Book Review: You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Leviathan

“The thing about possibilities: there are some you want much more than others. Or only one you want much more than everything else.”

This is my last book review for 2017 Teen Book Festival and I am finishing with such a good book. You Know Me Well is by Nina LaCour and David Levithan, both who are coming to TBF this year!

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.

You Know Me Well is a story of first love and heartbreak and everything in between. One of the main things that stood out to me about this novel was the beautiful writing. The characters were incredibly real and well written and the whole novel just seemed poetic and beautiful. The friendship of Mark and Kate was really the main focus of this novel, and although I really enjoyed the sub-plots about their different relationships and heartbreak, I loved how this novel focused on how important friendship is. Despite only really knowing each other for a week they had a deep connection and I know that even after the story ended and their lives continue to progress the two will stay close. The book is told in alternating perspectives every chapter and the two characters perspectives easily mesh together and it feels as if you’re simply listening to the two tell the story instead of just reading about it.

Overall I really enjoyed this novel, as well as the other of David and Nina’s books that I’ve read and I strongly recommend you check out this one, as well as their others before TBF! Teen Book Festival is only a few weeks away and I know it’s going to be an amazing time for everyone.

Claire