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amym84 's review for:
Providence
by Caroline Kepnes
For as long as they've known each other, it's always been Jon and Chloe. Even when the pressures of growing up and fitting in get in the way, Jon and Chloe remain the best of friends. The type of friendship that could one day be something more. That is, until Jon is kidnapped.
Four years later Jon returns, changed in ways he has yet to understand. The only thing he does understand is that he's a danger to those around him, especially those he loves. So Jon leaves again on a quest for the person who took / changed him, and to protect Chloe.
Heartbroken, Chloe delves into her art, the only place she can truly express the waiting and wanting and love. Neither Jon nor Chloe ever fully gives up on the other or their bond, but with Jon a danger to those around him, how can they ever be together?
I'll be honest, I was first attracted to Providence by those pops of color on the cover. That neon electric pink drew my eye enough that I had to give this book another glance. This is also the first book I've read by Caroline Kepnes although upon starting this one, I learned that one of her previous books is soon to become a Lifetime movie so maybe it's fate that put me in the pathway of this book, I don't know. The stars aligned, or some such.
I felt like Providence was a pretty easy read. Early on, right after Jon is kidnapped, I thought this book would turn down a dark path and be one of those that I couldn't read for long stretches of time. I was surprised then that, while not what I would call "light", it certainly maintained a somewhat neutral tone. Never verging too far into darkness or lightness, hovering somewhere in the middle. I liked that the story doesn't fit neatly into one specific genre. On one hand it's a love story, with elements of sci-fi, yet also a mystery. I think Caroline Kepnes does a great job juggling these different aspects and making them work together without fully committing to any of them.
When we get to the third part of the story, when things really begin to take off, our book diverges into three seemingly separate plot points that all drive the story toward the inevitable conclusion. One obviously involves Jon who finds himself an outsider. Because of what was done to him - which is something he doesn't fully understand and therefore the reader doesn't fully understand either - Jon cannot have normal human contact. He's stuck between missing Chloe and knowing, to save her, he has to stay away.
Then we have Chloe who, also obviously, is kind of in a stasis waiting to hear from Jon. Her art, which she started doing by drawing Jon's face after his disappearance, is still connected to Jon. He is her inspiration. I really liked the undeniable bond that these two clearly have with one another which makes their separation at times heartbreaking and irritating, because how hard is it to reach out with a phone call or email or text? But I feel like Caroline Kepnes was commenting on the fact that as much as we're all glued to our smartphones, and as easy as technology makes it to stay in touch with our friends / family, technology, in this case, cannot account for a true relationship. A person needs that actual physical interaction with another person or people to really thrive.
Caroline Kepnes throws in a third perspective in the form of Charles "Eggs" DeBenedictus, a police detective, and his wife Lo. Eggs has a hunch: that a bunch of seemingly random cases are all actually connected and that there is one perpetrator behind these strange occurrences. Of course the reader knows he's looking for Jon, and I would say Eggs storyline, more than even Jon and Chloe's, pushes the book forward the most because he's such an unassumingly likable character who has gone through some pretty difficult times over the years, you want to see him win. You want to see him vindicated. The relationship between Lo and Eggs is like this center unwavering force. It goes through its ups and downs, but it's solid. It's kind of like the relationship between Jon and Chloe. Or what that relationship could become after years together.
So while I found Providence to be extremely readable and very interesting, I also felt like it mostly maintained that neutral level. Besides Eggs and Lo, I felt like Jon and Chloe were left a little underdeveloped. They both felt like they were in that stasis. Unable to move forward from Jon's disappearance / reappearance / re-disappearance. The ending paves the road for the possibility of more, and I wonder if that "more" means a continuation of the story, or if we're are only supposed to be left with that feeling of forward momentum.
I feel like this is definitely a book that I'll think about long after finishing it, and probably one I'll pick up again and discover new secrets I didn't even think about, or couldn't even comprehend, the first time around.
*ARC provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Four years later Jon returns, changed in ways he has yet to understand. The only thing he does understand is that he's a danger to those around him, especially those he loves. So Jon leaves again on a quest for the person who took / changed him, and to protect Chloe.
Heartbroken, Chloe delves into her art, the only place she can truly express the waiting and wanting and love. Neither Jon nor Chloe ever fully gives up on the other or their bond, but with Jon a danger to those around him, how can they ever be together?
I'll be honest, I was first attracted to Providence by those pops of color on the cover. That neon electric pink drew my eye enough that I had to give this book another glance. This is also the first book I've read by Caroline Kepnes although upon starting this one, I learned that one of her previous books is soon to become a Lifetime movie so maybe it's fate that put me in the pathway of this book, I don't know. The stars aligned, or some such.
I felt like Providence was a pretty easy read. Early on, right after Jon is kidnapped, I thought this book would turn down a dark path and be one of those that I couldn't read for long stretches of time. I was surprised then that, while not what I would call "light", it certainly maintained a somewhat neutral tone. Never verging too far into darkness or lightness, hovering somewhere in the middle. I liked that the story doesn't fit neatly into one specific genre. On one hand it's a love story, with elements of sci-fi, yet also a mystery. I think Caroline Kepnes does a great job juggling these different aspects and making them work together without fully committing to any of them.
When we get to the third part of the story, when things really begin to take off, our book diverges into three seemingly separate plot points that all drive the story toward the inevitable conclusion. One obviously involves Jon who finds himself an outsider. Because of what was done to him - which is something he doesn't fully understand and therefore the reader doesn't fully understand either - Jon cannot have normal human contact. He's stuck between missing Chloe and knowing, to save her, he has to stay away.
Then we have Chloe who, also obviously, is kind of in a stasis waiting to hear from Jon. Her art, which she started doing by drawing Jon's face after his disappearance, is still connected to Jon. He is her inspiration. I really liked the undeniable bond that these two clearly have with one another which makes their separation at times heartbreaking and irritating, because how hard is it to reach out with a phone call or email or text? But I feel like Caroline Kepnes was commenting on the fact that as much as we're all glued to our smartphones, and as easy as technology makes it to stay in touch with our friends / family, technology, in this case, cannot account for a true relationship. A person needs that actual physical interaction with another person or people to really thrive.
Caroline Kepnes throws in a third perspective in the form of Charles "Eggs" DeBenedictus, a police detective, and his wife Lo. Eggs has a hunch: that a bunch of seemingly random cases are all actually connected and that there is one perpetrator behind these strange occurrences. Of course the reader knows he's looking for Jon, and I would say Eggs storyline, more than even Jon and Chloe's, pushes the book forward the most because he's such an unassumingly likable character who has gone through some pretty difficult times over the years, you want to see him win. You want to see him vindicated. The relationship between Lo and Eggs is like this center unwavering force. It goes through its ups and downs, but it's solid. It's kind of like the relationship between Jon and Chloe. Or what that relationship could become after years together.
So while I found Providence to be extremely readable and very interesting, I also felt like it mostly maintained that neutral level. Besides Eggs and Lo, I felt like Jon and Chloe were left a little underdeveloped. They both felt like they were in that stasis. Unable to move forward from Jon's disappearance / reappearance / re-disappearance. The ending paves the road for the possibility of more, and I wonder if that "more" means a continuation of the story, or if we're are only supposed to be left with that feeling of forward momentum.
I feel like this is definitely a book that I'll think about long after finishing it, and probably one I'll pick up again and discover new secrets I didn't even think about, or couldn't even comprehend, the first time around.
*ARC provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review.