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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
4 Wild Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Wow! This book was nothing and I mean nothing like Caroline Kepnes’s previous books.... this book was a mixture of young adult, crime fiction, the supernatural, and much more! It was a genre potpourri... and it worked... because the thing this had in common with Caroline’s previous books is it was very well written with some interesting characters.... I just don’t want you to enter this book thinking it is a dark demented twisted psychological thriller, it is far from that... although there are some disturbing and demented parts....
The book is told from multiple points of view including John and Chloe.... we met these two when they were still pretty young and I enjoyed the young adult aspect of this book... John is kidnapped when he is young and comes back with a superpower of sorts.... now here is the part that I might not have appreciated as much as I could have.... because I know absolutely nothing about H.P. Lovecraft... so if you are better acquainted with him perhaps this part will resonate with you much more than it did with me....
Our third point of view came from Eggs A detective... and that is not my autocorrect that is his actual name! Eggs has some demons of his own and is consumed with a case of young healthy people dying from heartattacks... he was an interesting character as well and I really liked the growth in him throughout the book.... how do all these characters tied together? Well you’re going to need to read the book to find out!
Recommend you read this book with an open mind, it is unlike anything you’ve read before, guaranteed!
*** many thanks to the publisher for my copy of this most interesting book ***
Wow! This book was nothing and I mean nothing like Caroline Kepnes’s previous books.... this book was a mixture of young adult, crime fiction, the supernatural, and much more! It was a genre potpourri... and it worked... because the thing this had in common with Caroline’s previous books is it was very well written with some interesting characters.... I just don’t want you to enter this book thinking it is a dark demented twisted psychological thriller, it is far from that... although there are some disturbing and demented parts....
The book is told from multiple points of view including John and Chloe.... we met these two when they were still pretty young and I enjoyed the young adult aspect of this book... John is kidnapped when he is young and comes back with a superpower of sorts.... now here is the part that I might not have appreciated as much as I could have.... because I know absolutely nothing about H.P. Lovecraft... so if you are better acquainted with him perhaps this part will resonate with you much more than it did with me....
Our third point of view came from Eggs A detective... and that is not my autocorrect that is his actual name! Eggs has some demons of his own and is consumed with a case of young healthy people dying from heartattacks... he was an interesting character as well and I really liked the growth in him throughout the book.... how do all these characters tied together? Well you’re going to need to read the book to find out!
Recommend you read this book with an open mind, it is unlike anything you’ve read before, guaranteed!
*** many thanks to the publisher for my copy of this most interesting book ***
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
2.5 Stars rounded up to three. Maybe it’s because I’ve never read H.P. Lovecraft or it just wasn’t my cup of tea. This book is VERY different from Kepnes’ other books. The writing is done well but the story was a little.. off. This is not a book I would recommend.
This isn’t really the genre I tend to read, so I found myself struggling with this one. But despite the story, I still really loved the writing style of this book. Kepnes has such a beautiful way with words! I picked this book up because I’m a fan of the You series and well, this was certainly something.
I’m being generous with the 4 stars. Probably more like 3.5. I just love her writing style and her characters.
Excellent book with the same shivers down your spine vibe as You. Knepes is an excellent suspense writer and I quite literally adore every one of her novels I’ve read. Joe and Chloe are an interesting Star-crossed lovers trope and Eggs is an easy guy to root for. 10/10
A mishmash of genres, sci-fi/romance/mystery, and tropey in all of them. The cop who neglects his family in service of his job, the star-crossed lovers who pine from afar, the experiment gone wrong. But in an enjoyable way. There's a weird amount of references to Dunkin donuts, which are so out of place and unnecessary that I'm pretty sure they sponsored the book somehow.
Spoiler**
The way Eggs figures out Jon's "Peter" alias was ridiculous and unbelievable. This could've been a 3.5 without that entire sequence.
Also, when she says Eggs had to send his wife a "screenshot" of his salad... Screenshots are not the same as pictures. I feel like Caroline is young enough to know this...??
Spoiler**
The way Eggs figures out Jon's "Peter" alias was ridiculous and unbelievable. This could've been a 3.5 without that entire sequence.
Also, when she says Eggs had to send his wife a "screenshot" of his salad... Screenshots are not the same as pictures. I feel like Caroline is young enough to know this...??
For me, Providence was one of my most anticipated reads of 2018. There was so much pre-release buzz surrounding it and I've been dying to read something by this author, so I took the leap and dove into Providence.
Jon and Chloe were the best of friends. They understood one another in ways that no one else seemed to get. They shared an intense connection. However, on the day that Jon is supposed to confess his true feelings for Chloe, he goes missing. I was so intrigued by this. I was dying to know more. I needed answers. I wanted to know what happened with Jon....4 years later, Jon finally returns home, but life has changed a lot in the time that he was away. He is convinced that if he can change himself; get better, he can finally have what he's always wanted with Chloe...In addition to Jon and Chloe's storyline, we also have the one of Detective Eggs. Eggs has been consumed by a string of deaths and will stop at nothing to solve the case. How can people who are healthy just have their hearts stop beating? Eggs is convinced that all of these murders are connected and will risk everything to find out the truth....
I'm going to be 100% honest with you. I wanted so much to love this book. I really did. But, it just didn't work for me. I was really intrigued by the story in the beginning. I wanted to know what happened to Jon and couldn't wait to see where the story would go once he returned. That intrigue lasted about 25-30% into the story. After that I just felt confused and lost. This book has a heavy H.P. Lovecraft presence and that was just totally lost on me. I've never read anything by Lovecraft, so all of those references were over my head. I Am Providence and The Dunwich Horror were seriously huge themes throughout the book and they just left me with a giant question mark over my head. Maybe if I had a better understanding of HP Lovecraft and those stories, this story might of clicked for me, but it just didn't.
Providence is one of those books that you're either going to get or you're gonna be left in the dark, like I was. It's going to be a hit for some and a miss for others. From mystery and suspense to supernatural themes, this book certainly had a lot going on. I think this author is a very unique story-telling and has a great writing style. Even though this book was a total miss for me, I'm still glad that I gave it chance and checked it out.
*I was provided an ARC copy of this book via Random House Publishing and NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review*
Jon and Chloe were the best of friends. They understood one another in ways that no one else seemed to get. They shared an intense connection. However, on the day that Jon is supposed to confess his true feelings for Chloe, he goes missing. I was so intrigued by this. I was dying to know more. I needed answers. I wanted to know what happened with Jon....4 years later, Jon finally returns home, but life has changed a lot in the time that he was away. He is convinced that if he can change himself; get better, he can finally have what he's always wanted with Chloe...In addition to Jon and Chloe's storyline, we also have the one of Detective Eggs. Eggs has been consumed by a string of deaths and will stop at nothing to solve the case. How can people who are healthy just have their hearts stop beating? Eggs is convinced that all of these murders are connected and will risk everything to find out the truth....
I'm going to be 100% honest with you. I wanted so much to love this book. I really did. But, it just didn't work for me. I was really intrigued by the story in the beginning. I wanted to know what happened to Jon and couldn't wait to see where the story would go once he returned. That intrigue lasted about 25-30% into the story. After that I just felt confused and lost. This book has a heavy H.P. Lovecraft presence and that was just totally lost on me. I've never read anything by Lovecraft, so all of those references were over my head. I Am Providence and The Dunwich Horror were seriously huge themes throughout the book and they just left me with a giant question mark over my head. Maybe if I had a better understanding of HP Lovecraft and those stories, this story might of clicked for me, but it just didn't.
Providence is one of those books that you're either going to get or you're gonna be left in the dark, like I was. It's going to be a hit for some and a miss for others. From mystery and suspense to supernatural themes, this book certainly had a lot going on. I think this author is a very unique story-telling and has a great writing style. Even though this book was a total miss for me, I'm still glad that I gave it chance and checked it out.
*I was provided an ARC copy of this book via Random House Publishing and NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review*
I wish I could rate this book higher, I really do. But I just can't.
When the audiobook started, I was uncertain. I almost stopped then. But, then I didn't. I thought it would get better. Unfortunately, it never really did.
The only other book I've read by Kepnes is You which I loved so much. It was different and dark and unique and so, so interesting.
This was not that. So here we go, and the rest is going to be spoilerful....
And Chloe. F***ing Chloe. What was her deal?! Like, seriously. I didn't get her AT ALL. It made absolutely no sense to me that she would carry a torch for John all these years. That somehow, despite having minimal to no contact with him from the time he reappears on, she would live her entire life always somehow hoping he would turn up. And when she does finally decide to move on with her life (both during his disappearance and after he's gone dark as an adult), the ONE PERSON she connects with is the dude who always tortured John????? Like, you love John, and you have this connection with him you don't have with anyone else in the whole world. But if he's not around, then Carrig will do, even though he's probably the person who has been worst to John? Give me a freaking break. I didn't feel bad for her, I didn't understand the torch, I didn't get any of it at all.
Then Eggs. Oh, Eggs. I liked him. I wanted to like him more than I did. His parts of the book were definitely my favorite, both narration wise in the audiobook, and just as part of the story in general. Honestly, it was probably his introduction into the book that ensured I saw it through to the end. I liked his gruff demeanor, his determination. Although that determination also frustrated me. I hated the way he knew he shouldn't be quite so obsessive, that if he was it was going to ruin his marriage -- and then he just went ahead and did those things anyway. It wasn't fair to Lo, his wife, and it made me have a real issue with him as the story went on. He put his poor wife through so, so much, and even though he loved her and knew what he should do, but he was just too damn laser-focused and selfish to actually do it. So irritating.
AND THEN!!!!!
All three of these idiots converge. And Eggs all of a sudden both finds the person he's been looking for the whole damn book, but doesn't even care?! Because he recognizes John's good heart.
For crying out loud.
At the end of the day, I think the most frustrating thing is that nothing ever got resolved in any real way. With the exception of Eggs, possibly, none of the characters are any different by the end of the book than they really are at the start. Nothing significant has really changed, the mystery of John is ultimately never solved. Where John and Chloe are after he reappears is essentially where they are at the end of the novel as well.
Which is incredibly frustrating. I expected so much more of Kepnes and this story. And, if I'm being honest -- a cover as eye-catching as this one deserved a better story to back it up.
When the audiobook started, I was uncertain. I almost stopped then. But, then I didn't. I thought it would get better. Unfortunately, it never really did.
The only other book I've read by Kepnes is You which I loved so much. It was different and dark and unique and so, so interesting.
This was not that. So here we go, and the rest is going to be spoilerful....
Spoiler
The problem is, I didn't really like any of the characters. I mean, John was fine. But he was also kind of generic. I didn't really feel anything at all for him, other than a sort of "oh man, that must suck" kind of feeling about the fact his getting close to someone and feeling anything for them would kill them. But I never really felt a connection to John. Maybe this was intentional? But I doubt it.And Chloe. F***ing Chloe. What was her deal?! Like, seriously. I didn't get her AT ALL. It made absolutely no sense to me that she would carry a torch for John all these years. That somehow, despite having minimal to no contact with him from the time he reappears on, she would live her entire life always somehow hoping he would turn up. And when she does finally decide to move on with her life (both during his disappearance and after he's gone dark as an adult), the ONE PERSON she connects with is the dude who always tortured John????? Like, you love John, and you have this connection with him you don't have with anyone else in the whole world. But if he's not around, then Carrig will do, even though he's probably the person who has been worst to John? Give me a freaking break. I didn't feel bad for her, I didn't understand the torch, I didn't get any of it at all.
Then Eggs. Oh, Eggs. I liked him. I wanted to like him more than I did. His parts of the book were definitely my favorite, both narration wise in the audiobook, and just as part of the story in general. Honestly, it was probably his introduction into the book that ensured I saw it through to the end. I liked his gruff demeanor, his determination. Although that determination also frustrated me. I hated the way he knew he shouldn't be quite so obsessive, that if he was it was going to ruin his marriage -- and then he just went ahead and did those things anyway. It wasn't fair to Lo, his wife, and it made me have a real issue with him as the story went on. He put his poor wife through so, so much, and even though he loved her and knew what he should do, but he was just too damn laser-focused and selfish to actually do it. So irritating.
AND THEN!!!!!
All three of these idiots converge. And Eggs all of a sudden both finds the person he's been looking for the whole damn book, but doesn't even care?! Because he recognizes John's good heart.
For crying out loud.
At the end of the day, I think the most frustrating thing is that nothing ever got resolved in any real way. With the exception of Eggs, possibly, none of the characters are any different by the end of the book than they really are at the start. Nothing significant has really changed, the mystery of John is ultimately never solved. Where John and Chloe are after he reappears is essentially where they are at the end of the novel as well.
Which is incredibly frustrating. I expected so much more of Kepnes and this story. And, if I'm being honest -- a cover as eye-catching as this one deserved a better story to back it up.