Book Review: The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan

Reese Witherspoon's January Book Club Pick

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins in this electric, voice-driven debut novel about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past.

Cate Kay knows how to craft a story. As the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she’s one of the most successful authors of her generation. The thing is, Cate Kay doesn’t really exist. She’s never attended author events or granted any interviews. Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now.

As a young adult, she and her best friend Amanda dreamed of escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars. But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she’ll be a whole person again.

(Synopsis given by publisher via www.goodreads.com)

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This should have been a DNF. Instead, I read it three times. Trying my hardest to find a cohesive storyline, to find a character to root for, to find a purpose. Unfortunately for me, all three were missing.

I am not sure if it was intentionally confusing, meandering, and directionless but that is exactly how it came across for me. The main character body swapped and had no internal compass making it unnecessarily confusing and it was not worth the effort of haphazardly trying to keep track.

I’m sorry this didn’t work for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy!

The Three Lives of Cate Kay…⭐️⭐️