Book Review 47: You Know Me Well by Nina Lacour + David Levithan

Pages: 248 pages
Publication Date: June 7th, 2016
Publisher: St. Martins Press
Summary: 

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.


My Thoughts:

I just want to thank St. Martin's Press for sending me a finished copy of this book to read and review! I absolutely LOVED this book so I am SO happy to have a copy I can display on my shelves!
It also gave me an excuse to pick this up right away when I might have put it off for a while.

It is not every day that a contemporary YA gets put into my favourites shelf. It is actually my least read genre and now all I can wonder is why? Why don't I read more YA contemporary? Why don't I read more LGBTQ+ fiction? Why have I yet to read more David Levithan before now since I loved Every Day so much? And lastly, why have I not picked up anything by Nina Lacour? I don't know the answer to any of these questions, but I am going to be remedying this very quickly and going to look into this genre a lot more.

This book follows Mark and Kate and the way their life changes during Pride Week. They meet one night and find they both have things in common and they help each other deal with the things they need to deal with in their life.
I thought this book was going to be a love story/romance story. It started out to be that way. But this is not a love story. This is about coming to terms with the person you are, with the things you cannot change, with the feelings you have, or don't have, and it's about learning to be the person that you are. This is also not a story about being gay. It's not a story about coming out, or accepting your sexuality, or being uncomfortable in your skin. This is just a story about 2 LGBTQ+ characters who are dealing with the real world. And it's amazing. The messages in this story were amazing. I have never related to a book so much in my life. Both Kate and Mark are dealing with things that I am dealing with in my life right now, but especially Kate, and it was like I was getting a speech from a friend helping me through things I need to deal with.

I just loved this story. The characters were so well written. The writing was so poetic.
It was also really refreshing. The concepts and plots in this story were not new. I have seen unrequited love, stress about graduation, etc., before, but it was all done in this really amazing setting of pride week that made everything so unique. 
Unlike most books, there is nothing in this book I didn't like. There is one small aspect with the way things turned out for Mark that made me really sad, but I think it was a really fitting ending for his story. 
I just loved this and I can't wait to come back to this story one day in the future because my heart is full of happiness (and a little bit of sadness at that one thing but I'll move on). 

Just a little end note: I read this book 3 days ago and I have finished 2 novels since then and I am still thinking about this book because I loved it so much. I absolutely recommend reading this as soon as possible. ESPECIALLY since it's pride month and a perfect time and excuse to get to this sooner rather than later. 

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