Title: Kate in Waiting

Author: Becky Albertalli

Publication Date: April 20, 2021

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Number of Pages: 400

Summary: From Goodreads: “Contrary to popular belief, best friends Kate Garfield and Anderson Walker are not codependent. Carpooling to and from theater 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.

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.”

Review: Thank you to The Write Reads for organizing and inviting me to participate in this blog tour. Thank you, Penguin Platform and Net Galley, for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Becky Albertalli is one of my favourite YA authors, and I’m happy to say that this book did not disappoint. Kate in Waiting is about Kate Garfield and her best friend, Anderson Walker, who share everything, including crushes. When they both start to develop feelings for Matt Olsson, it causes some tension with their friendship, and they begin to realize the problem with sharing everything.

The first thing I want to say about this book is that it was super cute! Becky Albertalli is known for writing cute books, and this one was extra adorable. I loved the friendship between Kate and Anderson, and I loved that this book was more about friendship than romantic relationships. I loved Kate and Anderson, and the dynamic between them, and watching their friendship go through its ups and downs. I also loved the bigger squad, and I loved the friendship between Brandie and Raina, and I hope that one day we get a book that focuses on them. I loved the relationship between Kate and her brother Ryan, and I thought they had a lot of great sibling moments. Finally, I thought Noah and Matt were cinnamon rolls, and I love a good cinnamon roll character.

I loved that this book focused on a bunch of theatre kids and how excited they were about the school production of Once Upon a Mattress. I loved how supportive the characters were of each other and how they hyped each other up. I loved that they encouraged each other and that they were genuinely happy for each other. I also loved seeing the behind-the-scenes things for the musical’s production, like the staging, tech week, and the chaos leading up to the performance.

The other thing that I loved about this book was how diverse the cast of characters are and the rep in this book. Kate is Jewish, and I loved the moments that were mentioned when she was younger at Temple or when her family was celebrating a Jewish holiday in their own way. Anderson is black and gay, Raina is transgender and bisexual, and Brandie hasn’t told any of her friends how she identifies. Kate and Ryan’s parents are divorced, and I liked seeing co-parenting and Kate and Ryan having a residency schedule and living with both parents.

I also liked that this book dealt with some bigger issues like bullying, specifically cyberbullying, and anxiety.

One last thing that I want to talk about is the swearing in this book. Kate and her group of friends refer to the jocks as “f-boys” or “f-girls,” and I’ve seen a lot of people mention that they didn’t like the continued use of the f-word. I can see why this would turn people off, but personally, it didn’t bother me. In my experience, high school kids swear, and I didn’t find the language to be unrealistic. I’m also not turned off by swearing in general, so this wasn’t a problem for me.

Rating: 4.5 Stars!