Becky Albertalli

From #1 New York Times bestselling author and rom-com queen Becky Albertalli comes a buoyant new novel about daring to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight in love, life, and, yes, theater. 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. 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.

Kate in Waiting

Wes Michaud

( I listened to the audiobook of this so I will also be talking about to narrator's performance) Becky Albertalli has done it again. I loved this book like every other Becky Albertalli book I honestly can't imagine reading a Becky Albertalli book and not enjoying it. this one really made the theater kid in me feel like it was being wrapped in a soft blanket and it definitely accurately shows what it's like to be in a high school drama club and what it feels like to constantly get ensemble roles. the romances were cute and well set up. the friendships were realistic and it was clear that the friends cared about each other. Bebe Wood really brought Kate to life with her narration it brings Kates personally to life and really helps suck you into the story

Ena Kalkan

Ally

rita

SO CUTE SO CUTE not going to lie did not care for Matt or whatever but the imagined chemistry is so real! Kate and Andy's friendship is so cute too, the only best friends ever ever actually!! and Noah oh my God. he's. Noah let's kiss pls 

spoilers bc this is embarrassing

Arianna

take a shot everytime you read the word f boy

julia 

( I listened to the audiobook of this so I will also be talking about to narrator's performance) Becky Albertalli has done it again. I loved this book like every other Becky Albertalli book I honestly can't imagine reading a Becky Albertalli book and not enjoying it. this one really made the theater kid in me feel like it was being wrapped in a soft blanket and it definitely accurately shows what it's like to be in a high school drama club and what it feels like to constantly get ensemble roles. the romances were cute and well set up. the friendships were realistic and it was clear that the friends cared about each other. Bebe Wood really brought Kate to life with her narration it brings Kates personally to life and really helps suck you into the story   

It was a great read and what a twist (spoiler alert!!) I did not see Matt being gay it was a total surprise but Noah was a much better match in the end what an adorable ending❤

Julie Jones

From the author of Love, Simon (Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda) bestselling YA rom-com queen Becky Albertalli, 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 and Anderson are not codependent. 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 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. Praise for Becky Albertalli: 'The love child of John Green and Rainbow Rowell' Teen Vogue 'Worthy of Fault in Our Stars-level obsession.' Entertainment Weekly 'Heart-fluttering, honest, and hilarious.' Stephanie Perkins, author of Anna and the French Kiss

Alice Myles

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK for an advanced copy of this book

If you know me, I am the biggest Becky Albertalli fan. Simon Vs is literally one of my favourite books of all time and I've loved everything she's ever written. Her books are truly my happy place so needless to say I was over the moon to get the chance to read this one ahead of publication! I'll be honest here, this wasn't my favourite Becky book, I didn't feel a connection between Kate and Matt really at all which as the whole plot revolved around this crush, didn't really help. (my boy Noah though...). I also felt the writing was trying too hard to sound like a teenager (I never want to read the word f-boy again) and this is something that I generally find Becky does a great job with so I was a little disappointed in that regard. On the whole though, I did really enjoy this. I loved the premise and the way the story played out didn't feel contrived (bar the fact I mentioned the fact there was zero chemistry between Kate and Matt) and the friendships were all super sweet. I did theatre in school so I loved getting to revisit all the old school theatre memories even down to eating pizza during Saturday tech rehearsals. I would also DIE for Noah Kaplan and Ryan Garfield - truly the softest boys ever. This book was so cosy though and still has all of the classic Becky charm that makes me fall in love with all of her characters and it is definitely a high 3.5 bordering on a 4 but I think ultimately I just wanted to love it more.

Sandra Tammaru

I am in love with Becky and everything she does!!!! I loved all of them and even tho that I saw this ending was coming from the beginning, that didnt bother me one bit and I was still so invested. Everything by Becky is magic amd this was no exception. Dont usually enjoy straight romance but Becky's are a different story, just feeling all giddy rn

Steph L 

I loved this book so much and I placed it on my favorites shelf with other books by this author. My first star in the review is for the characters. They were so much fun, and I loved hearing their story. Speaking of the story, that is my second-star rating for this book. I couldn't not give a star for the writing in this novel. Some of my favorite parts of Becky Albertalli's novels are how she writes a story. The fourth star is for the romance. This novel had two romances, both of which were just so cute. I give a final star for all the theatre references, and for personal enjoyment. I loved this book so much.

Krystal 

Bethers

Noah was my favourite part of this book. Any scene that he was in, I ate it right up

anderson elizabeth

Okay so I thought the whole fuckboy/fboy thing was ~slightly~ overdone but it's Becky and I'm head over heels in love with literally everything that she write for forever and always. The way I FINALLY have gotten to read a book where a main character has the same first name as me is 10/10. I just—yes. I absolutely loved the focus on a solid platonic best friendship and siblingship. Good god the way I LOVE Kate's siblingship with Ryan. It totally nailed the weird camaraderie between siblings of divorce. This book has so many underlines and exclamation points and gibberish in the margins it's not even funny. The characters are all literal gems.

Elena

4/5 stars

- did not like the writing much
- the plot was good
- an easy read

Caitlin Snyder

(+) Great premise of two best friends (straight girl, gay guy) crushing on the same person. Love the emphasis on platonic relationships - "just" friends needs to stop being a thing. 

(-) I just didn't like this book as much as Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda!

Iris vd S

2.5 🌟 (almost 1🌟 but bumbed it up only because of the side characters, representation and because my 13 year old self would have loved it probably)

Shannon Thomas

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.

Wynne Aretae

mmm it's just a basic becky albertalli book, nothing special, but i enjoyed it :))

Anna Wilson

Ohhh Kate 😍 I love her so much. easily one of the most relatable characters for me! Also something I love is the talk of being a divorce kid. I feel like in a lot of books/tv shows kids always long for their parents to get back together, she says it “just is” which is super relatable for me! Anderson the sweet and sour cinnamon we all love in a BFF. Please can we get a spin off with maybe reina or brandie 😭😭

Liebe ist (nicht) nur Theater. Roman

booksandanni 

Subjektiv betrachtet bin ich vermutlich nicht exakt die Zielgruppe dieses Buchs, deshalb sind die nächsten Sätze mit ein bisschen Vorsicht zu betrachten: Ich hatte große Schwierigkeiten, in dieses Buch hinein zu finden. Kate ist... streckenweise anstrengend und ihre Freundschaft zu Anderson ebenfalls. In der ersten Hälfte des Buchs erwähnt Kate (als Ich-Erzählerin) so viele Ereignisse, in denen sie ihre Meinung vor allem zu Menschen geändert hat, weil Anderson anderer Meinung war, dass ich diese Beziehung fast als toxisch empfunden habe. Außerdem war der Plot leider ziemlich vorhersehbar, aber vielleicht ist das gar nicht schlimm.
Die unsichere, naive und verletzliche Träumerin Kate macht in der zweiten Hälfte aber einige große Schritte und das hat sie mir näher gebracht. Jüngere LeserInnen werden sich sicherlich viel mehr mit Kate identifizieren und zugegeben: die Liebesgeschichte war süß. Daher: gute 3 Sterne.

Lily D

Okay but Andy and Matt are the sweetest people in the world and I love them so much

Mandy Friedrich

I was so excited to finally be able to read kate in waiting and after reading it I'm once again totally in love with almost every main character in it as I'm always after reading any of becky albertalli's books. The romance in kate in waiting was soo cute and the storyline partially involving a school musical made my musical/theater loving self very happy, as well as the many musical, tangled and other pop-culture related references.
All in all I'd def rate the book (at least) 5/5 stars

Kerri McDonald

Thank you to @The_WriteReads, Penguin, and Netgalley for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

As I’ve mentioned before, young adult contemporary romances aren’t exactly my go-to genre. I have nothing against them, they just aren’t what’s on my mind when I’m looking for a new book to read. That being said, the premise of this one caught my interest so much that I had to sign up for the tour. And it helps that I’ve been wanting to try out Becky Albertalli’s writing to see what I may be missing. FOMO is real in this household. I have to say, I’m glad I gave this a chance!

We’re following the story of two best friends, Kate and Anderson. Kate and Anderson share pretty much everything: their love of musicals, their hatred of fuckboys, and their crushes. These “communal crushes” have always been something that brought them together… until they both develop a crush on the new kid, Matt. Soon, real feelings are involved that might drive these two best friends apart.

Y’all, this was such a fun read! And I will fully admit right now that it’s partly because it’s centered around theater nerds. These were my people when I was in high school and it made the whole experience of reading this feel so nostalgic. I loved the friendships, the code words, and how this had the perfect tone to make me remember my high school days. And all the theater! Give me more musical theater in books pleeeeeease! All the backstage banter and the way Becky Albertalli manages to capture the comradery, the drama, and the work that goes into putting on a performance. It really resonated with me and was probably my favorite aspect of this book.

But we mustn’t forget our two stars, Kate and Anderson. I adore Kate and Anderson so much! They are such well-developed characters, with nuance and depth that makes them come to life. I just wanted to hug both of them throughout this book, but it was also wonderful to be able to watch them grow. I also appreciate that this book focused a lot on their friendship and how tough those can be. Friendship breakups can hurt as much as (if not more than) romantic breakups and I think this book does an excellent job of giving us a taste of that. I also enjoyed how diverse the cast was and really appreciated all the rep that was included. I, of course, can’t speak to the accuracy of all of the representation as there were a lot of marginalized groups with which I don’t identify, so take me saying I thought the rep was well done with a grain of salt! I do appreciate that she never compared Anderson’s (who is Black) skin tone to food, though 😂

My one tiny gripe with this book is the constant and repeated use of the word “fuckboy”. Not because of the word itself. Yes, call them fuckboys out! But the word is almost literally on every page and it was a tad overwhelming, lol. Still, the writing overall was great and kept me engaged throughout. I mean, I read this book in one day and, as a pretty slow reader, that’s saying something!

Final thoughts: This was a fun, quick, and engaging story! The fact that there’s a strong musical theater thread throughout the story certainly upped my enjoyment, as well. I thought our two main characters were fantastically crafted. I connected to them immediately, which made the book that much more captivating. Though the word ‘fuckboy’ in all it’s possible iterations was prevelant throughout, I still thought the writing was great and raced through this one. If you’re a fan of YA contemporaries, musical theater, and a look at the harder sides of friendship, I think you would love Kate In Waiting!

Kate in Waiting

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