-
Access Our
Most Anticipated
Books of 2025!
Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
A Novel
by Kate Fagan
Book Reviewed by: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.
Kate Fagan's stirring novel takes the form of a tell-all memoir that Cate writes to come clean about who she is. The largest focus is on the three different women who each knew and loved a different version of Cate... In this way, The Three Lives of Cate Kay is a love story, one in which Cate must find the strength to correct her mistakes and return to the people she left behind in order to accept that love, to feel that she deserves it, and to live honestly as herself...continued
Full Review
(924 words)
(Reviewed by Sara Fiore).
I've joked on more than one occasion that, should I ever write a novel of my own, it will have to be under a pseudonym to save myself from the ire of all the real people I'll be turning into fiction. Many famous and acclaimed writers have used a pseudonym (also known as a pen name, nom de guerre, and nom de plume). The name Mark Twain is infinitely more well known than Samuel Clemens, his real-life counterpart. The French novelist George Sand used her male pseudonym to publish and to advocate for women's rights in 19th century France. Louisa May Alcott used multiple aliases—the most famous being "A.M. Barnard"—because they allowed her to write about more controversial subjects and in "lurid" genres, unlike the domestic fiction ...
If you liked The Three Lives of Cate Kay, try these:
A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage
by Asia Mackay
Published 2025
Two former serial killers trying to keep their past buried realize that old habits die hard in this "wildly original, razor-sharp thriller" (Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of All the Colors of the Dark).
by Nancy Pearl
Published 2018
From "America's librarian" and NPR books commentator Nancy Pearl comes an emotionally riveting debut novel about an unlikely marriage at a crossroads.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world...
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Emiko Jean, New York Times bestselling author of The Return of Ellie Black
An emotionally driven thriller that explores friendship, love, and the pitfalls of fame. I couldn't stop reading this twisty, big-hearted novel. The Three Lives of Cate Kay is simply unputdownable! Kate Fagan is a masterful storyteller.
