THE THREE LIVES OF CATE KAY by Kate Fagan

4 stars

A best-selling author, Cate Kay, has chosen to keep her identity an absolute secret as she feels haunted by her past growing up as Annie Callahan in a small upstate New York town where she had run away as her best friend Amanda fell off a backyard zip line while showring off. Annie summons help but not knowing if Amanda survived the fall and flees for a host of confusing reasons from Hollywood ambition, always feeling in Annie’s shadow, and an unrequited crush on Amanda. Kay currently lives under yet another assumed identity of Cass Ford in Charleston, South Carolina.

The novel’s tense and emotive plot unspools as if it’s pages from Kay’s unpublished memoir, incorporating alternating first-person perspectives of the main people in Kay’s life. These include Sydney, a lawyer and female lover who encourages Cass’ writing and controllingly creates an elaborate legal structure to keep Cass anonymous and isolated from all but herself. Cass then abandon’s Sydney as she falls for closeted Hollywood starlet Ryan, who’s been tapped to play the lead in the movies inspired by Cass’s novels.  The emotional struggles encompass Amanda deciding if she has the courage to face her past and the maturity to sort out her sexuality. As the three lives of Kate Cay all race to merge, Amanda has to powerfully confront some inner truths and repair toxic relationships. A fun, powerful read.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.