Kat Stoddard

An artist attends his wealthy ex-wife’s Cape Cod wedding with a chaotic young writer as his plus one, resulting in an increasingly complicated love triangle over the course of seven days. 

Tess wants nothing more than her upcoming society wedding to overshadow the failure of her first marriage. Her new fiancé, an old family friend, is nothing like her first husband, working class painter Peter. Her relationship with Peter was passionate, but unraveled quickly and ended in heartbreak. Tess has put that chapter of her life firmly behind her.  

Peter hasn’t seen Tess since he got out of rehab five years earlier, so he’s shocked when he receives an invitation to her wedding. But he’s moved on too. Now an adjunct art professor at Hunter College, Peter has achieved financial stability and maintained his sobriety. Seeing Tess one more time could bring him the closure he craves. And it wouldn’t hurt to show up with a handsome younger man—recent acquaintance Mitch—either. 

Midwestern transplant Mitch, waiter and aspiring writer, can’t believe his luck when an attractive artist offers to bring him to an exclusive wedding. Not only is this sure to provide inspiration for the novel he’s longing to write, it could help him finally embrace his own queerness. He’s ready to be swept off his feet during a whirlwind week in New England. What he’s not bargained on is developing serious feelings for both Peter and Peter’s ex—Tess, the bride. Peter and Tess have complex desires of their own, and Mitch is dangerously close to uncovering them.

In The News

Apple Books Best Books of July

This sparkling romantic comedy turns a posh Cape Cod wedding into a deliciously tangled story about the many forms that love can take. [..] Author Kat Stoddard has a sharp eye for her upper-class New England setting, finding both wicked humor and unexpected pathos in a world where appearances matter more than honesty. [..] Wasp’s Nest is an irresistible summer read about the risks of listening to your heart.

Lit Hub Holiday Weekend Reading Recs

Us Weekly Summer Reading Recommendations

Autostraddle’s Most Anticipated Queer Books for June 2026

San Francisco Book Review Pride Month Fiction Picks

Rather than building toward explosive melodrama, Wasp’s Nest by Kat Stoddard thrives in emotional tension and quiet revelations.  [..] Stoddard handles this complicated triangle with remarkable tenderness and nuance. [..] A thoughtful story about longing, reinvention, and the strange shapes love can take. It’s witty, intimate, and surprisingly compassionate.

Town & Country’s 46 Must-Read Books of Summer 2026

Weddings are rarely simple affairs—something that this debut novel by Kat Stoddard knows all too well. [..] Regret this one at your own peril.

Goodreads New Voices Alert! 51 New & Upcoming Debut Novels

With her fast and funny debut novel, Baltimore author Kat Stoddard proposes an update of the 1940 comedy classic The Philadelphia Story […] with queer representation and a fractal approach to love triangles.

LGBTQ Reads: Most Anticipated Fiction 2026

Advance Praise for WASP’S NEST

“Rooney-esque and compulsively readable.”

Emily J. Smith, author of Nothing Serious

“A hugely engaging comedy of manners and a tremendously entertaining debut.“

Grant Ginder, author of So Old, So Young

“Kat Stoddard writes with surgical precision. Brutally honest and beautifully done—I didn’t want it to end.”

Kate Broad, author of Greenwich

“Masterfully explores the ways people construct and revise their own narratives, and the complexities of human connection.”

Sarah Blakley-Cartwright, author of Alice Sadie Celine