Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for providing me the ARC!

A story of a queer woman who goes under a pseudonym writes a national sensation of a trilogy after an incident in her teen years causes her to reflect on all her life choices. This story was interactive, engaging, and I appreciated hearing from all of the different characters.

This is certainly a character driven plot, that is akin to a coming of age story. It is sort of similar to Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo with the relationship between Ryan and Annie/Cass/Cate. But the true beauty of this story comes from the relationship between Annie and Amanda, who is her childhood best friend.

The emotional growth and platonic turned romantic love between these two is what made this book very much worth the read. The dialogue was natural and how Amanda and Annie both handled grief and loss of each other and how they move forward is just *chefs kiss*.

I did love learning from the other characters, besides Sidney, who is a crazy, manipulative, and controlling lawyer (albeit that’s the point of her character).

Very quick and digestible read. Go read it!

When I got this book from NetGalley I had not heard anything about it -- but then as it was closer to publication time I saw it talked about everywhere and I instantly understood why. This book is impossible to put down and such a good story.

I loved seeing all the sides of Cate Kay and how the story unfolded, and it was the right amount of suspense that I didn't want to put it down - I had to know what was going to happen. I loved her character, and while I didn't always agree with her choices I could see why she made them. The alternating timelines and narrators made the pace of this book so quick.

I would recommend this book to everyone -- I am so excited to read more by Kate Fagan!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

I would like to thank NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it now in your local and online bookstores and libraries.

I loved this! It is rare for an author to create a world so well done that you feel like it is real. The story of Cate Kay was so detailed and fleshed out that I felt like she had to be a real person. I also loved the inclusion of chapters from her book. Normally, I don't enjoy elements like that in a book but this was perfectly done!

Cate Kay has lead three lives. Her first life has lead to all of her other versions of herself. As Anne Marie, her real name, she had a deep friendship with Amanda, whom she loves very much. They have plans to leave their small town together and act in Hollywood, though Anne has always dreamed of writing. When a terrible accident occurs, Anne leaves and becomes Cassie. This life takes her to Hollywood and to a best selling book and her alias Cate Kay. No one knows who she is. She falls in love with the actress starring in her movie and things begin to get twisted.

I enjoyed the characters very much. I was so invested into Cate finding her true self and being at peace with her past. I liked how it circled around the past and present and ended up perfectly.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for a copy for review.

I started reading The Three Lives of Cate Kay right before it was selected by Reese Witherspoon as her January book club selection, and after reading it, I totally understood why.

I’m not a big reader of woman’s lit, but I enjoyed this one so much.

It’s being compared to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and I can see why as I had the same feelings with both books. I adored TSHOEH and I adored this one just as much.

Cate Kay is a reclusive author who has written several bestsellers but no one knows who she is. The truth is that Cate Kay doesn’t really exist. The book unfolds going back and forth into the past showing how the author started out as Annie, then became Cass after a tragic event.

The story is written with a multitude of POVs, each one telling their experience with Annie/Cass/Cate. Although I wasn’t sure what was happening in the beginning, I became completely invested about a third in and couldn’t get enough. And the ending… Loved it so much.

*Thanks so much to Atria Books and to NetGalley for the early eARC!*

Just finished The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan, and I’m completely blown away. This book takes you on a deeply emotional and thought-provoking journey, exploring the “what ifs” of life and the choices that shape who we become. Cate is such a relatable, multifaceted character, and following her through her different paths was both captivating and heart-wrenching.

Kate Fagan’s writing has a way of pulling you in with its honesty and depth, making you reflect on your own life decisions and the ripple effects they create. The balance of heartfelt moments, tough realities, and glimmers of hope kept me hooked until the very last page.

If you’ve ever wondered about the road not taken or the possibilities that lie within us all, this book is a must-read. It’s powerful, insightful, and the kind of story that lingers in your mind long after you’ve closed the cover. Highly recommend!

The Three Lives of Cate Kay is a big, delicious novel with multiple story lines that begin in upstate New York. Annie and Amanda are best friends and high school theater stars who have plans to escape to Hollywood after they graduate. An accident injures Amanda, and Annie, in a panic, leaves town. She meets Sidney in a writing class and from there the story explodes for Annie, while Amanda remains in New York. The story is a highly recommended read for discussion groups.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my review copy!

A great read through and through! As a dual timeline story, the flow worked for me and didn’t confuse the character’s lives and their motivations for actions.

Highly recommend!

What the **** did I just read!? But, like, in a good way.

I loved reading each character's points-of-view, even if I didn't love the character (IYKYK). Even the peripheral characters who were only in a chapter or two served a purpose to push Annie's story further. I did, however, feel that there could have been more of a clear difference in each voice. They all sort of felt like an extension of Annie's voice/personality.

The pacing of the story did throw me a little bit, with a lot of time spent in some time-frames, and less so in others with the story still spanning many years yet being told/written in the present-day of the memoir. I eventually got the hang of it!

My main critique of this novel is in its marketing; I don't think making parallels to First Lie Wins is accurate, although I did see some similarities with Evelyn Hugo, and this colored my opinion from the start. Going in, I expected more of a thriller with our protagonist as the clear bad-guy, but what I got was a love story of all kinds with multiple redemption arcs; a story both sentimental and nostalgic, hopeful and full of regrets. I love a character-driven novel, and this gave me three characters in one- and then some. Suffice it to say, I was pleasantly surprised based off of the marketing.

In the end, I couldn't stop thinking about this story. About how unhappy Annie must have been to have made the choices she made; how deeply sad she must have been to keep playing the game of her own making (with some help, AHEM). The ending was rewarding and embraces the message that there is no place like home, if you know where- or maybe, WHO- home is.

One final request: could we get an actual The Very Last trilogy? I was addicted to this book within a book! Many thanks to Atria and Netgalley for this advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

The debut novel, The Three Lives of Cate Kay, by Kate Faganm, is worth reading. I loved the characters and the connections in this unpredictable novel. Kate Fagan, I'll be watching for your next book! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC ebook I read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.

I listened to this on Audio and really enjoyed it! It was a full cast audio which always improves the listening experience in my opinion.

I was so excited to read this when I saw it compared to “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” as that’s a favorite of mines! And while the stories are different I definitely understood the comparison. This is a phenomenal debut! The story was original and interesting. I loved that it was told in multiple POV and a nonlinear timeline. Cate’s story was a great example that everything that happens to us, the people who come in and out of our lives, makes a real difference in our lives and who we become as a person. Her bond with Amanda was truly something. My favorite quotes was “You know what I love about you?” “do tell” “It’s like ummm how do I explain this? It’s like you hold me steady but without holding me still” you guys 🥹 seriously so beautiful! I loved her writing she kept me interested the entire time.

This was such a beautifully written story. I did not want it to end! The characters were dancing around in my head for weeks after I finished reading. This was such a beautiful heartfelt coming of age story about love and finding yourself. I don’t want to give too much away, but read this one! You won’t regret it!

“"It's like you hold me steady, but without holding me still."

This book captivated me and I flew through it. I finished it days ago and am still thinking about it. I am in awe of Kate Fagan's ability to write a book inside a book. I adored all of the characters and was rooting for all of them. If you like the writing style of Tara Jenkins Reid, you will enjoy this book. I have seen comments describing it in likeness to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Some of that is there but this is standalone in my opinion. Five stars and will likely be one of my top reads for 2025. Thank you so much for this arc.

If you hate a meta-narrative, epistolary-ish-inspired setup, definitely think twice before giving this one a read. Though usually not my favorite device, I ended up finding the pacing and style of this novel to power me through it anyway, without much irritation about narrator shifts and "author" "notes." I can see this one being very popular-- the characters are all beautiful and interesting and TROUBLED-- and it even softened me on the whole plot device. It was fun! I'd watch the Hulu miniseries version.

This book is a complex, and fascinating read that truly sticks with you. I love stories that make you pause, reflect, and uncover deeper meanings the more you think about them. At its core, I believe this novel explores connectivity and self-acceptance, though I’m still peeling back its layers.

I usually struggle with book comparisons, especially when they involve a favorite like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. However, this time, I completely understood it—not in plot, but in vibe. The storytelling carries that same immersive, glamorous, and emotionally rich feel, which I adored. The multiple POVs added depth, making the story even more engrossing.

While the book had wild, unpredictable moments, I embraced the ride, and it worked! Some parts were a little predictable, but I was so captivated that it didn’t take away from my enjoyment. A truly entertaining and thought-provoking read!

I liked a lot of parts of this novel - the idea of having so many different versions of oneself, of hiding who you are for a large part of your personal professional life and the situations that this put the character in were so intriguing. What would it be like to be a bestselling author and have nobody know? But even so, these pieces didn't come together to make me love the story. What I didn't connect with was why the character had chosen to do this. I think a big part of the disconnect was that I didn't buy into the inciting incident that led our main character off on her journey in the first place. To me this book was most compelling when it was exploring the main characters real life relationships - from the partner who held control over her career to the love that she wanted but couldn't have without outing herself. It reminded me of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in these moments, but only a part of the book was exploring this journey and I didn't find that it melded well with the character's other reasons for hiding her identity which left me leaving the read thinking honestly I'd rather have just reread Evelyn Hugo.

For starters, I really don't agree with the comparison with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. We have a famous character that is telling her story. But that's where the semblance ends. Even if I liked them both, I feel that The Three Lives of Cate Kay and Evelyn Hugo tell completely different stories and have completely different goals.

Cate Kay wrote a phenomenon. She wrote a dystopian trilogy that took the world by storm and became a well known film trilogy. But before that she was a girl from a small town with a best friend, Amanda, and the dream of going to Hollywood and making it. Some people are calling the beginning of the book slow. And even if I do agree that the whole book is slow and meandering, it does serve its purpose. I felt really intrigued by Cate and everyone around her. I liked her quick wit and the way of telling her story. Simply, I liked her and I was rooting for her the whole book. It's the kind of book that if you don't connect to the main character, you're not going to like it. The "reveals" are not exactly surprising and there isn't much of a plot besides Cate's life, from before when she was a teenager, passing through her relationship with Ryan, to around the time she decides to reveal herself to the world. And her life that is told in this story is defined by the relationships she builds - we don't really follow her as a successful writer or her process of writing and publishing her books.

There are characters that I came to really like and other that I hated. I liked the idea of each person telling their own version of the story - telling their side. But I did feel they all felt the same; I could only tell the difference because of the name in the beginning of each chapter. It was nice seeing what was happening in different cities and lives even if their voices felt the same.

By the end, I really liked the book particularly because I liked Cate, Amanda, and Ryan. I felt it was a light read even if the author dipped her toes in deeper topics but it was really superficial

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

An interesting novel. Well-written, and with an engaging voice. For the main, this was a very good novel (I'll certainly be reading the author's next book), but sometimes the momentum wavered, as did the characterization. A solid debut, though, and I think a lot of people will like this.

3.5 stars. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed the book within a book aspect of this story and slowly unraveling the mystery of Cate Kay's past. I found the book to be well-written and the characters compelling, That said, I found the underlying incident a but underwhelming and I kept thinking that some of the misunderstandings could have been cleared up by a Google search or two.