You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan

2 Stars

Is this the beginning of the end? Am I officially getting too old for this shit???? Say it ain’t so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I refuse to believe that could be the case. Instead I’m going to blame the “meh” factor on (1) I’m in a horrible book slump and not really loving much of anything; (2) NetGalley is all-knowing and I should listen to them when they deny me a request instead of immediately putting myself on the library waiting list like a pouty two year old; and (3) I’ve read a better version of this already . . .



Ha! Fooled you. That’s actually from Youth In Revolt, but I love the quote so I put it here. Also, Michael Cera has played the exact same character in every G.D. thing he’s ever been in, so really I could’ve posted that or a George Michael gif or one from Juno or this one that actually applies . . . .



Yeah, so Nick and Norah (man, I kinda ranted like a loon over a pretty decent teeny bopper selection with that one) and also Will Grayson, Will Grayson and probably even Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares (not positive since I own it in the book hoard but have not ever bothered to read it) were better to me than this one. The special Levithan Kool-Aid must have been watered down. *shrug*

You Know Me Well is the story of Mark and Kate. Although the two have gone to school together for eternity, they have never really met. That is, until one night when Kate’s nerves get to her and she runs away from meeting the potential girl of her dreams and sees Mark dancing in his underpants on a bar. One thing leads to another and Kate discovers that although Mark pines for his friendship with Ryan to go to the next level and for them to DTR, unfortunately . . .



Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd that’s where it lost me. I’m all for unrequited love and whathaveyou, but there wasn’t a whole lot of substance to this one. Kate came off as a neurotic a-hole half the time - Mark was a bit of a creeper who refused to see the truth that Ryan might be okay with coming out, he just didn’t want to come out with Mark - they lived in pretty much Utopia, USA where everyone was middle-class and the parents/everyone in high school was super accepting of all things LBGTQ (which would be amazing, but let’s face it, is not the current reality). It did have a handful of fairly awesome quotable quotes . . .

“I don’t want to be a best friend if I can’t also be a boy in his eyes. I don’t want to be a calendar if I’ll never get a date.”

But sadly they weren’t enough to boost my rating. I think Levithan has fallen into the same trap as Rainbow Rowell. They both need to JUST SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW DOWN. There’s no reason to churn out not-so-great books just for the sake of churning them out. Take your time and write something a little deeper. Your real fans will wait for you. Now, here is an adorable kitten gif for all of you youngsters who are getting your pitchforks and torches ready to go . . .



Please don’t troll me. Thanks in advance : )