to read about. Again, I wish we had seen more of Noah! Matt, the 'communal crush' of both Kate and Anderson from the beginning of the book, was a really lovely character. He was so nice and I loved reading about him and his story. Raina and Brandie, the other half of Anderson and Kate's friendship group, were excellent characters. I loved their dynamic amongst themselves and with the others, but I wish we had seen more of them separately. They were great to read about, as were the majority of the characters in this book - can you tell I enjoyed this one?

The Story:
Although I guessed a few plot points whilst reading this book, I really enjoyed it. It was a fun, quick read for me that had me smiling throughout. I loved the short chapters, or scenes, in this book as it kept me engaged and made me want to keep reading. The pacing of this book was excellent, with everything leading up to the most anticipated event of the year - the school musical. I even found myself searching for the musical soundtrack online to hear what some of the songs sounded like. The only gripe I had with this book was the amount of times the characters referred to 'f-boys' in the book as I found it got quite annoying and repetitive.

Overall Thoughts:
Overall I really enjoyed this book and ended up rating it 4 stars. I wish we had had more from these characters because I really enjoyed spending time with them and reading about their lives. I think this would be a perfect summer read for anyone who is looking for a quick, fun read that will make you smile multiple times.

I was really pleased to get my hands on a copy of Kate In Waiting. I picked up Simon Vs. the homo-sapiens agenda a few years ago after hearing some buzz around it and it was one of those books for me that comes along quietly and blows you away with how much you enjoy it. I’ve not had chance to pick anything else by Becky Albertelli up yet (though Leah on the Off Beat has been languishing on Mount TBR for a while) so was looking forward to doing so with this one!

Kate and Anderson are best friends. They share everything, a love for theatre, a close group of friends and…..their crushes. Mostly from afar, mostly unrequited, until Matt comes along. At first, he is just the latest shared crush from theatre camp. But then he turns up in their hometown, having moved there after his parents’ divorce. Now things are getting real, Kate is really falling for Matt, but so is Anderson and she needs to try and juggle her feelings for Matt and the feelings of her best friend, all whilst dealing with the preparation for the latest school play, the imminent departure of her brother for college and the increasing presence in her life of jock and F-boy Noah.

Albertelli brings the same charm, humour and warmth to this book that I remembered from Simon. KIW was a really enjoyable read and whilst I am long past the ages of these characters (LONG past), it was still fun to follow along with their dramas and dilemmas. I loved the theatre nerdiness of it and the re-naming of the chapters as “scenes”.

One sign of a good read for me is how often I’m saving notes or screenshotting bits of the book that have made me chuckle or really resounded with me. There was a great interaction with Kate’s mum when Ryan was coming over to read lines that made me chuckle:

“I have no idea where Mom got the impression that I’m capable of sealing any kind of deal. There’s honestly no need to cockblock me. I myself am the cockblock.”

And honorouble mention for speaking the TRUTH about the greatness that is Tangled (in this house, its better than Frozen, don’t disagree with me) and including the best description of Flynn Rider ever:

“Plus, there’s Flynn Rider – the animated floppy-haired wiseass scoundrel boy of my dreams.”

The strongest theme in the book is that of friendship, mainly between Kate and Anderson, but also between the others in their group, and to some extent, the rekindling of a friendship between Kate and her brother Ryan after years of drifting apart. The start of the book knowingly acknowledges the existence of the familiar trope of high-school tribe like groups but by the end, those lines have blurred and friendships and more are formed between those groups. Its good to see a focus on friendship in YA fiction alongside the rom-com elements. The book is dedicated to Adam Silvera, another popular who Albertelli has co-written with and I saw in an interview that she said that parts of the relationship between Kate and Anderson mimic that of her and Silvera.

Overall, a lovely, positive and inclusive story that is just what is needed after what has been and still is a difficult time for many. Now where’s my copy of Leah on the Off Beat…..

As a huge fan of Becky Albertalli (and also of the theatre) I was so excited for her newest release and it did not disappoint! This book was so much fun, from the structure of it and the story itself. I loved Kate so much as a main character, and I was so invested in the lives of these characters. Becky has a way of bringing them to life in such a specific way, their stories stay with you long after you’ve read the final page.

Headlines:
Sweet, fun and musical
Friendships colliding and together
School crushes

This was an easy, fun and light read from Becky Albertalli. Kate In Waiting was uplifting with strong themes of friendship; I mean we're not surprised about that, are we? Musical theatre fans will gush towards this book because it's framed around a high school drama/musical theatre group. While I'm not a groupie of that kind of entertainment, I still enjoyed the backdrop and got on board with the ride.

This read was all about the bonds within the group, but friendships were tested as crushes grew. It was funny throughout with mild tension at times and it brought a welcome light-vibe to my week. Becky Albertalli has a skill of getting you involved in friendships groups and she can make you connect with more than the MC; I did in this.

While this wasn't my Albertalli favourite it was fun and easy to sink into.

Thank you to Penguin for the early review copy.

Thank you to The Write Reads and the publisher for the free copy in exchange for a review as part of the blog tour.

I watched Love, Simon a bunch of times already and I know I’ll watch it a few times more. But that was all I knew from Becky Albertalli. Now, movies don’t always reflect the book, but that was what I was expecting. And it was pretty spot on.

Kate in Waiting is a page-turner, with Kate and Andy at the centre. Their friends, Raina and Brandie, hang around like moons, and meteor Matt strikes the planet of Kate and Andy. It shakes them both to the core, so much that their friendship might be over?! That’s what you get from crushing on the same boy as your best friend.

The characters are adorable, each one of them clearly their own person, no matter how small their part is. The plot is fairly predictable but that’s okay. I fully expected this to be a tropey romance. The only thing that threw me off a little was the dialogue. There was too much fluff. The dialogue is a bit too real in some instances, bordering on the annoying side. Especially this one character who has trouble keeping his mouth shut. He jumps around from one thing to the other without blinking or catching his breath. I get that it was a point, but it still annoyed me a little.

Still, this doesn’t take away much from the overall story. It’s fast-paced and skips over all the boring stuff. Sometimes I wish I could read a little more about what happened, but that’s okay.

I give Kate in Waiting four stars. I really enjoyed it, and I’ll be sure to watch the movie if/when it comes out. Overall it’s exactly what you’d expect from a contemporary romance. A cute story about a girl and boy. And another boy. And maybe another.

I can't even say how much I loved this book, I could not stop reading it, Kate and Andy were adorable, I loved their friendship and I wished I had one like them in highschool. I fell in love with Matt and Noah too, all of them were amazing.

2.5

With a big focus on platonic love, I know lots of Albertalli fans will really enjoy this book!

Now, I've never read a Becky Albertalli novel. And you must be thinking, why? As someone who reads and reviews lots of LGBTQIA+ books I knew I needed to at least read something from this author if nothing else. I know lots of people will absolutely love this book if they've enjoyed books from this author in the past, but I've got very meh opinions on it.

As I do with my ARC or free review copies, I'm going to write this review in a list.

THINGS I LIKED
-The big focus on platonic love - I always love it when books explore the idea of friendship, and I think this was the best part about this book.
-Anderson, just as a character - I think that's all I need to say really.

THINGS I APPRECIATED
-The pop culture references are decent - While this is not something I "liked" about this book, I appreciate that this book wasn't littered with Harry Potter references like I've heard some of this author's other books are.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE
-The writing style - Although I know that not all books need to have very flowery writing in order to tell a really good story, with YA contemporary novels especially as I don't tend to enjoy them, a good writing style helps me to like a book that I'd otherwise not like as much. The writing is not horrible, it's just quite bland.
-The constant referencing of f-boys - This was fine at first, but it started to get irritating and frustrating after you could barely go a page without finding "f-boy" written on it.
-Besides Anderson, none of the characters were particularly memorable for me - Also, Kate is just such an annoying person and I didn't care for her at all. When it came to her talking about her crush on Matt, I *really* hoped they didn't get together.

Overall, I didn't despise this book, it was just very meh for me unfortunately.