I loved You when it came out. I was a huge fan of Joe Goldberg but this book was really such a disappointment.
Joe has moved to be part of a course at Harvard for up and coming writers. Of course, Joe has decided that he loves one of his fellow students.
The book was just severely lacking. I was ready to quit at chapter 20 but I kept hoping that the story would pick up. I’m not sure if I am done with Joe or not but this book was really slow.

I received this book in exchange for my honest opinion

Thank you to Net Galley for letting me read this early!!!

I will begin by saying there were so many easter eggs and I loved them. I'm a need for that stuff throughout the You books and normally I am having to look.
In For You and Only you they were definitely way more out in the open.

This was not my favorite book of the series. You Love Me was my favorite and after that ending I was absolutely devastated for Joe.

This book does give Mary Kay some love but I wanted more. ... Joe leaves Florida and the Empathy Bordello his lovely tribute to Mary Kay behind....what happened to the cat?

Now Joe is in Massachusetts at a Harvard Fellowship and he meets.. Wonder (no Joe).

He wrote a book... Me.

He also meets a new cast of characters to loathe and plot against which worked well until it doesn't.

I'm going to wait until I hear the audio book on this for further speculation because as with the last 3 books Santino Fontana has brought these books to life and when I read it without his voice leading the way it was like a day old donut. Good but not great.

*Slow clap*
Wow, just wow. Another Joe Goldberg masterpiece. The thing with these books is Joe is so messed up but so likeable at the same time. I absolutely love a morally gray character and Joe Goldberg is one of the Kings!

My reasoning for 4 stars instead of 5, is the FMC was the worst one so far. She drove me up the wall, but at the same time I can see how a character like Joe would be attracted to her. If the series continues I am all in!

I will definitely be buying a hard copy to add to the rest of my YOU series collection!!

Highly recommend!

I’ve been obsessed with this series and this book was no exception! Loved it. Kepnes can do no wrong!

Big thanks to the publisher for the early copy!

PHEW I don't know what it says about me but I find it so entertaining to be in Joe's mind! I didn't find this especially more or less enjoyable than the other You books. Joe's obsession with Wonder (how does he always find women with these super unique names?) is the best part of this. I love that Wonder loves Joe back but she tends to go hot and cold a few times. Overall enjoyable read.

In this installment in the You series, Joe is at Harvard, receiving a scholarship to attend a writing fellowship to write a book. There he meets Wonder, another scholarship recipient, and begins to obsess over her. Everyone else in the writing fellowship is rich and privileged. Joe will stop at nothing to be with Wonder. Will they end up together or will it end in tragedy?

Joe has been an interesting character to follow, but I was slightly over him in this book. This book seemed long, and parts were stretched out that could have been shorter. Joe’s observations seemed to have taken up way more space than usual. The action just wasn’t there either. I didn’t care about or want Joe to be with Wonder. She just wasn’t as interesting as some of his other love interests. The first two installments in this series had me on the edge of my seat, this one just had me reading to finish. 2/5 stars. I hope the next book in the series has a more interesting love interest!

I love this series so much. It intrigues me that Caroline Kepnes can influence me to love and hate a character so well. I am so excited that this series is still continuing and I don't ever want it to end. I can't wait to see what else she does to wrap up the series with the next book!

I think I’m over these books. I much prefer the TV show over the book series. I don’t say that often. #bookisalwaysbetter does not apply here.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for gifting me the next installment in the You series by Caroline Kepnes - 3.5 stars!

This book finds Joe not selling books, but writing them. He's at Harvard in a writing fellowship group, picked by instructor Glenn Shoddy. Joe feels his work is superior to everyone's but the other fellows are published or more distinguished. Then he meets Wonder, who he feels he has so much in common with compared to the others in the group. He soon becomes obsessed.

I will preface this review saying that I didn't read the first two books in this series nor have I watched the show. But I read this new installment right after #3 in the series and maybe it's just too much of the same for me. There are parts of this one that I liked better - the book references, the Goodreads talk - but it just seemed to be the same story in a different setting.

This was a “Did not finish” for me. The more the series goes on the worst the books get. I would recommend skipping the books all together and watching the TV show on Netflix instead.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For You And Only You
By Carolyn Kepnes
Review and Rating 3 ⭐️

This review has left me so conflicted. I was absolutely thrilled to receive For You and Only You as an ARC. The You series by Carolyn Kepnes has been a favorite of mine from the beginning. Joe Goldberg and his stalker, psycho, serial killer ways have intrigued me and make him one of my favorite antiheroes to date.
And yet, from the beginning I just couldn’t get in to this book. No spoilers here but I find this a little ironic, considering the subject matter of the book. I thought I would be all over this. Literature, and Goodreads, and Dunkin, oh my! Joe is a writer, he is in Boston, invited to a fellowship at Harvard with his favorite author, Glenn Shoddy. He meets a new girl to obsess over named Wonder. (She works in a Dunkin’, thus all the references) He also meets a whole host of characters in his fellow “Shoddies”.
Wonder, I think, is part of the problem I have with the book, I dislike her character and find her boring. Also the book is slow and the the supporting characters are for the most part uninteresting or irritating. The ending of the book was also so unlike a You book, I went back and read it a second time. (Is Joe growing or losing his touch?)
The best part of the book, in my opinion, are all the literary references and Joe labeling Wonder a “Goodreads girl”. I see what you did there Ms. Kepnes! 😉
As always, my opinion remains that Carolyn Kepnes is a great writer, this just wasn’t the best You book. Of course I will read another book in this series if and when she releases it!
As a Goodreads girl myself I wish I could give this one more but I am going to stick with 3 ⭐️.
I want to thank Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.



Book Rating Key
⭐️ Not Recommended
⭐️⭐️ Readable Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Good Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Excellent Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Near Perfect Book
***Note*** I seldom give ⭐️or ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ratings. If I feel a book is a ⭐️sometimes I just prefer to not finish reading it and not rate it. As for 5 ⭐️books, I think of those as books I would want to take with me to a deserted island 🏝️, and this means I read a whole lot of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️star books. Happy Reading!

I just don't get tired of these books. I am not sure why but they are just great thrillers. They are different and I think that's what makes them so good.

I loved this book. I loved ALL of these books. Yet another amazing story in the YOU-niverse. Joe Goldberg never stops being a fascinating character no matter what situation you put him in.

Joe is one of the best morally gray characters of all time. In this installment he heads to Harvard for a writing fellowship. Joe thinks, he HAS to finally meet the sort of intellectuals who will appreciate his brand of genius. Instead he finds a band of snobs with silver spoons in hand, who send his inner monologue into overdrive. He starts to think he may have made a mistake...until SHE comes along. If you watch the show, you may get confused between the two timelines and storylines, but the book of course delves so much deeper into the psyche of the character. This is the 4th book in the series, and if you haven't yet fallen in love with the particular brand of crazy that is Joe Goldberg, start with book one and enjoy the ride.

Thank you to netgalley for allowing me to read this in advance of release.

I loved this series when I started it and I have seen the Netflix adaptation as well which I love. The writing is easy to read and a bit unique in that you are quite literally inside of Joe's head. You're hearing what he is saying internally and externally which keeps things interesting. He's the bad guy that we all love, somehow, the antihero. He's still the same Joe in this book, but he is also somehow different.

In this book you'll find the usual patterns, stalking, love, killing, and... Not killing? I just feel like the more I read this series, the more repetitive and boring it is becoming. It is a good enough book that I was able to finish it to see it through and find out what happens. However, it isn't a book that I would read again or rave about. There was no shock factor or "OMG" moment.

Not my favorite book.. it was just neutral to me. It feels like I never got to the "point" of the book since there wasn't a big twist or anything.

Another steller read from Caroline Kepnes. The fourth book in her YOU series did not disappoint. Joe Goldberg is back with his eyes set on another YOU and this time around he is in a classroom setting at Harward University. Kepnes once again captured Joe's innermost thoughts and social commentary with relevance and entertainment at the forefront. She mocks Boston/Massachusetts in the best possible way. I loved being inside Joe's insane brain and at the end of the day, he continues to be one of my favorite characters in the fiction world. As nuts as he is, Kepnes keeps us loving him!

I love this series! This installment did not disappoint. Caroline Kepnes always keeps Joe evolving in ways that make the story interesting and different from the other installments. This one is fun because the character growth from the third book really shines and the ending is so un Joe like it is nice. This is definitely a comfort series for me and I recommend to anyone even remotely interested. This will not disappoint.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for this gifted copy. This book is out now!!!!

Audible
Overall 4 out of 5 stars
Performance 5 out of 5 stars
Story 3 out of 5 stars

The narration makes the story.
I've loved Joe since he burst into our lives almost a decade(!) ago, thanks to the creative, and slightly warped, mind of Caroline Kepnes. It still feels weird to say I'm in love with a psycho, but what can you do. Although after finishing You and Only You, I hate to say it but that love might be waning just a bit.
In this book I started to see Joe not as that strong, determined psycho who stole my heart, but as a slightly pathetic, dare I say, loser. It pains me to say that, it truly does. But it's the truth, Joe needs to take a step back and maybe be on his own for a bit, instead of jumping from fixation to fixation. Although apparently his time in FL until his move to Harvard didn't do him much good.
The ending of You Love Me led me to believe we'd be visiting Joe in FL, but I guess that didn't work out for him, since we jumped to Harvard. I'm not sure if that was Ms, Kepnes's plan all along, but I kind of wish we had spent some time in FL, and then moved on to Harvard. I feel like that might have helped fill in some gaps.

Even though my feelings for Joe have changed, I'll still be here for him. With the way this story ended, I can't even begin to guess where we'll go next.

Santino Fontana is/was the perfect narrator choice for Joe. I had an arc for this through NetGalley but put off reading until I could get the audio because I just love listening to Santino bring Joe to life. I can't imagine anyone else performing this character.

Before reading this latest book in the You series, I had listened to the earlier books in audio format and watched the Netflix show. Joe travels across the US and even internationally in the TV show to stalk and kill anyone who gets in his way. In this book, Joe is in a writers workshop at Harvard. Predictably, he hates everyone and thinks he is better than them (this is true even of his love interest, Wonder). While I definitely wanted to finish this book and will probably read future books in the series if there are any, I found this one hard to follow. It is very meta, because it includes many descriptions of drafts of books. I often found myself wondering what just happened, and didn’t feel like each character was explored in much depth.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the free ARC to review,

What can I say? I'm a Goodreads girl. Make sure you have a hefty supply of Dunkin' with you when you read this, because you for sure are gonna be making Dunkin' runs for donuts and Coolattas while reading this one. This book gave me a serious obsession with Coolattas and Bejeweled Blitz. I loved this book. I love all the books in this series. Joe is that character that you just love, even though you know you shouldn't, because let's face it- he has some serious issues. But no matter what, I still find myself rooting for him in every book and this one was no exception. I loved throwing Joe into the environment at Cambridge. It was so great to see him in an environment where he was surrounded by all of the people he always seems to want to be around. I loved his relationship with Wonder, and it's strange to say, but I feel like it helped Joe grow a little bit. I loved Sara Beth, and how Joe kind of met his match in her. That dynamic was absolutely excellent. I loved this book, I thought it was a great addition to the series, and it made me fall in love with Joe and his world a little bit more, even though I know it's wrong.