This was an interesting concept to have a pair of male/female friends have a crush on the same person. I could totally see this being something that could happen in real life, so I think that many readers would be able to relate. One complaint about this book was the language. I think there is a place for vulgar language in books if it adds to the story, but this book overused it. It was unncecessry and took away from the story.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is one of my favorite young adult books. In my opinion, Kate in Waiting is almost as good as Simon - which is saying a lot.. Best friends and camp counselors Kate and Anderson crush on vocal coach Matt during summer theater camp. When Matt shows up at their high school, the two find themselves in competition over him straining their friendship. Kate was bullied when she was younger and the impact of that bullying still affects her. I loved the relationships between Kate and her friends, as well as her relationship with her brother Ryan. The author does a really good job realistically portraying teens. As a former theater kid, I thought the book also nails the feeling of putting on and performing in a musical. The romance was realistic and sweet. Kate in Waiting has humor and heart and it made me so happy!

Kate and Anderson are BEST friends- they share everything and do everything together, even have crushes on the same boy. This always works well until they both meet Matt, and fall in love with Matt! Now their friendship is faltering and they are struggling to find their friendship in the midst of it all. I loved all the theatre and Disney references here and the relationship between Kate and Andy was adorable. I also really liked the message of not putting someone into a category or a group (in this case being a hated f boy) until you truly know them! Another great teen romance with a twist from Becky Alberti!

This book made my theater-kid heart happy. I know all too well the feeling of nerves and heightened emotions that come along with being cast in a high school musical. Throw in a mutual crush with your best friend and it's the perfect recipe for some drama. Becky Albertalli perfectly captures all of those teen emotions and balances theater terminology so well with the rest of the narrative. A must-read for theater kids of all ages.

This is a fun, relatively light read that does feel a bit like being in high school; for those of us who no longer are - I think teenagers will see themselves reflected in this story.

The best bit is that while everything feels very real, no one ever feels like the "bad guy" as this story unfolds. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

This newest rom-com from Albertalli is very different from the other stories she’s written it as it’s sorta a mystery: is the new guy gay or straight? Well, I suppose it’s not so much a mystery in that the characters/readers have to solve it as it’s an unknown we have to just wait to get an answer to. Doesn’t make it bad, just different. The cute banter is still present, the amazing friendships is top-notch, the thespian homage is so much fun (and you can tell Albertalli had a good time writing it), and the teen verisimilitude reminded me why Albertalli‘s books continue to be on my TBR list every time a new one is published.

3 stars-I enjoyed the beginning of this but got less and less interested as the book went on. I love Albertalli and loved the world of Simon but was disappointed in this one. I don't have enough of a theater background to follow that vein of the story. Also, the constant use of the term f-boy really turned me off.

Kate In Waiting is the newest book from Becky Albertalli, and this book took me right back to my own days in high school theater. I think she nailed it, from the nerves of auditioning, to the high of opening night, and everything in between. It was practically my own experience. I remember falling in love with another member of the cast, and friendships I formed on that stage made such an impact in my own life. Kate's high school experience felt so real that there is no way teens won't connect to it.

Kate and her best friend, Anderson, have shared crushes. They have never come to fruition, and that works out perfectly for both of them. Their shared crush this summer was Matt, a super cute guy they worked with at drama camp. Imagine their surprise when Matt shows up at their high school as a transfer student on the first day. And when he gets cast opposite Kate in their musical, Once Upon A Mattress, Kate feels like flying. But her relationship with Anderson is the most important thing in the world to her, and neither of them would let a guy come between them...Right?

Like I said, I think this book nails the high school experience. I had so much fun reading it. The friendships were beautifully done, and Kate coming into her own personhood and growing so much throughout the course of the novel was delightful and fulfilling to the reader.

I did give this book four stars instead of five because I though the use of the F word was extremely excessive. It was too much, especially when there is extremely limited use of other instances of cursing throughout the book. The "F***boy" or F-boy/girl terms seemed especially degrading when the characters really didn't define what that meant, but also I think it meant something entirely different than what was depicted here. To me, it seems like that term would include what we used to call "players" in high school, but the characters defined as f-boys/girls didn't seem to act that way. I was really put off by that use of language. Overall, a great book, I just wish the author had chosen another term, and not that one.

Content: Lots of F word language, some kissing, some underage drinking.

I actually didn't enjoy this one as much as Albertalli's other titles for some reason. I honestly just think this one wasn't for me. However, I do believe that a lot of teens will enjoy it!

After a series of mediocre books, I read three YA books in a row that I really enjoyed. The first was Kate in Waiting about best friends and theater people, Kate and Anderson, who do everything together including sharing crushes on boys. When Matt (their crush from theater camp) moves to town, Kate and Anderson must figure out who gets the guy.

I thought this was a lot of fun, and I liked the main character, Kate, a lot. This was a super quick, super enjoyable read! Also - If you are listening to this- and I highly recommend the audiobook, you should know that f**k is used a LOT in this book. A LOT. I don’t normally mind cursing, but it was pretty excessive.

Thanks to @NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for my ARC!

I have enjoyed everything I've read by Becky Albertalli, but Kate in Waiting may be my new favorite! Her characters just seem to come alive on the page, like I knew that group - I could have been friends with that squad - 30 years ago. I enjoyed the story, the characters and their relationships and to be honest - the play (I mean musical). I couldn't wait to get it into the hands of a student whom I know will love it too. Thanks so much to #NetGalley for the opportunity to preview #KateinWaiting by Becky Albertalli.

As with all of Becky Albertalli's books, I loved this one. They all take place in the same general area that I live, so they feel extra relatable, especially if you're a theater kid. I enjoy the way relationships with family and friends are balanced with the romantic plotline.

Another fun and light-hearted contemporary from Becky Albertali! If you have enjoyed any of her previous novels you will love this one as well. Definitely a must read this summer.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli.

Kate and her best friend Anderson are connected at the hip, and share everything with each other, including, on occasion, crushes. But that changes when the handsome and charming Matt comes to school. They are not only enamored, but they both really like him, for him. And while Matt is kind, flirty, and cute with both of them, they have no idea whether he likes boys and/or girls. Or either of them for that matter.

Aaaaw, if you're into Simon and the Homosapien, then here you go. Don't even hesitate. It's just as pure, just as funny, just as witty and full of gooey ya romance.

One thing I really enjoy about Albertalli's stories is that she doesn't pour all of her energy into the love story. They are always well rounded teen stories, addressing family issues, loss, friendship, and overall teen angst and adversity. A pleasure as always.

Between Can’t Take That Away by Steven Salvatore and Kate in Waiting, this has been a great year for stories with a musical aspect. Kate has a lot of growth in this story, and she learned a lot about the relationships she already had and the ones that she didn’t realize she had. Like many of the other recent YA books, Kate in Waiting has a huge focus on friendships which is something that I am always here for. Becky put some great representation into this book, and had my favorite kind of representation: Jewish characters. The Jewish aspect wasn’t central to the story, except for some backstory aspects, and that was totally fine because it showed Jewish characters in a non-Jewish focused story. And Kate’s mom is such a Ashki Jewish mom. It was a great experience to see Kate navigate her relationships, both romantic and non-romantic, and to see her and Anderson grow from this experience.

This has a lot of what makes Albertalli so popular: diverse high schoolers who sound and act just like high schoolers. She absolutely nails the high school theater experience. To me, I could have done without all of the f-boy references just constantly, sometimes multiple times on the page. And I found Kate and Anderson's relationship just a little too codependent to actually be fun to read about.

I love Becky Albertalli books, they are a must read for me. This one wasn't my favorite of hers but enjoyable nonetheless. I loved the setting within a high school drama program that were so excited for their fall musical and Kate's relationship with her friends and family. I think the use of 'fuckboys' on almost every page was absolultely excessive and quickly becomes distracting.

Another wonderful book by Becky Albertalli. It has all the right notes for a great YA story. Well written, realistic characters who go through normal teen things. I loved all the theater references and also the cute relations, Kate is a good narrator and all other characters are a good balance in the story. a wonderful read

When I added Kate in Waiting to my TBR I was somehow under the impression that Kate was bi. So first things first: Kate is not bi. Which I wish I would have known because it set up a certain expectation for me and there’s always this niggling disappointment when you go into a book expecting it to be queer and it isn’t. Truth be told I don’t know where I got this idea, but I just wanted to clarify in case other folks were under this same impression.

Kate in Waiting follows sixteen-year-old Jewish (own voices rep!) theatre kid Kate as she and her best friend fall for the same guy. Again. Because that’s their thing: mutual crushes. I for one never had a mutual crush when I was in high school and after reading Kate in Waiting I can say that I’m happy I didn’t. Because while it may seem all fun and games for a while it’s actually a pretty toxic situation. Especially when you’re basing your feelings for a person on whether or not your friend thinks they’re crush worthy or not. Which Kate did on multiple occasions.

In all honesty I felt like Kate in Waiting was a bit much. There is only so much quirkiness I can take before I feel exhausted by it. The last 35% of the book was the most enjoyable for me because the quirkiness was interspersed with some sincerity and I really need that to thrive. I almost DNFd the book because I just couldn’t get past how quirky Kate and everyone around her was and I’m going to leave it at that because if I write the word quirky one more time I’m-

I’ve read quite a few books recently with divorced parents and I’m loving it. I don’t remember reading many (or any) contemporary YA books with divorced parents when I was in high school, and yet most of the teens I knew at the time had divorced parents. So it’s great now that this situation is represented more in books for teenagers. The books aren’t glazing over it as if it’s easy and doesn’t have impacts on your mental health, which is so important. In Kate in Waiting, Kate’s parents have been divorced for quite a while so Kate has a new routine but one of her friends is in a fresh situation and he hasn’t even begun the healing process yet.

There’s a lot of high school drama in Kate in Waiting, probably a little more so than your general YA contemporary and that was an area I struggled to connect with. I can handle a certain amount but just like the you-know-what aspect mentioned above there was just a bit much. By the end I felt if I had to read the word fuckboy one more time I was going to hurl my kindle across the room. Besides its overuse I felt like it was an incredibly judgemental way of referring to a number of students, and there wasn’t really any addressing of the fact which left something to be desired.

In the end I liked Kate in Waiting a bit. Not a lot, but a bit. I wish the whole book had been a bit more like the last third or so because I enjoyed that a lot more than the first 65%. I know there are some readers out there will fall head over heels in love with Kate and all her friends but unfortunately I’m not one of them.

© 2021, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity . All rights reserved.

trigger warning: reference to past bullying, divorced parents, character with social anxiety, Harry Potter references

Kate and her best friend Anderson have communal crushes that work well when they are from afar but not so well when the crush comes to school and joins the school musical.

Matt Olsen was the cute guy to crush on from camp who now had the potential to come between Andy and Kate. Will their friendship be able to withstand heart ache and will Kate be able to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight?

Becky Albertalli captures the angst of high-school and heartache with perfection.