Waiting on Wednesday: You Know Me Well

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine where we spotlight an upcoming release we are eagerly anticipating.

My WoW this week is:

You Know Me Well

By Nina LaCour and David Levithan
Expected Publication: June 16th, 2016

From Goodreads:

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.

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.

This book sounds amazing! Nina LaCour is one of my favourite authors so I can't wait to read more from her, and I love when David Levithan co-writes with other authors. They are both amazing talents and this book sounds wonderful. Seriously, such a long wait for this one, I want it now!

What books are you not so patiently waiting for?

Review: Hold Still

Hold Still
Author: Nina LaCour
Published: September 25, 2009
Paperback, 231 pages
5 Gold Stars

(summary from Goodreads)

I am a girl ready to explode into nothing.


That night Ingrid told Caitlin, I'll go where you go. But by dawn, Ingrid was dead and Caitlin was alone. Suddenly Caitlin has to deal with a completely unfamiliar life - a life without the art, the laughter, the music, and the joy she shared with her best friend. When she finds the journal Ingrid left behind, Caitlin gets a chance to learn about another side of her friend; and the journal becomes her guide as she deals with forging new friendships, finding a first love, and learning to live without the one person who knew her best. 

Every so often I come across an author that changes everything I thought I knew about YA books. Nina LaCour struck me hard with The Disenchantments, a novel so different from what I usually read but grabbed hold of me as soon as I opened it. I thought it was a one of a kind thing, and didn't bother to pick up the book she had released before it and continued on with life. Then she released Everything Leads to You and I fell in love all over again for a completely different reason. Neither book had a similar theme, and every character was so different from the rest. So I knew I found something good and just had to find her first book. I like the thrill of finding a book in a store rather than just buying it online so when I finally tracked in down in a Coles in Brantford, I bought it and read it right away. This book is nothing like her others except that it's just as well written and the story pulls you in and doesn't let go.

Caitlin is going through something I hope to never have to face. Her best friend Ingrid has just committed suicide, leaving Caitlin alone to face the rest of high school. They promised each other they'd leave, but Ingrid broke the promise. Nothing is the same without Ingrid: the teachers don't notice Caitlin anymore and the looks she gets in the hall burn into her memory. Ingrid was the perfect one, the pretty one, the creative one. Caitlin wonders if everyone wishes she was in Ingrid's place. Caitlin begins a journey when she discovers a journal Ingrid left for her and it takes her into a new world, a world without Ingrid but one that is just as good. With the help of Ingrid's words, Caitlin learns to let go, use photography as her output and finds love for the first time. This is an incredible journey of a girl starting over after losing the one girl who meant the most to her. The tone is not light and at times I found it hard to read as I've almost lost people to suicide, but Caitlin acceptance and forgiveness is heart breaking and touching and LaCour has captured these emotions wonderfully.

The photography plays just as much a part as every character. Caitlin first uses it for attention, trying to get her teacher, Ms. Delani, to notice her without Ingrid. This journey plays in with Caitlin befriending Taylor and feeling things she thought she'd never feel after Ingrid's death. Their relationship is beautiful and even though Caitlin tries to push him away, he constantly waits for her, knowing she'll need him when she falls. There were particular moments that penetrated through my skin as the perfect metaphors for grief. Caitlin builds a treehouse, a project she puts all her time into and doesn't stop until it's done and perfected. And through Ingrid's journal, we delve into their friendship and her mind and remember that not everything is perfect, not everybody is happy and fine and no one is who they say they are. Her journal entries were beautiful and they helped Caitlin get to a point where she didn't need them anymore.

There's something about suicide books that draw me in. Maybe it's the spotlight on a mental illness that gets a bad rep, or it's because authors do such an amazing job at capturing a moment of grief that will never go away. Suicide stays with us forever, as all death does, especially when a teenager must face it. If these books, any books about suicide, help just one person realize their life is worth living, than the author has accomplished something. LaCour captured this darkly and poignantly and she will continue to be a must read for me from now on.

"The sun stopped shining for me is all. The whole story is: I am sad. I am sad all the time and the sadness is so heavy that I can't get away from it. Not ever."

Review: Everything Leads to You

Everything Leads to You
Author: Nina LaCour
Published: May 15, 2014
Hardcover, 307 pages
5 Gold Stars

(summary from Goodreads)

A wunderkind set designer, Emi has already started to find her way in the competitive Hollywood film world.

Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamourous past, and lives an unconventional life. She's enigmatic... She's beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi's understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance. 

Emi's brother wants her to do something meaningful this summer while he's out of the country and she's living in his apartment. Emi has no clue what he means, but when she finds a mysterious letter at the house of an old celebrity, she's suddenly on a mission to get the letter to its rightful owner. Working in the movies allows her more access than others, but nothing prepares her for what she'll find when she meets his granddaughter, Ava, a girl who knows nothing about her connection to Hollywood royalty. Emi is quickly infatuated with Ava, especially since her heart has been through a rough time after getting dumped by her girlfriend. With Hollywood as the backdrop and beautiful sets and movie productions all over, this book has a quiet romantic quality of old movies and made me want to be part of the film world so badly. LaCour captures the beauty of filmmaking and the romance of new love while trying to get past the hurt of old ones. 

Emi is a wonderful character. She's an intern at a movie company, a job she mostly got because of her ex but one she wants to prove herself at nonetheless. She has tons of ideas of her own and wants desperately to design her own sets. I loved reading her thoughts as she tried to find the perfect additions to the room she was designing for a movie. I fell in love with the movies just like she did and starting daydreaming about being a set designer as well. A lot of things come her way because of the people she knows, like the independent movie that she becomes head designer on, but she works her ass off and knows what she's doing. It's nice to read a book about someone who has a lot of potential and is getting things handed to her but she never acts like she's above it all. She does it because she loves it and she just happens to be good at it as well. Yes, at times I wish I had her life or those kind of opportunities, but I loved reading about it anyway without jealousy. Ava hasn't lived a good life and when she finds out she's the granddaughter of a Hollywood legend, it takes her some time to come around. She's sweet and thoughtful and it's no wonder Emi falls head over heels for her. Her journey is just as intense as Emi's and they go through it together. Their love story is truly realistic and well played out and everything about it was so romantic. LaCour writes beautifully, using the perfect words for perfect moments and I fell just as in love with her words as I did with her characters.

Emi is a lesbian. She likes girls and we find this out right away when we meet her ex, Morgan. But that has no matter to the story at all and I loved that about this book. She is already out of the closet, every accepts her for who she is and she is dealing with a break up just like anyone else. At no point in the story did her sexuality play any sort of part. It was wonderful to read a book about a lesbian character where the plot was not about her sexuality. I fell in love with Ava along side her and the moment they kissed it felt like any other kiss I've read about. Kudos to LaCour for bringing that part of the world into YA without preaching about it. 

This book was pure magic. The beauty of the movie world and the intenseness that goes along with it filled this book to the brim with enchantment and mystery. A beautiful book for anyone who loves movies, romance, and a bit of mystery. LaCour is a beautiful writer and I can't wait to read what's next from her.

“The best things aren't perfectly constructed. They aren't illusions. they aren't larger than life. They are life.” 

Review: The Disenchantments

The Disenchantments
Author: Nina LaCour
Published: April 18, 2013
Paperback, 307 pages
4 Gold Stars

(summary from Goodreads)

Colby and Bev have a long-standing pact: graduate, hit the road with Bev's band, and then spend the year wandering around Europe. But moments after the tour kicks off, Bev makes a shocking announcement: she's abandoning their plans - and Colby - to start college in the fall.

But the show must go on and The Disenchantments weave through the Pacific Northwest, playing in small towns and dingy venues, while roadie- Colby struggles to deal with Bev's already-growing distance and the most important question of all: what's next?

To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book. In fact, I must not have read the back cover very well because I didn't even realize the narrator was a male until I read the first page. I knew there'd be music, some drama, and hopefully some laughs, and I was mostly right, though none of it was the way I expected it to be, which turned out to be perfect.

Colby and Bev's relationship is one of a kind. She's this gorgeous girl who fronts a girl band. She makes out with random people and she likes to live life as freely as possible. Colby likes routine, like schedules and plans. So when Bev tells him that she's going to college in the fall instead of taking off to Europe with him like they'd planned, Colby doesn't know how to process this information. He's furious, for good reason, and she's told him while they're on the road with her band, The Disenchantments, on the final tour before everyone's life changes. Watching all this unfold through Colby's eyes gives this story that different edge that it needed. If this were narrated by Bev, I don't think it would have struck readers as much. 

What I loved most was that this played out like a John Green novel. He's one of my favourite authors and his characters have a way of sticking with you long after the last page. They are funny and multi-dimensional and his plots are unlike anything out there. LaCour has the same spirit as Green. Her characters jump off the page and not just because they all have such different looks. They are each so strong in their own ways and the minor characters we meet throughout the story hit you as hard as the mains. This is a road trip book, which Green does so well, that never bores. Each night the band plays a different venue, each more random than the last. The band is not very good which made me laugh since the band is everything to them. I love that they kind of suck, it's much more realistic that way. Garage bands are just about the music, and boy did these girls love the music.

The small things that happened are what made me love this book. Meg's tattoo, the lost amp, the graffiti, Colby's art and Bev's carvings. This book was full from beginning to end. Each new town brought new characters, new challenges, and moments where I wasn't sure if Colby and Bev would make it through the trip together. Colby's voice put me right in the van with these girls, the pain he felt every time he looked at Bev and knew he couldn't have her. The longing in his voice whenever he spoke to his parents. The need to leave his mark on the world, and the familiar feeling of not knowing what you'll be doing with your life when everyone around has it all planned out. This book hit that area after high school and before the rest of your life right on the head. We all feel lost when we graduate from what we know. Some people go off to school, others take a year off, and then there are those that just want to see the world and escape real life fir awhile. Plans change, people change, and all you can do is try to keep going, try to make new plans and love the people anyway. This book captured every feeling I felt when school ended, and I love how it all played out. This was not a typical love story, it was about friends who have changed without each other knowing it, and dealing with what comes next. Beautiful writing and wonderful characters made this a heartwarming read that made me glad it wasn't the comedy I thought it would be.

“Searching, always. And yes, we all are, or soon will be, disenchanted, I still want to know it all: the heartbreak, the fear, the friendship, the anger, the love. All of it.”