What do you think?
Kitten
A magnetic novel about a young woman who falls in love with her boyfriend's cat.
Katie hasn't spoken to her mother in a year when her boyfriend James introduces her to his cat Silver. A small, vulnerable, incorrigible ball of need, Silver's acceptance of Katie cracks open something inside of her: an unravelling begins.
Fresh out of college and far from home, Katie is desperate to skirt the demands of adult life - especially because, as she promised her mother, the plan was to never grow up in the first place. Luckily, she has James: self-assured, generous, and seemingly happy to make decisions for them both.
When they go on holiday to James's family's seaside home, Katie's attachment to Silver grows. Silver doesn't mind that Katie can't seem to get a job, hold her own at dinner parties, or make amends with her mother. Silver, who gets to misbehave spectacularly, be childish, be gross, and still get fed, seems to have the life Katie increasingly longs for. But as their bond intensifies, Katie's other relationships reach tipping points. Soon, Katie must come to terms with what she really wants, and what she might have to risk to get it.
Delicately playful and unexpectedly heartfelt, Kitten is a sensitive reckoning with the allure of helplessness and the uncertainty of becoming yourself in a world that is as disorienting as it is full of hope and connection.
Katie hasn't spoken to her mother in a year when her boyfriend James introduces her to his cat Silver. A small, vulnerable, incorrigible ball of need, Silver's acceptance of Katie cracks open something inside of her: an unravelling begins.
Fresh out of college and far from home, Katie is desperate to skirt the demands of adult life - especially because, as she promised her mother, the plan was to never grow up in the first place. Luckily, she has James: self-assured, generous, and seemingly happy to make decisions for them both.
When they go on holiday to James's family's seaside home, Katie's attachment to Silver grows. Silver doesn't mind that Katie can't seem to get a job, hold her own at dinner parties, or make amends with her mother. Silver, who gets to misbehave spectacularly, be childish, be gross, and still get fed, seems to have the life Katie increasingly longs for. But as their bond intensifies, Katie's other relationships reach tipping points. Soon, Katie must come to terms with what she really wants, and what she might have to risk to get it.
Delicately playful and unexpectedly heartfelt, Kitten is a sensitive reckoning with the allure of helplessness and the uncertainty of becoming yourself in a world that is as disorienting as it is full of hope and connection.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published August 4, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,453 reviews
August 11, 2026
forgive the obvious comparison but lit fic about lost young women is like catnip to me.
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
August 6, 2026
A few disparate thoughts from me that aren’t really a review:
- I’m genuinely too old to read about a 21 year old I think
- this was really bleak and I would have preferred it stay bleak in tone instead of this weird ass last 30 pages where our VERY age regressed main character suddenly grows up lol
- perhaps the author has never met an actual poor person or someone facing financial insecurity? This book is not about class haha
- some beautiful writing in here occasionally that is overpowered by repetition and in the droning background of our insufferable Katie
- who claims to have never seen a cat or feed a cat coffee????
- the big familial trauma is THAT???? Um ok girl anyways lol
Was hella whatever, I’d read more from this writer though I just need a completely different book lol
- I’m genuinely too old to read about a 21 year old I think
- this was really bleak and I would have preferred it stay bleak in tone instead of this weird ass last 30 pages where our VERY age regressed main character suddenly grows up lol
- perhaps the author has never met an actual poor person or someone facing financial insecurity? This book is not about class haha
- some beautiful writing in here occasionally that is overpowered by repetition and in the droning background of our insufferable Katie
- who claims to have never seen a cat or feed a cat coffee????
- the big familial trauma is THAT???? Um ok girl anyways lol
Was hella whatever, I’d read more from this writer though I just need a completely different book lol
June 4, 2026
Life is hard enough without spending 300 pages trapped inside Katie’s exhausting self-absorption. At the beginning of Kitten, curiosity and empathy keep you turning the pages. You assume there must be a reason Katie is so insufferable, that some revelation regarding her upbringing or moment of self-awareness will eventually make her behavior meaningful. Instead, her fixation on her boyfriend’s cat, Silver, and her relentless inertia become increasingly tedious. Katie drifts from one poor decision to the next, wallowing in her own dysfunction while expecting the reader to find profound significance in every miserable choice. Ironically cliche, the only thing she realizes is that by not choosing , she is still making choices.
Her existence becomes a test of endurance for the reader. The novel occasionally gestures toward deeper themes, but they’re buried beneath Katie’s endless dissociative demeanor and refusal to grow. By the final pages, any curiosity about why she is the way she is has long since evaporated. You simply stop caring. The strongest emotion the book inspires isn’t sympathy or insight. It is relief that your time with Katie is finally over, along with the sincere hope that James manages to escape as well.
Her existence becomes a test of endurance for the reader. The novel occasionally gestures toward deeper themes, but they’re buried beneath Katie’s endless dissociative demeanor and refusal to grow. By the final pages, any curiosity about why she is the way she is has long since evaporated. You simply stop caring. The strongest emotion the book inspires isn’t sympathy or insight. It is relief that your time with Katie is finally over, along with the sincere hope that James manages to escape as well.
Read
July 22, 2026Stacey Yu's debut novel is all about becoming: yourself, an adult, unstuck. Katie is in her early 20s and really hasn't made many of her own decisions in life, except leaving her small town for a New York City college. And dating her boyfriend. And basically not really making much of a plan for herself after graduating. But when she spends 2 weeks at her boyfriend's family's beach house with him and his childhood cat, Silver, she becomes smitten with the feline and wonders: why can't I just live my life like a pet? Why do they get to have all of the fun with no responsibilities?
This is an insightful, and at times painful, coming-of-age that has a lot more going on under the surface than it might seem. Through Katie's story, Yu also explores complex mother/daughter relationship, the immigrant experience, and how NOT making a choice is making a choice which can shape your entire future, for better or worse.
The right reader of this will find a lot to relate to in Katie's malaise, though her actions can be frustrating and confusing, she seems just as frustrated and confused with herself that all you can do is go along for the ride. It's a surprisingly quiet, contemplative novel that reminds us that we never really stop discovering ourselves, which can be an uncomfortable process but one that requires action and intention, not listlessness and escape.
This is an insightful, and at times painful, coming-of-age that has a lot more going on under the surface than it might seem. Through Katie's story, Yu also explores complex mother/daughter relationship, the immigrant experience, and how NOT making a choice is making a choice which can shape your entire future, for better or worse.
The right reader of this will find a lot to relate to in Katie's malaise, though her actions can be frustrating and confusing, she seems just as frustrated and confused with herself that all you can do is go along for the ride. It's a surprisingly quiet, contemplative novel that reminds us that we never really stop discovering ourselves, which can be an uncomfortable process but one that requires action and intention, not listlessness and escape.
July 9, 2026
A gorgeous cover. A weird girl. A cat. You already had me. This should have been an easy five stars… and instead it became one of my biggest disappointments of the year.
I almost forgot I’d even read it. Unfortunately, my lingering disdain for its main character wouldn’t let me.
I actually love an unlikable narrator, but the main character here felt less psychologically complex than implausibly naïve. Her extreme helplessness and off-putting refusal to function as an adult leave everyone around her constantly cleaning up her messes, yet the novel never seems interested in questioning why they continue to indulge her. I kept waiting for it to explore her desire to become someone’s pet—especially within the dynamic of a wealthy white boyfriend and a submissive Chinese American woman—but it never pushes beyond the surface.
The novel also repeatedly introduces more interesting ideas than it actually explores. Isabel is one of the most compelling characters but never becomes much more than a missed opportunity. Katie’s racial identity and class anxiety are hinted at but rarely examined in meaningful depth, while the central conflict with her mother gestures toward fascinating questions about childhood, dependence, and inherited longing without ever fully developing them. Her mother is presented as an enigmatic, emotionally significant figure whose own obsession with youth mirrors Katie’s longing to remain a child, yet the novel never fully capitalizes on the parallels it establishes between the two.
At its emotional core, the novel seems to be reaching for something genuinely compelling: a dark obsession with childhood and the co-dependence of an emotionally distant mother and a desperately alienated daughter. It’s not hard to see that Katie’s exasperating refusal to inhabit adulthood, her odd attachment to Silver, and her mother’s desperate attempts to reclaim youth all point toward the same emotional center, but these threads are frustratingly underdeveloped in favor of the romance between Katie and her endlessly accommodating boyfriend.
As an animal lover, I was also genuinely agitated by Silver’s storyline. For a novel whose title, cover, and premise center a cat, it felt as though the author hadn’t done much homework on cats at all, filling the story with careless, implausible, and at times outright cruel interactions that repeatedly pulled me out of the novel. If you love cats, this isn’t the book for you.
Ultimately, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a much richer novel hiding beneath this one. But instead of trusting its most compelling ideas (childhood, co-dependence, identity, class, belonging), it relies on the main character’s eccentricity and unexamined trauma responses, as though weirdness alone can substitute for psychological depth. It can’t.
I almost forgot I’d even read it. Unfortunately, my lingering disdain for its main character wouldn’t let me.
I actually love an unlikable narrator, but the main character here felt less psychologically complex than implausibly naïve. Her extreme helplessness and off-putting refusal to function as an adult leave everyone around her constantly cleaning up her messes, yet the novel never seems interested in questioning why they continue to indulge her. I kept waiting for it to explore her desire to become someone’s pet—especially within the dynamic of a wealthy white boyfriend and a submissive Chinese American woman—but it never pushes beyond the surface.
The novel also repeatedly introduces more interesting ideas than it actually explores. Isabel is one of the most compelling characters but never becomes much more than a missed opportunity. Katie’s racial identity and class anxiety are hinted at but rarely examined in meaningful depth, while the central conflict with her mother gestures toward fascinating questions about childhood, dependence, and inherited longing without ever fully developing them. Her mother is presented as an enigmatic, emotionally significant figure whose own obsession with youth mirrors Katie’s longing to remain a child, yet the novel never fully capitalizes on the parallels it establishes between the two.
At its emotional core, the novel seems to be reaching for something genuinely compelling: a dark obsession with childhood and the co-dependence of an emotionally distant mother and a desperately alienated daughter. It’s not hard to see that Katie’s exasperating refusal to inhabit adulthood, her odd attachment to Silver, and her mother’s desperate attempts to reclaim youth all point toward the same emotional center, but these threads are frustratingly underdeveloped in favor of the romance between Katie and her endlessly accommodating boyfriend.
As an animal lover, I was also genuinely agitated by Silver’s storyline. For a novel whose title, cover, and premise center a cat, it felt as though the author hadn’t done much homework on cats at all, filling the story with careless, implausible, and at times outright cruel interactions that repeatedly pulled me out of the novel. If you love cats, this isn’t the book for you.
Ultimately, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a much richer novel hiding beneath this one. But instead of trusting its most compelling ideas (childhood, co-dependence, identity, class, belonging), it relies on the main character’s eccentricity and unexamined trauma responses, as though weirdness alone can substitute for psychological depth. It can’t.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2026
Alright.. that just made me upset and irritated.
At least they made a book about animal cruelty have a darling little book cover!!!
At least they made a book about animal cruelty have a darling little book cover!!!
June 12, 2026
Some books will resonate deeply at specific times in your life, and I would definitely recommend Kitten to people in their early twenties, when you leave the education bubble and are spat out into the working world. Katie is a character living in the grey, stuck in the liminal space between childhood and adulthood. She’s very passive, and in lieu of making any adult decisions, she instead channels her energy into her obsession with her boyfriend’s cat.
What stood out most was the novel’s honesty; there is an undeniable relatability in that paralysing uncertainty of your twenties, when there’s so many decisions to make that you decide you don’t want to make any at all (although for many we don’t get a choice in the matter and have to just grow up, get out there and make it work, but Katie’s indecision is possible due to financial support from her older boyfriend).
Katie’s lack of agency and childish behaviour is very frustrating to read, however she does make for an interesting character study of someone acting as a bystander in their own life. I particularly enjoyed the exploration of the mother–daughter relationship and how growing older can create distance in our familial relationships. These sections work well to add emotional depth and context to Katie’s arrested development, and were some of the most moving in the novel.
Thank you to Sceptre / Stacey for the arc!!
What stood out most was the novel’s honesty; there is an undeniable relatability in that paralysing uncertainty of your twenties, when there’s so many decisions to make that you decide you don’t want to make any at all (although for many we don’t get a choice in the matter and have to just grow up, get out there and make it work, but Katie’s indecision is possible due to financial support from her older boyfriend).
Katie’s lack of agency and childish behaviour is very frustrating to read, however she does make for an interesting character study of someone acting as a bystander in their own life. I particularly enjoyed the exploration of the mother–daughter relationship and how growing older can create distance in our familial relationships. These sections work well to add emotional depth and context to Katie’s arrested development, and were some of the most moving in the novel.
Thank you to Sceptre / Stacey for the arc!!
Read
August 14, 2026Pre-read :
I am just in the mood to read abt adrift women .
I am just in the mood to read abt adrift women .
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Kitten by Stacey Yu was one of my most anticipated releases of 2026 and I truly felt as if I was going to fall in love with it. I love any piece of literature that follows a morally ambiguous / 'weird girl fiction' narrative that explores themes of mother daughter relationships, desire, being in your 20s and the consequences of girlhood.
Whilst Kitten had explorations of all of these, I did feel a slight disconnect to Katie as a protagonist. She was a girl who through the lack of affection from her mother, found herself in a relationship that wasn't all too fulfilling, ultimately falling in love with his cat. A fascinating premise that I really felt had so much promise (and it did!) Stacey Yu's writing was incredibly witty, so full of heart and I felt so convinced by her storytelling - she's an author I will definitely read more from in the future. Unfortunately I didn't think the characters quite worked for me but I'm excited to see what she publishes next!
Kitten by Stacey Yu was one of my most anticipated releases of 2026 and I truly felt as if I was going to fall in love with it. I love any piece of literature that follows a morally ambiguous / 'weird girl fiction' narrative that explores themes of mother daughter relationships, desire, being in your 20s and the consequences of girlhood.
Whilst Kitten had explorations of all of these, I did feel a slight disconnect to Katie as a protagonist. She was a girl who through the lack of affection from her mother, found herself in a relationship that wasn't all too fulfilling, ultimately falling in love with his cat. A fascinating premise that I really felt had so much promise (and it did!) Stacey Yu's writing was incredibly witty, so full of heart and I felt so convinced by her storytelling - she's an author I will definitely read more from in the future. Unfortunately I didn't think the characters quite worked for me but I'm excited to see what she publishes next!
May 9, 2026
nobody is doing it like her !!! a star !!!!
Want to Read
January 24, 2026This cover means everything to me I'm so serious (thank you to the author for the gifted copy and lovely package)!
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March 3, 2026
the second i read “meow,” i meowed” i should’ve known this was going to be a doozy.
my main gripe is with the writing. now, i don’t want the story to dazzle with lush prose, most of the weird lit fic that i’ve read before don’t, but the writing in them still manages to be good, fantastic even. the problem with “kitten” is that a lot of is tends to be telling with not enough showing. which makes the story feel bland and stale and frankly unimaginative (“mr hartley looked like most men.”/ “he had eyes like holes that stood close”). although, there were some gems sprinkled in there (“my mother’s only way of reconnecting was reanimating the child i no longer was”) but it fails at making the book any better because a lot of it’s already written badly.
scenes were rinsed and repeated so often that i found myself skimming over them like the beach scenes swimming with silver (swear there were like five of those). the relationship dynamics between katie and her mother could also have been developed better - for the spectre of it to haunt the novel from the start only for it to falter when later revealed. so much of it’s potential felt wasted.
but hey at least it was a quick, fucking read lmao.
thanking netgalley & publishers for the ARC.
my main gripe is with the writing. now, i don’t want the story to dazzle with lush prose, most of the weird lit fic that i’ve read before don’t, but the writing in them still manages to be good, fantastic even. the problem with “kitten” is that a lot of is tends to be telling with not enough showing. which makes the story feel bland and stale and frankly unimaginative (“mr hartley looked like most men.”/ “he had eyes like holes that stood close”). although, there were some gems sprinkled in there (“my mother’s only way of reconnecting was reanimating the child i no longer was”) but it fails at making the book any better because a lot of it’s already written badly.
scenes were rinsed and repeated so often that i found myself skimming over them like the beach scenes swimming with silver (swear there were like five of those). the relationship dynamics between katie and her mother could also have been developed better - for the spectre of it to haunt the novel from the start only for it to falter when later revealed. so much of it’s potential felt wasted.
but hey at least it was a quick, fucking read lmao.
thanking netgalley & publishers for the ARC.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Stacey Yu for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!♡
College graduate Katie is estranged from her mother, far from her home, avoiding the demands of adulthood, and is a bit lost in life. Her boyfriend, James, is her primary provider, financially and emotionally. When James takes Katie to see his family’s vacation home, his parent’s cat, Silver, joins them.
Katie finds something deeper than friendship and solace in Silver, and grows overly attached to the kitten. She begins seeing herself in Silver, almost wishing to take her place. No consequences for her actions, no responsibilities, no estranged mothers. When it’s time for Silver to be returned to James’ parents, Katie can’t fathom this. She goes to desperate lengths to keep the relationship she now values above all others.
This book has such intense, deeper meanings into relationships (romantic, platonic, parental), and transitioning into adulthood. While Silver and Katie’s increasingly odd behavior was giving the perfect weird girl litfic, Silver was representing a deeper metaphor in the book. Silver was showing Katie the laid back life that she wished she could live in. Free from her responsibilities and receiving love with no effort.
Overall I loved the story and the deeper meanings behind it all. Character growth was had and relationships reconciled. Katie’s emotions are portrayed so well in this story. My complaint is how a few scenes started feeling repetitive. For being a shorter book, I think a few locations and settings could’ve been moved around and played with more.
Go into this book knowing Katie is hard to understand, but not hard to relate to. This book is perfect for fans of My Year of Rest and Relaxation and The Bell Jar. This isn’t the kind of book you forget about!
Kitten by Stacey Yu, her debut novel, will be available on 8/4/26!
College graduate Katie is estranged from her mother, far from her home, avoiding the demands of adulthood, and is a bit lost in life. Her boyfriend, James, is her primary provider, financially and emotionally. When James takes Katie to see his family’s vacation home, his parent’s cat, Silver, joins them.
Katie finds something deeper than friendship and solace in Silver, and grows overly attached to the kitten. She begins seeing herself in Silver, almost wishing to take her place. No consequences for her actions, no responsibilities, no estranged mothers. When it’s time for Silver to be returned to James’ parents, Katie can’t fathom this. She goes to desperate lengths to keep the relationship she now values above all others.
This book has such intense, deeper meanings into relationships (romantic, platonic, parental), and transitioning into adulthood. While Silver and Katie’s increasingly odd behavior was giving the perfect weird girl litfic, Silver was representing a deeper metaphor in the book. Silver was showing Katie the laid back life that she wished she could live in. Free from her responsibilities and receiving love with no effort.
Overall I loved the story and the deeper meanings behind it all. Character growth was had and relationships reconciled. Katie’s emotions are portrayed so well in this story. My complaint is how a few scenes started feeling repetitive. For being a shorter book, I think a few locations and settings could’ve been moved around and played with more.
Go into this book knowing Katie is hard to understand, but not hard to relate to. This book is perfect for fans of My Year of Rest and Relaxation and The Bell Jar. This isn’t the kind of book you forget about!
Kitten by Stacey Yu, her debut novel, will be available on 8/4/26!
January 31, 2026
Yes, there’s a very important character in this book named Silver, who is a cat. Silver can also swim in the ocean with the main character Katie, who has just graduated from college, has no money, and a tumultuous relationship with her mother, who is indeed a narcissist. Katie is spoiled by her wealthy boyfriend, and definitely is unsure of her attachment to him.
I can relate to growing up in a narcissistic Asian household. I currently deal with it daily. 🙋🏻♀️
“My mother wasn’t human, she was my mother.”
However there are many layers to Kitten, Stacey Yu’s debut novel. It’s a “coming of age”, new college graduate, that space between ending a childhood, and getting old. Who are we, who should we become?
“You forget how small everything is when you’re a kid,” he said. “The desks, their chairs. We used to think that was normal sized.”
If you’re looking for a quirky book revolving a cat, this isn’t for you, as it’s a fairly emotional read. We’ve all been Katie before, and I felt some of her experiences at the age of 22.
Yu’s writing is exquisite and can’t wait to see what she writes next.
I can relate to growing up in a narcissistic Asian household. I currently deal with it daily. 🙋🏻♀️
“My mother wasn’t human, she was my mother.”
However there are many layers to Kitten, Stacey Yu’s debut novel. It’s a “coming of age”, new college graduate, that space between ending a childhood, and getting old. Who are we, who should we become?
“You forget how small everything is when you’re a kid,” he said. “The desks, their chairs. We used to think that was normal sized.”
If you’re looking for a quirky book revolving a cat, this isn’t for you, as it’s a fairly emotional read. We’ve all been Katie before, and I felt some of her experiences at the age of 22.
Yu’s writing is exquisite and can’t wait to see what she writes next.
August 5, 2026
This dazzling debut is filled with beautiful, ferocious writing. It reminded me of why I love literary fiction so much, why I cling onto this genre like a drug, and why I love books that remind me that there is beauty in simplicity. There is beauty in living a mundane life.
Contemporary novels have a special place in my heart, but lately I have been feeling like some of the newly published books are missing something, an essence of being, a lack of self and warmth. They all sound the same. But, Kitten opened me to something new.
The novel follows a very unique approach, by using our protagonist, Katie, falling in love with her boyfriend’s cat as an extended metaphor to discuss complex mother and daughter relationships, the complexity of adulthood, friendship drama and what how painful it can be to feel like life was not maybe for somebody like you, sensitive and rotten to the core.
Katie felt the absence of her mother’s presence in her life, she felt the agony in her bones, and it reinforces the notion that childhood is the foundation of life. The love, or the lack of love that we receive will come to bite us back during adulthood, when we try to love other people (be that romantic or platonic partners), without loving ourselves first.
I throughly enjoyed this book, it let a warm place in my heart and I was so happy to see the protagonist’s self awareness grow throughout the novel.
A magnificent read:)
Contemporary novels have a special place in my heart, but lately I have been feeling like some of the newly published books are missing something, an essence of being, a lack of self and warmth. They all sound the same. But, Kitten opened me to something new.
The novel follows a very unique approach, by using our protagonist, Katie, falling in love with her boyfriend’s cat as an extended metaphor to discuss complex mother and daughter relationships, the complexity of adulthood, friendship drama and what how painful it can be to feel like life was not maybe for somebody like you, sensitive and rotten to the core.
Katie felt the absence of her mother’s presence in her life, she felt the agony in her bones, and it reinforces the notion that childhood is the foundation of life. The love, or the lack of love that we receive will come to bite us back during adulthood, when we try to love other people (be that romantic or platonic partners), without loving ourselves first.
I throughly enjoyed this book, it let a warm place in my heart and I was so happy to see the protagonist’s self awareness grow throughout the novel.
A magnificent read:)
September 1, 2026
Do you know those book you continue to read in the hopes that it gets better.... this was that book for me.
I know characters can be unlikeable but.... wow.
I know characters can be unlikeable but.... wow.
August 16, 2026
Don’t read if you like cats. I threw the book across the room. No, please don’t use cat cruelty to explore themes. No no no.
August 23, 2026
Thank god that’s over.
Has the author ever met a cat before?
I can’t do books with unlikeable main characters
Book club or else I wouldn’t have finished
Has the author ever met a cat before?
I can’t do books with unlikeable main characters
Book club or else I wouldn’t have finished
Review of advance copy received from Author
Buzzy debuts can be tricky for me, but this has changed my mind about them. Sometimes they are just that good!
Kitten is pitched as a novel about a girl obsessed with boyfriend’s cat, but that’s because you can’t put everything this book actually is into a marketing log line. It’s about a person who’s more comfortable being a passenger princess than in the driver’s seat of her life.
Katie is a 22 year old recent graduate who doesn’t know what’s next and maybe doesn’t want to know. When her boyfriend takes her to his family’s beach house, she meets his cat Silver and immediately finds the animal fascinating. Here is a being that does what she wants, when she wants, how she wants—all concepts foreign to Katie. How long can she avoid the violence of growing up and fixate on this cat?
Stacey Yu’s writing was so striking. It’s sophisticated and sharp without feeling overwritten. So impressed by this debut, can’t wait to see where her career goes next!
Kitten is pitched as a novel about a girl obsessed with boyfriend’s cat, but that’s because you can’t put everything this book actually is into a marketing log line. It’s about a person who’s more comfortable being a passenger princess than in the driver’s seat of her life.
Katie is a 22 year old recent graduate who doesn’t know what’s next and maybe doesn’t want to know. When her boyfriend takes her to his family’s beach house, she meets his cat Silver and immediately finds the animal fascinating. Here is a being that does what she wants, when she wants, how she wants—all concepts foreign to Katie. How long can she avoid the violence of growing up and fixate on this cat?
Stacey Yu’s writing was so striking. It’s sophisticated and sharp without feeling overwritten. So impressed by this debut, can’t wait to see where her career goes next!
February 24, 2026
This book feels like if The Bell Jar’s Esther suddenly became fixated on a cat, and I mean that in the most positive way.
This is a weird girl book for weird girls. You gotta go into it knowing the main character is just a little bit on the quirky side. Katie has just graduated from college, is living in NYC, and has absolutely no dreams or aspirations. She is completely adrift, running out of money (she had a work-study job which is officially done), stuck in a tenuous living situation with a roommate who doesn’t seem to like her, and is currently estranged from her mother. Add in a somewhat too-good-to-be -true super rich boyfriend, and you’ve got the start of something interesting conflicts.
Stacey Yu uses Katie to explore the listlessness one feels when they are estranged, or otherwise disconnected, from a mother figure. There’s some great commentary on the challenges children of immigrants face, but also a lot of observations of the general ennui that hits in your mid twenties.
And then there’s the cat - Katie became a enamored with her boyfriend’s parents’ cat Silver. Silver is free from all the restraints of the human world, and serves as a sort of symbol of effortless contentment to Katie. It’s weird, and it’s done well.
I really enjoyed Kitten and I hope it finds the right weird girl audience.
This is a weird girl book for weird girls. You gotta go into it knowing the main character is just a little bit on the quirky side. Katie has just graduated from college, is living in NYC, and has absolutely no dreams or aspirations. She is completely adrift, running out of money (she had a work-study job which is officially done), stuck in a tenuous living situation with a roommate who doesn’t seem to like her, and is currently estranged from her mother. Add in a somewhat too-good-to-be -true super rich boyfriend, and you’ve got the start of something interesting conflicts.
Stacey Yu uses Katie to explore the listlessness one feels when they are estranged, or otherwise disconnected, from a mother figure. There’s some great commentary on the challenges children of immigrants face, but also a lot of observations of the general ennui that hits in your mid twenties.
And then there’s the cat - Katie became a enamored with her boyfriend’s parents’ cat Silver. Silver is free from all the restraints of the human world, and serves as a sort of symbol of effortless contentment to Katie. It’s weird, and it’s done well.
I really enjoyed Kitten and I hope it finds the right weird girl audience.
August 4, 2026
major thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts:
*3.5 rounded up
ur type b friend thinks the whole universe revolves around her and yet u still gotta lot of luv for her
compulsive. aggravating. a car crash i couldn’t look away from..
*3.5 rounded up
ur type b friend thinks the whole universe revolves around her and yet u still gotta lot of luv for her
compulsive. aggravating. a car crash i couldn’t look away from..
July 19, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
💌 Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Stacey Yu for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!
🐈⬛ This book was definitely weird... but weird in a good way.
We follow Katie, a recent college graduate who is estranged from her mother and keeps putting off the next chapter of adulthood. As she struggles with family trauma and figuring out where she belongs, she slowly becomes fixated on Silver, the cat she and her boyfriend are looking after for his parents.
I found it really interesting how Katie started seeing herself in Silver. She longed for the freedom of being a cat no responsibilities, no family drama, no pressure... just existing. It was such a unique way to explore how deeply her relationship with her mother was affecting every part of her life.
As Katie begins to spiral, things definitely get a little strange 😅, but beneath all the weirdness is a thoughtful story about relationships (familial, platonic, and romantic) and the messy transition into adulthood.
✨ Overall, I enjoyed this one. It was emotional, unsettling at times, and a unique look at family dynamics, identity, and what it means to find your place when life doesn't go the way you expected.
💌 Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Stacey Yu for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!
🐈⬛ This book was definitely weird... but weird in a good way.
We follow Katie, a recent college graduate who is estranged from her mother and keeps putting off the next chapter of adulthood. As she struggles with family trauma and figuring out where she belongs, she slowly becomes fixated on Silver, the cat she and her boyfriend are looking after for his parents.
I found it really interesting how Katie started seeing herself in Silver. She longed for the freedom of being a cat no responsibilities, no family drama, no pressure... just existing. It was such a unique way to explore how deeply her relationship with her mother was affecting every part of her life.
As Katie begins to spiral, things definitely get a little strange 😅, but beneath all the weirdness is a thoughtful story about relationships (familial, platonic, and romantic) and the messy transition into adulthood.
✨ Overall, I enjoyed this one. It was emotional, unsettling at times, and a unique look at family dynamics, identity, and what it means to find your place when life doesn't go the way you expected.
August 12, 2026
Absolutely not
September 30, 2026
”Are you with me because you like to take care of me?” “Are you with me because you like being taken care of?”
not funny … CRIED 😭
this has it all - cat metaphors, mommy issues, fucking everything up in your early 20s, a hot boyfriend you probably dont deserve, and major sylvia plath fig jar energy
Kitten follows an extremely unlikable woman in her early 20s who is SO conflict avoidant that she allows life to just happen to her again and again until things eventually spiral out of control. she gets a new boyfriend and meets his cat Silver, the first cat she has ever known.
many people dislike this book because our main character is so passive and unlikable… and she obviously has NO idea how to care for a cat…. but i have known many people like her in my lifetime. as someone who is very direct and communicative, i have always been disgustingly fascinated by the psychology behind conflict avoidant people and how it typically just leads to more conflict. almost like a car crash you can’t look away from.
but don’t get me wrong, there were definitely certain chapters where i had to put the book down and touch grass because our main character was giving me so much anxiety.
i definitely related more to James and Lou’s characters overall and i found them refreshing.
but there is character development for all of them and i love to see it!
(pls pls check trigger warnings - especially if you love cats!!!)
not funny … CRIED 😭
this has it all - cat metaphors, mommy issues, fucking everything up in your early 20s, a hot boyfriend you probably dont deserve, and major sylvia plath fig jar energy
Kitten follows an extremely unlikable woman in her early 20s who is SO conflict avoidant that she allows life to just happen to her again and again until things eventually spiral out of control. she gets a new boyfriend and meets his cat Silver, the first cat she has ever known.
many people dislike this book because our main character is so passive and unlikable… and she obviously has NO idea how to care for a cat…. but i have known many people like her in my lifetime. as someone who is very direct and communicative, i have always been disgustingly fascinated by the psychology behind conflict avoidant people and how it typically just leads to more conflict. almost like a car crash you can’t look away from.
but don’t get me wrong, there were definitely certain chapters where i had to put the book down and touch grass because our main character was giving me so much anxiety.
i definitely related more to James and Lou’s characters overall and i found them refreshing.
but there is character development for all of them and i love to see it!
(pls pls check trigger warnings - especially if you love cats!!!)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2026
Just a little heads-up: the main character is pretty unlikeable. Seriously! She is selfish, ungrateful, and I wanted to badly smash something over her head just to knock some sense into her. Lol.
Having said that, one thing is for sure: no matter how annoying Katie might be—irresponsible, lazy, and uninspiring—there’s a part of you that would easily relate to her. It begs the questions we always ask ourselves: Do we even know what we want in life? Are we going in the right direction? Is the path we’re taking the one we chose, or the one somebody else chose for us?
This is a story about growth, loss, unsaid feelings, and the realization that, albeit we may not love ourselves that much, we are loved—and we deserve to be loved.
Trigger warning, though. An event in the book might hit particularly hard if you’re a cat lover.
Having said that, one thing is for sure: no matter how annoying Katie might be—irresponsible, lazy, and uninspiring—there’s a part of you that would easily relate to her. It begs the questions we always ask ourselves: Do we even know what we want in life? Are we going in the right direction? Is the path we’re taking the one we chose, or the one somebody else chose for us?
This is a story about growth, loss, unsaid feelings, and the realization that, albeit we may not love ourselves that much, we are loved—and we deserve to be loved.
Trigger warning, though. An event in the book might hit particularly hard if you’re a cat lover.
August 19, 2026
if i were to ever come across a witch who had the power to place me into a singular book for only a minute i would choose to enter kitten and slap some sense into katie
March 15, 2026
*eARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
1/5 stars.
Unfortunately this book did not leave a lasting impression on me as much as it did for others. I appreciate the idea this novel tried to convey, but it simply missed the mark.
This book follows a 22-year old Katie as she finally has a thought for the first time in her life.
My main issue with this book is the lack of showing rather than telling. I would have loved if we had actually explored a situation rather than it skipping from scene to scene. Even within one paragraph I feel like we took so many words to say nothing at all.
I, unfortunately, simply did not like Katie at all. From the beginning, I could not sit in her mind for long periods of time. I read other reviews where people said they deeply related to Katie, and I just couldn’t see how that could be possible.
I believe there may be some redeemable features, but unfortunately for me I felt Katie behaved like a child and was incredibly selfish throughout. One example speaks out to me at the end of the first part where Katie locks herself in her boyfriend's family's vacation home with his cat, Silver, because she does not want him to go back to the city with his cat to return it to his parents. This completely baffled me and kind of turned me off of the book from that point forward.
Thank you Netgalley and publishers for the ARC.
1/5 stars.
Unfortunately this book did not leave a lasting impression on me as much as it did for others. I appreciate the idea this novel tried to convey, but it simply missed the mark.
This book follows a 22-year old Katie as she finally has a thought for the first time in her life.
My main issue with this book is the lack of showing rather than telling. I would have loved if we had actually explored a situation rather than it skipping from scene to scene. Even within one paragraph I feel like we took so many words to say nothing at all.
I, unfortunately, simply did not like Katie at all. From the beginning, I could not sit in her mind for long periods of time. I read other reviews where people said they deeply related to Katie, and I just couldn’t see how that could be possible.
I believe there may be some redeemable features, but unfortunately for me I felt Katie behaved like a child and was incredibly selfish throughout. One example speaks out to me at the end of the first part where Katie locks herself in her boyfriend's family's vacation home with his cat, Silver, because she does not want him to go back to the city with his cat to return it to his parents. This completely baffled me and kind of turned me off of the book from that point forward.
Thank you Netgalley and publishers for the ARC.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
lovely~
August 17, 2026
‘Sometimes what looks right at the time turns out to be wrong in the future.’
The author writes with a delicacy that I found particularly affecting. Nothing feels overstated. The emotions arrive softly, in a gesture, a silence, a moment that seems insignificant until it suddenly isn’t. The kitten at the heart of the story carries an almost dreamlike quality, becoming more than an animal: a small, vulnerable presence onto which loneliness, longing, and the need for connection seem to gather.
What stayed with me was the sense of fragility running beneath the story. People can be lonely even when they are surrounded by others; they can want to be needed and still be frightened by what that need asks of them. There is tenderness here, but it is never entirely safe.
I found myself thinking about the strange ways we reach for one another—sometimes through love, sometimes through possession, sometimes simply because we cannot bear the emptiness around us. Kitten made those boundaries feel wonderfully blurred.
It is the kind of story that leaves its imprint quietly. Not a book that demands to be remembered, but one that returns to you unexpectedly: in the hush of an evening, in the sight of an animal watching from a window, in that brief ache of wanting to hold on to something you know cannot truly belong to you.
(ebook)
The author writes with a delicacy that I found particularly affecting. Nothing feels overstated. The emotions arrive softly, in a gesture, a silence, a moment that seems insignificant until it suddenly isn’t. The kitten at the heart of the story carries an almost dreamlike quality, becoming more than an animal: a small, vulnerable presence onto which loneliness, longing, and the need for connection seem to gather.
What stayed with me was the sense of fragility running beneath the story. People can be lonely even when they are surrounded by others; they can want to be needed and still be frightened by what that need asks of them. There is tenderness here, but it is never entirely safe.
I found myself thinking about the strange ways we reach for one another—sometimes through love, sometimes through possession, sometimes simply because we cannot bear the emptiness around us. Kitten made those boundaries feel wonderfully blurred.
It is the kind of story that leaves its imprint quietly. Not a book that demands to be remembered, but one that returns to you unexpectedly: in the hush of an evening, in the sight of an animal watching from a window, in that brief ache of wanting to hold on to something you know cannot truly belong to you.
(ebook)
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