The price you pay for love: YOU LOVE ME.

You Love Me by Caroline Kepnes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A creepy but long-winded entry in the YOU series

Joe Goldberg has resolved to be a good guy. No more obsessions, no more killing to get what he wants. He's moving to the Pacific Northwest, he's going to work in a library (he has some experience with books, after all), and he's reformed. It's at the library where he meets her. Mary Kay DiMarco. A librarian. Beautiful, older. She's also a mother. She's busy and distracted. But Joe knows true love will prevail, because he's doing things the right way. With his undying love and friendship, Mary Kay will have no choice but to fall for him.

"And of course you couldn't help it. After all, you love me."

I was incredibly excited to hear there would be a third "Joe" book, because I can still remember reading the first, YOU. I was alone on a mini-vacation and spent the entire thing creeped out, feeling watched, thanks to how good Kepnes is at writing Joe and his obsessiveness. The good thing about YOU LOVE ME is that she still captures Joe's voice perfectly. He's just... Joe. Obsessed. Weird. Witty. Over the top.

(Stop reading if you don't want to know what happened in the first two books.)

In YOU LOVE ME, Joe is fleeing Love--not the concept, but the actual person, from book two. After his encounters with her, he's ready to be on the straight and narrow. He realizes he has no more chances, no more "get out of jail free" cards. Starting over in the Pacific Northwest is it.

So, while Joe is still his usual creepy self, he's slightly diminished. We don't get full-on stalk/kill Joe, and it's a little disappointing. I'm not going to lie: I want Joe to triumph over others. I like when Joe wins. And, sadly, I found myself not wanting to go back and pick this book up after I started it. I was so bummed! It was long, meandering, and all the twists seemed either odd and too convenient or just really strange. It dragged on, lacking the ominous tension of YOU.

I still rooted for Joe, of course. That's the talent Kepnes brings, making us cheer on the bad guy. But there was less "Joe versus evil" than "Joe versus annoying" in this read. Of course we wanted Joe to win--his foes were downright irritating.

Overall, this book still captures Joe's voice really well, but the actual story seems lacking. It's long and couldn't keep my full interest. Now, if there's a book four, will I still read it? Sure. 2.5 stars, rounded to 3 here, because there's always something about Joe.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Random House in return for an unbiased review.

Blog ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Instagram ~ PaperBackSwap ~ Smashbomb

View all my reviews

You look down to see a stranger's hands: PROVIDENCE.

Providence by Caroline Kepnes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


As kids, Jon and Chloe are best friends, even though she realizes that Jon is a little different from the other kids. Then one day Jon vanishes after taking a shortcut on his way to school. The town searches for him, but it's a bit halfhearted they must admit, as he is not one of the popular and beloved kids. But his absence strikes Chloe in the heart. She finds solace in her art and begins fitting in better at school, making more friends. Still, she cannot forget Jon or how much he meant to her. Imagine her shock when Jon turns up four years later, after escaping from a kidnapper, and revealing himself to be viral and strong--everything he wasn't before the kidnapping. He also quickly learns that he has a strange and uncontrollable power over people, especially when he's feeling strongly about something. This power drives Jon into seclusion, isolating him from his beloved Chloe. Jon begins to search for the truth about what has made him this way, while Chloe tries to figure out her place in the world, with or without Jon.

Well, this was an interesting one and nothing like what I expected. Obviously Kepnes is well-known for her novel, You, which is a story of love and obsession gone wrong. Supposedly many reviewers felt that this new book was a far twist from YOU, but I couldn't help but feel that parts of it reminded me of that novel, due to some of Jon's obsession and focus on Chloe. Still, I can understand that feeling, as PROVIDENCE also has a bit of an almost paranormal science fiction twist to it. That is a change. It requires a little suspension of disbelief, but once you go with it, the book is incredibly addictive and hard to put down. I read it in one day while on vacation, completely addicted to the strange and fascinating plot.

There's no denying that Kepnes can write, and you become immersed in her characters. I was intrigued by Jon and a bit by Chloe as well. I didn't adore them, but they were multi-faceted, and their dilemma unique. I'll admit that I didn't even know that Lovecraft--the author on whom Jon's situation is based--was real, so obviously all of those references went right over my head. Ha! I might have gotten into that scenario more if I knew the author, but the whole "turned you into a monster--or did I?" concept isn't exactly difficult to follow, and it's an interesting idea.

The novel is told from the points of view of Jon, Chloe, and a detective named Eggs. I enjoyed Eggs' perspective; he added a much-needed third viewpoint to the tale. Eggs is tracking Jon, but we also get a nuanced look at his relationship with his wife.

In the end, this is a weirdly fascinating novel that is hard to describe. I'm glad I read it, as I can't imagine not reading any of Kepnes' books, truly. It's a story of dysfunctional and potentially misguided love, but I enjoyed how you could feel Jon and Chloe's need for one another stretching and pulling across the pages. Kepnes is just so good at obsession and oddity (and love) that I couldn't stop reading. I enjoyed this one.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley/Librarything in return for an unbiased review (thank you!); it is available everywhere as of 06/19/2018.

Blog ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Google+ ~ Instagram



View all my reviews

Wish I could get it off my chest: HIDDEN BODIES.

Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


In the follow-up to the twisty You, Joe Goldberg is back. Our conflicted and confused protagonist, Joe, has a history of falling quickly in love, stalking, and... murder. In fact, he's left a string of hidden bodies in his wake: four of them. After a brief romance in his native New York ends, Joe decides to head to Los Angeles. There he finds a job in another bookstore, joins Facebook (for real this time), and meets a new girl. But Joe remains haunted by his past in New York. After all, secrets have a way of catching up with you. Joe thinks he may have found real romance this time, but will his past deeds prevent true happiness?

I absolutely loved the first novel in this series, YOU, which introduced us to Joe, who is far more messed up and "stalkerly" than the paragraph above belies (if you sort of gloss over the four bodies part). I read YOU while on vacation and basically tore through it in one day. It also had me looking over my shoulder for days, feeling watched: it was that good. Alas, for me, the follow-up, while good, didn't have that same sinister "can't put down" feel as the first. It's still an intriguing book, and it's interesting to learn more about Joe in his saga, but it just wasn't the same. It didn't quite capture the same desperate yet somehow loveable nature of Joe in the first novel for me. While I didn't want him to be caught (that's how good Kepnes is at writing him), I wasn't rooting for him quite as much. There was something a little off about his loveable nature that came across so well in YOU, even as he was literally burying bodies in that novel.

In fact, in Hollywood and L.A., Joe seems a little more normal, which is laughable, since he's obviously a serial killer. The book is told in that same sort of breathless rush of words (straight from Joe) as the first, but there were parts that dragged one for me. Lots of details about Hollywood, actors, etc. In this novel, Joe has a lot of drama due to his new girlfriend's family, particularly her brother. Also, while we feel his fear as his past crimes seem to be closing in on him, he somehow seems to be able to effortlessly commit new ones: it's sort of strange. Things that seemed more believable in the first book were harder for me to stomach in this one. I'm not exactly sure why.

Still, the entire saga of Joe is fascinating, I won't lie. I'm clearly in the minority--based on other reviews--in not completely loving this book, so if you liked YOU, you should definitely pick up HIDDEN BODIES. And I did enjoy it, I just didn't adore it the same way I liked YOU. I was certainly intrigued by parts of it and quite compelled to find out what happens to Joe. He's a character like no other in fiction, and I'd definitely read a third book to find out what happens to him.

You can read my review of the first novel in this series, YOU, here.


Goodreads ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Google+




View all my reviews

You're like a fever that I'm coming down with: YOU.

You by Caroline Kepnes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Joe Goldberg works in a bookstore in New York. One day, a gorgeous girl walks into his store, and Joe is immediately transfixed. She charms Joe in their brief encounter and so he searches for the name he saw when he swiped her credit card. He lucks out, easily finding Guinevere Beck all over the Internet. In fact, she seems to live a great deal of her life publicly on Facebook and Twitter, allowing Joe to digitally watch her from afar. But quickly, Joe begins to actually watch "Beck," as he learns she is called: hiding outside her apartment and eventually arranging a chance encounter. Beck and Joe's lives quickly become entwined, as Joe becomes more and more obsessed with his perfect girl. Beck thinks Joe could be the ideal boyfriend, and he's determined to be just that: no matter what it takes.

Oh my, I have some mixed feelings about this book, but ultimately wound up rating it 4 stars simply because I just couldn't put it down, and I don't think I will stop thinking about it anytime soon. I actually found myself feeling suspicious of other people during and after reading it, as if being watched -- that's how good Kepnes was at weaving her tale of stalking and obsession. Joe is a fascinating character, and you become almost immediately sucked into his delusions. The book is told from his point of view, and it's written as if he's speaking directly to Beck. Once you become used to that, it's compulsively readable.

This is not a book full of characters with whom you will love and empathize. Now I admit that there were times that Joe felt so normal that you forgot he's basically batshit insane, and sometimes Beck herself (the victim, you have to remind yourself) is pretty terrible, too. This is a book about awful people doing terrible things to everyone in their lives. It's dirty (Joe's brain is not a pretty place) and dark, so dark. It dragged a little bit for me about 3/4 through (it's a pretty long book), but picked up very quickly as it neared the end.

In the end, I found this book to be amazingly intense. I continued to have complicated feelings for Joe up until the last pages. The novel is certainly a warning about our digital age and how easy it is to have your digital footprint (and subsequent actual life) invaded. It's also a twisted story of obsession. It will keep you turning the pages late into the night (with the curtains CLOSED).



View all my reviews