This is one of my most anticipated releases of 2021 and thank you so much to both Netgalley and Random House for the gift advance copy of You Love Me. I also want to say I am truly sorry for the delay of this review. This lateness is no reflection on how good or bad this book is. I have just had a few months where I haven’t wanted to do anything but read sleep repeat.

I first off want to say I am a major fan of Joe Goldberg and the YOU series. I love the character that is Joe. (don’t judge me I know he is nuts.) there is just something so captivating in the way this author describes this crazy man and the women that come across him.

I read You and Hidden Bodies again to prepare myself for book three and I am really glad I did. Once the story finishes in Hidden Bodies, I am instantly wanting to know how Joe and Love's story continues. This book takes you in a completely different direction than what's expected, and I think I really enjoyed that the most. I wasn't expecting Joe to fall for someone else and I certainly wasn't expecting that person to be in the predicament she was in.

Although the fact that this other person loves books is a complete added plus to this read. I will say I missed a bit of Joe in this book considering that I felt like this book was very tame in who he was in book one and two. That being said will people die in this book? Will we get a crazy obsessive Joe? Yes and kind of. There are parts you will find that the old Joe shines and it is great and there are parts where he tries to be tame and normal and it is just weird. I know this review is a bit tame and lacks detail but it is truly something you should experience on your own if you are a fan of the series. I will give it three stars because it was good but I can’t go any higher then that because I just needed a bit more crazy Joe and a little less attempt at normal. Will I continue the series if it continues? Yes, I would I would even love to see a different series from her. I will say that if you haven’t read the first two books start there. They are worth it.



( )

This series helped get me out of a reading slump. I usually read the book before watching the tv show or movie but I watched the first 2 seasons of the show before reading the book. I enjoyed both and I like how they have some similarities but also a lot of differences. ( )

This was a little slower to the action than the earlier books. Overall it is ok, but it is easy to get lost because Joe's voice seems scattered and even more delusional than in the past..his "bad luck" also seems to always turn into good luck a little too often to be believable ( )

I was super excited for You Love Me, and not because YOU is a show on Netflix, though I do think Penn Badgley perfectly embodies Joe Goldberg, but because Caroline Kepnes hooked me with this flawed-but-brilliant, kind-of-romantic-but-passively-homicidal character. He’s one of a kind, and the author gives us a look deep inside his head with her choice in POV. It’s easy to see how Joe identifies as “good,” in particular in this latest novel where he’s been let off a hefty legal hook.

Fixated on a fictional Cedar Cove, Joe is let out of jail and unleashed onto the island of Bainbridge, where he promises to do everything right this time. He volunteers at the local library and because Joe is no one without his muse, he falls for librarian Mary Kay Dimarco. I am not going to spoil anything here, but she is the perfect next future Mrs. Goldberg. A departure from RIP Beck and Love Quinn, and I really did love about two-thirds of this book.

Uh-oh you say? This is a fun read. Compelling enough that I shelved Behind Her Eyes for it on more than one occasion. I know “romance” is all about the happily ever after, and dang if I wasn’t almost rooting for it (even though, if you know Joe Goldberg, you know it’s the unlikeliest thing ever), but… I think by the time woodland creatures were being indiscriminately dispatched, I had had enough sidetracks. Oliver. Ivan. I know that characters have to endure stuff, but at some point, it felt more like filler than genuine character building and led to an ending that well, wasn’t what I was hoping for. I’ll leave it at that.

You Love Me was still a fun ride and Joe is a staple. Familiar. Predictable? You’d think so after seeing him through so many relationships, but this one is a bit different. Joe’s gone soft, and maybe just a bit too much so. His thought, but mine too. Maybe it’s okay for him to be vulnerable, because I think when/if he comes back, he’ll have learned a valuable lesson about underestimating those around him. ( )

Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing and Caroline Kepnes for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest book review of You Love Me. My thoughts and opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

Oh Joe! How I’ve missed you! Did you miss me too? This is the third in the series “You” and Joe is up to his old antics again. Try as he might, he just can’t seem to stay on the straight and narrow. This time Joe has relocated to from LA to a small quaint town where he falls for the local librarian. He promises he just wants to help her, he’s not going to obsess over, but he just can’t help himself. Mary Kay has a boyfriend and although Joe knows that he would be the best boyfriend, he says he wants to win her the right way. He’s going to be so amazing that she just can’t help herself and will fall in love with him.

Well, nothing turns out like he thinks, ever. Before you know it, he is stalking her, gets caught, then has to start covering things up. If you’ve read the other two books in the series, you’ll know where this is headed. I know people were disappointed in this book, but I wasn’t. This is exactly what I wanted. There were twists and turns and hole Joe digs for himself only gets deeper, but what do people expect? That’s what I love about the You books. I mean, do you go on a rollercoaster and say wow that was boring it just went up and down and all around! The insight into Joe looking at his child on instagram was sad and my heart did go out to him a bit.

So join Joe for his completely bad decision making skills and find out if Mary Kay can survive his love. I was there for all of it and will be waiting for Season 3 on Netflix. ( )