Nina LaCour and David Levithan (admittedly, the latter is one of my favorite YA authors) have created a touching masterpiece with their new novel, You Know Me Well. Told from alternating perspectives, the novel centers around a gay teenager and a lesbian teenager whose lives become inexplicably linked over the course of San Francisco's Pride Week. Mark, whose love for his baseball teammate is not quite returned, seeks the help of Kate in coming clean with his feelings. Meanwhile, Kate is desperately in love with a girl named Violet, but Kate runs from her every time she gets near. Both Mark and Kate feel safe in their identities but not in how to build healthy, meaningful, deep relationships. Their inner feelings scare them and they learn to rely on each other to make the loving declarations they need. This book moved me in so many ways! Mark's story of being in love with his best friend felt so true to me; while his best friend, Ryan, is struggling to come out, he uses Mark as a sort of "experiment" in his sexuality but does not return the romantic feelings. This reality is brutal for Mark to take but ultimately helps him get to a better place where he knows he can love again.
I loved, loved, loved this book. There's a bit of kissing and definitely some references to sex, however there are not sex scenes depicted. I really wish this book had been written when I was a teen. It filled my heart today.
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