Hey guys! Today I’ve got reviews of YOU KNOW ME WELL by David Levithan and Nina Lacour, and THE WAY TO GAME THE WALK OF SHAME by Jenn P. Nguyen. Normally I save up a few more minis before posting, but like Jamie from The Perpetual Page-Turner says more eloquently, it’s summer, so I’m lightening the load a bit and doing more mini-reviews in shorter posts.
Hope these help you decide on your next read!
You Know Me Well Goodreads
Author: David Levithan, Nina LaCour
Also by this author: Another Day, Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet.
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication date: June 7th 2016
My rating:
Buy It: Indigo.ca | Amazon.com | The Book Depository | iBooks | Google Books | Audible
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.
A book told in alternating points of view by Nina LaCour, the award-winning author of Hold Still and The Disenchantments, and David Levithan, the best-selling author of Every Day and co-author of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (with Rachel Cohn) and Will Grayson, Will Grayson (with John Green), You Know Me Well is a deeply honest story about navigating the joys and heartaches of first love, one truth at a time.
A fast and pretty YA read, probably great for younger readers. This book reminded me a ton of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist – only, you know, with more friendship, more Pride/San Francisco, and less swearing. I got the same feeling of a whirlwind, of restlessness, and excitement just behind a corner as I did in N&N – especially from the fast, adjective-filled writing that Levithan is known for (not sure about Lacour since this is my first book by her!). That said, I think because it was less about romance, I didn’t quite feel the intensity as much as I should have. Part of this is, I think, because Kate and Mark felt like they had similar voices – so much so that occasionally I would forget whose point of view I was reading from. Of the two, I enjoyed Kate’s story of fear and longing and eventual leaping more, but Mark’s heartbreaking unrequited love also got to me. I also loved one particular scene at a poetry slam (I promise that’s not really a spoiler). Overall, while I really, really enjoyed this book and the characters of Kate and Mark, something was missing for me. It was good, but I wasn’t dazzled.
The Way to Game the Walk of Shame Goodreads
Author: Jenn P. Nguyen
Find the author: Website, Twitter
Publisher: Macmillan
Publication date: June 7th 2016
Source: ARC from Raincoast Books (thank you!)
My rating:
Buy It: Indigo.ca | Amazon.com | The Book Depository | iBooks | Google Books | Audible
Taylor Simmons is screwed.
Things were hard enough when her single-minded dedication to her studies earned her the reputation of being an Ice Queen, but after getting drunk at a party and waking up next to bad boy surfer Evan McKinley, the entire school seems intent on tearing Taylor down with mockery and gossip.
Desperate to salvage her reputation, Taylor persuades Evan to pretend they're in a serious romantic relationship. After all, it's better to be the girl who tames the wild surfer than just another notch on his surfboard.
Readers will be ready to sign their own love contract after reading The Way to Game the Walk of Shame, a fun and addicting contemporary YA romance by Jenn P. Nguyen.
Taylor Simmons is the “most likely to succeed” in her class…so how does she end up drunk and in bed with Evan McKinley, the “manwhore”? With the rumor mill at a high, Taylor begs Evan to pretend they’re in a relationship so that she can save her reputation.
The Way to Game the Walk of Shame had a few things going for it that made me request it: one of my favorite tropes, the fake relationship that turns real; dealing with slut-shaming; and an Asian author. Unfortunately, this is one of those books where I found the writing tough to get through. There were issues with tenses in description, cliched metaphors, voices that didn’t feel believable, and just awkward phrasing. And while I like one or two tropes in my books, this one was just one trope after another. Insta-love, love squares, the bad boy loner who is actually good, the good boy who thinks that people should be together because they’re similar…I felt like the author was throwing every possible thing at this couple in order to keep them apart, and it just didn’t feel real. What saved me from DNFing this book, though, was that there were some severely cute moments with the main characters that actually broke the mold and made them into real characters. They got quirkier and sweeter as they went on. I wanted them together in the end, and I wanted to see more of them together. Definitely a summer book, and a book for readers who care more about swoony moments than anything else.
Have you read YOU KNOW ME WELL or THE WAY TO GAME THE WALK OF SHAME? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
I also felt like something was missing from You Know Me Well. I don’t really know what bc I loved the friendship aspect… and the setting and the timespan were both perfection. There was just a lack of feeling there for me somehow. Still a cute book though!! Bummer about The Way to Game. “Pretend” boyfriend books rarely ever work for me, so I’ll probably be skipping that one.
I read both of these books a few months ago, and liked them both. DL can do no wrong by me. He always gives me the feels and makes me happy. The Way to Game was really cute too. I found it sweet and amusing.
Great reviews! I read both of these and liked them both! Funnily enough, the only thing I didn’t like about You Know Me Well was the poetry slam! I liked The Game a bit more than you did but I totally understand what you mean re: too many tropes..
my reviews
I really enjoyed You Know Me Well. I loved the poetry slam scene too! It was something different.