Scan barcode
geminisoul's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Addiction, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Abortion
donovar2's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Drug use and Drug abuse
Moderate: Infidelity, Child abuse, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, and Mental illness
Minor: Sexual content and Abandonment
dobermaier's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Stalking
Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, Violence, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Drug abuse
david_slack110507's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
To begin with, I do like the aspect of Joe having to not kill due to the circumstances of the last book, which is that he is now in the good graces of the Quinn family and must abide by their rules to continue to live this life of relative luxury in Bainbridge Island. It created some interesting dynamics rather than having Joe just kill anyone in the way of his "love" for Mary Kay DiMarco (This book's central love interest or shall I say Joe's later obsession and fascination, though for this one he does seem to tone it down just a little but many of the usual Joe shenanigans take place still). However, I do feel like while this is a positive aspect of the book, it could also be seen as a lazy one as any issue that needs the removal of a person from a situation to result in Joe's best outcome often happens by chance, for example when Joe has kidnapped Melanda (Mary Kay's best friend), she ends up committing suicide and when Seamus (Another friend of Mary Kay and has a far more sinister relationship with Mary Kay's daughter, Nomi, than expected) kidnaps Joe, he is killed by Oliver (A private investigator sent by the Quinn family to monitor Joe's activities whom also catches Joe in the act of disposing of the recently deceased Melanda's body). Some could see this as a way of writing out situations to get to the next one rather than letting it have any real lasting consequences but for me, it mainly works.
Another thing I liked about You Love Me is that once again, like with how Hidden Bodies, picked up threads from the original You novel, You Love Me does the same with its predecessor but to a much larger capacity as the Quinns and Forty/Henry are much more present in this book in comparison to Amy Adams from the last book and I actually quite liked that the Quinns still had an influence in Joe's life even without being there. When the situation is fully addressed, I do think it is once again done a little too cleanly as Joe gets away pretty much scott-free with only some relationship drama for him to tend with as a result of his conclusion to his relationship with Love.
Something that I noticed in this book is that social commentary is much more present this time around. Social commentary has always been present in the You series/You books both explicitly and implicitly, but I found that this one featured it more heavily, particularly with Joe. In this book, Joe is much more socially aware and he comments on this throughout. I like to think that his inner monologues about being pro-feminism have a deeper meaning or are actually just a deeper message that Caroline Kepnes is trying to convey using Joe as the vessel with which to do it - Either, Joe is doing this to feed into his superiority complex in that he is better than most guys for Mary Kay because he actually respects her or it's a message to show how people use and abuse social movements and ideas to better themselves either for their own good or to portray a better public image. I may be reading too much into it, but I thought it was an interesting thought.
My main issue with this book was the ending, not only did it come out of nowhere and feel quite poorly handled but it also felt like there needed to be something to cause a situation so serious enough that Joe could not be with this family in the next book despite the fact that a chapter or two prior to the end of the book, had seemed to be in the picture-perfect ending (Or at least the picture-perfect ending for a book like this and for a guy like Joe). This twist along with the fact that Nomi had been sleeping with and seeing Seamus, wasn't great and the lack of buildup beyond those two chapters was pretty much non-existent. I know that I have more positives than negatives so maybe that doesn't justify the 3-star rating (Which is actually rounded down from a 3.5) but something just didn't hit the same with this one like the others, but it was still an enjoyable listen.
Graphic: Death, Deadnaming, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Violence, Sexual content, and Blood
Moderate: Confinement, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Bullying, Pedophilia, Sexism, Death of parent, and Animal death
Minor: Abortion, Rape, Infidelity, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Mass/school shootings, and Pregnancy
sophiesometimesreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The pacing felt all over the place. It was quite slow through the majority then picked up for a couple chapters at the end, then dropped then increased again. It made for a weird reading experience where I didn't dislike the book, but I couldn't quite get into the story as much as the first book (and second, to some extent).
The stakes also didn't feel as high as the first two, so the book didn't particularly feel like a fast-paced thriller this time around. I felt like Joe wasn't quite as dark and obsessive, so the stakes of the story and the "romance" weren't as high.
On top of this, I was so interested in seeing where the story went from the ending of the last novel that I was kind of disappointed that the events immediately following that were only briefly mentioned.
This doesn't mean the book was bad or boring, it was still quite an interesting read and definitely a different dynamic between characters to the first two books which was good. The ending also caught me off guard and I didn't see it coming, which was interesting. I feel like the first novel was so good that it was always going to be hard to keep up that sort of pace and intrigue but I will still be reading the fourth novel at some point in the near future because who can resist Joe Goldberg (not many people, it seems).
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Suicide, Drug abuse, and Death of parent
fartplatinum's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Grief, Gun violence, Abandonment, Animal death, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, and Infidelity
Moderate: Abortion, Alcohol, Medical content, and Torture
Minor: Mass/school shootings
emmmapayne's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Death, Death of parent, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape
kuhnja's review
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Moderate: Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Gun violence, Infidelity, Death, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Abortion, and Blood
Minor: Animal death
ellaticonstellation's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Confinement, Blood, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Addiction, Child abuse, and Toxic friendship
theimposter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Violence, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Cancer, Misogyny, and Suicide
Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty
Minor: Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Abortion