A great addition to the YOU series. The book had a different feel to it than the previous two but equally enjoyable.

Love this next installment. Joe is such a character, he's obviously not a great guy but you can't help but feel a bit sorry for him. its very interesting to see what he does next!

As a fan of the You series and the Netflix show, I was surprised and excited to read the third installation. While it seemed very repetitive and follows the formula of the other two books, it was still fun to get in Joe deranged head for another romantic escapade in a new location with a new, unsuspecting victim. As usual, there were obstacles along the way involving the love interest's best friend, husband, etc. but Joe manages to navigate them all. The drama picked up as the book continued with many twists, turns, and surprising reveals along the way. I am curious if the third season of the show will reflect this storyline. Readers who previously enjoyed You and Hidden Bodies would most likely devour this latest book.

This book really took me a long time to read, not only because it is very lengthy, but it just had a lot of pacing issues and was all over the place with plot holes and just “you must suspend disbelief” x 10 scenarios over and over again.

While I still think that Caroline Kepnes is an incredible writer, this book could have been much shorter and tighter; some of the scenes just dragged out on and on and spoiler alert, once a certain death occurred at the halfway mark, the book went downhill after that quickly.

I wasn’t satisfied with the ending/epilogue at all......but yet, after all the negatives, and the fact that I was setting the book down constantly every night, I kept wanting to know what happened because Joe Goldberg is that fascinating of a main character. Kepnes truly has something remarkable there, and his point of view is just so interesting to read, thankfully this book is back in second person, a fix from how she wrote Hidden Bodies.

Overall, my opinion is that while she still has not been able to rekindle that magic that Joe and Beck had from Book One, the You series is still compulsively readable and when the 4th book is released I look forward to it.

3.5 ⭐️

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

This book was by far the best one in the series! I have watched each season of "YOU" which caused me to want to read the first book, which then of course I had to read the second book. I don't want to give any spoilers away so all in going to say is that this one is shocking, entertaining, twisty and WOW!!

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the advance ecopy.

I read You seven years ago, and gave it four stars. I read Hidden Bodies four years ago, and gave it three stars. I'm, unfortunately, giving You Love Me two stars.

Were all the books like this one? Joe's constant, rambling stream of consciousness? I don't remember the internal dialogue being quite so dense in the earlier works as it was in this latest offering from Caroline Kepnes. I also don't remember Joe being so...annoying.

When I picked my Kindle up, this wasn't a story I was inclined to binge read. Joe's constant labeling of the other characters as "rat," or "meerkat," or "mothballs," became altogether tiresome...just like his constant referencing of the characters who died in the previous novels with an RIP before their names. Cute and quirky at first...and then grating. And dude, please quit calling a specific lady bit a "lemonhead." Just...ewww.

I also found this book to be quite slow. This was not a psychological thriller so much as a domestic drama. And I won't even get into all the implausibilities, because my review would be twenty paragraphs long.

The conclusion...ye Gods. Really? Endless pages of rambling dialogue...and for that? Are you kidding me right now, Caroline Kepnes? Suffice it to say, I expected more. This book was a disappointment for me on just about every level. Nothing worked. Everything seemed overly contrived and, frankly, quite silly.

I won't be recommending this one. Hopefully the screenwriters for the show are able to salvage this mess.

Available April 6, 2021

Despite my lackluster review, I'd like to thank to Random House and NetGalley for my review copy.

Summary:

Joe Goldberg has now moved to a small island in the Pacific Northwest, and he’s ready to move on from his past escapades and move on from Love.

Once he starts working at the local library, of course he meets a woman he becomes obsessed with. Enter Mary Kaye………..

Mary Kaye is a librarian who has a teenage daughter. Joe doesn’t want to go back to his old ways……but maybe Mary Kaye can be his future!

My Thoughts:

I sometimes feel like Joe is like Michael Scott on a much more violent level. He does things that just make you cringe. You know he’s going to get himself into trouble again before it happens. I just want to yell at Joe and tell him to stop, but he just keeps on doing the same things!

I enjoyed this one more than the second book. It is wild and crazy, and Joe will continue to make you cringe and look away. But it’s Joe……and you won’t look away because secretly the readers want Joe to find happiness and stop making stupid decisions that lead to horrible situations. Joe just gets himself twisted and entwined in the craziest scenarios yet again in this third book!

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader’s copy of You Love Me!

This book will be available on April 6, 2021.

I was delighted to see a third installment in the You series by Caroline Kepnes. Psychotic stalker Joe Goldberg returns with, as always, the best of intentions. Has he learned anything from Love? Has having a child and being imprisoned changed him? When he meets his new "the One" you have to root for him to finally be the sweet, caring guy he imagines he is. Will he succeed? Read to find out.

Within the first couple minutes, this book had me grinning and shaking my head. Oh Joe, will you ever learn?! I love being in his delusional, psychotic, yet somehow romantic mind. He’s everyone’s favorite self proclaimed victim and in denial victimizer.

In the third book of the YOU series, Joe is out of jail and ready to mingle again. He’s done with the complications of RIP Beck, has no time to worry about RIP Peaches anymore, and is over Love.

This time he is trying to be “good” and has his sights and heart set on a hot Mom/Librarian, who also happens to be his boss, named Mary Kay. Will she be able to resist his charms?

In true Joe Goldberg fashion, death continues to follow him everywhere as he spins an internal narrative of what those around him are thinking. I just wanted to shout into the book and tell Mary Kay to RUN far away.

This is truly one of the most entertaining, yet disturbing, book series ever. It’s wild, every time. How can someone have such distorted perceptions of reality? I don’t know, but I can never look away from the pages. I enjoyed it and think fans of the first two novels and of the YOU Netflix show will be stoked about this one.

The only thing missing from book 3 was that Santino Fontana wasn’t reading it to me via audio, and I missed his narration. I’m FOR SURE getting the audio when it comes out if he’s on it. Crossing my fingers for a book 4! 🤞🏻
4.5/5 stars rounded up to 5 for the review

Joe Goldberg is back and he's turned over a new leaf. After a few months locked up, he's ready to change. He's left behind cities, posers, and love. Joe's ready to enjoy nature and rekindle his love of books. After anchoring a volunteer position at the local library, Joe sees her: Mary Kay DiMarco. No matter how much Mary Kay wants Joe, however, he will restrain and win her over the old fashioned way. There will be no stalking and no games.
Unfortunately for Joe, Mary Kay already has a life. She has friends, a career as the island's librarian, and a daughter. Joe is determined to have a family himself, no matter the cost. Will his new behaviors grant all his wishes or will he succumb to old demons?
I'll admit, I was a little lost as I started this book because I tend to get the show and the books a little confused (especially since the second season and Hidden Bodies differed quite a bit). Due to this, I would actually recommend rereading the second book or refreshing yourself because it will help keep the story straight. Personally, I would have appreciated a little blurb of "what happened before," especially because Joe's narrative is so disjointed as is.
Despite this, I found it really easy to get back into the story. Over a year later, I found myself falling for Joe's delusions. In fact, I thought they were even more well done in this book than the previous two. Perhaps it's because I've finally comprehended his delusions and unreliability as a narrator. I found myself second-guessing his version of events, but I also found myself falling his delusions. There were times where I didn't see Mary Kay as a victim and instead saw her as annoying, just as I did with Beck and Love. I think this is the genius of Kepnes' writing. As a reader, we know Joe is bad, but we also want to love him. We want Joe to be good.
I have to say, I liked this one better than the other two. I think part of the reason is that Joe's voice was still there, but it was much less vulgar. He seemed almost less psychotic in this one, which made it more... enticing. I kept waiting for the moment he would turn. The moment it would all be revealed a sham. I'll admit, for a fifty or so pages I got a little bored with "good" Joe. Luckily, the last 100 pages made the wait well worth it!
I want to keep this review devoid of spoilers, so I can't say much; however, there are some plot twists that were absolutely wild that last 100 pages. I did not see that ending coming! I couldn't put it down at the end! The twists and turns made the "boring" parts well worth it. While I loved this book, I'm very interested to see where the TV show takes it and if my reading was correct in the sense that I trust Joe... All in all, Kepnes did not disappoint!

I originally requested this because I was so obsessed with the series that I was curious as to what would happen next for Joe. I read the first in the series but skipped Hidden Bodies. I wasn't a huge fan of You the book so I should've known I wouldn't love this text either. The storyline feels repetitive and Joe is obnoxious. I read about 70% of the novel and decided I was no longer interested in the ending. The story just isn't believable and I don't feel invested in the characters' stories.

Joe is back. The Quinn family has forced him out and away from his son, but Joe has always been quick to move on and finding Mary Kaye, he knows he needs to make her his family. He just needs to get her overbearing friend, oh and her dud of a husband out of the picture…

Caroline Kepnes has a true gift. She can write this totally messed up, murdering character, yet I still find myself rooting for him to find love. I am reading about him messing with Melanda and Phil, and I get it. They both did really suck, but I still shouldn’t be rooting for Joe here!! The ending of this one had my mouth dropping open in shock. As always, this series keeps me on my toes!

I'm hesitant to say I didn't like this because I love Joe so so much but.. I did not like this...

First and foremost, Joe did not kill anyone this e n t i r e book. Maybe that's supposed to be character development? But not the character development I'm looking for when I'm reading a book about my favorite serial killer book boyfriend. This was like a sad, boring version of book one, but replace all the characters with someone else, add a possible step-kid and a Whisper Room instead of the Cage. I didn't even highlight that many lines, which is so sad because I love Joe's demented sociopathic thoughts.

Really... I don't know why this book was written. When we ended Hidden Bodies, Joe was happy, in love with Love and expecting a baby. Yeah, there was a major hiccup, but I was excited to see how Joe would manipulate his way out of it, and start his life with his equally psycho love, Love. As one will quickly finds out, nearly within the first chapter, we do not see any of this. Love is gone, one knows this from the blurb, and her relationship with Joe/their child and Joe's time in the "injustice system" are vaguely mention throughout the book but never truly developed. This was extremely frustrating and made it so hard for me to get into the story, as I kept wondering what had happened to Joe in jail and with "the love of his life". It's true the Love is f i n a l l y revealed and I just... literally still do not understand why they didn't stay together. Their confrontation was confusing and just... ridiculous and their whole breakup seemed completely out of character, as well as Joe's reaction to her, as we know that Joe literally loves people to death. Joe was done dirty in this book, but Love was done even worse. To me if felt like their romance was ended strictly so another book could be written.

Which then brings me to the plot of You Love Me, which I'm sad to say bored me nearly to tears. I know I said it once, but I will say it one hundred thousand times, I LOVE JOE. He is one of my favorite characters, I love being in his head, his inner monologue, the way he sees the world and twists things to fit his narrative. I was so happy to be back in his head, his voice and presents was as captivating and sinuous as always, that being said, even my love for Joe couldn't save me from constantly checking to see when this book was over. It felt like forever and a day for any kind of climax and then when there was one (I'm looking at you, Centipede, Champagne Bubble Bath Enthusiast, and Mad Hunter), they felt so.. god, cheesy and ridiculous. Especially the hunter one, it was like a bad horror movie.

My main thought when it comes to this book is: why was this written? It really feels like this story had no point. I mean, yes Joe continues to look for love in all the wrong places but... I thought he had already found that at the end of Hidden Bodies?! This just felt so unnecessary.

Unsurprisingly, the end of You Love Me has the perfect set up for the fourth, and I think final, book in this series. I really hope Joe gets the story, and love, he deserves in the final installment, murders, cages and all, because this definitely wasn't it. Joe deserved better.

Poor Joe!! He so badly wants to be happy, he tries so hard he was so close I thought for sure he would get the girl and keep her. I wonder if this ending will continue to a real ending.

Joe lovers, don't kill me for this rating... I absolutely loved You, and Hidden Bodies was a fun sequel where I felt like Joe didn't particularly feel like *him* and if I'm being completely honest, and after much thought, I preferred the season two of the adaptation better than the read. BUT, I also knew I had to continue the series so here I am. I couldn't help myself and read this one as soon as it showed up on my doorstep.
Unfortunately, it was fun to be in Joe's head for only a few minutes. I enjoy his inner monologue that weirdly makes sense, even in his own twisted way. But it seemed to take forever to get to any *fun* part of this read. A lot of back and forth and repetition and well, it's exactly what you would expect. More Joe doing what Joe does... in a new town, reminiscing over Love and Forty while concentrating on the new *love of his life*. You can probably figure out what's going to happen because it's basically the same story in a new spot with a new woman and new people getting in the way. I was hoping it would go completely sideways and kept waiting for that shoe to drop but instead... whatever dropped, I wasn't picking up.

Listen, you cannot take away the sheer brilliance that is Kepnes and the way she brings you a story. She's truly talented and I will read whatever she puts out there. And yes, most likely will pick up the next in this series, if there is one. Joe is like that ex-boyfriend you just can't shake, even when you start to think he's tired and not worth it. If you're a fan of his and love being in his head, you're gonna love this read.

You Love Me by Caroline Kepnes, the third installment of the You series (turned popular Netflix show), creepy/amusing narrator Joe Goldeberg is back and an as menacing as ever. He's recently moved to a small island off the coast of Washington State, living a quiet life, and trying to behave himself. That is until he meets a new "perfect" woman to psycho-stalk. I didn't think You Love Me lived up to the first book by any means, but like the second installment (Hidden Bodies) most chapters end with jaw dropping cliff hangers that force the reader to keep turning the pages. It's more of the same, and that's enough for me. You Love Me will be released in April.

It can be hard to keep a series going, but I was excited for book three of the You saga. Hidden Bodies left off with Joe in jail, Love was carrying his baby, and her family was working hard to prove his innocence as he waited behind bars. I was excited about this turn of events and was looking forward to a courthouse drama all from the hilarious perspective of Joe. But that’s not what You Love Me is at all.

The third book starts off with Joe in the Pacific Northwest, starting a new volunteer job as a librarian, and already pining over his boss, Mary Kay. Right away I was taken aback. How did Joe get away with double murder? Where was Love? What about their baby? We get some answers, but we never really get the specifics of how Joe got to walk out of prison. I guess we have to assume the evidence was only circumstantial, but I was disappointed that we didn’t get any courtroom action.

And apparently Love went from being in love to being repulsed by Joe and forced him to sign a contract to stay away from her and their son. We do eventually get some more insight into the fall of their relationship, but it was not what I was expecting at all. So after adapting from the whiplash of Joe already obsessing over another woman, I settled into this new story.

Joe is determined to be a good guy. He doesn’t want to stalk or kill anyone. But of course there are temptations. I thought for sure Joe was going to slip back to his old ways, but again this story surprised me and didn’t go exactly as I thought it would. My criticism here is that the Joe in this book and the Joe from book two are worlds apart from each other. I kept waiting for him to go psycho but he mostly remains an actual good guy. Certainly he has his slips, but really amateur stuff compared to the other books.

Although it was hard to adapt to this new character journey, I still found Joe and his stream of consciousness hilarious. Despite getting a little soap opera-ish, the story kept me reading until the end and for a third installment, I really still did enjoy reading about Joe Goldberg. The ending is left with the possibility of a continuation so I look forward to what Kepnes will do next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC of this book.

Kepnes has such a knack for creating flawed characters that we are compelled to follow down the rabbit hole. The suspense! After three books, Joe Goldberg and his journey still feel fresh and exciting, with new twists and situations you wouldn't imagine. You will find yourself rooting for him while also yelling at everyone around him to watch out.

Joe Goldberg is back! After leaving LA (and the damn angelenos), Joe is ready to make a fresh start on cozy island in the Pacific Northwest, it's own personal Cedar Cove. He's done with the drama and posers and mess in Los Angeles. He is done with the Quinns. For the most part... he's still keeping up on Instagram. He has a son after all. But while Joe may be done with Love Quinn, Joe is definitely not done with love.

Enter Mary Kay DiMarco, librarian.

This time around, Joe is a changed man. He's not going to obsess, he wont meddle (unless absolutely necessary, of course). And he is definitely not killing anyone this time. Joe has a past sure, but he's ready to put that behind him for love. However, Mary Kay has her own issues, her own skeleton's in the closet, and those skeletons continue to stand in the way their fated romance. While Joe tries to be good, to win her own the old fashioned way (wearing the sweater she likes, befriending her friends, occasionally following her around to to coordinate an accidental meet-up...) sometimes those skeletons in the closet can cause a big mess.

Fast-paced, twisty, hold your breath till the end of the novel suspense. YOU LOVE ME proves Joe still has a lot of tricks up his sleeve, and Caronline Kepnes continues to thrill us.

Just as anticipating as the prior book and I cannot wait for this to be put into a show!! witty and clever