The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan

Contemporary Fiction | LGBTQIAP+ | Mystery

Release date: 01/07/2025

3⭐️

This is the story of Annie and the three "Lives" she lived between 1991 and 2013. Annie skips town and hides in plain sight with a new persona after an accident in her hometown. We read about her three loves, how she manages to maintain her secret identity(ies), and ultimately how this accident in her teenage years shapes these 20ish years.

This book is billed as "Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins," and I get this on both accounts: a hollywood story of secret love, and a changing identity for survival story all mashed together. However, because of my absolute love for the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo I feel I went in with too high of expectations....oops.

There is one plot point I could not get over: was it hard to Google obituaries in the mid-to-late 2000s? If Annie/Cass/Cate had used any sort of investigative tools to search for an obituary, we could have shortened up one of the other plot points/relationships, and this would have made a little more sense to me. For parts of it I could KIND OF understand why she wouldn't have, if that part of her life was too raw/painful to even think about.

Despite this one "issue" that I had as the reader I was still sucked into finding out how the relationships and storylines all played out, and the ending was satisfying.

TL; DR: A good story about how our past shapes us in so many ways, what we get out of our relationships: both intimate relationships and business relationships, and how it's never too late to take what you need and write the end of your own story.

This one is a "recommend if this review sounds interesting to you!" book :-)

Thank you @NetGalley & @atriabooks for the advanced eARC in exchange for an honest review.

thanks to netgalley and atria books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

in all frankness, the three lives of cate kay is about three (four?) lesbians being overdramatic and ruining each other's lives! that is really it.
it's slow paced and i liked the intrigue in the beginning; decades-spanning almost-autobiographical stories always get me. i see the comparison to evelyn hugo, but unlike tshoeh, i couldn't root for anyone in this novel, i didn't get the fascination with annie/cate/cass by everyone she met?
thanks to the excellent writing though, i stuck through to the end even when i disliked all the characters.

3.5⭐

Loved this! I read it because of a recommendation from a friend who said it gave Evelyn Hugo vibes and she couldn’t be more right! It was entertaining to read all the different lives of Cate Kay and she how she grew as a person. I really enjoyed the snippets from her books and the “notes” from Cate Kay as well. Thanks for letting me read it early, Atria!

I enjoyed this book and it was a little slow to get started for me. Told from multiple points of view as well as past and present which could be confusing at times and oddly enough for me made it more interesting.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review an electronic ARC of this book.

Having being compared to two books I just adored I was very excited to dive into this book. Annie and Amanda meet when they are just kids and quickly become each other worlds, in the way two young best friends become. When they get older a tragic accident leads Annie to run from her life to recreate a new one. The book is told as if it’s the memoir of Annie and has multiple points of view, focusing on those in Annie’s orbit that had an effect on her life the book was a very enjoyable read and it was a story that will stick with me.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers for the chance to read this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Amanda and Annie are inseparable friends and plan to become famous movie stars after high school. Until a tragic accident separates them.

I saw this as a modern day Evelyn Hugo, which a few others have compared as well. The characters are young at the start of the story and this allows for many mistakes and difficult decisions to be made. It was interesting how different the characters lived became, but emotionally they held on to each other. I enjoyed the friendship and romance storyline. Anyone who enjoys books about books will also like this one.

“But she wouldn’t go home. She couldn’t. She knew what that felt like. And it wasn’t enough.”

The Three Lives of Cate Kay comes out on 1/7.

Wow, I wasn’t expecting to like this story as much as I did! Admittedly, it takes a minute to get into the story, and the layout is a little confusing initially. But I couldn't put it down once I got in the groove. The writing structure is different and ambitious, but the author executes it masterfully. The characters are complex, with just enough of the “miscommunication” trope to have me screaming at the pages.

I was skeptical when it was marketed as a comp for “Evelyn Hugo,” but I think it’s similar enough. Very highly recommended!

I only wish that the main "antagonists" who caused the story's complications got some karma for the heartache they caused. It would've left me satisfied because I felt they got off too easy.

*I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity*

Nobody knows who the infamous Cate Kay is. Shrouded in mystery (and surrounded by rock-solid NDAs), her only mark is the bestselling trilogy that rocketed her name into the stratosphere.

Until now.

Told through the eyes of Cate (also known as Cass and Annie), and the people closest to her during key points of her life, a story unfolds of a young woman desperate to make a name for herself while running from an unspeakable tragedy.

THE THREE LIVES OF CATE KAY was such a unique and intriguing story-- Fagan masterfully wove together almost a dozen different perspectives, each with a resounding amount of depth and personality (one of my favorite narrators had a single chapter near the end of the story). This story had everything: love and heartbreak, friendship and manipulation, desperation and hope, greed and forgiveness. It's being marketed as a comp to Evelyn Hugo, and while they two have very different storytelling styles and characters, they do have the same <I>feel</I>. I'm excited to see what Fagan publishes in the future!

I was intrigued with the book after seeing a lot of good reviews on Bookstagram and decided to request an ARC. I was surprised by how well the story is crafted and how meticulously crafted it is. The world of Cate Kay felt so real to me. Her friendships, relationships, books and world all seemed very real to me.

I loved the first half of the book and enjoyed getting to know all the characters and even if their actions didn't always make sense to me, I was hooked with the story. I thought it was meta and was impressed by how detailed Kate Fagan was. But the second half especially the last three-quarters seems to go on forever with nothing much really happening. I felt like the book could have been wrapped up a bit earlier but nontheless, it's a good book covering love, fame, loss and more.

Thanks to Netgalley & Atria for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

this was a messy but overall good and intriguing read. the multiple povs lost me a bit, especially with the changing names and the non-linear storytelling, but ultimately the main mystery was compelling enough that i kept on. the footnotes were also amazing but that might just be my love for academic language and non traditional story structures.

Told from the perspective of a memoir, “Cate Kay” sells us an image of someone who she wants us to think she is: an elusive and mysterious successful writer of the book trilogy “The Very Last” that would go on to be milked in Hollywood’s favorite ways. The facts of it is, though, Cate Kay is not her real name. In fact, two of the three names Cate Kay uses isn’t her real name. An incident involving Cate and her bff Amanda after they graduated high school led Cate to hightailing it out of Bolton Landing, New York, and into a whole new life.

Through the pages of the (fictional) memoir, we follow Cate and those near and dear to her who lended their voices for bits of the memoir. Some of it seems confusing, like why a random postmaster would have a dedicated chapter in the memoir. How would she even hunt him down? How is that pertinent to the book? Anyway, the book is mostly told from four perspectives, of which I won’t spoil. Also, just about everyone in this book is a lesbian.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, please note that this ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Non-spoiler synopsis:
Cate Kay has lived many lives, three to be exact (to our knowledge), and has gone by many names: Anne Marie, Annie, Cass, Cate. She’s been a: best friend, lover, self-deemed fugitive on the run, recluse, “ghost writer” of her own books. This unique sapphic pseudo-memoir peels back the layers of her “lives,” her identities, and her relationships from childhood through early adulthood through the lens of Cate and those close to her at different points in time.

Review:
I absolutely adored The Three Lives of Cate Kay! I never wanted it to end, and when it did, I felt like I was in mourning. This is the type of book that I know I will reread and yearn to read it again for the very first time, to feel all of the emotions and the excitement of the mystery of it all.
Kate Fagan’s writing is phenomenal – she does an incredible job of creating a scene and employing and evoking true emotions through her writing. There was a lot going on at all times, but that was honestly just the nature of Annie’s life, and Fagan very intricately connected all of these plot points throughout; no loose threads remained by the end of the book. I had so many theories along the way. It was fun to play detective and try to piece things together on my own, then see them play out later down the line.
I don’t think I’ve read anything this deep, complex, and thought-provoking in quite some time, and it was truly a pleasure. And it was sapphic?! Like PLEASE! I’m obsessed! I need more!

Please read The Three Lives of Cate Kay if you love multiple POVs, long lost lovers, and sapphic pining; it publishes on January 7th!! And if you do, I absolutely must know what you think of it!
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TW: mentions of death and loss, mentions of addiction (alcohol), dysfunctional families and relationships

I'm a little biased since I'm from Kansas and there are parts of Kansas in snippets of the book. (It's rare for me, ok?!)
I really enjoyed this book. It had a little mystery and a lot of love. I'm fascinated by the ways people can evolve and change - either organically or because they were forced.
Cate is a chameleon, in not only does she drastically change herself each time (for different reasons) but she grows from what she has learned in her "previous" life.
I really enjoyed the structure of this book. All the POVs were a little overwhelming but I feel timed well throughout the book. My favorite were Amanda, Cass, and Ryan because they actually added to the climax and resolution instead of diminishing them. Their POVs really helped anchor Cate's progress through the book. The people who knew her in her "first life" also had to evolve in different ways in order to show the reader the full extent of Cate's character development.

When you have big dreams and a burning desire to be anything but the current you, what can you do about it? Well Anne Marie Callahan and her bff Amanda Kent decided that after high school they will move to Hollywood and become actors. But an accident impedes this from happening and Anne Marie decides to continue on her journey sans Amanda. Anne Marie creates Cass and meets Sydney who helps her with her new identity and a whole knew life as business and life partners. However, it is never good enough for Cass Ford and when she decides to write a book about her life as Anne Marie with Amanda, Cate Kay arrives to live another new life with the glamorous and beautiful actress Ry Channing.

Though small glimpses we see Anne/Cass/Cate's life and choices create different paths and different lives for her. Sometimes her choices don't always benefit her but she always chooses herself. She is strong, vulnerable, real and never lies to herself, well mostly never. It is a person's journey of discovering how far you are willing to go to be happy, to have what you want and ultimately to believe in yourself and realize that all you wanted was to come home.

The Three Lives Of Cate Kay is the "It book" of 2025. Do not miss this great novel!

First thing I’ll say about this, is that I was seeing this constantly marketed as a book that people who loved “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” and… hammer, meet nail. Similar vibes of existing in a Hollywood that wasn’t as kind to the queer community, feeling the need to hide oneself.. missed chances with the person you love. All wrapped up with a huge secret from Annie’s past that weighs heavily on her whole existence. This books was incredible, finished it in 2 days haha.

Thank you as always to NetGalley for the chance to read an ARC! This comes out in January 2025, highly recommend picking up a copy when you can.

Too me a while to get into it but after I did it was touching and sweet. I disliked Evelyn Hugo and other than the fact that this book features lesbian characters (and one is an actor) I don't see the comparison at all.

It takes a bit to sort out what is going on. Basically, this is a fictional memoir of a woman known by three different names for different times/aspects of her life. She grew up with one name (Annie), changed it to Cass after something horrible happens in her life, and then writes under the name of Cate Kay. The "memoir" follows her life via different chapters written by her and those closest to her.

It's a uniquely written story, and once I got into the rhythm, I was invested and engaged throughout. I thought the narrative flowed well and the characters were well developed and three dimensional. I appreciated the journeys that each of the characters took, and was filled with so many emotions while reading--sadness, anger, frustration, and joy. When a book takes me through a cascade of feelings it endears me to the story.

While most of the characters felt real, there were a couple (I'm looking at you Sidney) that seemed more like caricatures than real people. It made some of the sections kind of trite and cliched, but overall it's not difficult to move past that to get into the flow of the novel.

Highly recommended if you like character driven stories.

This story was many things and did them well. The narrative voice(s) felt distinct from one another and personable. They worked well together to create the overall story which kept me reading. I enjoyed how meta the book was about storytelling and publishing. There was a focus on queerness, young female friendships, and how the two interact; it was beautifully done and felt so true to life.

This book about an author who writes under a pseudonym and whose books become wildly popular got off to a slow start. However, I eventually got roped into it as her story unfolded through different people who know her. It felt somewhat voyeuristic but in a good way and is definitely discussable.

I really enjoyed this book, with female friendships and slow reveals that didn’t feel like it was building up and you just wanted to skip to the pages ahead. The characters were well fleshed out and I really enjoyed the book.

The start of the book intrigued me but the pace of the book just wasn’t suited to me at all. It would suit another reader that likes a slow plot but this just felt very dull for me.