A Book About a Stalker Impacted Me in a Way I Never Thought Possible

It isn’t just one book, but a collection of stories that shaped my life. When I was young, my father used to read the Berenstain Bears books to me. I especially remember enjoying the books about Sister Bear. The books were short, but it was more about the time he spent with me while he read the same few books to me.

When I was old enough to enjoy reading on my own, I devoured Goosebumps books like they were candy. When the tv series premiered, I can still remember my childish excitement as I sat in front of the tv. It was the first time I’d put a face to an author.

As a teen, I moved on to another of R.L. Stine’s series, Fear Street. I enjoyed those almost as much as his Goosebumps series.

As an adult, I didn’t have as much time to read, so I made sure the time I had was impactful. I read urban fantasy, like the Sookie Stackhouse books. I also read my share of novels that inspired the movies and TV shows I enjoyed.

Unfortunately, my love for reading almost fizzled out when I found myself in an abusive relationship. One thing my ex would do would be to interrupt me whenever I was spending time alone. I gave up on everything I enjoyed that he didn’t, which included my love of reading.

When the relationship finally ended, I wanted to find myself again. I went back to the hobbies I used to love, but I found myself unable to finish a book. It didn’t matter what I tried to read, nothing would hold my interest for more than a few pages. Eventually, I gave up and went through a period where I couldn’t read anything. I honestly thought my love for reading had faded.

One day, I was scrolling through YouTube and came across a channel called Chapter Stacks. The host was raving about a book called You. The book is about a man who stalks the object of his affection, often doing illegal things to ‘better’ her life or gain her attention.

I’m not sure if it was her passion for the book or the book description that got me interested, but I knew I had to read it. After checking it out of the library, I even set aside time to read it. I was enjoying reading again and looking forward to finding out what happened next. I would read for at least forty minutes a day. When I was done with You, I checked out the next book in the series.

Before reading You, I enjoyed reading the urban fantasy genre, but after You, I switched to thrillers. It was almost as if You had opened up a whole new genre for me. There are still books that don’t appeal to me, and still books that I won’t finish, but You got me to love reading again.

When I found out the television rights for You had been purchased by Lifetime, I wasn’t sure what to think. On one hand, Lifetime had some decent movies, but I considered You to be my favorite book and wasn’t sure Lifetime was the right place for it.

I kept up with casting rumors and was pleased to see Penn Badgley taking on the role of Joe. He seemed to be a perfect fit, although I’d only seen him in Gossip Girl, and the two shows were opposites.

Lifetime made a few changes, like adding in characters who didn’t exist in the novels, but they respected the source material. I enjoyed the first season of the show. The show has dropped in quality since being purchased by Netflix, with season four being almost unbearable to watch.

Unfortunately, the book series suffered a similar fate. I wasn’t able to finish the third book because it was too different from the rest of the series. It felt like the author replaced Joe from the previous books with a version of Joe from Netflix. I may go back and try reading the third book again, but I’m not sure if my love for the series is still there.

Although I’m not the biggest fan of the You series now, I will always be grateful that I found the series when I did. It was the novel that I attribute most to rekindling my love of reading.