You Knew Me When was not what I had anticipated. Instead of characters whom I could emulate, I found the main character to represent everything I despise: superficiality, materialism, and an apparently unapologetic attitude for the past from which she's spun away on her four inch heels. Yet there was a certain rawness to her which drew me in, wanting to discover what had caused her pain. What had caused the obvious way she was covering up perceived flaws with external measures? For everyone who wears them will find out sooner or later that Manolo Blahnik shoes and Donna Karan black wool dresses can only fix so much.
Kitty, who later named herself Katherine, became Laney's best friend the day that Kitty and her father moved to Laney's neighborhood in Vermont. It seems a bit unrealistic to me that an 11 year old girl can be so determined to make "the new girl" her best friend, but perhaps that's because my experience with 11 year old girls has involved more manipulation than friendship. It also seems unrealistic that they could develop a master plan which involved doing everything together, apparently forever. Thrown into this mix is Luella, the wealthy woman who lived between the two girls' houses, and has practically adopted one of them in particular as her own.
When Luella dies, her will declares that both Katherine and Laney will inherit half of a million dollars if they will work together to sort out Luella's estate. The two women have been estranged for over a decade, and the reasons why are slowly disclosed between chapters which alternate between their past and current lives. At first, their reunion is exceedingly rough. And then, as warmth re-develops between them, the reader feels a certain empathy for the choices they made long ago, along with a desire to sort out one's own past foibles.
There are certainly fairy tale qualities here, in the equivalent of a prince, a stepmother figure, and enmity between two "sisters". They are cast into the 21st century, to be sure, but if it's happily ever after that you seek, you won't be disappointed in their tale.
Thank you to Penguin who sent me this novel for review.
A limited edition nail polish trio based on the novel by Emily Liebert has been introduced by Zoya. It includes a fabulous black color named Laney Marten, a burgandy purple named Luella Hancock, and a gorgeous scarlet named Katherine Hill. So fun!
