ARC Review--You Love Me by Caroline Kepnes

 

The highly anticipated new thriller in Caroline Kepnes's hit You series, now a blockbuster Netflix show...

Joe Goldberg is back. And he's going to start a family - even if it kills him.

Joe Goldberg is done with cities, done with the muck and the posers, done with Love. Now, he's saying hello to nature, to simple pleasures on a cozy island in the Pacific Northwest. For the first time in a long time, he can just breathe.

He gets a job at the local library - he does know a thing or two about books - and that's where he meets her: Mary Kaye DiMarco. Librarian. Joe won't meddle, he will not obsess. He'll win her the old fashioned way... by providing a shoulder to cry on, a helping hand. Over time, they'll both heal their wounds and begin their happily ever after in this sleepy town.

The trouble is... Mary Kaye already has a life. She's a mother. She's a friend. She's... busy.

True love can only triumph if both people are willing to make room for the real thing. Joe cleared his decks. He's ready. And hopefully, with his encouragement and undying support, Mary Kaye will do the right thing and make room for him.

 

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

 

Caroline Kepnes' You Love Me brings us back together with Joe Goldberg and his newest obsession! It's been a long lonely wait for this book, I nearly thought the series over at the second book, but we have a total of FOUR books in this series to enjoy, so hopefully the next one won't be longer than the usual year.

We all somehow fell in love with Joe once he came onto the page in You in 2014. For whatever reason, this psychopath looking for love just draws us readers in...it might be his own passion for books. And yeah, let's also say the Netflix series might have helped the drawl too! It will be interesting to see what turn the show takes with this "third" installment. One would almost think it's going to deviate exponentially, but I think otherwise. I think the show could still very much follow this book in all the ways.

Now let's get back on track, You Love Me, has Joe starting life anew when he gets out of prison for a crime he did commit, it pays to know people with money and Love is people with money. But instead of being greeted by her and his infant son, he comes to meet lawyers with a contract. Love wants nothing to do with him. They're over. Joe did at least get a nice home to live in near Seattle and it is there that he falls madly in love with Mary Kay, the librarian.

Joe takes a volunteer job at the library in order to get closer to her and eventually win her over. But Joe is about to realize that Mary Kay has more challenges and obstacles surrounding her that Joe did not expect. One, namely being her teenage daughter. A daughter means there's a father somewhere to contend with, but that's a bridge to cross at another point.

Things seem to be going swimmingly Joe's way, everything is great, until it's not. Soon Joe finds himself falling back into old patterns despite not wanting to be "that" guy again. The one who kills whoever is standing between him and the object of his affection. What was really surprising was how much Joe didn't want to be that guy...yet as we all know "stuff" happens. Joe's character comes back in glaring force if a little dingy on the side.

I'll admit, this book definitely felt different than the last two. It's been a few years since I binge those right before the Netflix series started. But Joe in book 3 didn't feel at all like Joe in book 1. Is he changing? Is he growing? Or is he just adapting? Well...I guess that opinion will vary reader by reader, but in some ways, it felt like Joe was trying to change and not be the psychopath we all know and...yeah. Lol.

But don't think that things won't be twisted and mysterious as the previous books. There's definitely some twisted happenings in this book. It may not be as dark as the previous books tended to be, but there's still a sinister air happening in this little town.

The pacing was done just right though. While at times it did feel a little slow with the continuous roadblocks Joe was hitting in his quest to win Mary Kay over, I never once was ready to call it quits. I know Joe, Joe would never except defeat! There were also times of great suspense, when the plot would truly thicken. It ends in a way that you know Joe isn't done being Joe and the surprising route it took to get to that ending left me a little shell-shocked. I am definitely aching to see what the next and likely final book with Joe will entail and what the final fate of this "mystery man" will be.

If you're a fan of twisted mysteries and perhaps getting into the killer's head for a change, I would urge you to check this series out! It's definitely a series at this point, so starting at the beginning with You would be best! Plus, now you'd have a jump over what's going to happen (possibly) in the next season of the show! Of course, as the saying goes, "the book is always better," so I highly recommend reading this series regardless of its Netflix fame!

Overall Rating 4/5 stars

You Love Me releases April 6, 2021