Monday, 6 June 2016

You Know Me Well, David Levithan and Nina LaCour

Pages: 256
Publisher: My Kinda Book
Release Date: 2nd June
Edition: UK proof, review copy

Other Titles by this Author: David Levithan: Boy Meets Boy, The Realm of Possibility, Are We There Yet?, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist (with Rachel Cohn), Wide Awake, Naomi & Eli’s No-Kiss List (with Rachel Cohn), Love is the Higher Law, Will Grayson, Will Grayson (with John Green), The Lover’s Dictionary, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares (with Rachel Cohn), Invisibility (with Andrea Cremer), Every Day, How They Met and Other Stories, Two Boys Kissing, Hold Me Closer, Another Day
Nina LaCour: Hold Still, The Disenchantments, Everything Leads to You

Who knows you well? Your best friend? Your boyfriend or girlfriend? A stranger you meet on a crazy night? No one, really?

Mark and Kate have sat next to each other for an entire year, but have never spoken. For whatever reason, their paths outside of class have never crossed.

That is until Kate spots Mark miles away from home, out in the city for a wild, unexpected night. Kate is lost, having just run away from a chance to finally meet the girl she has been in love with from afar. Mark, meanwhile, is in love with his best friend Ryan, who may or may not feel the same way.

When Kate and Mark meet up, little do they know how important they will become to each other -- and how, in a very short time, they will know each other better than any of the people who are supposed to know them more.

Told in alternating points of view by Nina LaCour and David Levithan, the best-selling author of Every Day and co-author of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (with Rachel Cohn) and Will Grayson, Will Grayson (with John Green), You Know Me Well is a deeply honest story about navigating the joys and heartaches of first love, one truth at a time.

I’m a huge fan of both Nina LaCour and David Levithan so I was giddy with excitement as soon as I heard the announcement for You Know Me Well. It definitely lived up to expectations!

The setting of San Francisco during Pride Week was pulsing and vibrant and so perfect for Katie and Mark’s adventures. The energy and freedom of Pride and the last week of school before summer gave You Know Me Well the perfect vibe for Katie to fall in love, friendship to blossom between her and Mark and for Mark’s world to change.

I love how messy and complicated the characters are. Katie is lively and confident, until it comes to her art and her feelings; Mark plays on the baseball team and has suffered under his feelings for, and unhealthy relationship with, his best friend Ryan for years. Nothing comes easy for them. It takes missteps and mistakes, harsh truths and scary steps, but they come out of Pride Week happier, stronger and more confident in themselves and I loved the journeys that they took.

Both Levithan and LaCour are wonderful, wonderful writers, and when David Levithan teams up, I usually end up preferring his characters and his story, but not this time. I read Nina LaCour’s Everything Leads to You last year and was blown away by her, and she blew me away again. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked Mark’s side of the story, but I was so there for Katie, and for Nina’s writing. I can't get my head around why her solo novels aren’t published over here. Get it together UK publishers!

You Know Me Well is a celebration of love, friendship and embracing who you are. I loved it completely.

Thanks to My Kinda Book for the review copy.

Sophie 

1 comment:

  1. I've been eyeing this up since you mentioned it to me a while back and with your review, I'm going to have to get a copy, aren't I? Sounds amazing!

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