Let me start this off by saying, if you're looking for the magic of You and Hidden Bodies , you won't find it here.

It started off good. I was intrigued, enraptured even. I was dying to find out what happen to poor Jon and how Chloe was going to cope with his disappearance even though I didn't feel her sincere loyalty for him in the beginning. It seemed like she was really struggling..and then...FOUR YEARS LATER. FOUR. With very little development, descriptions, or anything of substance happening in between. Just BAM. Time warp.

Okay, fine. I can deal with that. Then? He's back. A thing or two happens.... and then a year later.

This book is basically a bunch of ramblings and time warps. There is very little actual dialogue past a few lines here and there. It reminded me a lot of J.K. Rowling's Casual Vacancy in that it was wordy and we were described conversations, but not shown the actual conversations. It was so frustrating.

Simply put, it was just boring. All of it was meaningless, pointless, back and forth with no development whatsoever. Even the climax of the book was anticlimactic and the epilogue just made the entire book feel even more pointless.

I am so, so, so disappointed in this book. When I saw this on NetGalley I was like OH MAN! Sign me up! I hate leaving authors I love terrible reviews, but I am required by the law of NetGalley to do so.

Unpopular opinion here and it pains me to say this, but I did not like this book at all. The big clue for me in the blurb should have been "an uncontrollable power that endangers.." and I ignored it. After that part of the story came into play my interest immediately faded. The book did start off great - two young friends at that awkward age are dancing around the feelings they have for one another then the boy is kidnapped and everyone who cares about him is thrown into turmoil. But as time went on I realized I didn't love these characters, I didn't like them nor did I hate them. I just didn't care about them. I didn't connect with any of them and I didn't get any depth from them. It was a boring story, full of nothing. I felt like I was reading forever and only made it to 52% before I skipped (it wasn't even worth a skim through) right to the epilogue which was just as boring and unsatisfying as everything that came before it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So many thoughts. Please bear with me . . . .

The basics of Providence is that it is about a boy who disappeared and returned four years later . . . different than he was before. It becomes his mission over the years to “fix” himself of this change in order to be with the girl he has always loved. In addition to that story is one that runs parallel about a detective trying to figure out what really caused a series of death by heart attack in various young/healthy people and the wife who is trying her best to keep their marriage intact.

First things first, it goes without saying that I read this wrong. A handful of reviewers received copies before Providence even went on NetGalley and they all creamed their collective jeans over it. Maybe some of my fellow wrong-readers will be joining me in short order, but for now I will occupy the corner of shame all by my lonesome.

I’d like to say my “meh” reaction had nothing to do with The Books of Joe, but that would be bullshit. I mean, if I hadn’t fallen head-over-heels in love with Joe and instead had thought he was uggo and 1-Starred his stories I obviously would not have been running people over in order to obtain an advanced copy of this book. I also wouldn’t have had such high (or perhaps unrealistic) expectations for this book.

I’d love to be able to say that I didn’t feel like I was missing anything by not being a Lovecraft superfan, but that would also be total bullshit. Part of Kepnes’ charm is that she is willing to go balls out with pop culture references and clearly gives not one rip if these contributions will date her books in the future. My knowledge of all things Lenny Feder, familiarity with a little more than just the basics regarding Jon’s dilemma that "with great power comes great responsibility," and an obsession with The Boss so extreme as soon as a mere song title was mentioned his voice started singing oh so relevant lyrics in my head . . .

♪♫♪“Sometimes it’s like someone took a knife baby edgy and dull and cut a six inch valley through the middle of my soul . . .” ♪♫♪

Definitely added to my reading experience. But it was because of my brain’s complete worthlessness except when it comes to trivia questions that I felt a glaring hole of stupidity and inability to truly “get it” when it came to references regarding I Am Providence and all the secrets that may be (are probably) contained within the pages of The Dunwich Horror - a book I have never read.

And worst of all was that I was really into this story at the beginning. I was smitten with little Jon, the outsider, and was enthralled with both his disappearance and reappearance. I was completely ready to fall in love with him as a man and form some freaky polygamist cult with him and Joe (and Eggs) as my brother husbands. The writing (which unfortunately I can’t quote because rules are rules when it comes to ARCs) was BRILLIANT – simply painted onto the page. But then?????? It got so boooooooooooooooooooooring. The knife-blade writing style that defines Kepnes’ voice became dull and nothing happened and there were still like nearly 300 pages left of the book and Chloe was a cardboard cutout of even more nothingness (and maybe she was supposed to be nothing, but she can’t have a voice and occupy so much narration time and be NOTHING FFS) and Eggs who was basically the amalgamation of every Bruce Willis playing the “old man” character you could ever imagine even lost his charm and I was like . . . . meh.

I don’t have the genetic makeup that allows me to “DNF” a book, so I can’t say that thought ever crossed my mind. I will say that this should never have taken me more than one sitting to read if I had liked it as much as Kepnes’ prior two novels and I definitely shouldn’t have found my mind wandering to other selections on my TBR and wondering if I should have read them before this. I have no choice but to be honest. I didn’t love this. I am very appreciative for the opportunity to read an advanced copy, I’m even more appreciative that Kepnes and/or her publisher is so generous and appear to be willing to offer copies to nearly everyone who requests them, I’ll absolutely read the next thing she comes up with, but unfortunately for me Providence missed the mark.

2.5 Stars and I’m rounding up because I can’t in clear conscience round down. I can’t wait to see what my friends think. (As long as they leave their pitchforks and torches at home.)

Advanced copy provided in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!

Providence is an awesome read! I was super excited to be given an advanced copy. I have read other books by Caroline Kepnes, and this one is completely different than her other reads, but just as amazing.
Providence is a dark romantic thriller that will take you on a wild ride about love and loss.
I would recommend this book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

** hides from lynch mob **

2.5 stars rounded up. As much as it absolutely kills me to say, this just didn’t do it for me. And honestly, was it The Curse of Beloved Joe Goldberg that was the cause? Maybe. But, not in the way you might think! You and Hidden Bodies were wow books for me, so that instantly propelled Kepnes to my must read list, so I was extremely excited for this book, even though it was not more Joe. So maybe some of the reason I didn’t love this was my super high hopes but I think more of the reason was that I just didn’t love the story.

When I first heard there would be a paranormal aspect, I was a bit unsure how I felt given that this is outside my usual genre but it’s CAROLINE FREAKING KEPNES so I went with it. As I finished the last pages, I realized it wasn’t the paranormal aspect that led to me not loving the book but I just didn’t love any of the characters (except maybe Eggs) and the story was losing my interest.

So why 2.5 stars then? For the wonderful writing!!! The writing further cemented my notion that I will forever read anything and everything Kepnes writes in the future (I’d even read her grocery list) and I’ll just say, I hope her next book is more my style!

As kids, Jon and Chloe were inseparable, two halves of a whole. They could envision spending their lives together, but then Jon disappears. When he returns four years later, he’s different and has no memory of what happened during those four years. All he wants is to resume his relationship with Chloe, but if he becomes the person he was before, he risks destroying everyone he cares about. Jon feels he has no choice but to disappear again. Running alongside Jon and Chloe’s story is another plot about a detective in Providence, Rhode Island investigating the deaths of local college students. It would seem a serial killer was at work, but the reality is much more sinister…and mind bending. A little Stranger Things, maybe?

Firstly, I need to mention how very different this book is to Ms. Kepnes' previous books You and Hidden Bodies. So much so that I think peoples reactions to this are going to be all over the place. Where do I stand? I LOVED IT!!!!

Where You and Hidden Bodies were dysfunctional (putting it mildly) love stories this is a more of a classic love story. There is never a doubt that Jon and Chloe are in love and what they will do or won't do to preserve that love. Here's the thing....I don't do love stories. I don't do romance. However, sometimes a book just moves your soul and you can't help rooting for the characters. Jon, Chloe, Eggs, & Lo - I loved all of you. I wanted nothing more than for your happiness.

There is a strong Lovecraftian theme in this story but I don't think you need to be a Lovecraft fan to enjoy this. I've read some of his short stories years and years ago so truly my knowledge of him is quite limited but still I had no problem following along to this. I'm also not one for supernatural elements but Kepnes made it work for me here. Her writing is so evocative, so lovely....perfection. I commend her for going in such a different direction and making it work. Well done, indeed!

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Who has two thumbs and was super excited to find out Caroline Kepnes had a new book coming out? Yes, me. And to think I was initially so reluctant to even give her debut, You, a try, thought it might have bene overhyped. And then this just popped up on Netgalley and my request was generously granted the same day and it shoved all the other books to read down and had to be read right away. And, the verdict is…Kepnes still got it. And I mean that very particular sort of it she has, it is, in fact, a gimmick, one that can be seen plainly after reading her work for a while. Essentially there is a very specific sort of immediacy to her writing, it’s all these dynamic first person perspectives, short sentence structure enforced by repetitions and occasional contradictions/not contradictions, very intense stream of conscientious, every thought on the page sort of thing, engaging as a quicksand. The thing with gimmick, though, even a very good one, is that once it becomes obvious it can also get tiresome. This isn’t a complaint as such, Kepnes is a great storyteller, I’m just starting to question whether she can write something different or differently. If this is all there is…these hyper self aware tales of obsession, I’ll read them and have lots of fun doing so, but…but…more? Granted, in a way Providence is a departure for Kepnes and a most welcome one at that, a genre switch up almost, bringing in a supernatural element the title hints at, creating more conventionally likeable leads. It’s more of a traditional Romeo and Juliet impossibility of a love story. It’s also younger, from teens to mid 20s. Actually it’s just young, ages aside, and this may be just a personal preference situation, but Kepnes’ characters are exhaustingly young with exhaustingly impossibly young romantic standards. Love is grand and cupid shoots his arrows at everyone, but in Kepnes’ books these arrows are barbed and possibly poisonous. A certain amount of suspension of disbelief required going into this, particularly here on Chloe’s account, who is actually strangely infuriating for a love interest, at times. Because the writing isn’t just young with ages or magnificent resilience of the soul or a certain naiveté, it’s also very much a product of this hideous millennial generation with its self obsessed preening and social media and inability to make up their minds. Sounds like a lot of detractors and yet this was compulsively readable and very enjoyable. I’ve always been partial to super power themed stories and this is such an interesting twist, an unwelcome, terrible, isolating power. Although the main theme here once again is most definitely obsession. It’s the main motivator, the most potent of drivers, the most significant of impetuses. If this was a song it’s be that 80s track Obsession by Animotion, if it were a perfume, it’s be Calvin Klein’s Obsession, if it were a movie…well, one day it probably will be, although the title would probably remain. Kepnes does get a ton of mileage out of it, literally, geographically, metaphorically. One last thing (detractor to some, great for others) is that it didn’t seem like a definitive ending sort of story, more like part 1. Personally I prefer stand alones or series entries that read like one, but this definitely seems like something Kepnes isn’t finished with. Perfectly logical, she left herself a lot of threads to pick up and dark roads to venture down on (this can go as a direct part 2 or a mad scientist prequel (pretty please do this) or a thematic continuation (new characters new powers) )and, for all of these minor frustrations with the narrative, I’d most likely read the sequel as soon as it came across my Kindle, so that probably tells you all you need to know about this book. Quite critical for a favorable review, I know, but there it is. This book may be too hip to be great, but it’s definitely good and far too compelling and addicting to stay away from. Thanks Netgalley.