Hello and happy Saturday. I’m not actually writing this on a Saturday, but I’m scheduling this post so that you can read it while I’m visiting my dad. The real reason why I’m typing this review at this very moment is that I’m anxious because tomorrow will be my first day of work, or at least it’ll be the day when my contract starts, so I’m using you as a distraction. You know what’s also a great distraction? You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan. No, but really, this book was amazing, and I hadn’t read anything from either of these authors in years, so it was like reuniting with old friends while realizing we’re all more mature and loving ourselves for it.

I don’t know how “relevant” these authors are in 2023, considering that I fist read a book by David Levithan in 2014 and You Know Me Well was released in 2017. What I know is that both of them were a reference to me in terms of queer literature, especially queer YA literature, at a time when that wasn’t yet “a thing,” and also at a time when I was figuring out who I was in terms of sexual orientation. I’m giving you this context because I want you to understand that I was predisposed, in a way, to loving this novel because of the love I have for these authors.

If you’ve read anything by David Levithan, then you know that he loves collaborating with other authors and creating these novels written in alternating perspectives that are simply brilliant. Before this collaboration, he’s also co-authored books with Rachel Cohn and John Green. In the case of this collab, I was extra excited because I just adore the way Nina LaCour writes her characters, and I am a sucker for the way she writes romance, which was bound to be a part of this novel.

Mark, David’s main character, is a junior in high school and he’s been in love with his best friend since forever. They’re both gay and Mark is out, and they’ve fooled around in the past, but they’re not a couple, which Mark thinks is because Ryan, his best friend, hasn’t come out. He ends up running into Kate, Nina’s character, who’s a senior and who’s basically in love with a girl she hasn’t met. The love interest is Violet, and she’s Lehna’s cousin, who’s Kate’s best friend. Lehna actually is the one playing as this sort of matchmaker, which is great, but Kate is rethinking her friendship with Lehna, and that makes everyhting complicated. Mark and Kate meet and decide, immediately, that they’re going to be friends, and we read about a week in their lives, dealing with all the stuff I just described.

I just realized that I don’t know if I gave you any spoilers. If I did and you care about that, sorry. I hope they only made you even more eager to read this book. Like I wrote when opening this post, to me this is like meeting old friends who’ve grown up. Sometimes when I read an author I used to love in my early twenties, I find myself disappointed because I know that they are no longer writing for me. Well, reading this book I felt comforted by the fact that I can still relate to teenagers.

So far, this has been my longest and I think deepest reviews, and I think you understand why. Read this book, regardless of your age, sexual orientation or any other factors that you might think deter you from reading this book. Read it and let me know what you think.