so good i love stalker themed books and the intensity of the relationship. it was creepy and accurate to how some people get obsessed

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for the opportunity to read a digital ARC of “All Because of You” by Lissa Lovik, which has a publication date of July 29, 2025. This is the first novel I have read by this author, and it won’t be the last. 

In “All Because of You,” a man named Chris sees a woman, Serena, at a grocery store and falls hard for her. However, Chris is a stalker who uses every tool in his toolbox to insert himself into Serena's life. This is the first novel I’ve read that explores the mind of a stalker. 

“All Because of You”  was not a comfortable read, and I found myself on edge as I was introduced to Chris and Serena, a realtor who is the target of his obsession. Chris finds a way to segue into her life. Initially, he presents as a true gentleman who is loyal and understanding to gain control of fair Serena. However, as the story unfolds, the relationship disintegrates as Chris realizes that he doesn’t have control, and some of her friends see that his ingratiations are phony and his behavior creepy. Chris is a chameleon who will do whatever he must to get what he wants. 

While the narrative was engaging, there were many unbelievable moments. I never warmed up to Chris and had many unanswered questions about his childhood. “All Because of You” is filled with twists and turns, obsessions, and mayhem. Unfortunately, I found the ending nonsensical and not as strong as it could have been.  I truly appreciate Ms. Lovik giving the reader insight into the disintegrating mind of a stalker. 

3.5 / 5 stars

Firstly, thank you for allowing me to read this! I really do appreciate it!


Wowowowo. Let me start off by saying I LOVE dark romances and psychological thrillers and this was like a perfect combo because you get the infamous stalking/obsessive/touch her and die trope but make it thriller-y. This book had me all over the place but in a good way because it actually makes you feel like you’re in Chris’s head. You start to feel how he feels in some parts and that’s something I personally love in a book, make me feel something! However, this is a very real topic especially for us females in this day and age where there is alot more Chris’s surfacing so if you have been in a situation like this or are in one, know that you are not alone and there is help out there for you. always.

I will be looking into reading more from this author so thank you again & continue making amazing books like this!(:

Well, that was terrifying. It is mind boggling to think that there are real people out in this world acting like this. Move over Joe Goldberg, there is a new psychopath in town.

Despite this book being creepy as hell, it was very well written and I could not stop reading it! I just had to know what was going to happen next and how this book was going to end.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Right off the bat, the style of this one reminded me very much of the show YOU (yes, I know the show was based on a book, but I have not yet read the book). I liked how we got to see Chris' inner monologue throughout everything, not only because it gave us insight into his motivations at the beginning, but also because we got to watch as the delusions became stronger. I also thought this painted a really good picture of how sometimes we don't see the darkness inside others until it is too late.

BUT -

What was interesting to me is there were times where I found myself actually agreeing with Chris. Crazy right?

One example immediately springs to mind, the first being when Chris and Serena went out and she had too much to drink. He brings her home, and while she is upstairs taking her makeup off he goes downstairs to get her a glass of water and some Advil, fully intending to leave after tucking her in. However, while he is doing so, her fourteen year old son (the age is important here because he is obviously not a child), comes downstairs and tells him that he should stay. And not only should he stay, but in the morning he should give Serena a certain kind of Powerade as well as make her a certain type of breakfast. He says it works best as a hangover cure. Yet the very next morning Serena comes downstairs madder than a wet cat because he is standing at her stove cooking because he spent the night while her son was home. It didn't matter to her that he had left her preferred drink on the nightstand. It didn't matter he was cooking her preferred breakfast. Or that her SON had been the one to tell him to stay. Instead of being grateful, she was a complete brat about it, kicking him out immediately.

The rest of the book follows much the way I would assume stories like this one do. Chris eventually shows too much of his hand (aka using information he's gathered from his spy cameras), and Serena leaves him. From there on out, he spirals into an even more obsessed stalker than he has been, she makes some stupid life choices (I mean COME ON), and eventually everything boils over into an ending that honestly doesn't feel as believable or as climatic as I was hoping.

With everything going on (that didn't involve Serena), I was hoping that Chris would be tripped up much sooner than he was and on the topics not related to her. I also found it odd that if a certain detective could spend so much time just parked across the street from his house (and get a warrant to go through his car), she should have been able to tail him without issue making everything else pointless.

At the end of the day, I feel like this book will appear to casual fans of the television adaption of YOU (as again I never read the books), or those who just enjoy novels where obsession takes precedence.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

♡𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗕𝗘𝗖𝗔𝗨𝗦𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨♡
𝔰𝔲𝔰𝔭𝔢𝔫𝔰𝔢
𝙿𝚞𝚋 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎: 𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝟸𝟿, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟻
🤩𝕄𝕪 𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: 𝟜.𝟝 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤 ★★★★✮ ʳᵒᵘⁿᵈⁱⁿᵍ 🆙

🤏𝚃𝚎𝚎𝚗𝚢 𝚝𝚒𝚍𝚋𝚒𝚝...you are in the mind of a stalker who is determined to make the girl he just met in the grocery store all his……

🌸𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚊𝚢...Gosh, this one was wicked good!! 👌🤩 I love a good stalker thriller, but this one was so different than most because you were literally in the head of this creeper. At times, I actually felt bad for him too. I mean he had a sweet relationship with his grandpa & some things he did to spy on his now girlfriend weren’t “that bad.” I was sucked into the whole web of psychological deception though. You know where people say “well, he doesn’t hit you so he’s not that bad!” That’s how this one messes with your head. The story was gripping & hella addictive. 🙌Some have compared this one to YOU and that’s an okay comparison, but know it’s also super unique in its own way. I can see this debut being an absolute HIT this summer!

"She gives me another smile, and I want to peel it off her face and carry it around in my picket."

I love true crime because I like to piece together the puzzle and I'm fascinated by how deranged criminals think. This book kept me guessing as to how things would happen, but most riveting, the story was told from the point of view of a stalker. Delusional, obsessive, and seemingly, worryingly untouchable.

I gobbled this up and could not put it down. From stat to finish I was totally invested. If I could give this more than five stars, I would.

Omg! 5 stars!!!! This book had me hooked from the beginning. It deals with so much stuff that has happened to me in real life maybe not as intense but I have been in her shoes once or twice. Why do we attract these people? Then we think something is wrong with us.

A chance encounter in the supermarket turns Serena’s life upside down. The brief meeting Chris has with her makes him 100% sure that they belong together. So what if Chris finds her address and starts stalking her. I mean just because he’s watching her house, her place of employment, and gathering information means that he will meet her again. He just has to be sure that he knows enough about her to make her love him. Oh, and Serena will love him as much as he loves her, he will make sure of that. You can probably surmise that this relationship will be built on secrets and lies. Yep, Chris will do whatever it takes to make Serena his.
We spend the majority of the story in Chris’s head. Let me just say it is not a warm and cozy place to be. No spoilers, but I was pretty sure that even if Chris could manipulate Serena into a relationship, there was a 0% chance that he could make it last.
Another book that makes me glad I have a long-term partner. I honestly kept holding my breath, fearful of what Chris would do next.

Is this book similar to You? For sure - it has the crazy stalker going on. I love that we read (hear) his creepy point of view.

But it's also different. It is a slower burn at first, and it takes a while to turn up the crazy. It's like the story about the frog in a pot of water where you turn up the heat slowly. In this case, its a little slow. and you dont really see it all coming. Then it's a full boil!

This was a fun, escapist story. Hmmm is it wrong to call such a creepy stalker book fun?

If you are reading the reviews for this, you are probably interested in this type of story anyway - so get this book.

I want to thank #netgalley and the publisher for this ARC -it was a fun read!

Thank you, @amazonpublishing, @netgalley, #thomasandmercer, and #lissalovik for my #gifted (free) copy. Pub date 7/29/25.

Move over, Joe Goldberg, we have a new stalker in town. This book is being compared to "You," and although it has some similar vibes, it is a completely different story on its own. This is a slow burn, and it takes a little bit until it's full force creepy AF! If you're looking for a creepy stalker book, I definitely recommend this one.

Chris first sees her at the grocery store, and he can not stop thinking about her. He learns her name is Serena, and with Google and social media, he finds out a lot about her. She is a real-estate agent, and he just so happens to show up at one of her open houses. They hit it off, but Chris becomes obsessed with her, but will Serena realize it before she's in too deep?

Wow, talk about YOU vibes! This was a very promising debut. Kudos to Lissa Lovik!

It all starts when Chris lays eyes on Serena for the first time. What follows is a tale of obsession and dark thoughts from a true sociopath!
Being told from Chris perspective, you get to delve into his psyche and expierience his thoughts, need for complete control and justifications for his irrational behavior. Creeeeepy!

I found this book uncomfortable at times, unsettling and even a bit claustrophobic, which I belive is a testament to the author. Well done!

I will be watching for this author's next book! 📚 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A big thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book!

I was so excited about this book. An obsessed lover is one of my favorite tropes. However, this book was very poorly paced. It was very repetitive in the beginning and it was hard to stay engaged. The idea was interesting, but sadly poorly executed.

As soon as Chris sees Serena, it is love at first sight. But he needs to wait for the right moment to ask her out, so he waits and watches and learns all about her.
But when they date, Serena begins to see the warning signs and tries to escape.

This was so creepy and unhinged and terrifying. While I did not read YOU, I'd imagine there are some similar elements here. I do enjoy a good stalker novel but I also saw some of the twists coming in this one and it was dark in places.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Thomas Mercer for this gifted review copy.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the advanced copy of All Because of You by Lissa Lovik. First off, I can't believe this was a debut novel! It felt like I was reading a very seasoned author's work. I love thrillers and read them very often so it's sometimes hard for me to be wow'd by specific themes and tropes in thrillers. This book did just that.

A chance meeting in a grocery store one day creates a domino effect of obsession, lust, and chaos for two people. Boy meets girl. Boy stalks girl. You know that kind of love story. This book honestly creeped me out with the amount of sinister details there were. You truly never know who you are meeting when encountering a stranger.

Single mother and real estate agent Serena has been unlucky in love. Raising a teenage son and just trying to keep her head above water in all aspects of her life gets swept off her feet by a stranger she meets in the grocery store. Chris seems too good to be true but that is only because Serena has been always unlucky in love.

This is a heart pounding thriller that will have you at the edge of our set. I finished it in about a day because I could not put it down. This book releases July 2025 so be sure to add it to your summer thriller list. I have a feeling it will be a top read of the summer!

I read this book for a buddy read, and it did not disappoint and I know everyone in the group flet the same way! The book captures a relationship that escalates from one of passionate love, to possessiveness, and a consuming need for control.

From the beginning, Chris manipulates a "chance" meeting with the woman he's been obsessing over, a woman he had a chance encounter with in a grocery store. It's impossible to not make a comparison to one of my favorite stalker series, You, but his obsession was more subtle. You - but on steroids. As Chris finds new ways to monitor Serena, his behavior gets increasingly creepy. There was a lot of push-pull as Serena was torn between wanting to feel loved, and listening to her best friend's reservations. And her dog. You will love her dog, Sirius!

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for introducing me to this debut author through an advance reader's copy!

I really, really wanted to love this book. Unfortunately, it felt like a cheap rip-off of "You." I read "You" long before it became the infamous Netflix series, and when I read it, it was unlike anything I had ever read. What a unique book to be told through the eyes of the serial killer instead of the one being stalked/hunted. So, when I read the description of this book, it felt similar to "You" but different enough that I thought I would like this one as well. Unfortunately, it missed the mark for me.

The writing itself wasn't bad, which is why I'm giving it 2⭐️ instead of one. But the whole idea was unoriginal. It was the exact same format and idea of "You." MC encountering female, becoming obsessed instantly with no logical reasoning (I get sociopath/psychopath so they don't need a reason), finding a way to ingretiate himself into her life, finding out she's not as perfect as he originally placed her to be, her realizing there is something wrong with him and breaking it off, and then him going completely off the handle.

I wish there maybe would have been an epilogue with a twist at the end where she had the baby and the baby had the MC's eyes or something like that. I think that could have elevated it up a little for me. But it didn't, so unfortunately I'm gonna have to give this one 👎

Thanks to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer, and Lissa Lovik for an eArc copy of the book to read and review.

This book was a rollercoaster! I loved every minute of it. I didn’t really want it to end and the ending was kinda rushed. But this book is fantastic. Read the author note too! So important!

3.5/5- This book was different. The perspective caught me off guard and at first I didn’t think I liked it but I did find myself wanting to know what was going to happen next. I gave it 3.5/5 stars because it’s a little repetitive in my opinion but I think it just puts emphasis on the obsessive personality which may have been the authors point! Not my typical choice of book but I would recommend it as it does keep you engaged and wondering what comes next.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This started off super strong with vibes of the series You. Unfortunately, it ended up falling a little flat for me and becoming repetitive. Our stalker narrator wasn’t nuts enough for me!