It would have helped if I read the previous books in the series. Felt as though I was missing something and ultimately, did not finish. The character was too hip for me with a lot of cultural references. I will not be reading previous books.

Joe Goldberg has earned a fellowship at Harvard at the start of this book. I really enjoyed Joe in “You”, he is a really unique antihero sort of character.

However, I feel like I’m starting to get a bit tired of Joe. His egomaniacal-sarcastic -smart ass inner thoughts are a bit much sometimes. They also seem to go on, and on, and on….

I usually enjoy the author, and this book was well written but this one was a DNF for me.

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of this book to read and review.

I was excited to be reunited with Joe but I feel like this series is just going off the rails. The first two books were solid books. I forgave the 3rd book because it still had some okay bits but this one is just to much. What I always loved about this series was that it had a sense of believability to it. Joe was always bat shit but I still felt like he could be a real person and thats what made the series so thrilling. Now things are going so outside that realm of possibility that the book has lost all of its stakes. We know Joe never suffers real or lasting consequences.
In the end this book alone is fine but as a whole this series has gone off for me. Its over stayed its welcome and I'm just ready for it to be over which is sad cause I never thought I would be saying that about Joe.

Joe Goldberg is back, and he's ready for a fresh start. He's taken a break from selling books to write one of his own, and his manuscript, cheekily titled Me, has earned him entry into the hallowed halls of Harvard University. He'll be part of a fellowship with several other writers, studying under an acclaimed literary author named Glenn Shoddy.

On the first day of the fellowship, Joe is feeling dejected after meeting his privileged, already-successful classmates...but then Wonder walks into the room, fresh off her shift at Dunkin' Donuts. Just like Joe, she's a talented writer with no pretensions and no leg up in the world...and well, I think you can figure out where this is going.

Despite covering familiar territory in For You and Only You, Caroline Kepnes's fourth entry in the Joe Goldberg Saga still manages to feel fresh and fun rather than formulaic. Yes, being inside Joe's head is exhausting sometimes, and the pop culture references can be a bit over the top, but Caroline Kepnes has rendered the character of Joe so perfectly that it's impossible not to root for him, even when -- sometimes especially when -- he is indulging his homicidal tendencies. The boy is batshit and we love him for it.

This time around, we get to see Joe take on the literary elite, and it's fascinating. Setting her novel firmly in the writing world allows Kepnes to make some scathing, thought-provoking observations about publishing, writing, and literary criticism -- and even Goodreads reviewers get a few special shout-outs. Her writing is sharp and acerbic and brilliant, revealing a keen understanding of human nature beneath the dark humor of Joe's inner monologue.

As for Wonder -- well, she isn't my favorite of Joe's conquests, and I think that was an intentional choice on Kepnes's part. Joe thinks he and Wonder have so many things in common, but all of those things are surface-level. They process the world in completely different ways and really aren't compatible at all, which is why Joe has to mold Wonder into who he wants her to be. Watching his attempts to do this over the course of the novel is gripping, chilling, and yes, incredibly fun.

I will continue to read these books as long as Kepnes continues to write them. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the advance reading opportunity.

I was so excited to see where this story went next! I will read anything about Joe Goldberg. This book, like the others, really took me away as I got lost in this devious and complicated world. I really enjoyed it!

I think we all love to hate Joe, and it was fun seeing him again. He’s still as unlikeable and creepy, and I enjoyed the extra lit talk with this one!

I absolutely love the You/Joe Goldberg series! I started reading it after season one came out on Netflix and immediately loved how the books are written and how complicated the character of Joe is. In the first three books the stalker thing was always here but didn't bother me because it was always different in a way and the feminine character was also different and it was great. However in this book, I hated the female character, she's so unlikable in my opinion and it was so frustrating for me to read, Joe is still the same and I like him for it but I felt like he was overshadowed by her and it upset me. I like the vibes of Harvard and it was too in the last season so it was really enjoyable, the little similarities between this book and the last season made me quite happy. Overall it was great but definitely my LEAST favourite book of the saga sadly

The only part of this book I liked was the woman who figured Joe out and blackmailed him. Other than that, this book was not great. I love Joe, but this one made me not want to read more about him.

I think you will enjoy this book if you like knowing how Joe's mind works and knowing his inner thoughts. This book is different than the show - I watched the newest season and it doesn't match the book. Which, I don't mind that at all but I know some people don't like that. Although, I think that you will like this book if you enjoyed that last three in the series!

The 4th You book coming June 27, 2023. Now that I've seen the Netflix show, I can vision Joe and his personality in this book. Joe is back again, this time in Harvard. I have to say its kind of boring. Why? Its the same as previous, Joes talking in his head, his little side chats. If I didn't watch the show and understand how his mind works, I would probably get a little confused at the back and forth.
Joe has a new obsession, Wonder. Why does she have a name Wonder?? Is it to keep you guessing, and wondering? lol . Joe is of course just as dark and twisted . Even though this one is a little slow I would still read more from the author.

While I enjoyed Joe and all his crazy antics, this wasn't my favorite of him.

Something just wasn't clicking for me, and I can't put my finger who, what or why?

Did I enjoy the book and characters? Yes and mostly. Will I continue to read them if there is more? Hell yes. I just hope my missing piece is found in the next book!

Oh, Joe … Caroline Kepnes once again weaves an addictive web in the world of everyone’s favorite narcissistic psychopath. (Okay maybe he’s not everyone’s favorite narcissist psychopath but he’s mine). Even though it’s the fourth book in the series, it’s just as unputdownable as the first three. Five well-deserved stars!!!

I was so excited to get my hands on this book! Kepnes manages to make you want Joe to get away with everything even though he's such a repugnant creep. It's an amazing formula of Joe being the romantic love interest who will do anything for the women he's interested in, and he WILL do anything. Wonder is an interesting love interest because she is just like Joe, an underdog, but she's a more talented writer. Joe loves to call himself a feminist, and believed Malanda was a hypocritical, bad feminist in the prior book. It's comical to see Joe call out misogyny, call himself a feminist, yet desire to control and violently dispose of women. The dynamic of Joe's misogynistic jealous of Wonder's book being so highly praised, while he felt overlooked really showed how much he wants to control women out of his own insecurity. I would have loved if the class discussion on his book had happened. It would have been interesting to see if Joe's perception of his book was truly off-base as most of his perception is. Overall, if you liked the series prior to this book, you're in for a treat! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was so happy to learn that this book does not align with Season 4 of You on Netflix. I liked the show, but the book stays true to the same Joe Goldberg while the series takes a different direction. As always, I really enjoy Caroline Kepnes writing style. I love hearing Joe's thoughts and his twisted way of thinking. If you have enjoyed the book series, then I highly recommend this book!

Caroline Kepnes has always had a knack for giving characters obnoxious names and nicknames but I think I might hate Wonder the most. Not only does Wonder get a childish name but she acts like a child too. Unless I'm mistaken, she was in her 30s but everything about her felt like a teenage <i>freaking</i> girl. I mean, at one point she just rips her top off and lunges at Joe in the middle of a fight. Bizarre.

We are four books into the <i>You</i> series and honestly, I'm over Joe. The formula is stale and I feel like Kepnes tries to switch it up a little but she doesn't commit and we're back to the same, boring plot. And this one was a chore to get through.

I didn't love the fellowship plot. It was honestly a snooze having to read about their workshops. O.K. (of course she has a quirky nickname!) was such a pointless character only to have her disappear halfway through. And Sarah Beth, the thriller writer? She felt like a caricature.

In the last book, Joe was worried about committing crimes because he'd been in prison but I guess Covid times erased those worries? I'm finding it harder and harder to believe Joe can keep getting away with his crimes across the States.

Final thought: Was this book sponsored by Dunkin'?

Just as compulsively readable as Caroline Kepnes' other You titles, For You and Only You is a satisfying suspenseful return to the world of Joe Goldberg as he moves to Boston after the pandemic. His trademark style, including his murderous streak, continues as he is selected for a writer's fellowship at Harvard. New location, same obsessive personality.

2.5 stars rounded up. I was so excited for the fourth installment in this great thriller series. Unfortunately, this was not the one for me. I have loved all three previous books, but this one felt different. The book was very slow paced and centered almost entirely around a writing fellowship. As someone who loves to read but doesn't much care about writing, this was difficult to read. There were so many references to literature and authors and the book was probably 100 pages too long. Of course, I'm still interested in Joe Goldberg. I will probably read the next one, if one is written, but this one had too many uninteresting characters that I was rooting for pretty much everyone to end up dead.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for and ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Every book in this series I listened to via audio because of Santino. I do not like the show near as much as the books and I’ve followed Kepnes since she first published You. I was eager to get my hands on this new story to see what happens next? Where does Joe go from here? Apparently he goes to Harvard! Kepnes has a way of writing that’s brilliantly done. The love interest is not like others that Joe has had in the past which really helps the dynamic of the story. Joe is everyone’s favorite antihero! I enjoyed this book more than the third in the series and feel like this story had just as much witty banter and murder as any of the rest which is what we’re all looking for, am I right?

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I have kept up with the series religiously and of course watch the show on Netflix. I was pleasantly surprised to see a book 5. If you love the previous books in the series, you will love this one. As usual Joe will be Joe. He tries to change in a new location, but ultimately always fixates on someone. Quick read, great writing, same loveable dangerous Joe. Fans will love it.

Okay already they are throwing away the Florida storyline. I don’t care if COVID effed up her writing plans. Why leave the second and third book the way she did for it to be totally railroaded over with a new plot? Very annoying. Very lazy. Very “Annie Wilkes circa the movie Misery when she’s explaining to Paul Sheldon about how when one episode ends and the next one starts with no regard to how the other ended.” I felt like that. Did she think we wouldn’t remember Florida and why he escaped there?

The first 40% was a whole lot of set up with very little interest. Typical Joe. Typical formula. Except this time, I had a few laughs, which was nonexistent in the third- I’m talking no lip twitch, no smirk, nothing. At least Joe had a few authentic jokes that felt very “You first book,” but that could be because of the narration. I flipped back and forth between ebook and audiobook.

Here’s where things started to bug me:
I felt like by this fourth book, it is clear as day that Caroline Kepnes can write. But the execution killed me. This fourth book was almost like a slap in the face for all the non-literary readers who don’t pick up Salinger or all the other legendary authors. It felt like I was invited on their fellowship and it was a damn English class. Way too much focus on the actual writing aspects and what makes a great writer. I didn’t want to hear about all that. I wanted Joe killing people. I didn’t care about Joe’s book- because seriously, he knows he’s a fantastic author, why is this being shoved down our throats? I feel like it’s Caroline’s way of admitting she knows she’s a great writer. Also enough of the critiquing and over analyzing of Scabies For Breakfast and every other Shoddy's book. Like OMG it literally felt like I picked up a guide for authors.

Okay but onto the new love interest. Wonder. Umm better than Mary Kay. Worse than Love and Beck. She was just… there. Not bad, not great. As I said above, around 40% is when things got interesting. But I didn’t like her. Why does he seem to choose these mundane women? And women who make him work for it? Why can’t he find a nice lady who appreciates him and doesn’t play hard to get? It’s getting old. And oddly enough, I don't even recall them making it official. I feel like we spent a majority of the book when they were separated as opposed to dating. So when Joe admits he loves her (yes, I know he falls easy and fast), I was like wait. How long have they even been "together?"

77% I’m like wtf is up with all the damn book crap?!? It wouldn’t end! The plot dropped off and it only became about Joe’s writing and the feedback he got from Sly and Bernice. Literally zero plot in the last 25%. I stopped for a moment and was like wtf am I even reading this for? I didn’t want to finish it. I didn’t care to hear how Joe knows he’s a great writer, how Wonder is unsure and scared and blah blah. The boat scene. The fight scene. It. Was. Too. Long.

But some positives: while the fight at the end was longer than necessary—let’s be real, so many of Joe’s monologues could have been cut and we’d follow along just fine—there was some good writing there as they slung insults at each other. Still wish he killed her.

The dark humor returned.

I liked the idea of Sarah Beth knowing about Joe’s past for about a chapter. Then when I realized she wasn't going to do anything with the info except use it for book inspo, I was like W H A T? Yes, it's established she's a psychopath, but really? She's not going to turn him in??? By the end of the book, I’m like if he doesn’t kill her…

And for the lame, childish things:
Wonder. Cherish. Caridad. Sly. OK. What’s with all the weird names? Is she pulling a Colleen Hoover?

Okay and sorry I just cannot. Why. Why. Why does Joe have a child out there and it’s swept under the rug? Why did the third book even happen at all? I know books don’t have to be realistic—it’s freaking fiction—but if you’re going to have him fall in love with someone like Love, and ruin their story, pretend it never happened, it makes me not take this fourth book seriously.

No one realizes all these people die around Joe Goldberg? Isn’t he on parole? I can’t even remember where he left off with the Quinn family, but usually a man who went to jail and has not one, but three ex’s disappear or die, it’s suspicious. Then two accidents where people die happens in the new town he’s in, and it’s not suspicious??

Ugh. I don't know. I didn't love this one but it was better than the third, which got 1.5 stars. I refuse to watch the show because they butchered the books. They basically went on their own way, so why use the books as inspiration if you're not going to at least follow a little of the plot?

Will I read the 5th book if one is coming? Probably. Because I'm a masochist.