Friday 20 May 2016

You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan

Synopsis (from Goodreads

Pages: 256
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Released: 2nd of June 2016 

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.

What I Have to Say 

This is an amazing book about friendship, Pride and seeing people in a new way. It's about new experiences and crazy adventures. I loved it because it left me feeling warm and fuzzy, but without ignoring the numerous chances to make me sad alone the way. 

I loved most how the main focus was on the friendship forming between Mark and Kate. The relationships were there and often quite prominent to the plot, but it was mostly about Mark and Kate going from vague acquaintances to best friends overnight. It showed the most beautiful things about friendship alongside Kate's problems with her own friends and figuring out how to become her own person. It showed how friendship can be a truly wonderful thing. 

I won't say it's all inclusive, because let's be honest here, what is? What it did a better job of diversity than a lot of other books I've seen. Not only did it feature a transgender character (even if only as a background role) but that person was Gender-fluid and there was a mention of bisexuality. Both of these are part of the LGBT* community who tend to get ignored. 

So read for Pride, read for all the gayness and read for diversity, this book is one of the ones to look out for this summer.  


My thanks go to Macmillan children's Books for providing me with this copy for review. 

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