Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli is about Kate Garfield, who shares everything with her best friend Anderson, even crushes. But when their long distance crush, Matt, shows up at their school, both Kate and Anderson realize they have real feelings for him, and their friendship grows complicated. First of all, I liked that the main focus of this book was friendship; I think that’s something that isn’t explored enough in YA contemporaries. Watching Kate and Anderson figure out how to navigate their feelings for Matt while holding onto their friendship was an interesting subversion of the love triangle trope. Additionally, there was  some good LGBTQIA+ representation. However, for the most part, I was underwhelmed by this book. None of the characters felt well rounded, and because of that, I wasn’t very invested in any of the romantic relationships. Additionally, I thought the pacing was off; there were long stretches of time where nothing happened, which made me start to lose interest. Finally, the way Kate and her friends talked to each other felt a bit cringey at times, which I didn’t like. Overall, I liked the idea of this book better than the execution, but if it sounds interesting to you, you should give it a try! I would give it a 7.2/10.