Kate In Waiting – Ultimate Blog Tour

It is my turn on the Kate In Waiting Ultimate Blog Tour! Thank you to @Penguin and @TheWriteReads for the gifted advanced e-copy in exchange for an honest review. I am a big fan of Becky Albertalli’s books and, as a theatre graduate, this is one I couldn’t miss! I have been really excited ever since Becky announced Kate In Waiting. The question is, did it live up to the hype?!

Title: Kate In Waiting

Author: Becky Albertalli

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 22nd April 2021

Genre: Contemporary, LGBT Romance

Age Range: Young Adult

Goodreads: Add me here!

Blurb

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

[PRINCIPAL CAST LIST]
Kate Garfield
Anderson Walker

Best friends, and contrary to popular belief, not co-dependent. Examples:

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.

Enter Stage Left: Matt Olsson

He 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 Review

Kate in Waiting is a YA contemporary romance novel set in a high school theatre department. Kate, our protagonist, and her best friend Anderson are inseparable. They like all of the same things, including the same guys! Usually, these long-distance communal crushes are all part of the summer camp fun but then Matt moves to their school. Drama inevitably ensues and not just the theatre kind. The story is somewhat predictable but I thoroughly enjoyed every second.

Characters

Kate In Waiting has a diverse cast of characters. I am really pleased to see some disability representation (specifically a wheelchair user), which is often desperately lacking! I love that the representation includes sexuality, religion, ethnicity, gender and disability without feeling at all like tick-boxing. It feels like a normal high-school, which is exactly the point.

Kate Garfield is a straight, Jewish, musically gifted girl who has lost a lot of confidence in her own abilities after having a bad post-show experience. She is your typical teenage girl who over-thinks and analyses everything. Luckily, she has her co-dependant best friend Anderson who is always there to talk things out. Anderson is black, gay and means everything to Kate. They share a love of musicals and can usually be bound frequenting the theatre department.

The wider supporting characters are brilliant with Ryan, Kate’s brother, being a particular favourite of mine. He brings different parts of Kate’s life together and I love how they can be very different people but still close.

Writing

Becky does a brilliant job capturing the teenage voice and high school experience. Teen me definitely identifies with Kate! The overthinking, shyness, fitting in but still feeling like an outsider half of the time…. Being a teenager is hard! We are sent on an emotional rollercoaster with the Kate-Anderson-Matt triangle. The dynamic between Anderson and Kate is very well written. They are put in a really tricky, friendship-testing situation and I feel for both of them. I love that the most important relationship in this book is a platonic one.

As well as exploring the complexities of friendship and young romance, Becky also looks at family dynamics. Ryan is a really important part of Kate’s life and you can tell that even though he doesn’t get a lot of time on the page. He reminds me a lot of my brother.

The only aspect of the novel I wasn’t quite as keen on was the use of the excessive use of the terms ‘fuck boy/f-boy’ and ‘fuck girl/f-girl’. Although, perhaps it is a more common term in American high schools than in the UK? Maybe I’m just getting old….

My Thoughts

Kate In Waiting is exactly the sort of book that I have come to expect from Becky Albertalli. This book is fun, well-paced, has great characters and, of course, a complicated romance. It definitely gave me high school nostalgia as I remembered a lot of my more awkward moments as a teen. I genuinely really enjoyed reading Kate in Waiting. I ate this book up in no time! If you are a fan of YA contemporary romance or Becky Albertalli (I mean those things go hand in hand right?), then you definitely need to pick up a copy of Kate in Waiting as soon as possible!

The Author

Becky Albertalli is the author of the acclaimed novels Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (film: Love, Simon), The Upside of Unrequited, and Leah on the Offbeat. She is also the co-author of What If It’s Us with Adam Silvera. A former clinical psychologist who specialized in working with children and teens, Becky lives with her family in Atlanta. You can visit her online at www.beckyalbertalli.com.