Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

Caroline is one of my favourite authors but this book wasn’t one of my favourites and I put that down to the genre it seemed a bit too fantasy/science fiction for me. I think this is potentially a great book if you like that kind of genre and it was simply a case of a mismatch for the reader and book.

After You, I’d read anything she writes! Such an intriguing and effective read.. I adored this by Kepnes. Absolutely excellent book and a brilliant read. Recommend!

Really gripping story. Heart broke for the main character and was eager to read on for a happy ending. Could not put it down.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

I have to admit that at the beginning I found the story a bit slowly and it took me a while to get into it. However, as I kept reading I found the story more interesting and I was engrossed by the story of this artist looking for the man she loves, by this young man cursed by a condition that makes it impossible to be around other people and the woman he’s been in love with his all life, by a detective trying to figure out why young healthy people suddenly die of heart attack. It’s weird and intriguing and quite enjoyable and I couldn’t stop reading until I got to the end.

Providence is not a new YOU. I didn't expected it to be, I was very okay with it. But I couldn't connect with the characters or the story. I felt that Jon should tell Chloe the truth and that Chloe fell into the cliché of loving the bad boy. This was not the book for me, but what I've seen there are a lot of readers out there loving the story. So, give it try and judge for yourself.

I have read the author’s previous two books and expected the same sort of storyline but this book is very different but nonetheless very enjoyable. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Caroline Kepnes for the advanced copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

So like many when I saw this I instantly thought of You and Hidden Bodies and thought I was going to read more of the same or at least similar. I could not have been more wrong. This is a sci-fi/fantasy/love story with a twist. Jon and Chloe at thirteen are best friends, but they have a connection that somehow goes beyond that. When he vanishes everyone obviously fears the worst. Only Chloe won't give up on him. But after four years even she has lost hope, only for him to turn up again. He has no memory of the intervening years. But he's changed, physically and psychologically. He's no longer a weedy boy but instead looks like he's been working out for years. Psychologically he's obviously damaged. But what is odder is his effect on others. A hug to some can result in them passing out, others get a nosebleed... some only have to be near for things to get much much worse.


This couldn't be more different to You or Hidden Bodies, a brave move on the authors part. It is a story about obsession but its from unrequited and mutual love rather than any controlling or stalker tendencies! Jon is an easy character to sympathise with and while you might not always agree with her decisions Chloe is also someone I could empathise with. It took me a little while to get into this as it wasn't what I was expecting but once I settled in it was very enjoyable. 


An interesting story gets lost towards the end but ultimately a satisfying read.

This is much different to her past two books, so don’t expect the same, but it was brilliant in its own way! Especially if you like paranormal type books I would definitely buy this.

*1.5 stars
I unfortunately did not like this. It started off really interesting and I thought it had a lot of potential, but after the first half of the book I just wasn’t interested anymore. I didn’t like the direction in which it went, and I especially didn’t care for the Eggs perspective. Such a shame. I feel like it could work for other people though..

I liked this but I do think the first two books by her were better. However that is because this is different to the first two books. It’s a book where you have to suspend your imagination and forget Joe from the first two books. I’d definitely recommend it.

I think this a sort of mis-step in Caroline Kepnes' usually razor sharp writing style. By focusing on two teenagers, even if it is from a conflicting point of view than the traditional abduction story, it fails to have the similar bite that her You/Hidden Bodies series has had in the past. Its run-on stream of consciousness narrative from a first person narrator struggles to really push any action forward, making it feel like a sluggish read right from the very first few pages. I suspect that there are readers who will really enjoy it, but I simply struggled to get into this book. It's tapping into a growing YA-thriller market. I just feel as though I've read better- not only from Kepnes, but from other authors in the genre.

The aftermath of a sci-fi kidnap...

4.5 stars.

You. Hidden Bodies. On the strengths of these titles alone, I was prepared to read Providence without even reading a synopsis. Of course, reading a synopsis only added to the allure. Kepnes has a knack for twisted characters and situations, and though you have to take a big mental leap to allow for the plot here, it's a riveting trek.

As a young teenager, bullied student Jon goes missing on his walk to school. His best friend Chloe refuses to accept he is not coming back, beginning a series of paintings of the boy she misses, not letting life move on without him. Four years later, Jon wakes up underneath a mall with no memory of his kidnapping but a note from the perpetrator saying they have "you have power, power that will present itself to you slowly."

But now he's back, just being around him seems to trigger nosebleeds in his parents... Chloe faints when she runs to greet him. What has been done to him? And can he control it?

Told from dual perspectives, we see the adolescent hesitant love between Chloe and Jon before the kidnapping grow into something more adult with the time and pain the kidnapping provides. Chloe is the one who stayed loyal, who hasn't been able to move on, but also the one whose life has cruelly benefitted somehow. I sympathised with her, stuck between pursuing success and other avenues of love, or waiting for her soulmate to come out of the shadows.

And it's impossible not to feel for Jon, put in a situation not of his own making, having to piece together what has been done to him and how he can live with it. The scenes where he slowly works out what he is capable of are dark.

There is a third voice that enters partway too, that of 'Eggs' DeBenedictus, a police detective investigating a series of heart attacks in seemingly healthy young people. His own initially strong marriage but underlying health issues contrast with the story of Chloe and Jon as he begins making connections. Older, world-weary, his voice adds gravitas and a new perspective on the pining love story of the now young adults.

It's hard to place this book in a genre. With horror elements, some fantasy/sci-fi, romance, coming of age, it's very different to Kepnes' previous pair. Though I feel it has wider appeal and there is a lot in there up for group discussion.

Much goes unexplained, but I don't think it's the sort of book where you demand justification, it's the story that matters rather than the 'how'.

Rather fascinating. Not a beach read, one to give you a lot to think about.

With thanks to Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

3.5 stars but rounded down.
Jon and Chloe are drawn together by virtue of the fact that neither really fits in at school and they soon become close friends. Then, one day, the day that Jon decides that he wants to completely open up about his feelings for Chloe, he is kidnapped on the way to school by his Lovecraft obsessed substitute teacher. Chloe is devastated by his disappearance and obsesses over it to the detriment of her own well being. And then, one day, Jon returns. But he isn't the same, something has happened to him during his captivity. Something dark. Something dangerous to those he loves. So, to the confusion of Chloe, he leaves town and her, to protect her but he can't tell her why. Chloe is again thrown into confusion and, now, love-sickness, and never gives up the possibility of finding Jon and being reunited once again. Meanwhile, Jon is still trying to get to the bottom of what happened to him but little does he know, someone is on his tail, someone has noticed what he has been doing with his new found "skills". What a tangled web indeed...
This book was a bit weird to me. Ok so once I just accepted what had happened to Jon, my journey with the story flowed more smoothly but even with this level of semi-understanding, some of the parts were a little strange. Not the author's fault I hasted to add, as the plot was strong and congruent, flowing reasonably well throughout the book, but I am not 100% sure it was really a book for me when all's said and done. Maybe it's more down to my ignorance of Lovecraft and his work that marred my enjoyment a tad. Not sure if it would have helped me.
What also probably didn't help was that the book was quite a slow burner. Now I can usually live with this when I connect fully enough with the characters but here, I didn't quite manage to invest unconditionally with any of the three main characters and I think that is probably why the book dragged a little for me in places. The closest I got was with Eggs and Lo. I did care about them and enjoyed the interaction between them.
But, when all is said and done, I did get to the end, I did need to know what happened, how it all panned out, whether things would resolve themselves. And my persistence was, on the whole, rewarded as it did leave me mostly satisfied. All in all, it's not a book I regret reading but, knowing what I know now, with hindsight, I might have passed it by.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

13-year-old Jon Bronson only has one friend: Chloe. She is the only one he confides in and shares his dreams with. The other kids torture him that’s why he takes the long way to school. Until one morning when he is kidnapped in the woods. With Jon gone, the world seems to stop for Chloe. She knows that one day he will return. Four years later, Jon wakes up in a mall. He doesn’t remember what happened in the time he was gone, only that his former teacher Roger Blair was to one to kidnap him. But something has changed, even though Jon cannot really say what it is. In his presence, strange things start to happen: spontaneous nose bleeds and people passing out. Since he has become a serious threat to others, Jon withdraws from to world to figure out what this evil teacher did to him in those ominous four years of absence.

“Providence” is labelled a thriller, unfortunately, I didn’t really find any thrill in it. For me, it was first and foremost a kind of love story and some supernatural or sci-fi added that did not really make sense to me.

I really liked the beginning of the novel. Jon is a bit strange, but a likeable, intelligent boy. The fact that he is bullied by his classmates just raises more compassion for him. When he is abducted and we only get Chloe’s grief for the loss, the novel even becomes quite gloomy and admittedly, I really despised the adults who were absolutely ignorant about the girl’s loss. Jon’s return is a real mystery, there is an inexplicable aura surrounding him which is hard to grab and explain. Then, unfortunately, the novel becomes quite lengthy. It’s a kind of hunt for the kidnapper without real progress. Added to Jon and Chloe is an elderly detective with a “gut-feeling” who is chasing ghosts, too. In the end, there was some kind of solution that I couldn’t really believe.

A thriller that is a real page turner. This story is full of suspense. There are well described characters and a really good plot. This is a haunting story that I will be thinking and trying to work out for a while.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I struggled to review this. Not because I didn't like it but because I couldn't put into words how I felt, or even understand how I felt. I was confused throughout.
This is the type of book where you don't get many answers. Especially the main question. Everything is left very open.
I found myself captivated by this despite being confused. I was trying to see if I could figure it out myself, which I couldn't.

As a teenager, I was a huge Stephen King fan and it has been many years since I have read any of his or anyone else work of a similar vein. This book did not disappoint. It was strong in both character and storyline and lots of twists and intensity.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK Fiction for giving me the opportunity to read Providence in exchange for an honest unbiased review.