Monday, June 20, 2016

You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour & David Levithan

It's Pride Week in San Francisco and Katie and Mark are going through some THINGS.  Luckily, they meet each other the first night and are able to have each other's backs through the ups and downs that their week will take.

Mark is in love with his best friend, but it's not working out at all the way he wants it to.  Katie is in love with her best friend's cousin... the thing is, she's never met her IRL yet.  Fear holds Katie back, and love puts Mark's heart in peril.  In one week's time, both will go through life-changing events, while experiencing new friendship at San Fran's Pride week.








I had a great time reading this book.  It was full of friendship and teens working through problems, and I really enjoyed it.  The thing is, I was hoping to LOVE it.  Because I love Nina LaCour and David Levithan's books.  And I love the concept of this book-- friends meeting and going on an adventure-of sorts- together.  And while I love all of that, I really also want to FEEL things, and I just didn't have much of that going on in this book.  Was it an entertaining book?  Completely!  Would I recommend it? Totally.  But just be prepared that it's not the most emotional type of story, at least it wasn't for me.

I think my main deal was-- I just didn't like Katie/Kate that much.  She was this girl who was in love with her best friend's cousin, whom she had never met and was afraid to meet.  She was afraid of life in general and it got kind of annoying after a while.  Like I get it, you run away when things get scary.  That's a response a lot of people have, but she ran away from everything, and then didn't get why people were mad at her.    Also, things came ridiculously easy for her and she had no appreciation of that whatsoever.  Mark on the other hand, I LOVE.  He's this sweet, patient, caring, awesome guy who, of course, gets walked all over.  My heart hurt for him-- he was the one Feel Factor in this book.  And I think that Feel Factor was wrapped up way too fast.

I think this book should be in every high school library.  I think there are SO many teens going through the things the different characters are going through in this book.  Gay/Straight/Whatever, there are issues to relate to for everyone at that age.

OVERALL: It didn't quite live up to the giant expectations I had for it, but I still enjoyed the story.  I thought it was fun and a "we're going on a life adventure" feel, but it didn't bring the emotions like I had expected it to.  Great for Summer Reading!!

Add it to your To-Read List!!

My Rating: 4/5










Date Published: 6/7/2016
How I got this book: BEA
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin



Character: Mark
Book: The Disenchantments by Nina Lacour

  • Okay yes, this is one of the author's books, but I want him to read this because he could totally relate to the whole being in love with your best friend and getting your feelings crushed thing.






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7 comments:

  1. Oh man sorry you didn't LOVE it. I am excited for this one though. I like the concept but I will keep in mind it might not be the book that gives me all the feels. Great review!

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  2. I got this one at BEA but I haven't started it yet! It sounds really cute and looks like a quick read. Good to know to go into it with lower expectations than I originally had. I still have yet to read a Nina LaCour book!

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  3. Sounds like a good one!! I'm glad you liked it even though it didn't quite live up to expectations. :)

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  4. Even though it didn't necessarily live up to your expectations, it sounds as if this would make a really good summer read. Great review!

    - Lefty @ The Left-Handed Book Lover

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  5. Great review! I really liked this one too but I completely understand and agree with you re: it wasn't the most emotional. I think I wrote in my review that the one scene that was supposed to be super emotional just wasn't for me -- the rest felt genuine and I just loved Mark and Katie as friends so much!!

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  6. I'm so TORN about whether to read this! I love Nina LaCour (Everything Leads to You is one of my all-time favourite books) but I kind of hate David Levithan's books. What's a bookworm to do.

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  7. People seem to be enjoying this one. It's not for me but I'm glad you enjoyed it, at least for the most part.

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