Tag Archives: you

Oct13

Lil Red’s Book Club: You First By Caroline Kepnes Edition

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Lil Red’s Book Club: You First By Caroline Kepnes Edition

Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new edition of Lil Red’s Book Club! In a spoiler free setting, as always, we are going to be discussing the prequel to the You series by Caroline Kepnes called You First. I have read two of the books in the series and have seen the entire show on Netflix so I was looking forward to finding out about the early years of Joe Goldberg. And, honestly, I wish I hadn’t lol. If you thought that Joe couldn’t possibly be more messed up, then this prequel will be as shocking for you as it was for me. I truly felt nauseous after the first few pages and I am SO glad to be done with it. Before we begin our chat, I will be placing a big fat trigger warning on You First for violent and obsessive behavior, highly disturbing content, and statutory rape. You ready? Let’s get to it:

Seventeen year old Joe Goldberg wandered into a bookstore called Mooney’s Books in New York City when he was twelve years old and hasn’t left since. His parents didn’t care for him or want him to begin with so he simply vanished and never looked back. Mr. Mooney took him under his wing and taught him all of the wrong lessons: That women are only good for one thing and that being punished means being locked in a box in the bookstore basement. Everyone has rejected Joe and he has no one outside of Mr. Mooney and all of the books that he considers to be his friends. Then, the world began to shift to the internet.

Compliments of Craigslist, Joe has begun writing Missed Connections posts to any and every woman he has encountered, even if it was for a moment. He checks his email religiously for replies and not a single post he made has ever been answered. There is a lot that is missing from Joe’s character but he is convinced that someone loving him will set him straight. And, wouldn’t you know, a beautiful young woman enters Mooney’s Books. She is not a customer but she sure needs to use the bathroom and Joe covers for her so she can relieve herself without facing the wrath of Mr. Mooney. Joe is instantly enamored by her but doesn’t have the guts to ask her out himself.

His prayers are answered as he scours Craigslist because there is a new Missed Connections post from the bookstore woman herself. Her name is Vail and she felt something for Joe in the bookstore too. They end up going on a date and then a few more and before you know it, Joe is in full on Goldberg mode and will do any and everything to make her stay. Vail might be older than Joe but her decisions in their relationship are anything but wise. Joe can feel her pulling away for another man and all the while he was thinking that he was her only man. As we all know, Joe holds onto his relationships tightly and this is not going to end well for those in this love triangle. Who will make it out alive? Read You First to find out!

Reading the thoughts of a teenage Joe Goldberg in You First was honestly like reading the diary of an incel and it was just plain gross. Joe has an insatiable appetite for sex although he is a virgin and loathes himself for not being the object of a woman’s affection. You First felt like a constant loop of think about sex, obsess over Vail, hate himself, and skewing his own twisted thoughts to turn him into the victim. Prequel Joe is a pressure cooker ready to explode and is tamped down as long as his relationship with Vail is going okay. When it’s not? There is no telling what he was going to do and there came a point when I simply didn’t care to find out even though I finished the book.

I applaud Caroline Kepnes as her writing was excellent and she perfectly portrays Joe as he begins to succumb to his sickness for the first time. However, the subject matter just wasn’t for me and this is not a Netflix show. It’s not watered down with fluff and celebrities. It is words on pages and they were often incredibly hard to read. If you are familiar with the show You or the books, then I’m sure you already have an idea of what direction You First is going to take. Hell, I knew it from the jump. That little bit of hope for things to turn out differently was the only reason I kept reading. And, when I was done, I just felt disappointed and empty. You First was a harrowing read that I would not recommend unless you know what you are getting yourself into. If I did, I probably wouldn’t have bothered reading it!

Overall, I am going to rate You First with a two out of ten stars. These stars were given strictly because I enjoyed the writing style of Caroline Kepnes and negative infinity stars go to Joe Goldberg for being a vile piece of trash!

How do you feel about the You series? Have you read the books, watched the show, or both? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Feb20

Surprise Vacation

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Surprise Vacation

Hello!! After writing about my desire to achieve a better work/life balance, I had the opportunity to put my money where my mouth is. However, it wasn’t for a great reason. Unfortunately, my parents tested positive for Covid last Tuesday and I genuinely have no idea where they got it from. Thankfully, both of their symptoms were quite mild and they are on the up and up!

Usually, I am at my parents house almost every day of the week for work or just hanging out. Of course, that wasn’t a possibility while my parents were sick and I miss them and my brother terribly! The first day I couldn’t come over, I honestly didn’t know what to do with myself and the free time that fell in my lap. I felt bad all week that I was lounging in the comfort of my home but I also knew that there was nothing else to be done until there were negative tests all around.

During my Surprise Vacation, I caught up on my sleep a lot. Since the beginning of the new year, I have been waking up between 4:45 and 5 every morning to take care of the bunnies, get myself ready for work, work from home, then go to my other job. It was exhausting but necessary, especially as I started a new online gig. During my break, I was able to sleep in until… Drum roll, please… SIX O’CLOCK and it was awesome! I didn’t know how much I needed that extra sleep until I actually got it and it was just what I needed to rejuvenate myself. The extra sleeping in sessions also made it much easier to get up early again when I had morning clients.

I got a lot of work done online during my staycation and I also had time for extra cleaning, cooking, and enjoying some TV time before Johnny returned from work. You already know I watched lots of Hoarders while Melvin and Penelope romped around their bunny-proofed area. I also binged the first half of the new season of You in one afternoon flat. I can’t remember the last time I was able to do that and it felt so good to have a binge-watching session with a show just for me. Also, can we please talk about how freaking crazy that show is? Lol freaking Joe Goldberg, dude.

As wonderful as my mini work vaca was, I was ready for it to be over each day because I missed being able to hug my parents and brother. I can’t wait for negative tests so I can get back to my normal schedule feeling as refreshed as I have been in weeks!

How do you relax during time off? What did you think of the new season of You? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Mar17

Lil Red’s Book Club: Hidden Bodies Edition

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Lil Red’s Book Club: Hidden Bodies Edition

Howdy! Last week, I completely devoured YOU by Caroline Kepnes. Starving for more, I had to grab the sequel to Joe Goldberg’s super stalker story and ended up reading Hidden Bodies in two days. As many will agree, the follow up was not as good as the gripping first one. But, it was written exactly the same as the first, hence, it was totally un-put-down-able. Let’s discuss:

hidden

In Hidden Bodies, Joe Goldberg ditches gloomy New York for sunny LA. However, it wasn’t because he wanted to work on his tan. No, he just needed to seek revenge on the last girl that screwed him over. When Amy fled their relationship with a small fortune of rare books in tow, Joe used his uncanny ability to stalk his prey to find out that LA was her destination. So, he called it quits at Mooney’s, packed a duffel bag, and headed west.

Joe learned that Amy had hopes of becoming an actress but he also found that trying to locate his ex in LA was a lot harder than he initially thought. While on the prowl, he gets himself into more trouble and yet another relationship with an incredibly rich woman in the movie industry compliments of crashing an audition that Amy could have been at.

Once Joe begins his relationship with wealthy and older Love, the plot begins to get just the slightest bit far fetched. And by the slightest, I mean very. I enjoyed it, despite some of it reading like soft core porn. But, it just didn’t feel as creepy as its predecessor. Because of the too crazy to be true plot once finding Amy was completely abandoned, the overpowering sense of being watched and followed went out the window with it.

It was still a well written sequel and, because of that, it was a quick read although it was close to four hundred pages. But, I could have not read it and still been fine. However, I am not going to tell you to not read this book. At the end of the day, Joe Goldberg is hilarious. Yes, he’s an awful, sick, disgusting character and that’s putting it nicely. But, the Joeisms in Hidden Bodies were as rich as they were in YOU and you’ll be sure to get some good laughs in.

I am going to give Caroline Kepnes’s follow up a six out of ten. It was good, but not great. But, if you liked YOU, you’re not going to not like Hidden Bodies. Now, I am looking forward to the second season of the television show YOU to see if they incorporate any of this sequel into it!

What were your thoughts on YOU or Hidden Bodies? How did you feel about the TV show of YOU? I want to hear from all of YOU, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Mar10

Lil Red’s Book Club: YOU Edition

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Lil Red’s Book Club: YOU Edition

Hi! A handful of months ago, the Lifetime series, YOU, turned into a phenomenon once the premiere season was added on to Netflix. I absolutely jumped on the bandwagon and enjoyed the smart, sexy, and oh so creepy episodes staring a Mister Penn Badgley as the super stalker Joe Goldberg. I admit that I was caught up in all of the excitement of chit chatting about it with friends in person and on Facebook that I didn’t even know the show was derived from a book! Shame on me.

you

Book Depository Image

Usually, I always prefer to read the book before watching the show or movie that it’s based on. But, when it came to YOU, I did things backwards. I finished the book a week or so ago and I enjoyed it even more than the TV series, which is pretty common. However, I will say that the show did an excellent job of keeping close to the book, minus a few liberties and I definitely appreciated that.

YOU tells the sickening saga between obsessive Joe and oblivious Beck, a customer who he met one time at his book store. The book is told completely from Joe’s point of view, which was really interesting. If you watched the show, you know he was a total creepazoid. But, reading all of his perverted and violent thoughts as he narrates his story created a bone chilling sense of disturbia.

Desperate to get close to Beck, Joe plants himself in just the right places to run into her or just watch her from a distance. As he discovers more about his dream girl and falls deeper into his obsession, he is willing to eliminate or do anything that stands in his way of the relationship he so desperately wants.

Set in bustling New York City, such a highly populated location, you can literally feel the spine tingling sense that somebody is watching you through the massive crowd. Joe locked his sights in on Beck and through master manipulation and deception hones in on the girl of his dreams, which becomes a nightmare for her.

YOU was a book that I could not put down, which surprised me, because none of the characters are particularly likeable. Joe was a psychopath, Beck was a downright horrible person despite Joe’s fantasizing about her, and all of Beck’s friends were nightmares in their own right. But, the story line and the expert writing of Caroline Kepnes was so intense that none of this mattered. Because the story was told by Joe, you got an intimate peak into his twisted brain and it felt impossible to not keep turning the page to find out what he was going to do next.

I rate YOU with a ten out of ten. It was delightfully reminiscent of one of my favorite books, The Collector, but it still felt original and fresh. It was horror and suspense and it really tuned into the modern world of cyberstalking gone horribly wrong. I have the sequel on hold at the library and cannot wait to get it so I can see how Joe works himself out of the dilemmas that he created in YOU as well as all of the creepiness to come!

Did you watch or read YOU? What were your thoughts about the book or series? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah