Thanks to the publisher, St. Martin's Press, via NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is my first novel by Jody Gehman. She has written a psychological thriller that got off to a slow start. I found that it was predictable at times but certainly interesting enough to keep me wondering what was going to happen. There are two protagonists: Kate, a 38-year-old college professor who had written a best-seller and is now teaching writing, and Sam, a 22-year-old student in Kate's writing class. Sam is so obsessed with Kate that he has their future planned together and will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

Sam is a psychopath who stalks Kate, gets to know her, and tries to take control of her life. Kate makes lots of poor choices regarding Sam until she finally realizes what is going on. The novel has alternating chapters with each of their POVs. So many disturbing thoughts by Sam made this a dark novel. This author did a good job developing her main characters and getting inside Sam's unbalanced mind. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

3.5/5 stars


Initial thoughts:
I can definitely see why this book is being compared to You by Caroline Kepnes. Sam definitely reminded me a lot of Joe from that book.

I am absolutely fascinated by stories where someone is stalking another character. I also find it interesting to get into the mind of a disturbed psychopath.

I definitely enjoyed the beginning of this story. But I wanted more to happen. Is this book dark and creepy? The story is definitely creepy. I would say that the story has darkish elements. But it's not a dark book. Kate is a crime writer. Sam writes really creepy stuff. But nothing is graphic at all.

Review:

Watch Me is a standalone psychological thriller.

There are two narrators: Sam (male-22) and Kate (38). Both are 1st person POVs.

Kate is an author. She writes crime novels and teaches a creative workshop at the local university. Sam is an English major and is in Kate's class.

The beginning of this book was very strong. It was chilling. Sam is basically stalking Kate. He watches her. He knows what she is doing. His narration is so creepy. Think Joe from You by Caroline Kepnes.

Sam is very smart. He is one of the most talented students that Kate has ever had. I really was not expecting the book to start off the way it did. The tone is very different than most books. Sam is such a fascinating narrator. He is completely disturbed. I was so captivated by these people. I was just hoping that the rest of the book would be as strong.

It was definitely interesting to see Sam from Kate's point of view vs what we see when he is the narrator. Sam seems so handsome and charming. But the reader gets to see his true personality right from the start.

I really liked the premise of this book. But I kept waiting for more to happen. The story did start to get more interesting around half way. But I really just wanted more. The character of Sam had so much potential. He is definitely creepy. But I wanted even more creepiness. We get a hint of what he is capable of. But I really wanted more.

There were some interesting developments as the story progressed. I really wanted(view spoiler)

The last chapter was good. And overall the character of Sam was pretty disturbing. I just really wanted more to happen.

I really loved this - This is a thriller which is told from 2 POV. One is Kate Youngblood who is a University professor, she's written 2 books and her first one was a hit however her second one flopped and she has also recently divorced from her husband. And then we have Sam, one of Kate's stduents who is infatuated with her. He's also a promising writer and has spent most of his life building up to creating this prefect life with Kate which he is determined to make a reality.

Sam's POV definitely read more of a diary of how much he worshipped Kate and how amazing she was and basically how in love with her he was which I didn't mind. I enjoyed having Sam's POV present, it was interesting to see how he justified his actions and how his infatuation with Kate began and how it's grown. We also got to see some of Sam's past and his interaction with his mother - if anything, I feel that Sam's POV and story could have been a bit darker maybe to help explain why he is the way he is more.

I really liked Kate as a character, especially for a thriller book as she didn't seem as naieve as some other characters I've read about - SheNoticed when things were moved but didn't try to explain them away after she realised that there was something wrong. She jumped to conclusions, like we all would in her situation and imagined the worst which was so realistic, I mean, I'm sure that a lot of us have jumped to the worst case scenario in situations even if there's a more plausible answer. The chemistry between her and Sam was also was hot and real, especially with how she described it to her friend, Zoe, in the book which just made their building relationship even more plausible. In fact in some places, this could have been a romance novel as it read that way which only helped to cement the infatuation that Sam had for Kate and also the chemistry that was present between the two.

This book wasn't really that dark, it did have darker undertone but there aren't really any gore or graphic murder scenes. I also don't think it has that many plot twists and isn't action filled, it slowly builds up the 'relationship' between Sam and Kate until it reaches the breaking point so if you like slow moving books then this would be for you.

Overall I thought that this was a great read and I would definitely recommend that you pick this up if you're looking for a 'romantic' thriller which slowly builds.

This book was decent: scary and definitely twisted. Kate is a 38 yo recently divorced author/professor who is both lonely and sad. Sam is a 22 year old student/writer who has been basically stalking Kate for years although she is kind of oblivious as to how far he has gone and how obsessed he with her. She just enjoys the attention he gives her even though he is her student. The story is quite interesting and intense, yet I could kind of predict where it was going. Sam is seriously crazy! Being in his head bordered on scary! The writing style was a little hard to get used to initially as Sam's chapters are written like journal entries to Kate. Creepy, intense and twisted definitely describe Sam...which kept me interested, compared to Kate who was kind of boring....good story in general, but felt like a familiar plot that was revamped. Good but missing still something...

I spend a lot of time reading thrillers featuring an obsessed and/or murderous psycho, but never got to spend much time inside their head so this was a nice change. Whereas I did enjoy the perspective of the seeing the other, crazier side, obsession becomes a little redundant after a while. Maybe I could have spent less time inside his head, because Kate’s perceived greatness became irritating after a while. But that might have been because through her perspective, I failed to see what made her worthy of such an obsession.

I don’t know if Kate’s narration and seeing Sam through her eyes was supposed to make him likable or sympathetic. Or if seeing his “love” for Kate was supposed to have that affect. But it didn’t work for me and I’m a little surprised it worked on Kate. How unhappy do you have to be to continue to be torn when you know the brooding student is stalking you and may be a killer? Is that a thing real people experience? I guess Stockholm Syndrome is more prevalent than I thought.

And I’m sorry but if you can spot someone carefully arranging their expressions to convey sincerity or empathy or whatever, and not only do you not run the other way but are drawn in by them anyway then maybe you’re also a little psycho too.

'The world’s started depriving me, year by year, of this particular pleasure: the hungry way boys watch from across classrooms, parties, nightclubs. I’d forgotten how delicious it feels, the way your skin prickles under the heat of their gaze.'

Kate Youngblood’s first novel was a success, but now with her second, an abysmal failure, her husband having left her for someone younger, and her writing dried up it’s hard to resist the attentions of Sam Grist, an intense, talented, attractive young student. Surely it’s foolish of her to entertain the idea of welcoming his seduction. What woman, though, wouldn’t be flustered under the intense gaze of his beautiful eyes. He could be a literary gem, she could nurture his raw talent into greatness. The line between professor and student blurs, she finds herself trying to do the right thing, date men her own age as is ‘appropriate’, but fate has other plans.

Not long into the novel, it’s obvious Sam stalks her, has worshipped her since her first novel, clinging to it in times of darkness in his own sad life. Just what happened in his past that torments him still? As the reader gets into his mind, and deeper into the seduction one wonders, is he suffering from erotomania? But… Kate does fall for him, against her will until everything spirals out of control. Sam is too intense, unhinged, when a murder happens, surely he couldn’t possibly have a hand in it? Could he?

Can you really call it obsession, a sickness when Kate herself vacillates between attraction and repulsion? Could she be guilty of leading Sam on? What lonely woman wouldn’t enjoy feeling the youthful freshness of adoration, the tingling giddiness of compliments and someone watching your every move?

Without giving too much away, Sam can feel and see nothing but Kate, he is consumed with a hunger and ‘love’ for her. He knows she is his fate, they are destined to live the life of artists (writers) in New York, it’s just a matter of pulling her out of her funk, changing her mind about the quiet, dull life she has fallen into as if like a trap. She just needs convincing! If Sam needs to do something about other competitors for her affections, so what? All is fair in love and war when your very destiny is on the line! Kate knows this can’t happen, and if she flirts with her desires, she must remain in control. But who can control a man who can’t even control himself?

Love is dangerous…

Publication Date: January 23, 2018

St. Martin’s Press

Rating: 3.5/5.0

Kate Youngblood is a writing professor at Blackwood college, she wrote a very successful debut novel. Her second novel failed and her husband left her for a younger woman. In her class, there is Sam Grist who is a promising young student and writer. Sam tries to get close to Kate. He is in love with her, actually more obsessed with her in a psychopath way. Lots of things happen between them which leads to a tragic end.

The book is written in the perspective of both characters so we get to know how Kate is feeling and also we get in the head of the psychopath, Sam. To me, Kate was sounding younger than her actual age. I have to say she sounded to me more immature. On the other hand, I felt Sam was not as calculative as the author tried to show. I can say he was more obsessed with Kate and what she was doing. Sometimes that irritated me as there are endless paragraphs in the book where all I was reading was how he kept talking to himself about Kate and how he felt she was beautiful, smart and the only human who truly deserved her was himself and not anybody else. There is an overdose of this in the book which might get some readers irritated.

The story itself although sounds interesting for a thriller but I felt it was more linear and had one dimension to it. In other words, it is very predictable. Yes, the writer had added some elements to it to make it interesting but those elements are nothing new here. We have seen them before in movies and read them as well in many other books.
To me this book was basically 3 merged ideas :
1- Stephen King's Misery: A Psychopath that is obsessed with a writer.
2- Jennifer Lopez's movie "The Boy Next Door" where a young psycho boy falls in love and become obsessed with his older teacher.
3- School Shooting.

Add the above three together and you have the Watch Me story. The book is good and might be enjoyable for some, but if you are looking for a thriller to keep you on the edge of your seat you might need to look somewhere else. I think I will go with a score of 3.5 for this one.

I read an advance copy of this book from the read now section in NetGalley.

I wasn't sure about this one until I started reading it. If you like a twisted story with a bit of a thrill ride attached with characters that you are constantly questioning. Then this is the story for you.

My thanks to netgalley and St Martin's Press for this advanced readers copy.

This book is chilling, creepy, stalker-y... It reminded me right off the bat of "You, by Caroline Kepnes." Without comparing the endings; I liked this one better because the author told the story from 2 POVs so you can see into the minds of the two main characters (one of which is seriously disturbed, the other is broken and lonely). This made for a really good read, but I did feel, not let down, but the ending could have been stronger. It's not that I don't like what happened, but I think the telling could have been stronger. Overall a really great read - I recommend to anyone that reads dark mysteries.

The idea of being stalked has always scared me. Can you imagine what it would be like to have someone watch your every move, obsess over you and wrap their minds on some crazy fantasy about you? Scary thought! This is the world that Kate found herself in. She is an author and a college professor. Sam is a student in her writing class and he is totally obsessed with her.

The story is narrated through the two POVs. Sam’s narration, for the most part, is written almost like diary entries or letters addressed to Kate. His thoughts are dark and obsessive. Kate’s narration is also interesting. Readers get to see how an innocent attraction soon turns deadly.

I liked the premise of this book. The first chapters were captivating as the stalking escalated. I looked forward to the inevitable explosion when the characters, especially Kate, wisen up to who Sam really was. At the same time, I wanted to see what Sam would do. There were a couple of tense moments as Sam’s obsession escalated. However, I felt like the pace really slowed down towards the end. Sam’s obsession became the main focus of the narrative and not much else was going on. My interest started waning off towards the end and I ended up not enjoying the final 100 pages as much as the rest of the book.

In the end, I am still undecided about this book. I liked the premise and the writing. There are phrases that I really liked such as this one, ‘to be seen, to be savored, is a gift’. It took me two evenings to read the book. I couldn’t wait to get home from work on both evenings to get back to the book. However, there a few things that nagged me about the story. I didn’t like the two characters and feel like I didn’t understand the motives behind their actions. Kate especially did a lot of things that made it hard to connect with her. I guess what I am trying to say is that I liked the book but not as much as I expected.Watch Me by Jody Gehrman is still an interesting, stalker novel that I'd recommend to fans of this genre.

*3.5 Stars

As soon as I read the synopsis for Watch Me, I knew that I had to read it. I was in the mood for a psychological thriller, and this one had all of the makings for an intense, creepy story with an added dash of the forbidden.

Watch Me grabbed my attention from the beginning and had my curiosity piqued. I enjoyed how the book was written from both of the character’s perspectives. It not only allowed me a glimpse into Kate’s life, to see how she was dealing with her failed marriage, her struggling writing career, and the impending birth of her best friend’s baby, but it also made me a witness to the deranged thoughts and plans of Sam Grist.

Kate Youngblood’s life was changing. She felt as though she was disappearing, blending into the fading background, losing her luster. Her husband left her for a younger woman, her best friend was starting a family, and Kate was just status quo. It was understandable that her self-esteem had been bruised and that she was feeling down. When one of her talented, handsome, intriguing students begins to show an interest in her, she is drawn to the intensity and the feelings that he evokes in her.

Sam Grist could be any good looking, intelligent student, except he’s not. He has been watching Kate for years, waiting for the perfect time to make his move. The parts that were written from Sam’s perspective were probably my favorite – his thoughts were actually as if he were talking directly to Kate. This just cemented the fact that Sam had some major issues. He had his and Kate’s life all planned out, he just had to make her fall for him and see how good their lives could be. Jody Gehrman created an ideal villain with Sam Grist. He was arrogant, apathetic, cold, calculating, delusional, and violent. He was probably a better actor than he was writer, perfecting his facial expressions and attempting to fit into his surroundings without setting off any alarms. He had his sights set on Kate, and he was determined to make her his.

At about the halfway mark in the book, I found my interest beginning to wane. I think my problem was that I wasn’t feeling a connection to the characters. While I may have felt badly for Kate early on, as the story progressed I found her to be cold and the constant host of the woe is me pity party. I almost began to think that maybe she and Sam should be together. On the other hand, it might be a good thing that I didn’t feel a connection with Sam, but with any villainous character there is usually a reason why they’ve turned out the way they have. Yes, Sam’s upbringing certainly wasn’t idyllic – it was downright awful, but it didn’t matter whether it was a nature versus nurture situation, I just found myself not caring.

With any psychological thriller, I want to grip my e-reader in a death grip, immerse myself in the story, and let the anticipation build. With Watch Me, I was waiting for the pivotal scene, the ta-da moment, the twist in the story that is unexpected and jaw dropping. I never really got it. It was a good story with vivid descriptions that allowed me to visualize the story, it just didn’t hit all of the marks for me.

This book kept me reading and reading-the tale of a dark, twisted obsession between a college professor and a 22-year-old student who is beyond interested in her. Told from both POVs, Sam's mind was a dark place to be. The ways in which he rationalized his actions with the fantasy goals that he had set up for their life together were really fascinating and scary! Kate, the professor, is at a particularly vulnerable stage in her life and she finds Sam's interest in her compelling. I couldn't wait to find out what happened.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this novel in return for my honest review.

Crime novelist and Creative Writing professor Kate Youngblood is in a losing streak. She hasn’t written a riveting novel since her debut and her husband left her for a younger woman. Her best friend is having a baby, and babies have never appealed to Kate. Life rushes past her, leaving her far behind. At least she has her college career, where she’s due for a tenure spot. And there’s also Sam Grist. Young, handsome, mysterious, talented Sam Grist. He’s a model student, a promising writer, a potential lover. And her worst nightmare. Sam wants Kate at all cost. He’s crafted the perfect life for them, and he will do anything to make it happen.

At first, WATCH ME felt like every other psychological thriller about obsession. GONE GIRL meets Caroline Keynes’s YOU. Cue the unreliable narrators. Bring in the stalker subplot. Let’s give it up for the MISERY-like “I’m your biggest fan” line. Yes, these themes are done to death, but WATCH ME contains a key ingredient: complex and fleshed-out characters. Kate is vulnerable, insecure, desperate for appreciation. Her feelings for Sam are the best part of this book. It shows us that the “stalker equals bad guy” mentality is not as black and white as we’d like to think. The weak spot in the book? A scene involving Sam. It was a stupid thing to do, especially from a calculative character like Sam. The stakes and motivations that justify his actions don’t convince me. Aside from that, Jody Gerhman’s WATCH ME is entertaining and riveting. I give it three out of five extra-foam cappuccinos. Café Girl Out.

WATCH ME
Jody Gehrman


MY RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️▫️▫️
PUBLISHER St. Martin’s Griffin
PUBLISHED January 23, 2018

A mesmerizing stalker novel that will keep your head in the book.

SUMMARY
Kate Youngblood is becoming invisible. She is a creative writing professor at Blackwood College. She wrote a successful mystery novel several years ago but ever since then things have gone south. Her follow-up novel was not so good. Her husband left her for a woman ten years younger, and her best friend is having her first baby. Kate is just shy of forty, and already she feels as if she is losing her glow, her beauty, her charm and her wit. No one will notice or want her ever again.

Sam Grist is 22, and Kate’s most talented student. And he knows it. Kate thinks his writing has potential and introduces him to her agent. But Sam wants much more than just a literary introduction from Kate. He has been watching her for years, ever since her first novel was published, but never from this close. He believe they have a future together. He makes his way into her life, and his attention awakens her. She knows that students are off limits, but she can’t help it, he makes her feel good, at first. And then it’s as if he can read her thoughts. Her knows her secret desires. He knows where she lives and where she is going to be. Is he reading her emails? Has he been in her house?


REVIEW
WATCH ME is a chilling stalker novel that I could not put down. While I was totally immersed in the book, I became frustrated with the dynamic of a smart, educated woman that become totally clueless when a man pays attention to her. So tired of reading about women as easily manipulated victims. While I may not have liked the characters, JODY GEHRMAN’s writing captured an riveting story with great character development. Both Sam and Kate’s character were developed layer by layer, and you got to know them well. Sam was egotistical, condescending and obsessive, while Kate was insecure, depressed and was loosing her edge.

Overall, WATCH ME was a good stalker novel that kept my head in the book. Thanks to Netgalley, St Martin’s Griffin and Jody Gehrman for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Watch Me by Jody Gehrman is a book that once you pick it up and start reading your not going to be able to put it down til the last page is read. Without giving anything away, this book is about Kate a college professor with 2 books under her belt and Sam, a student taking Kate's workshop on writing, little does Kate know that Sam has been getting to know Kate for the last 5 years ever since he found a copy of the 1st book Kate wrote. This story is told in both Kate words and Sams....prepare to read a story with twists and turns right to the mind blowing end.

4.5 oh my god stars!

Obsession...possession.... Can one be without the other?

Sam Grist is a brilliant, erudite man. He has had a tough upbringing but has determined his course in life. At sixteen he had read a book that captured his soul. He has also fallen in love with a picture of its author, Kate Youngblood. For ten years he has plotted and schemed, worked and done everything possible to be with her. He is consumed by her and finally is able to work his way into a writing class Kate is teaching in a small town college. He is obsessed and he is crazy. You have heard the term crazy in love? Sam is the definition of this term. He has planned the life he intends to spend with Kate right down to its smallest detail. They are meant for one another, there is no other way for the road that Sam must follow, He needs Kate, she is his heart and soul.

Kate Youngblood is an author who has written one fairly successful book. She is newly divorced from her husband of ten years, who preferred a much younger woman to Kate. She is up for tenure and knows she can't lose this job. However, there is one student in her class that she finds she is drawn to. She feels his heat and his passion. She feels that same heat and passion in herself. Sam, however is her student. He is much younger than she and yet there is something hot and smoldering. She sizzles when he is around him. His touch burns into her soul. She is also consumed by her passion for him. She can't let it happen. She needs to keep the status quo, but she is also mesmerized by Sam.

However, Sam is crazy and as the story continues, Ms Gehrman lets us see just how very disturbed he is. Sam is a complex character, one that we can feel burning through the pages. He is so in love that he sees no further than that. He justifies his actions, pushes logic and reasoning aside in his overwhelming quest to possess the woman he loves. Kate, on the other hand is a character who is unresolved. She basks in the fury of passion, she feels the pull of attraction, but she endeavors to hold herself in check, fearful of grabbing unto something she can not control.

Ms Gehrman has written a wonderfully mesmerizing thriller. As each page is turned she allows the reader to see more and more of her two protagonists. In the end she presents us with two flawed characters who never really had the ability to reach out to one another. Was it possession they wanted or was it obsession? Could this be love?

Many thanks to Jody Gehrman, St Martin's Press, and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of this novel.

Watch Me by Jody Gehrman is a book being sold as a psychological suspense for the fans of You by Caroline Kepnes and Her by Harriet Lane. Now I’ve never read Her but I have read You and was a huge fan so of course I must have read that line and immediately grabbed this book to read. By the time I’d gotten around to this one though I quite honestly forgot what the synopsis had held since I’d have my copy a few months waiting until closer to publication to read. Immediately though when starting this one I thought to myself well this reminds me a lot of You so hopefully I’m going to love it.

Now I’m sure when seeing my rating of 2.5 stars one would begin wondering just where this went wrong for me. Well, I’m honestly partly not sure as again I seem to be in the minority with my rating but having been a fan of You this one to me just seemed to be a poor imitation that didn’t hold the spark of the original. People have told me that they even started rooting for Joe while reading You and while I wouldn’t go that far myself I did think he held a sort of comical charm to his rants that made that story what it was. While being completely creepy and disturbing having Joe learn so much off of so little and go about his stalking it also turned the tides and brought laughter into the read. With Watch Me I just found myself disliking both of the main characters in here and instead of the unlikable likable Joe they both remained simply unlikable to me through the whole book.

Also, as the story went on with this one and I never found myself warming up to Sam or Kate as it switched the point of view between them I just kept waiting for that moment when the story broke out of the shadow of another book and took on a life of it’s own and unfortunately for me that moment never came. To me this one remained somewhat mediocre or dull when all I kept thinking of was another book that I had loved no matter what was going on in the story. It’s one thing to remind me of another book to gain my interest but quite another to seemingly just stay in it’s shadow and do nothing to break free and wow me with it’s own uniqueness and creativity. So sadly I have to say this one just wasn’t for me although others seem to be enjoying it.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

There were times during the course of reading this book that I wanted to throttle the main character for being so reckless with her own life and safety, but I guess that added to the excitement of reading it. If you like the kind of novels where nothing is quite how it seems at first and the characters and situations just keep getting more twisted as the story progresses, then you can't go wrong with this book.

This will leave you wondering about all the people you know and questioning everyone's intentions--both things that a good psychological thriller should do, in my opinion. I wasn't a hundred percent sure what to think about the ending of this book, though. I had hoped that the antagonist would see the punishment that he deserved and it seemed too easy to me, but it was still good and not what I expected. Overall, this was an attention grabber that didn't let up until the final word.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I wanted to like this book, and am kicking myself for requesting it now because I just didn't connect to it and had to give up.I don't feel that I can give a fair review and can only hope that others will enjoy this more than I did.

3.5 Stars - "You are an onion I intend to peel, layer by layer. I will love every second of it. Your mystery will yield to me, your dark cocoon penetrated by my patient, steady hands."

I always enjoy stories with obsessive characters. How they stalk their preys, plan for their encounter. How they think about everything, so organized. I know it’s really creepy but what can I say! I like these stories. They're my thing! This one was good too. my complaint is, considering it wasn’t that mysterious I expected it more thrilling and it could have been darker. But the good point was its writing especially Sam’s. As I said I really like to read about his thoughts and his troubled mind! Yep, creepy!

Kate is thirty-eight-year-old, recently divorced and she is a writer and also a college professor. She has a talented student (Sam) but his talent is a bit too dark. He is twenty-two-year-old and he’s obsessed with Kate. Not just her books, but with her every move. He thinks he knows her so well, even better than Kate herself! So he finds his way into her life step by step, by watching her! Told in dual POV, 1st person. It’s a standalone novel. I enjoyed it and I hope you like it as well!

Thanks to Jody Gehrman, Netgalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the advanced digital copy in exchange an honest review.