Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this ARC. I love the You series of books. I love the show. But this time, I couldn't get into it. The Wonder character seemed bland and I felt the ramblings went on too long.

Review of For You and Only You by Carolyn Kepnes

I admit it. I’m a huge fan of the YOU series. It is my absolute guilty pleasure. I will continue to read them as long as she writes them. I listened to this one mostly thanks to a listening copy from @prhaudio. I also had a copy on NetGalley I read at night. This installment was great. I liked it better than the third novel snd it rivaled the second one for me. I loved the setting as Joe is at Harvard working on becoming a writer.

Quick synopsis: Joe has moved on from the death of his wife and goes to Harvard to participate in a writing fellowship. There a beautiful young woman named Wonder catches his eye. If you know YOU and Joe you can guess what happens next..

The way I screamed when I was approved for this advanced copy!! I absolutely loved the first 3 books and couldNOT wait to see what Joe was up to next!! This book did not disappoint!

I don’t often DNF a book, especially an arc, but after I got to about 30% and felt like I should be at 80, I knew I just couldn’t do it. I feel like the series is just getting repetitive and doesn’t feel new. If this book was 100 pages shorter, maybe I would have made it.

Joe Goldberg is back! Delicious and dark and snarky as ever. Loved the setting of this one. Especially loved the creative fiction class and all it's denizens. Fans of the series will find much to love here. Come for Joes inner monologues. Stay for the tight and tense plot. As well as Caroline Kepnes's captivating language

The latest Joe Goldberg book sees attending a Harvard fellowship. There he meets Wonder. If you’ve read any of the previous books you sort of know how this budding love story is going to go.

I found this book to be one of the most introspective entries. Joe’s internal thoughts and conflicts take center stage. The author introduces a rival to Joe. A character who is seemingly more unhinged than him.

Overall, I found the book too long. As much as I love this series, the story dragged. The author could have likely cut 100 pages.

I’d still read a new book in this series but I feel like this all might be coming to an end. As is the case with the Netflix show which at this point isn’t adapted from these last two books.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I was so excited to receive a copy of this book and it did not disappoint. Joe spent his time during the pandemic lockdown, in Florida, writing his novel....Me. That is not all of his activity during that time, but that is what remained once it was time to move on.
Joe is accepted into a Harvard writing workshop and hopes that by the end of it, his genius will be appreciated and published. On his first day Joe sees another fellow of his workshop group, Wonder. She is like him, on that she does not privileged and with a higher education, just another average Jane to his Joe.
Joe is determined to protect and advance Wonder's writing career, even before his own. Joe is not a murderer, if people die around him, it is because that was the only possible outcome based on their own choices, and the body count starts to stack up.
Why do the people with the power not see that Joe's new girl is Wonder-ful like he does? And to make matters worse, Joe has 'a mouse in his house' and will he be able to figure out who it really is before his world of Wonder comes crashing down around him?

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this fun e-ARC.

Love the You series! It was easy to re-immerse myself in the world of Joe and see things through his eyes. Not to be missed - this would be a great poolside read!

What a complete letdown! As a huge fan of Joe, I have dealt with his holier than thou pretentiousness up until now, but this book was just too much pomp and not the Joe I thought I knew and loved. The characters aren’t lovable, the setting isn’t relatable, and it just reads (ironically) like an amateur attempt at writing a book about writing books. Just incredibly disappointing and I’m glad I finally finished it.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It’s been a long time coming for the next installation of “You” and being transported to a fellowship writers room with Joe at the front and center was a very interesting ride. As always, we see Joe fall in love again with a new person who will make all of his dreams come true. I will say, not being a writer may have worked against me in this sense, as I don’t quite live in the process of writing a novel and putting my soul into something like this. However, that doesn’t get in the way of Joe being Joe until the very end. This chapter of Joe features more insight and delusion that reflects on how the author has defined Joe and kept it going for us. The epilogue really sealed this book for me and I enjoyed the last several chapters of this book!

3.5 stars

Joe, Joe, Joe.
How do you keep getting yourself into this mess called love?
Like book three, this story veers away from the plotline of the Netflix show, so there is really no point in comparing them.

In this installment, Joe is off to Harvard for a writing fellowship. Given his unique insights that make Joe special, in a psycho way we've all come to adore, he should be a natural. But he finds himself isolated in the group, desperate for the validation he believes he deserves. Eventually he forms a bond with the professor/author Glenn Shoddy, believing this connection will not only help him in his quest to be published, but will also help him gain favor with fellow writer in the program, Wonder. Things don't go as planned. RIP "fill in the blank".

While I have always loved Joe's inner monologue and overall commentary on life, the pacing of this story dragged at times, and I think could have been edited down. On top of that, while I usually don't care for the secondary characters in this book and am fine with them becoming Joe's victims, I also had no connection to Wonder. I'm not sure why Joe found her so special. I think with time, he realizes she doesn't measure up to the previous women in his life. Does that mean she'll join the body count? I won't say, but the ending is very different from the other books.

If you are a Joe Goldberg fan, then of course this book is a must. Just note that some of the dark humor/intensity of the previous books is not as strong in this installment.

Joe Goldberg’s dark internal banter is captivating and it’s always so interesting being in his twisted head.
In his 4th installment, Joe finds himself in Massachusetts after having written a book and becomes a college professor.
We meet Joe’s latest obsession early. Wonder is an interesting character, she’s very unlike Joe’s previous obsessions.
The Massachusetts setting was familiar to me and I liked that, but I found the liberal use of the word Masshole a little overkill.
Although I did enjoy this one, I’m finding this series a bit formulaic and repetitive at this point. This wasn’t the conclusion I expected, but I’m not sure how I would feel about another after this book.

Unfortunately, this one was a miss for me. It was just too long and uneventful. Around 60% I found myself reading a few pages and getting so bored I would switch over to another book. Joe felt like a different character than he did in the previous books. I would advise others to skip this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Randomhouse Publishing Group for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Joe Goldberg is back, this time at Harvard, where he has secured a spot in a writing fellowship. And there he meets Wonder, his latest soulmate. But the path to true love never does run smooth and anyone who knows Joe, knows where this is headed.

This was ok for most of the story, though it kind of fell apart for me in the middle. There are a lot of characters to keep straight and understand Joe's complex relationships with them. Because Joe has complex relationships with everyone unfortunately. This was a solid story overall, but I'm ok if this is the last of these. Joe is a tough character to like and empathize with.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Available April 25, 2023.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for gifting me an early copy. Below you'll find my honest review.

Joe Goldberg, you are a special person. You always have been. From that very first "meet-cute" with Guinevere Beck, you grabbed my attention and held it hostage. How am I rooting for a stalker, a murderer, a sociopathic narcissist? Yet every book, you found a way to make me cheer for you.

Not since You have I felt so strongly on Team Joe. Don't get me wrong, Hidden Bodies and You Love Me still had me standing on the sidelines with pom-poms and a short skirt and a witty rhyme. But this one had me diving deep into your prose, right beside you pushing for your love and your success with you. I watched the group push you aside, put you down, poison her mind against you, and I rooted for you.

This is my favorite Joe novel, aside from the first, which was so original and visceral that it completely changed my worldview on how thrillers should go. And this one flips that on its head by altering my perception OF JOE HIMSELF. Joe shows some serious growth in this one, aside from a slip up at the beginning. He considers the consequences of his actions. He doesn't jump straight into killing. And honestly, for the first time, I think he might actually care more deeply than I realized in other books.

It's a strange sight, seeing someone as dark as Joe in a new light, and I'm here for it. Kudos to Kepnes on shifting the narrative enough to reinvigorate my love of Joe.

i will keep reading joe goldberg books as long as there are joe goldberg books to read!

this one felt a bit different than the rest of the series but i'm not sure if that's just because time has passed since i've read the 3rd book.

i dont want to give anything away but i will say joe goldberg does what joe goldberg does and i love to hate him.

if you've been reading and loving this series you won't be disappointed!!

thank you to netgalley and random house for the opportunity to review this book.

Joe Goldberg has always held a hint of fascination for me because of the way his mind works and how he justifies his actions, that he might actually be making the world a better place by removing obstacles when he removes people. It's not always premeditated or there's usually some kind of snag, typically in the name of love. In that way, he's relatable despite the myriad of ways that he is not. However, I think this book is where Joe and I finally part ways where I won't continue to read any further of his journey. Because I did think he lacked a journey this time around. It's really just another Joe Goldberg episode doing the thing that he usually does rather than exhibiting any type of growth or maturity. Even a demonstration of him going further off the rails, or at least some kind of directional movement. So while the setting is fresh, where Joe is participating in a writing fellowship at Harvard, his usual foray into falling off the deep end for a woman who likes to live in her own biased bubble is not really unique. Joe is always seeking love and happiness and that place to belong where he's amongst people who understand him, but I'm not convinced he'll ever find it because while he's witty and entertaining, he is crazy and he can be just as narrow minded as everyone else he makes fun of. By the end, I did gather that there might be someone he can truly be himself around in an honest light, but I'm not sure what the implications of that will lead to in the future because Joe is always going to save himself first.

I loved the opportunity to follow Joe Goldberg all the way to a Harvard writer’s fellowship and live inside his head for a while again. This is the fourth installment in the “You” series and I’ll be here for any more Kepnes releases. Joe is such a fascinating character. Just when his thoughts seem rational you realize how unhinged he really is. Of course Joe can’t help but to fall immediately for one of his fellow students, Wonder. Like Joe, Wonder has no college degree. She works at Dunkin and writes Goodreads reviews, but above all she wants to be a writer. I won’t spoil too much since this is the fourth in a series but Joe will always risk everything for love, including having his past resurface. My favorite fellowship student is Sarah Beth. Kepnes needs to give her a spin-off book. It’s full of literary and pop culture references, which I love. At 448 pages it did drag a little at times, and seem somewhat repetitive. But overall it was a fun read and if you’re a devotee of this series like I am then you have to read it. Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for an advanced copy of this book.

2.5/3 stars
Reading Joe is always an experience. His way of casting himself as a victim, the dissonance between his waxing poetic about feminist allyship and his pattern of literally murdering women… Caroline Kepnes tells us over and over again that Joe is, above all else, the most unreliable narrator—without having to tell us. My biggest disappointment lately with this series, however, has been that I expected the pattern to change a little, especially after Love. But it largely stayed the same. It feels redundant by now to watch Joe move through the same patterns over and over again. And I half expected us to say goodbye to him in this book, but it’s left open for Joe to come back in the future. However, I don’t see myself being interested in seeing what happens with him next.
Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Caroline Kepnes for the eGalley of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Joe, the murderer, is at it again! Fans of the series will enjoy jumping, once again, into his point of view in this latest installment in the series. Entertaining!