Chris has a brief encounter with Serena at the grocery store and in that split second, decides that she's the one for him. He very quickly becomes obsessed and things take a dark turn.

All Because of You was a dark, creepy read. It's told from Chris's point of view and I must admit, it made me feel extremely uncomfortable at times. I felt almost voyeuristic, like I was the one spying on Serena, and that creeped me out! The author did a great job putting you inside the mind of the main character and it was a twisty place to be. I think the creepiest part of the whole thing for me is the fact that it's not super far fetched at all. That is exactly how those kind of situations develop. Those kind of guys look sweet and innocent in the beginning and then the real personality comes out. I am all around impressed by Lissa Lovik and can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars

Wow, I absolutely loved this!!! In the same vein as You by Caroline kepnes, this thriller was incredibly dark and intriguing. It was fascinating to read from the POV of the villain. He was unlikeable but the psychological aspect of living in his mind for the story was fascinating. I was so curious how the author would end this book and I think she did a fantastic job. I look forward to reading more of her work.

Chris Fox has a casual encounter with Serena Archer in a grocery store and in very Joe Goldberg-esque fashion, he becomes immediately obsessed with her. He stalks her and manipulates his way into her life, initially coming across to her as the perfect guy. But it’s not long before Chris starts exhibiting red flags and Serena realizes he is not the great guy she initially thought he was.

This entire book (which I read in one day) is told from the perspective of Chris. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the title of this book is All Because of “You” and as someone who watched and enjoyed the Netflix series, I could hear Joe Goldberg’s voice narrating in my head as I read.

Although this touches on many of the same themes as “You”, this one felt a bit more serious and believable and the theme of domestic violence is much more prominent. If actually consider this a bit of a cross between “You” and “It Ends With Us”.

This was a dark and captivating read and I will definitely be on the lookout for anything new from Lissa Lovik. With thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to preview this ARC in exchange for my review.

My Rating: 1⭐️ Just a super letdown, I feel disappointed that I kept going!!

Love is blind…. Well not for Chris, its love at first sight when he bumps into Serena at the grocery store. Every step of the way is curated to ensure that Chris meets Serena again… they are meant to be he knows it!!

She will know it too…. Chris is the perfect man, made just for Serena she just doesn’t know it yet. She is perfect for him too, in every way, even the ways that need changing to ensure “their” ultimate happiness.

Its a lot of effort to keep an eye on Serena all the time, but love is worth the effort and Chris will stop at nothing to get and keep Serena all to himself.

OK… this sounded juicy and started out good. It was very YOU in its initial execution (to be clear I haven’t read it only watched season 1) and to be fair I should have known this might let me down these stalker books are very hit and miss and always pretty similar.

I did like the writing, that was engaging and it kept me interested (there are buts) and it was told from Chris’s POV which is expected… its creepy enough, but it didn’t have that full on ominous feel to it that I was really hoping for. I wanted to feel super uncomfortable … these types of books are supposed to send a chill down your spine and make your hair stand on end… that didn’t happen.

Don’t get me wrong it was creepy but just not enough for this kind of story. To me it was predictable and again these stories usually go the same way (I was hoping for something weird and unhinged that we haven’t seen before, but it didn’t happen), so if they are going to be predictable they need to be done 100% right.

It was lacklustre, and the characters sort of got to a spot and then it went flat. Chris was a good bad guy… but then he kind of was flat too. Everything just fell away and it was like the author went oh well I am out of ideas… lets do this and this and wrap this baby up.

I was really let down with the ending.

Overall, I think this will be a huge hit… but like always I am on outlier island and there will be a few of my regular GR friends that will agree with me, some of my GR friends will love this and honestly go for it… I hope you do love it. If nothing else it was an easy read. But yeah for me it was a huge miss.

Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

All Because of You by Lissa Lovik is a Debut Thriller and I absolutely loved it. It gripped me from page one and there was no dull moment. I liked Serena’s character. Author has taken us deep inside the stalker’s mind and shown us some of the crucial things through psychological facts. I loved how author has shared each character’s thoughts despite being narrated from the perspective of the villain. Expect twists, mystery and unthinkable happenings. The book is utterly gripping and unputdownable.
Thanks to the Publisher, and Author.

This book is a read in one day book. Chris is the guy you tell your everyone to NOT get in a relationship with. This book and Chris was so disturbing but so good. I really felt like I was in the head of the stalker and while I wanted to look/run away I could not. This is is going to be one of the best thrillers I read this year for sure!

Rating: 5/5 Stars
Pub Date: 7/29
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Oh, hello Joe 2.0, I am intrigued….
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If that doesn’t give you a hint as to what this story is about, then you need to do more reading. I started this one one right after @carrie was raving about it, and she had every reason too.
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The easiest way to describe my feelings towards this book was addiction, shock and horror and rage. The manipulation and gaslighting was wild. When I thought it couldn’t get any worse Chris would (very rudely) be like “hold my beer”. The audacity and the sad reality that this is some people’s real life is eye opening. I can promise you that not once during this book did I ever root or Chris, I found him to be dispicable.
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The pacing was superb, I was addicted to the story and wanted to know what was going to happen next. I finished it in a matter of 24 hours! The suspense and intensity just emanated off the pages of this one. An absolutely phenomenal debut. What an absolutely stellar debut. A must read for sure.
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Overall, this is one you will not want to miss this summer. Thriller fans are going to eat this up. Be sure to check out trigger warnings. Huge thank you to NetGalley, Lissa Lovik and Thomas & Mercer for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book dives deep into understanding love and how far a person can love you —whether it's genuine love or something much darker. It was a gripping, unsettling, creepy read. From the very start, I was completely captivated and left feeling gobsmacked until the very last page. The cover and descriptions are eye-catching, and I was hooked and couldn't resist reading it. It didn't disappoint me, and it lived up to my expectations!

It is told from a "villain perspective" and has this "YOU vibes". Just imagine being stalked by someone like Chris! OMG, I couldn't. I would have freaked out, too. I love it when an author chooses the villain's POV; it often gives me an understanding of why they're doing this, but this one? NO! You'll hate him even more. What starts as something resembling a sweet crush turned into obsession and deadly!

The realism of the plot is another major" highlight—there's no moment where you think, "Sure, that's realistic but highly unlikely." It'll blow your mind, and the impact of the story lingers long after you've finished reading.

A big shout-out to the author for doing a fantastic job with this one.

Wow. I don’t have many words outside of that.
This was incredibly dark yet completely and utterly realistic which made it 100x more disturbing. I was hooked from the start and only put it down once (to sleep so I could finish it the next day). The steady progression of the abusive in the relationship was respected perfectly. It shows how even when you’re surrounded by a great support system, master manipulators can still get their claws into you. Chris was like Joe if Joe was a little less stabby. I loved how we were simultaneously inside of his head yet still against him. There was no attempted redemption arc for him.

When I picked up this book, I expected a horror thriller—something dark and intense, maybe even full of twists. The cover drew me in, and I didn’t think twice. But what I got was something completely different. Not just a story, but something that pulled me in so deeply it was almost suffocating.

What made it even more gripping was that it was told from the point of view of, let’s say, the villain. That made everything feel even more intense. Being inside his mind was infuriating—you want to scream at him, to stop him, to protect everyone around him. And yet, you can’t look away. It’s rare to read a book where you’re so conflicted, torn between rage and fascination.

But what hit the hardest was how real it felt. How easy it is to fall into something that starts off as warmth and love, only to realize too late what’s hiding underneath. The slow realization, the fear, and then the strength it takes to finally leave—it’s something that stays with you. I wish it were always that simple in real life.

This book wasn’t what I expected, but it was something even more powerful. A must-read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this advance copy!
This book will be released on July 29, 2025.
This one has some serious "You" vibes! I admit, I was ticked off at a certain character from the beginning.
We got a stalkerish, jealous, control-freak who crosses too many lines.
Couldn't put this one down!

𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒑𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆.

I started this one on a whim Thursday morning before work and immediately started a buddy read and bullied some friends into reading it. This one is dark, absolutely consuming, and places the reader directly into the obsessive mind of a stalker.

Chris first sees her at the grocery store, and he's enamored. I was immediately uncomfortable with how quickly he studied, evaluated, and planned to devour his prey. Fate hands him a gift when her grocery store list flutters to the floor unnoticed. It's written on a receipt bearing her name--Serena. A cursory online search reveals everything he needs to coordinate an 'accidental' meeting, and before too long, the two are a couple. But Chris keeps running into roadblocks--Serena's friends, her teenage son, even her dog--and those things have to be dealt with, because nothing is keeping him from his destiny.

I think every woman who reads this will be completely and utterly fascinated, repulsed, and terrified. I was worried that I would feel empathy for Chris and find myself in the dilemma of feeling sorry for him, but I'm glad to say he lacks the charisma and vulnerability of the fictional character Joe Goldberg, so don't even try to compare the two. I was also worried about how the author would portray Serena's character, but all my fears were laid to rest. There are no stereotypes here, and for that, this book is far superior to most books with this trope.

Raw, visceral, and an absolute gut punch that took my breath away many times, ALL BECAUSE OF YOU is slated to be a sizzling summer bestseller. Thank you to Thomas and Mercer for the early copy. This book will publish July 29, 2025.

Oooooh love the YOU vibes this gives off. Such a good boook. Literally couldn't put it down. Stayed up all night trying to finish it in one night. Loveeeed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for an ARC of All Because of You.

Two words to describe this book: deliciously disturbing! The story felt like a train wreck... I didn't want to watch but I couldn't look away! A dark, binge-worthy, super impressive debut! I'll be looking forward to more from Lissa Lovik.

5 stars!

mind-bending psychological thriller that keeps you questioning everything. The story follows [protagonist’s name], whose life spirals out of control after [inciting incident]. As paranoia sets in, reality blurs, and the line between truth and deception vanishes.

This book was darker than I was expecting it to be. I was hooked right from the beginning when Chase immediately becomes infatuated with Serena after meeting her. I really liked how this book is written in the perspective of the stalker instead of the victim. It reminds me somewhat of the show “you”.

I absolutely loathed everything about Chase but the way the author wrote his character made this story very interesting.

There were so many times that i feared for the safety of Serena. Her being oblivious to Chase and his intentions had me wanting to warn her of the danger she was in. She did have people in her life warning her but Chase was very manipulative and that made it harder for Serena to accept the reality of who he was. It’s saddening to see how her past relationships didn’t work out and just when she thought she found someone safe he turns out to be malicious.

It was really hard to read the scene about Ivy and it made me hate Chase more than I already did.

Even though this book is fictional, it’s the reality for many people. Knowing that makes this book even more frightening.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A chillingly creepy story about that guy who just won’t take no for an answer. After a coincidental meeting in a grocery store, a man is sure he’s met the woman of his dreams. It never occurs to him. She might not feel the same way, in fact, he’s sure that she will love him too, she just needs to give him a chance. There’s not a woman alive, who won’t be chilled by this story, and the knowledge that some men refuse to take no for an answer. Read this one with the lights on.