Hi Lovelies

Today is my blog spot for the brand new Becky Albertalli YA book Kate in Waiting. A really cute YA book that is about friendship, love and

Thank you to Dave from The Write Reads for having me on this Ultimate Blog Tour and to Penguin Platform for sending me a copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions on this review are my own.

Also check out the other amazing bloggers that are also on this tour!

Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli

From bestselling YA rom-com queen Becky Albertalli, author of Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda (Love, Simon), comes a new novel about daring to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight in love, life and, yes, theatre.

Contrary to popular belief, best friends Kate Garfield and Anderson Walker are not co-dependent. Carpooling to and from theatre rehearsals? Environmentally sound and efficient. Consulting each other on every single life decision? Basic good judgment. Pining for the same guys from afar? Shared crushes are more fun anyway.

But when Kate and Andy’s latest long-distance crush shows up at their school, everything goes off-script. Matt Olsson is talented and sweet, and Kate likes him. She really likes him. The only problem? So does Anderson.
Turns out, communal crushes aren’t so fun when real feelings are involved. This one might even bring the curtains down on Kate and Anderson’s friendship.

My Thoughts

I am a massive fan of Becky Albertalli, ever since I read her book Simon vs. and the whole Red Creek series. So when I saw that she had a new book coming out I knew that I had to read it. Kate in Waiting is what I classify a YA Rom-com, one that would definitely make it to the big screen.

When I read this book I definitely had vibes of 10 Things I Hate About You, Mean Girls and ok well basically all the the High School movies out there. It had the humour, the Sex, the high school divisions (Jocks, Theatre kids etc.) as well as the best friend/friendship group. It was a quick and easy read for me and I really liked Kate and Anderson.

So the book follows as you might of guessed Kate, she and her best friend Anderson are really close, as close as two best friends can be. They have just returned from Theatre camp to return to school, they live next door to one another, carpool together and oh yeah they crush on the same guys. On returning to school things start to happen and Kate and Anderson drift apart, Anderson has got into the Coveted Senior Theatre Class and Kate is left behind. He starts to have meetings without her and she finds this difficult. It all comes ahead when the guy that they were both crushing on at Summer camp joins the school as one of the Seniors – Ben. Both Kate and Anderson like Ben, problem is he likes one of them as well but which one?

This is definitely a fun YA contemporary read. It has all the teenage angst I remember when I was that age – its been a while. I am a fan of Becky Albertalli as she has a way with making her characters relatable and likeable. I mean I do like them all but Noah has to be my favourite out of everyone. There is something about him that is sweet and kind and I know he has a thing for Kate from the minute we met him.

This is definitely a fun YA contemporary rea. I love the Queer representation in this book and feel that Becky Albertalli does it well in all of her books. I found the book a great read to make me smile, laugh and have a well of emotion especially with the scene towards the end between Kate and Anderson, I may have cried a teeny tiny bit. It definitely took me back to when I was at school and remembering all the teenage angst and unrequited love you had for your crush that never saw you. The feeling of self-doubt and not knowing where you fit in and if you were liked, oh yeah it brought back some bittersweet memories.

I also loved that the book was centred around the school theatre and that they were putting on a musical – not a show, when you read it you’ll get it. I liked the close knit group of friends and how they all supported one another, that to me is always a great thing to read in a book. I also as I have mentioned before the Diversity and representation in the book.

So the only downside to this book that I am going to bring up and I promise it is only one. It is the term Fuck-Boy or F-Boy. It was a term that Kate, Anderson and friends used when describing the Jocks of the school. I mean I know we have seen and heard worse but I found the repetitiveness in the book really off-putting and that it didn’t need to be used half as much as it did. I felt that it was explained once and didn’t need to be used throughout the book – again this might be due to my age and not wanting to see this.

Overall this was a really enjoyable read. It was a fun and cute read, with times of seriousness and light-heartedness. It is one to add to your TBRs if you want to read a cute book in one sitting.