Did Love change Joe? The third book in the You series seeks to answer this question. (It's worth noting that I actually shrieked "Oh My God!" when I learned I had gotten an early copy of this novel to review. Thanks so much to Random House for this treat! The book releases on April 6, 2021.)

Having moved to the outskirts of Seattle, our favorite love-struck psychopath Joe is smitten again -- with 90s grunge nostalgia, and also with a sexy librarian named Mary Kay. The beginning of the book immediately deals with the cliffhanger of Hidden Bodies in a hilarious and perfect way that I'm not going to spoil for anyone. But suffice it to say, on page 1, Joe is running loose again, and his twisted humor and obsession is still in top form. Joe has fully learned from his past mistakes, he assures us, and he's NEVER going to let love lead him to do such crazy things again. (Yeah, right. Raise your hand if you WANT to read a book about a better Joe?) Nonetheless, Joe diligently works to turn himself into the "Better Man" envisioned by Eddie Vedder in nearby Seattle, and he's just certain that the lovely Mary Kay will be the change he needs to grow into a mature relationship, certainly without murder. After all, the crime rate in his new small town is almost non-existent. What could go wrong?

Hahaha. Of course, when Joe is around, A LOT can go wrong. As always, getting inside Joe's head gives me FEELINGS. Most of these feelings are wickedly fun despite myself, as his narration continues to be hilarious and dark and sprinkled with literary references and charming rationalizations. I felt like the tone of this book changed a bit from the Joe we usually know. The style and theme of the narration this time was more Seattle meets American Psycho with even more stream of consciousness, thoughts on romantic comedies, Seattle grunge, popular culture, and Woody Allen. (Yep, Joe's Woody Allen obsession is still with us and it escalates in this book.)

I was fully entertained by the book, and would place it right behind the first book in the "You" canon — “Hidden Bodies" being my least favorite, "You" being the total classic. However, I promised to be honest in my review so let me say there are a couple of things in the book I didn't love as much as “You”: (1) In this book, Joe is painted more as a victim of circumstance. Some things are maybe "not his fault." Of course the reader will have to decide whether this is true, or just Joe's interpretation, but I felt this Joe was presented much more as the hapless victim at times, rather than an obvious psychopath who is rationalizing, as in the previous books. For me that made this a little less fun. It’s a little more like the TV show in this way. I prefer Joe as a straight up psycho. (2) A few of the new characters in this volume are just bananas with motivations and actions that don’t make logical sense. As an example, it’s not like I come to “You” for feminist theory (and I don’t require it, as a feminist AND a superfan of American Psycho), but the character of the strident feminist best friend in this book was a little on the nose and hard to swallow. Her motivations in a key scene or two were, to me, inexplicable. One or two of the other characters are similar. (3) This book had SO many twists — some of them were just fantastic and mind blowing. But some of them for me had no logic.

BUT (important but!) despite these nitpicks, most importantly, what really made this book a 4 star plus thrill for me, in addition to the always loveable (against all your best judgment!) psychopath Joe? I absolutely loved the character of Mary Kay. A much more complex and interesting gal than either Beck or Love, she is onto some aspects of Joe from the start and is much more difficult prey for him. Their relationship is complex and fun and interesting. Also, several of the twists are just spectacular and you’ll never see them coming. Readers who come to this book for over-the-top psycho fun are going to be absolutely thrilled and entertained by Joe’s latest antics. This is by far the most wild and nutty of all three books, which I think will delight many readers.

Kepnes is a fantastic writer and has created such a unique literary psychopath in Joe. I loved getting back into Joe’s twisted head and meeting his most fascinating and complex object of affection. Solid 4 plus stars for a thrilling, darkly humorous read. I cannot wait to read what Kepnes does next

Does love conquer all? Or does love knock Joe down again? Find out for yourself. This book is a must read for 2021.

Big big thanks to Random House, NetGalley and Caroline Kepnes for this awesome preview. My review is honest and my own.

First, thank you to both NetGalley and Random House for providing me an advance copy of Caroline Kepnes’s new novel, You Love Me, in exchange for an honest review.

You Love Me is the third installment in the Joe Goldberg series. According to an article I read somewhere online (still searching for the source), the author was inspired to write books three and four due to the widespread success of the TV show, “You”, which was adapted from the first two novels. After finishing the latest in the series, it pains me to say that maybe the author should stick to working on the TV show because it seems to have muddied the book material.

Both book one and two immediately suck the reader in with biting sarcasm and hilarious wit. I recall literally laughing out loud while reading the first chapter of book one. Unfortunately, the beginning of book three simply falls flat and the ensuing chapters never quite recapture the sparkling, albeit deranged, comedic and unique tone of the first two. Whether this is done intentionally to demonstrate that doing a stint in prison and losing his son has hardened Joe is debatable.

In this novel, Joe has left Hollywood to pursue a quieter and “good” life in Bainbridge; an island off the coast of Washington state that exudes a small-town vibe despite its population. His new object of obsession is a librarian and single mother named, Mary Kaye DiMarco. He meets her by chance after anonymously donating $100K to the local library to secure a job sans background check. The story dives right in as Joe’s familiar inner monologue supplies the reader with details about her past and the relationship already blossoming between Mary Kaye and Joe.

Early on, the reader is also introduced to her daughter, Nomi, and to her friends, Melanda and Seamus. Melanda is slightly reminiscent of Peach, but is somehow more grating and too overly feminist for my tastes. It is excruciatingly painful to read any conversation that involves Melanda. Even her name annoys me.

By chapter six, the book finally starts to find its rhythm, though it is still the same old story: love interest who is narcissistic and intolerable (check), male characters who get in Joe’s way (check), mounting absurdity (check), and the banalities continue on. The only element that is missing from the third novel is that Joe actually does not directly murder anyone himself.

I think it is officially time to end this series…

You Love Me moves out of the world of the first two books. Now, Joe is really trying to keep his nose clean. He likes a new woman, of course, but he doesn’t stalk her (much, anyway), and he certainly doesn’t kill for her. Instead, he allows her to change her mind about him at least five times. And to be honest, it gets a bit boring. At one point, I was actually feeling sorry for Joe for getting wrapped up with this woman. When that happens, you know that the plot has gone around the bend.

I can’t say much more without spoiling it, but this book just fell a bit flat for me. And the ending was ridiculous.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

Absolutely loved the third book in the series...Joe is back and better than ever. This was my favorite of the series. I would highly recommend reading this book (but only after reading the first two). Cannot wait to recommend this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy.

I cannot get enough of Joel Goldberg and this latest installment did NOT disappoint. Absolutely fantastic and i cannot stop talking about this to my coworkers! I cannot wait until this hits stores!

Mindblowing! Joe can never change no matter how much he wants to. He can change his locations, but never the twisted mind that is him. However, with this story, it seems that Joe might be headed for redemption after, but there will always be that little devil on his shoulder that he can't seem to shake. It's as if it is destiny that he always lands in dark waters. He can't out run destiny. I can't wait until this book is another season on Netflix. We all know who Joe is played by, but who will play everyone else.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Random House and NetGalley for letting me read this fabulous ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love that this book is like the first and is written to the reader, as if Joe is talking to us...even though it is really inner dialogue. And although this is the third book in the series <i>You Love Me</i> was still a brilliant read, there was no failure to continue the creepiness of Joe and what a psycho he is. (What does it say about me that I enjoyed it so much and was kind of cheering him on?)

The first book in this series was excellent and I enjoyed number two but not as much.... This time around Caroline Kepnes is back at the top of her game and so is Joe. The way this was written pulled <i>you</i> as the reader right into the story.

I won't spoil the end for those who haven't read it yet but it will ruin the series for <i>you</i> as there are spoilers if <i>you</i> haven't read book two and watch the Netflix show. This thriller keeps <i>you</i> on the edge of your seat with enough decent twists and turns along the way to keep <i>you</i> fully engrossed.

Caroline Kepnes, if <i>you</i> ever read this - <i>you</i> need to write a fourth book, I want to know what happens next.

<b>Disclousure:</b>
<i>Thank you NetGalley, Caroline Kepnes and Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.</i>

#YouLoveMe #NetGalley

My jaw dropped, my mind is blown, eyes are popped out of my head.

Silence. Sigh. Silence. More sigh.

No words can be enough to define how I felt about this book. Keeping my big mouth shut and calm down my extra hyped mind might be the most challenging things in my life right now!

I don’t want to give any spoiler! I’m not a despicable party pooper! I mostly give away too much when I write reviews but this time giving spoilers will also mean to talk about whole entire season of one of the most rated, anticipated and popular ( definitely well-deserved) series!

I can only talk about my comparisons this book with two previous ones by telling you: THIS IS SO FAR THE BEST BOOK OF THE SERIES!

Do you know why?

This was the saddest and most heartbreaking book of the series. Joe is always a “fire starter”: he involved in people’s lives, lighting a match, illuminating their hypocrisy because most of them flawed, emotionally disturbed and acting like honorable people but actually they are not so different from Joe. In fact they are worst and sometimes you think you nearly deserved what happened to them! And as soon as he throws away the match, naturally some of them gets burned or deeply hurt.

This time the people Joe got involved are more broken, resentful, self destructive; they don’t belong to a big city, living their lives in a small island of Pacific Island which made them feel like more trapped, miserable, regretful.

Joe moves to this cozy island, after leaving his adventurous lives in big Apple and city of Mr. Morningstar, having a big, lovely house, volunteered job in library. You ask “how”, I just shrug, zipping my lips. You gotta read and learn if he quit his full time daddy job!!!!!!

This time we meet with another face of Joe: the wiser, more mature, patient, less obsessive ( just a little bit) trying to control his urges, his impulsive manners, being a better man who learned from his mistakes. Too many RIPs later, he is cautious. Maybe for the first time he really fell in love and maybe for the first time he found a better woman ( Beck was insecure cheater and Love is... well, love is inspiration of the song: what’s love gotta do with it, who needs a sociopathic girlfriend when Joe’s heart is already broken! )

Yes, Joe doesn’t have great track to find ideal women to spend his life. So let’s already give her name MK, a librarian, mother of 17 years old Meerkat ( not the real one, that’s the nickname Joe gave it to her), intellectual, people pleaser, emotionally insecure, wearing short skirts, flirting with Joe by sharing his beef-broccoli but their push and pull kind of daily banters and way too much high chemistry are not enough for them to form an intimate bounding.

Why? Of course Mr. Goldberg keeps his secrets which prevent him to ride into the sunset with his love of his life. But this time her new woman has more obstacles to start a relationship with him. As a result: Joe needs to get action to terminate those obstacles one by one. But he shall not kill or hurt anyone! He has new principles, new rules. Is he closer to get his HEA? Of course not! Everything comes with price in his life. He lights another match to brighten depressed lives of small town’s people and now his fire can burn the whole place to the ground.

I loved this book because:

That’s the most enjoyable ride to be inside Joe’s mind: he’s still disturbed, obsessed, sarcastic, criticizer of popular culture but he is still ugly honest, straightforward, direct because he knows himself, what he’s capable of and he already made peace with his inner monster.

Ms.Kepnes achieved something impossible. She made us empathize with a very dangerous, disturbed man. Yes, he killed, he stalked, he destroyed, he lied. But we still witness his never ending inner fight, facing his demons and we cannot hate him. Actually we start to like him. It’s dangerous line to root for a very disturbed man who can put you on fire and destroy lives to save himself but at each book we cross our fingers and whispering our prays for him to get rid of those complex situations he created at first hand by obsessing troubled women. And interestingly we want to see him settle, burying his past demons. But he’s trouble magnet: even though he changes himself and bring out his goodness by beating his inner vicious monster, the people around him never let him move on with his life. There will be always loss and casualties...

My warnings about this book:
You will get shocked, entertained, scared, shaken to the core! There are unexpected twists, shocking moments you never ever see it coming. I foresaw some of them but the final twist backstabbed me! I still cannot move, giving blank looks to my computer, seeing my horrifying face reminds you of a middle age woman suffer from too much Botox injection.

No more words! I’m giving entire stars of galaxy or rename a planet as Kepnes! This book is beyond five starred reading!
And I’m the lucky cow who had the brightest chance to win a reviewer copy!

Million thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sharing this special reviewer copy of this incredible book with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

This would have been a home run and a 5 star review because honestly Caroline Kepnes owns my soul but the last 100 pages had wayyyy too much action. It felt back heavy and would have been balanced with some of the action in the middle.

Also the conflict with Love was over and done with in less than twenty pages. WTF?

And no details about Joe in prison? COME ON!

When I requested this ARC, I didn't realize that this was the third book in a series. I also haven't watched You on Netflix, though I know everyone has been talking about it. I found this to be creepy and well-written and I feel like I now need to catch up on the show as well as the other books to do it justice.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Joe is back in this text that follows up Hidden Bodies. I enjoyed the third book in the series immensely. Joe trying to make a family work is entertaining. I highly recommend this book.

Joe has a new home and a new job in a library on an island in the Pacific Northwest. He thinks this might be the time to settle down, start a family. And he’s just met the woman who can step into role of wife and mother, librarian Mary Kay DiMarco. He’s sure she’s the perfect woman, and if she doesn’t see it that way, then, well, he’ll convince her, one way or the other. Reminiscent of You, this a a skin crawling story of a man who doesn’t understand the word no