This book hooked me from the first chapter! This was a shorter novel, but boy did it pack a punch. There’s so much depth to Annie/Cate/Cass’s story here. The different timelines and the different POV’s just ughhh yesss. The writing was very well done that it wasn’t confusing at all either.

Kate ,with a K, Fagan you are definitely meant for fiction writing!! I’m excited to read the author’s next fiction work.

The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan is an intriguing fictional memoir that explores the complexities of identity, friendship, and ambition. The story follows Annie and reclusive author Cate Kay, navigating their past traumas and present successes.
Fagan's exploration of themes like toxic friendships and professional dilemmas is both thoughtful and engaging, although some plot points seem a little unbelievable.
Overall, The Three Lives of Cate Kay is a decent read with moments of brilliance, without reaching its full potential.
A solid easy read, if you love The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, or Who is Maud Dixon, you will like the 3 lives of Cate Kay.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book felt like a stumbling upon a trail of Hershey kisses. You open one and savor the flavor. But then you want to hurry and get to the next Hershey kiss!

This book will be a best seller no doubt. I enjoyed every moment. Short chapters. Fast pacing. Different POVs. A little web of information that wraps up nicely.

This book was probably the most real book I’ve ever read. The thoughts and insecurities they had…and their reactions to them. Even if some of their reactions were ugly, they were real. And honestly how most of us react to certain scenarios. Humans aren’t perfect and neither are these characters.

Please add this to your TBR for 2025. Because it was delicious. ✨

Thank you NetGalley, the author and the publisher Atria for the advanced copy for my honest review.



(All my opinions are my own. And this is the truest review I could have ever written.)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7018305750?book_show_action=false

https://www.tiktok.com/@.the.final.chapter/video/7442075402182446367?lang=en

This book is extraordinary.

I could not put it down. From the first chapters I was hooked and flung along with the story of Annie and Amanda and Cass and Cate and Ryan... and it made me so mad that I didn't write it (and couldn't have, I'm not that good) and also inspired to write better books.

Kate Fagan is an incredible writer and has written a remarkable first novel. Just holy shit and wow and I hope it wins a thousand awards.

This book was amazing. It's very interesting, because you are discovering this characters just like you would if they were real people in our world and you were reading their memoir.
I really liked the multi points of view. I feel like it really helped understand what happened, and see through the eyes of more than an unreliable narrator.

You learn about a lot of different dynamics through this book, and through very different lenses.
It's a beautiful story about loss, grief, friendship, love. It's a story about humanity and it's many facets.
I adored the way some part of the story written by Cate Kay mirrored her past or how some part of the adults lives of the characters mirror the past. While I was reading I kept having this moment of "Wait… I know about that! She wore it, she went there, she talked about it". It's full of call back.

From the first page, you get that something big has happened to the narrator, and everything is just a game of discovering what exactly and how deep it impacted her. There's several points of view that are very interesting and add depth to the narration. The writing is incredible too. Definitely an incredible book.

4.5 stars! In my opinion, The Three Lives of Cate Kay will be the next 'it girl' must read. So rarely do you find a book that actually feels like its references in the description rather than a copy and I believe Kate Fagan accomplished that. I look forward to recommending this book due to it's incredible character work as well as amazing use of multi POV.

The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan

We were promised a book similar to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and I completely agree. I loved this book!

We learn about the life of Cate Kay, a prominent author. When she was young, she was called Annie and was inseparable with her best friend, Amanda, then tragedy strikes, Amanda is hurt, Annie is in shock and runs away changing her name to Cassandra Ford or Cass. When Cass meets Sidney, she thinks her life is going to change for the better not realising what type of toxic relationship is in store.

I would like to thank Net Galley and Atria Books for a copy of this eBook in exchange for an honest review.

Girl, the amount of highlighting I did?????

This book is stunning. It reminded me of Taylor Jenkins Reid (there's some Evelyn Hugo here but also Daisy Jones) but it stands as it's own masterpiece. There is so much to love but making your soul ache for your best friend is the stand out emotion.

The characters are so real and imperfect and that is expertly executed through multiple POVs and the ability of Kate Fagan to just write raw emotion on a page. I was so invested that I kept staying up too late to read and kept making audible gasps when the story took one of its many turns.

Yearning is back, people! I think this will be a big book club hit, and I definitely look forward to reading it again!

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my review <3

As a HUGE fan of Evelyn Hugo, this hit all the right notes! I absolutely loved this story and can’t wait to force all my friends to read it. 😂

Oh my God, I really love this book! It’s so powerful! So intense! I understand why it’s compared with Evelyn Hugo, but I think the only things they have in common are that they both are memoirs and queer.
The three lives of Cate Kay is a very original, very powerful book and I was hooked since the first page. I just want to erase my memory and read it again for the first time.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

I will admit that at first I was a little worried that this book was too similar to Evelyn Hugo, but I quickly got over that. This was great writing with complex characters and a lovely story. I also love it when an author doesn’t force feed you every tiny detail but trusts the reader to infer what we need to/when we need to, and in turn the reader can trust that the author will reveal what they need to at just the right time - I think that’s not easy to accomplish but really worked in this case.

One note: I had a hard time with the endnotes being at the end of the chapters instead of footnotes at the bottom of the page. Maybe it’s because I read the ebook, but I found that a little harder to deal with than I would have liked. I love footnotes, and these added a lot to the story, but the placement bugged me.

Thanks, NetGalley for the advanced copy!

This was so good! I was invested in the story. I loved that it switched POVs to tell Annie/Cass/Cate’s story and that she added her comments in footnotes throughout. Very meta. I which there was a little more background on Cass and Sidney’s relationship for that is the catalyst for a lot of events in the book. But overall I loved the characters.

Bravo to Kate Fagan on an incredible debut novel!

Written as if a memoir, we follow the 3 lives of the writer: Annie, Cass and Cate.

Annie, daughter of an alcoholic mother, and her best friend Amanda dream of and aim for lives as successful Hollywood actors. Just before their adventure begins, there is a horrific accident. Fearing the worst case scenario, Annie flees their hometown in a panic and reinvents herself as Cate. Thus begins the journey of trying to escape her past in search of overcoming a guilt ridden past and achieving a pain free future.

The story of Annie/Cass/Cate is detailed with multiple points of view by the supporting characters. Their added viewpoints provide us with expected and at times surprising insights.

This is a beautiful story of friendship, love, guilt, obsession and abandonment. A great kickoff to a new year of reading.

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for the complimentary eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I love any book about a writer! This one had me at the edge of my seat. It really was gripping and it held my attention the entire time. Despite its fast-paced nature, it also felt like Kate Fagan held a lot of space for emotional depth with these characters.

****Publishing January 7, 2025****

Cate Kay is a successful best-selling author hiding behind three different names and lives. When Cate is asked by her publisher to write a memoir detailing her past, her 3 different lives will come to a head, and she will have to confront the past. Is she ready for this? Can she finally find peace?

A heartfelt and fast-paced story that examines how Cate goes about figuring out who she ultimately is and what she wants in life, but while confronting her troubled past. It’s a book within a book where you not only learn about her three identities, but also about the books she wrote! It definitely keeps you turning the pages to find out her fate. A great book for book clubs as it will lead to many great discussions.

Thanks to Atria Books, I was provided an ARC of The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5
Thank you @atriabooks #partner for the gifted copies of this book!

This book….was nothing like I thought it would be. Ya know when you read a book and you can’t quite pinpoint why you feel a certain way or what exactly gave you those feelings? That’s what is happening to me with this one. I did like this book, I think I was expecting more of a thriller and it was not even close to that for me. It was compared to Evelyn Hugo and although I can kind of see that too I don’t fully agree with that either. If I try and nail down my feelings more I think the characters felt a little flat or a little like they didn’t react the way I would expect sometimes. I do think this is a ME issue and maybe I just read this at the wrong time because I am seeing rave reviews about this book. I just think it wasn’t a match made in heaven for me. I may reread this one another time to see how I feel about it later because I am encouraged by seeing others reviews!

I loved this book. It was well written, well paced, and delightful to have an LGBTQ angle. The plot line kept the story moving and didn't cause too much frustration for this reader (e.g., I wasn't constantly thinking "why did she do that?" or, "for God's sake, just check the internet"). I will definitely recommend this book to friends.

The three lives of cate Kay. You may think you know who famous author cate Kay is. But when you read her new memoir. You will find you never knew her

A slice of life story about an engaging and mysterious storyteller. Cate Kay, the author of a bestselling trilogy, has been busy writing stories about the lives of others while protecting her own. When a life-changing revelation changes her perspective, she decides to stop running from her past and instead face herself head on. This suspenseful book is hard to put down and well worth picking up.

i enjoyed the perspective of this, i think the way it read like a memoir but like a creative memoir was really fun, it made every new revelation exciting and every new pov enticing

thank you to netgalley for an arc of this title in exchange for my honest review!