Book Review | You by Caroline Kepnes

Title: You

Author: Caroline Kepnes

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books

Release Date: September 30, 2014

Pages: 432

Synopsis:

When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do: he Googles the name on her credit card.

There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance” meeting.

As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way—even if it means murder.

Review:

I haven’t read too many psychological thrillers, but if there are any more like this one I’d be all about it! Right off the bat, you notice that this book is written in second person. I’ve never read a book written in second person, and I thought I might not like it. However, I found that it works perfectly and really lends to the overall creepy nature of the book. If you lose yourself in the book, it will feel like Joe is really talking to you.

Joe is a stalker. He does lots of unspeakable things in this book, but he is also a funny, sympathetic, and (dare I say it…) likeable character. He works in a bookstore so he makes lots of observations about books and the people who come into the bookstore. He has many thoughts about people's choices in books and what those choices say about them. Book lovers will get a real kick out of those parts of You.

There were also many times while reading that I found myself giggling at one of Joe’s one-liners or agreeing with his stance on something. I really have to applaud Kepnes for being able to write such a multi-faceted character.

Joe and Beck’s relationship was something else. At the beginning of the book, he has his first encounter with Beck and from then on he believes her to be perfect. We are only able to see Beck and their relationship through his eyes. Since he sees her as a perfect human being who can do no wrong, he is unreliable. It takes much of the book for him to finally begin to recognize her flaws which then allows us to see another side of Beck.

Personally, I didn’t really like Beck from the first moment she appeared in the book. I found her to be pretty frustrating and annoying throughout.

In this book, Kepnes explores the idea of oversharing and putting too much personal information on social media. Beck tweets incessantly and enables Joe to stalk her with even better efficiency. Beck is described as an “attention-seeker” on multiple occasion in this book, but of course, giving someone the ammunition to shoot you with does not make it okay for them to actually shoot you. Internet safety used to be discussed and emphasized a lot, but as of late? Not so much.

In the beginnings of the internet you would never use your real name for anything. You’d never tell anyone your age, where you lived, or any information that could pin down your identity. But those things don’t seem to be sensitive information anymore for a lot of our generation, and that’s scary. I believe that’s part of what Kepnes was aiming to get readers to think more deeply about, and she succeed.

Overall, this book was unsettling, twisted, thought-provoking and…delightful, in it’s own way. I very much enjoyed this book and I’m excited to see what Joe gets up to in the sequel, Hidden Bodies, that will be coming out in February of next year.

4.5 stars!

Subscription Box Review | Owl Crate September 2015 (Leading Ladies Theme)

Book Review | The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking: Book 1)

Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go
Author: Patrick Ness
Genre: Young Adult - Science Fiction - Dystopian
Publisher: Candlewick
Release Date: July 22, 2014
Pages: 512

Synopsis:

Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

Review:

I loved this book. Loved, loved, loved. I’ve known about this trilogy for a while now, but I recently started seeing an influx of people naming it as their all-time favorite trilogy which intrigued me. I’m SO glad I finally picked this up. I actually buddy-read this with a friend and it was my first time to ever buddy-read something. It was cool being able to discuss with someone as everything went down in this book. And there was a lot of action.

The plot was very unique. Anyone can come up with a cool plot, but the execution is the hard part, and Ness executed it perfectly. He also added in some nuances such as incorrect grammar and spelling that I felt added to the atmosphere of the book, as well as made Todd feel more genuine.

Todd hasn’t gotten much schooling and doesn’t even know how to read, so to me, it made sense. Some people point out the grammar and spelling in this book as flaws or things that made them dislike the book. In a way, I can understand it, but on the other hand it seems like a shallow way to look at the book. There’s so much more to The Knife of Never Letting Go than you can what’s on the surface, and it’s sad if some people couldn’t see that just because of some incorrectly spelled words.

Another thing I really liked about this book was the visual representation of Noise. Seeing the page with all the jumbled up thoughts of men in Prentisstown really gave me a solid idea of what it was like to hear everyone’s Noise. Also, if you look at the cover of the physical book in the right light you can see noise all over the front cover, as well. I thought that was a nice touch.

I honestly took a lot from this book. I wasn’t expecting it, but I did. Todd is just a 12 year-old kid, but he taught me a lot and it was great going on this journey with him. When I finished reading the final page and closed the book, I almost immediately headed out to the library to get the next two books in the series. Almost every chapter of the book ends in a way that makes you keep flipping the pages and the very last page was no different. I’ve got to know what happens next!

So, yes. I loved this and I think if you give it a fair chance, you will probably love it, too. I definitely recommend it.

5 stars!

Library Haul | September 2015

The Ask and the Answer & Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

I just finished reading The Knife of Never Letting Go the other day and I absolutely loved it (review coming soon). I was itching to know what happens next, which pretty much fueled my trip to the library, haha. So I got the final two books in the series and I should be getting to them soon!

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

I didn’t plan on getting this book. I actually had two other books in mind, but they were checked out. As I was sitting on the little couches all disappointed, I looked up and this book came straight into my vision! I decided I should just get it because I always hear great things about this book, and also Schwab’s other adult book, Vicious. I do own Vicious, but I haven’t read that one yet. I’m going to start with ADSOM and hopefully I love it as much as everyone else.

The Ice Twins by S.K. Tremayne

I wanted to pick a random book off the new releases shelf that I never heard of and I stumbled upon this one. It’s a thriller and claims to have a plot twist worthy of Gone Girl. The main plot point is that there is a family with twin girls named Lydia and Kirstie. Lydia suffers an accident and dies. Later, the remaining twin (believed to be Kirstie) says that she is actually Lydia and Kirstie is the one who died in the accident. So it seems the book is about figuring out what’s going on there. I thought it sounded really interesting, so I got it!

Those are my library pickings for the month! Hope I can get to all these before I have to return them, haha! If I do, there will definitely be reviews for these.

Have you read any of these? What did you think? 

Book Review | Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Title: Everything, Everything
Author: Nicola Yoon
Genre: Young Adult - Contemporary
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: September 1, 2015
Pages: 320

Synopsis:

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Review:

This book was just okay for me. It pains me to say that because I was SO looking forward to it, especially after hearing great reviews from some people whose opinions I trust.  Let’s start with a couple things I liked about the book.

Madeline and Olly’s interactions were very cute. It was nice seeing first love from such a place of innocence. I also really liked the different illustrations, charts, graphs, etc. that were included. They really brought a unique element to the book.

ON TO THE BAD...

Everything about this book was very “surface” for me. We glaze over the topic of SCID, which is supposed to be the center and driving force of the whole story. On top of that, the main characters are written very shallowly, in my opinion. I feel like we don’t get to go very deep with them. As a result, they didn’t compel any sort of real sympathy or emotion from me.

I’m most disappointed that Yoon didn’t take this chance to educate readers about SCID. What is SCID? I don’t really know. This story just tells me that it means she can’t go outside and can’t eat certain foods for some reason. What’s great about reading books containing characters with mental illness or certain diseases/conditions is that you get the chance to learn, dispel any misconceptions, and reach an understanding of what they go through. I felt like I didn’t get that with Everything, Everything.  

I was into the story at the beginning...then we hit the middle mark and took a turn into a world where nothing makes sense. YOU GET A PLOT HOLE AND YOU GET A PLOT HOLE! I’m in the camp that wasn’t a fan of the “plot twist”. It felt like taking the easy way out in order to resolve things.

The entire concept of the book had real potential, and we even get a diverse main character in Madeline who is mixed (Japanese/Black). I’m sad because it didn’t live up to what it could have been, but I can see why many seem to love it. I’d still be interested to read something else from Yoon in the future. This one just wasn’t for me.

3 stars!