Book Extract: You Too by Katharine Light

Published September 27, 2026 | By Laura

Please join me in welcoming Katharine Light to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, You Too.

Anna has finally got what she longed for.

After years of focusing on her career—ignoring the quiet, insistent need for a child—a chance encounter with Rob led to an arrangement that changed everything.

Now she’s pregnant.

But nothing about what comes next is simple. This was never meant to be a relationship. As her pregnancy becomes more difficult, Anna retreats, unwilling to face Rob, or the feelings she can no longer ignore.

Because wanting a baby was one thing. Letting someone in is something else entirely.

Rob always knew their arrangement had limits. He didn’t expect Anna would quickly become the one person he can’t walk away from.

Now, both must decide what they’re willing to fight for. Can they overcome the complications of their own backgrounds and truly build a family together?

Or was their connection never meant to last?

Kathatine has kindly shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy.

beginning of extract

The first time they meet in this book, once Anna is pregnant and suffering with severe morning sickness.

What was Rob doing now, she wondered, for the nth time that day.

She had fielded his texts with brief replies, forcing him to shrink his enquiries accordingly. ‘Plans for the weekend?’ he’d asked. ‘Sleep!’ she’d replied.

Her biggest problem was her absolute inability to open the fridge without the inevitable retching and vomiting. She couldn’t face food. Couldn’t look at it. Couldn’t plan, shop or cook. Anything she tried turned to dry lumps on her tongue. The most she’d held down were some morsels of dry toast. Her sense of smell seemed to have magnified alarmingly, and the slightest odour sent her rushing to the loo, slicked with sweat, saliva flooding her mouth.

She spoke to Rob when he rang on Thursday night. Got through Friday barely keeping down a thing. Drove home from work and went straight to bed. Stayed there most of Saturday, occasionally sipping water. Unable to even set foot in the kitchen.

Around four o’clock, she heard a car drawing up outside, through the open sash window of her bedroom. Heard the scrunch of footsteps. The doorbell rang.

She heaved herself from the bed and felt her way to the windowsill as Rob stepped back from the front door and looked up.

He shrugged, palms upturned.

She slumped heavily onto the side of the bed. Could she just stay put and hope he’d go away? But she knew she wouldn’t do that. What the hell was he doing here? What did he want?

Well, he wasn’t getting that.

Finally, he was going to see the real Anna, without her ‘no make-up’ make-up. She tied her toweling dressing gown over her grey t-shirt and blue striped pyjama bottoms. He wasn’t even going to be graced with brushed hair. She shoved it behind her ears, rubbed her cheek where she’d lain on it. Enough. If he turned up unannounced, he deserved the unadulterated version.

It took a while to descend the stairs, holding onto the bannisters. He stood on the other side of the door, watching her through the glass. She fumbled with the key in the lock, the slippery chain.

‘Anna.’ He half opened his arms as if he was about to hold her, but she turned away.

‘You don’t want to. I haven’t showered or anything.’

‘What is it? Is it a bug?’

‘I think it’s morning sickness. Well. Twenty-four-hour sickness.’

‘Hyperemesis?’

‘Hyper-what?’

‘It’s a severe form. Where keeping anything down is a real struggle. Are you managing to eat at all?

‘Toast?’

‘Nothing else? Water? Mint tea?’

‘Sorry.’ She bolted to the downstairs loo, closed the door behind her, retched over the toilet, but there was nothing to bring up. So she sat on the closed lid, her heart hammering, to try to summon the energy to face Rob.

‘I’ll put the kettle on. Just in case,’ came his voice.

Pull yourself together, she told her grey reflection.

She leant in the doorway of the kitchen.

He’d found tea bags and two mugs. ‘Why don’t you sit down?’ He indicated the sofa at the other end of the room.

She steeled herself to walk without holding onto the kitchen cabinets.

When she sat down, he said, ‘Any tea? Have you tried peppermint?’

She clenched her teeth. ‘I hate peppermint.’ But she couldn’t face her usual coffee, or any sort of black tea. ‘Oh, all right.’

end of extract

About Katharine Light –

Katharine Light was born in Glasgow and lived there until her family moved to Manchester when she was ten. While in her teens, she began writing stories for her younger sister Emma. These mostly centred around a naïve heroine and a 1980s pop star (some would say the hero was modelled on John Taylor of Duran Duran).

She did a degree in psychology at University College London, and after a year travelling, worked in corporate film production for several years, before taking a break to raise her children.

For many years she wrote mainly during the holidays, around her busy work for a local church.

Her first novel Like Me, published in 2023, was shortlisted for The Selfies Book Awards 2024. Her short story My arms are emptywhich is based on an episode from her second novel Me Too recently won the City University competition City Writes.

She is a director of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, with responsibility for organising their conferences, gatherings and awards ceremonies.

Katharine lives in London with her husband and quite often at least one of their adult children. She loves singing, walking, painting, looking at art, and going to the theatre.

Say hello to Katharine on Facebook, Threads and Instagram,

You Too is book three in the Millingham series and was released in November 2025. Click to buy on Amazon UK and Amazon US.