"we're all so much more, and less, than our best, or worst, moment"

A wonderfully woven story about a story - about a hidden author and how she lives and writes under her pseudonym. The story starts when Annie is young - and it's told not only from our main character POV but also from those her life bumped against and were affected. It's a great way to tell the story, through those that knew Annie as well as Annie. It gives us moments from other POV and also shows some of the cracks of how you see yourself versus how others see you. The story itself is a great mystery along with many other genres. I loved getting to know the characters and wondering how all the pieces would fit together. The addition of Annie's story within the story was another added addition and one that helped build the pieces to see the full picture. This story felt refreshing and unique. I loved it!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I found the second half to be much better than the first… which is kinda rare?
I felt like the first was just all “telling the story” with no dialogue. Second half was much more immersive.

-Easy enjoyable read but with some parts were too far fetched to me
- I didn’t love the addition of the “book inside a book” aspect of this one

📚 PRE-PUBLICATION BOOK REVIEW 📚

The Three Lives of Cate Kay By Kate Fagan
Publication Date: January 7, 2025
Publisher: Atria Books

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨
(4.5 ⭐ - Rounded Up To 5⭐)

📚MY REVIEW:

I didn't really know what to expect with The Three Lives of Cate Kay, but its synopsis piqued my interest and I decided to give it a try. And oh my gosh! This book was UNPUTDOWNABLE for me - the story absolutely pulled me in and I was enthralled with this read from the very beginning.

This book featured themes of love, friendships, secrets, lesbian relationships, unrequited love, and learning to live confidently within one's own skin. It had an atmospheric vibe with a slow burning storyline. Though it was a general adult fiction book, it contained many of my favorite elements: multiple POVs, short chapters, brilliant character development, multiple timelines, secrets, and even a little mystery.

This is a fictional story, written in the style of a non-fiction memoir, about a best-selling author who hides her true identity from the entire world. The story begins with two teenage best friends, Annie and Amanda, who are inseparable and plan to move to LA together after high school graduation. But a tragic event changes their plans and Annie leaves town on her own, changing her name to Cass after she leaves. To help her process her past, Cass writes a novel under the pseudonym Cate Kay, clinging ferociously to the secret of her real identity.

While this story was incredibly captivating to me, there was a lot going on. I struggled, at times, with the myriad of multiple POVs and the plethora of timelines throughout the book. It seemed like nearly every character in the book got at least one chapter to share their perspective about something that happened. And I always had to double check the time period at the start of every chapter. These things were great for character depth and perspective, but there were times this created unnecessary confusion for me and stopped the natural flow of the read. It didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book, however.

I was truly blown away by the riveting storylines in this debut novel from Fagan! If you love richly developed and strong female characters and emotional storylines, or if you're looking to read books with positive representations of the LGBTQIA+ community, The Three Lives of Cate Kay needs to be one of the first books you put on your TBR list in January 2025! Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this advanced e-copy of the book in exchange for my honest review!

#TheThreeLivesofCateKay #KateFagan #AtriaBooks #NetGalley #NetGalleyReviews #ARC #debutnovel #slowburn #characterdriven #generaladultfiction #womensfiction #LGBTQIAreads #booklover #bookreviews #bookrecs #bookrecommendations

I was not ready for this. For two reasons. This is NOT a thriller and should not be compared to First Lie Wins. But secondly, this was one of the best contemporary fiction books I have read in a long time. The characters were realistic, I mean people live this way. I have browsed reviews and someone said the book lacked realism because none of the characters went to therapy. How many people do you know IRL who avoid therapy and their feelings? This was a well crafted, beautifully written story about accepting your mistakes and knowing that you can’t hide out forever, no matter how hard you try. I seriously highly recommend this book as your first read in 2025. Thank me later.

The three lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan, when the book 1st started when she gets the manuscript from her ex lover/Manager and starts telling us the story I was really into the book and even when her and her BFF were growing up making plans to run away to Hollywood I still was down with the book, but somewhere between that in the middle of the book I lost interest it all just felt like minutia and something either uninterest or convoluted to my taste. once again we come to the summary not being the books reality and I just couldn’t go through it again. I tried my best to finish and almost did at 76%, but when they walked in the pizza shop and she said if he says hello, we get cheese if he says anything else we get whatever… I was just not down with the book anymore and couldn’t go any further. Having said that I could see me liking this book as a younger reader but not so much today. I really dislike not liking a book and I’m sorry to the author, but the book has 4.1 stars on Goodreads so this review may not make a difference. #NetGalley, #KateFagan, #The3LivesOfCateKay,#AtriaBooks,

An advanced copy of a debut author of a book I haven’t yet seen on bookstagram? Always a gamble but WOW DID IT PAY OFF THIS TIME! In my top five books of this year and sorry you have to wait til next year but I am honored to (probably) be the first to tell you about it. I loved this book so much - found it to be both page turning and heart warming and will be recommending it to all my friends

Synopsis: A best-selling author who has never revealed her identity to the public decides to share her story with the world after coming to terms with her tragic past.

Thoughts: What a lovely debut! This cleverly written story is crafted through the lenses of multiple characters contributing to a memoir of sorts. It adds a lot of depth to see the story through different lenses, and the author does a great job of tying them together and keeping everything cohesive. The characters are well-developed with a depth and complexity that I found to be super impressive for a debut novel. I won’t say much about the story itself because I think this is one you should go into blind, but it is definitely an intriguing page-turner!

Read this if you like:
✏️ fictional memoirs
✏️ literary fiction
✏️ lgbtq+ rep
✏️ multiple pov

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC! I truly couldn’t put this book down, and even though there were moments when I questioned some decisions made by the characters or was frustrated by a miscommunication, that level of complexity of these characters and their relationships is what ultimately made this great.

This book follows Annie from her youth alongside her best friend Amanda, and after a life changing event, her transition to become Cass, and publishing her bestseller novels under pseudonym Cate Kay. I was moved reading about the childhood friendship between Annie and Amanda, and without giving away any spoilers, I was constantly trying to rationalize the choices made by Annie. I love a story that really makes me think and question what I would do when faced with such a difficult situation, and I imagine I will think about this story and these characters for a long time!

Know that this might be a bit confusing at first-who among the voices is the author of the book that Ryan, an actress, falls hard for. It's a clever device. And that makes this difficult to review without spoilers as new readers should have the same opportunity to watch the onion be peeled. I liked the different povs and I especially liked the small easter eggs throughout. It's sort of a coming of age story, sort of a sapphic romance, sort of a tale of Hollywood-and it's really good. You'll see characters grow. And there are little bits (Soulcycle!) that might make you laugh. Thanks to Netgalley for the ArC. I'm loathe to write more except to highly recommend it because I really enjoyed this.

I loved this story! For me, it had a little bit of everything. I’m a sucker for a story with multiple points of view, and loved how Kate Fagan brilliantly weaved this story together.

Cate Kay is a world famous author who penned a bestselling trilogy. Due to a tragic secret from her past, she chooses to remain anonymous, even as her stories take on a life of their own. When her past finally catches up with her, she finally decides to share her own story with the world.

This story reads like a memoir, but with the addition of multiple points of view. While most of the book is told by Cate/Cass/Annie, I love how we get to see how the lives of different characters, both big and small, intertwined with hers.

This story came together beautifully through past memories, multiple narratives and timelines, and even excerpts from Cate’s best selling novel.

If I had one fault with this book it would be that they ending felt a bit rushed for me and I still felt like there were questions left unanswered.

I am so thrilled that I has the opportunity to read this story before its release. I can’t wait for everyone else to get their hands on this book. Thank you to Net Galley and Atria Books for an advanced copy. I love that this was my final read of the year!!

The premise held up here. This was a delicious read, getting me invested at every moment. Though the plot outline may not have seemed exciting, the writing was absolutely gorgeous, and the emotions beautiful.

This book was like candy, but not your typical sugary, fluffy stuff. I craved picking it back up when I wasn’t reading it.

The characters were rich, and the interwoven POVs were a great way of adding elements of surprise. I can’t believe this is rhetorical author’s first fictional novel. But then I realized she wrote What Made Maddy Run, which is one of the best nonfiction long-form journalism books I’ve ever read. She is a force and I’m so glad to see this other side of her work.

I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time.

One quick note: the blurb compares to Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which does a disservice to both authors. Try not to pit the two against each other.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the early review copy. This one will be popular!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan.

Cate Kay, a mysteriously anonymous, yet wildly famous author, has been known by many names. This book is written in chapters that cover different time lines, told by multiple people about the mysterious Cate Kay. Her roots were humble, and there was a time when her and her best friend Amanda were going to become famous actresses together. But when tragedy strikes, "Cate" flees her life in search for an escape and fresh start.

This book has everything, romance, betrayal, redemption, and friendship. I struggled to put it down, the characters were so knowable, and the story had me frustrated and intrigued. I really enjoyed this book.

“The Very Last” book trilogy by Cate Kay has been turned into a movie, a broadway show, and even a theme park ride… but still, no one knows who Cate Kay really is. Framed as Cate Kay’s memoir, with chapters from people in her life at various stages, The Three Lives of Cate Kay reveals her true identity and what she was running away from, but it also brings the reader along on her journey to reconcile with her past.

The writing was good, and I love a book within a book, so the excerpts from The Very Last were a fun way to get a glimpse into Cate Kay’s mind. My favorite character was Carl - a minor player, but he had such a sweet story. Overall, this was a good read and a solid start for the author, as it’s her first novel.

A few things I didn’t love: I found most of the characters difficult to like, even the ones I was supposed to be rooting for, and characters like Sidney don’t get the consequences they deserve. Several of the relationships seemed kind of toxic or at least unhealthy. I would have liked to keep guessing for a while longer what had happened to Amanda - it was revealed so early, and it felt like a missed opportunity to build suspense and intrigue. The other characters’ POV was sometimes useful and/or interesting, but it felt a little disjointed as part of the “memoir,” and I got a little lost in time trying to keep track of the flashbacks/memories.

This is not a thriller, and I wouldn’t call it a mystery either. The story is more about Cate Kay, her true identity, and her life and relationships. I think the Evelyn Hugo comparison is a little unfair to this book, but if you enjoy that type of story, you might like this too.

Billed as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins, this is all but guaranteed to be one of the buzziest fiction debuts of early 2025. While I didn't see any similarity to First Lie Wins, the Evelyn Hugo comparison holds up. (Bonus: this version includes much better queer rep from an author who is queer herself.)

The book is entertaining and easy to read -- I blew through most of it in a day -- but I found myself a little let down in the wake of such rave early reviews.

I think a lot of the writing choices strip the book of its emotional impact. In giving so many characters ample time to present their own perspectives, the readers wind up having too much information and major plot twists are crystal clear from miles away. I don't want to spoil the ending but I feel multiple significant moments are glossed over or even left completely offscreen -- it took some time for me to get attached to these characters and then once I did, I was left without any payoff.

I worry it's just a teensy bit overrated... but I feel this way about Evelyn Hugo too, so it's an apt comparison. I do think it would be a fun book club selection for many readers!

3.5 stars rounded up

I’m not sure what I expected from this cover and title, but I couldn't put down The Three Lives of Cate Kay after starting it! Thanks to Atria and NetGalley for early access to this title in exchange for my honest opinion. It's a well-written saga of friendship and love and running away to avoid pain, although distance doesn't erase the pain as expected.
I don't want to say too much more because I loved discovering this read as I went, and I hope you will too. I am surprised it is the fiction debut for the author, and I can't wait to see this book everywhere after it publishes in early January!

4.5
I really enjoy books about celebrities, specifically sapphic celebrities. There's something about them that draws me in. I went into The Three Lives of Cate Kay knowing three things, the book was about a secretive writer, it dealt with fame & i probably would like it.

The first pages immediately lured me in, i wasn't expecting the format but i immediately enjoyed the storytelling.

There's so much guilt in every character, all of them have made one mistake or another, they have hurt one another, and wished things were different. But they continue to live. They are messes and make stupid decisions, but they feel human.
I really liked how much happened, there's something about it that makes it feel more realistic.
I wish it was a little longer so we could have dived more on somethings but overall really loved it.

I would recommend picking it up when it comes out January 7th, if you are interested.

"The Three Lives of Cate Kay" is simply one of those novels that will have you turn the page, and turn it, and turn it until you're all done. I devoured it in a weekend!
Kate Fagan writes about Cate Kay, a successful novelist who doesn't actually exist. Wait, what? Yes, you heard correctly, Cate Kay is not the author's real name, but neither is Cass, the name her former girlfriend and contacts call her. She is actually someone else, someone who has tried incredibly hard to leave her past behind after an unfortunate accident in her hometown.
However, she now wants - or needs - to come home.

This novel is told through multiple perspectives, which forms a wild kaleidoscope of stories and perceptions of who Cate Kay actually is. The writing is witty and captivating, and I honestly couldn't wait to see how Fagan would resolve all the threads she had opened. The characters created, especially Ryan and Cate, felt so vivid and bright, their emotions pouring from every dialogue. Their longing for connection, to be understood, was palpable through the pages.

My streak of unputdowanble 2025 reads continues with 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗖𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗞𝗔𝗬. I don't want to give too much away but the book centers on the revelation of the true identity of Cate Kay, a best-selling author who has spent years hiding the truth of her past.

Formatted as Cate's memoir, Kate Fagan infuses her debut novel with a little bit of everything - mystery, romance, the perils of fame, secrets, friendship and forgiveness - told from the POVs of the people in the writer's life. It's a fast, clever read with wonderful characters and fun twists. Also, I'm a sucker for a footnote and Cate's as commentary throughout really added to the story.

Thanks to Atria Books for the copy to review.

A little much going on for my taste, I wish it focused on one aspect of the story more - but I still enjoyed it a lot. A fun, fast read that will appeal to a lot of different types of readers.