Book Review and NYC Tour: YOU by Caroline Kepnes
How do you like my first #bookstagram pic? Look at this baby. I feel like a new mom…I’m very proud. 😉
Anyway, I have a new book to tell you about and it’s a doozy that inspired a chilling NYC tour. I might be exaggerating about the chilling aspect of my NYC tour a bit but you can be the judge of that when you see my full tour post. The book certainly was chilling, riveting, creepy, terrifying, and…funny? More on that later.
Since we’re in October and about to celebrate Halloween, I thought it would be cool to read a thriller this month. And boy was it thrilling!
Let me tell you about it!
I’ll set the stage- Joe is a guy who works in a bookstore and is looking for love and romance. One day, this cool girl Beck walks into his bookstore and he’s immediately captivated. Does he get her phone number? Does he ask her out? Well, Joe isn’t quite that conventional. He has different methods of wooing a woman. Some may say those methods are a little extreme and obsessive, but I say…and keep in mind I have been dating in NYC for 13 years…and I can tell you it’s tough in this city, so who could blame the guy? Joe is a determined guy and won’t let anything or anyone get in his way. Beck should be completely flattered by the attention and perhaps she is…
Okay, seriously, this guy is cray cray. Totally bonkers out-of-his-mind but totally loveable! You might need to scratch out the loveable part.
Yes, Joe is a stalker. He’s able to learn a lot about Beck from her social media posts and it just escalates from there in how he learns all he can about her. This book did get me thinking more about what I put out on social media and how careful I have to be. Never know who could develop an unhealthy obsession.
This book had me freaked out but when I delved in deeper to Joe’s personality, I realized that he was unintentionally funny. If you enjoy a little dark humor like I do, I think you’ll like this book. If you like a page-turner, edge-of-your-seat read, then this is your book too. However, you’re warned that Joe will insult you for enjoying a page-turner. He refers to those readers as “Withdrawn dullards longing for the companionship promised by a page-turner.” What a jerk! Don’t let him get to you though…remember that he’s off his rocker! Even though he wounded my precious ego, I’m still ready for more. I definitely will be reading the next book in the series, Hidden Bodies.
Without further ado, here’s the sneak peek into my NYC tour inspired by the book, You by Caroline Kepnes:
The book brought me to a neighborhood in Brooklyn called Bedford-Stuyvesant or as we Brooklynites call it, Bed-Stuy (pronounced Bed-Sty). Joe lives in this neighborhood so of course, I had to check it out. I’ve been here before but it’s been awhile.
A little dash of Halloween decorations here!
Of course, I had to get a shot of a dog. Sorry, it’s another dog butt, but it is my quintessential dog stalker picture, right!?
That’s it for now from Bed-Stuy. More from that neighborhood in my full tour post.
After Bed-Stuy, I took the train into Manhattan.
I saw these awesome murals while walking in the Lower East Side. You can see a quick video in my Instagram highlights. Follow me @literary_dates.
As I was walking to the West Village to find Beck’s apartment, I passed Washington Square Park. It was a nice throwback to my Annie Van tour. It made me reminisce at least. If you’d like to see more of Washington Square Park, you can check out that post here.
More evidence of Halloween in the city!
That’s all for now! My full tour post will be up within the next couple of weeks. Until then, you can find me on Instagram and Twitter.
Thank you for reading! And thank you Caroline Kepnes for giving me a thrilling read!
I have thoughts on the book but they are are rich in spoilers and plot questions. For public consumption, I will say that the book is an amazing exercise in voice and that I read it all the way to the end, which is rare for me these days. Recommended if you can handle a little cray-cray in your characters. #literarydatesbookclub
I’m so glad you read it! That’s so awesome. It’s so hard not to write spoilers. You could email me or DM me on Instagram if you want to discuss it. 😊
Thanks so much for continuing to be a faithful #literarydatesbookclub member. I love it!
Ooohhh this book sounds so good! I want to read it as soon as I get a free minute from writing revisions, LOVE a good scary read! And such lovely photos like usual 🙂
Thank you!!! It does get scary but the layers to this book are pretty cool! It’s all told from Joe’s perspective. Can’t believe I forgot to write that in my review. So you really get inside this wackadoo’s brain!
Wackadoo, haha i love it!
Haha! Am I the only one who says wackadoo? 😂
O man I gotta find this book and read it! I like watching and reading thrilling love stories, they’re so captivating and take your mind on a new journey.
Natonya |http://www.justnatonya.wordpress.com
Yes! This one is great! I highly recommend it. And there is a tv series based on this book. I watched the first episode and will watch the rest soon!
I love this post!! I like how you tied your book-inspired adventure into the review. I keep hearing about this book but have been reluctant to read it because stalker/serial killer type stories scare me — because I’m convinced they are way more likely to happen than, say, supernatural scary stuff. But this book DOES sound pretty good. I may need to pull my Big Girl Pants on one week and give this one a try… 🙂
Hiii!!! Thank you so much for visiting! I’m so glad you loved it. That makes me really happy. Yeah, this book could definitely freak you out. But I also think it’s just a good reminder to be careful what you’re putting out there publicly about yourself. There are a lot of creeps out there but my hope is that situations like this are pretty rare.
It was a cleverly-done book. It’s all from Joe’s perspective so it’s cool to see how his brain works and yeah, scary. For the most part I could handle the book throughout but there were definitely some tense spots that made me very anxious. Had to put the book down for a few seconds anxious. And pull my blankets in tighter. Haha! I should put all that in my review!
Thanks again for stopping by my blog! I appreciate the support.
This is such an awesome post! This book is on my TBR! 💜
https://jendbibliophile.wordpress.com
Thank you so much for reading my post! I’m so glad you liked it! 💖
I love New York so I’m very jealous of your tour! The book sounds really good and would definitely make me question how much I put online too- nowadays we share so much don’t we? Will keep this in mind for when I need a new read, thanks!
Soph – https://sophhearts.com/ x
Thanks so much for visiting my blog! Glad you liked it.
You’ll definitely have to come visit NYC!!
Yes, this book gave me a lot to think about and it was very well done. It’s a great read!
I did read the book.
It took me a while to get into it. First, fear of scary stalker. I got over that. Second, the “you” voice was disturbing because I am not anything like Beck (I don”t think)so it took me a while to adjust to the looking over his shoulder perspective.
The most disturbing part was how reasonable he sounds. In his own world, he makes sense.
As for Beck, I expected her to be a naive, sweet thing in the traditional stalkee way. But she is weird too.
Suspense stories used to be my main read. These days, real life is weird enough without adding fictional weirdness.
So thanks for the read but I’m going to pass on reading any more Caroline Kepnes.
However, I am looking forward to the December book.
What will it be?
I hear you! Yes, everything from his point of view makes it even more disturbing. The way he rationalizes everything really puts you in the mind of a true sociopath. I can understand why you don’t want to be in a sociopath’s brain! If you really think about it, it can disturb you. I tried not to focus too much on all the dark things he was planning or did do because that stuff freaks me out too. To me I noticed that the tough parts seemed to be over fast (at least in the beginning and middle), so I didn’t focus on it too much and so I was amused by how his brain worked. But if I really thought about it, I’d probably be disturbed too! However, there were a few parts that definitely gave me high anxiety, but I expected that to be the case. We gotta shake it off!
You’re right, there’s so many disturbing things happening every day, it’s tough. I totally understand you passing on the next one. Hope you weren’t traumatized! Don’t worry though, it’ll be awhile before I read the next one! The next few will be lighter reads! 😊
Thanks for writing up such an intriguing and fun review to read! Have you watched the TV show of this? How does it compare? And how cool is it that you went on an NYC tour based on this book – I should do the same one day!
Xoxo,
Laura // afinnontheloose.com
Hey! Thanks for checking out my post! Doing the tour was fun. You should do one too! Let me know if you do!
I did see the show! I thought they did a good job with it. I wasn’t sure at first about Penn as Joe but soon enough he properly creeped me out. Funny enough, I just picked up Gossip Girl from where I left off when it originally aired. And he definitely creeped me out at Dan too! 😂
Thanks again for checking out my post!
I’ve always wanted to visit New York so I’m a little jealous of your tour. I love how the book inspired you to go on a tour of the city. It sounds like such an interesting book and it’s scary to think of how much he could learn about her from looking her up on social media.
Well when you visit NYC, we can do a book tour! 😉
That book was so creepy. It was good! I saw the show too which I also liked.
Thanks so much for visiting my blog! I’ll check out yours too when I land back in NYC. ✈️