This book has been a bit odd. The story is a mystery with a romance, involving Savannah, the mayor or something similar, of a small town with Micki, the police chief of the same small town. Savannah is mean with many and a bit commanding in the worst way of the word, so she is a character difficult to like. She has a daughter, Eliana, cute and smart, so different from her oddly. And to top it all, she treats Micki very badly, using her power to diminish Micki's efforts in her new position as police chief. So they are a bit antagonistic at first, but Micki always is on the good side and Savannah in the not so good one. And when mysteriously Savannah starts receiving notes and objects a bit scary, all her nastiness and disrespect toward Micki suddenly disappears.

The oddness go on with the way which Mickey tries to resolve the mystery and her level of implication, too much personal after Savannah behavior, not make much sense.

And by the end of the book, when all is resolving,  the reasons they disliked each other seem nonsensical, too. And poor Eliana disappears from the story.

I think this story had more potential and I do not think it is well resolved. But despite this, it is an entertaining read.

4.5 stars - Excellent Debut Novel

This was a unexpected but very pleasant surprise. I really enjoyed this book. Overall, this is light read - not a hard core or bloody mystery/crime drama or an angst-ridden romance - but Stiling manages to balance the mystery and the romance quite well to make it a great book to while away (wile away) a dreary afternoon.

The mystery was plausible without going over the top - there's something just inherently creepy about stalkers and Stiling used it well to stir up the suspense. She also managed to include a decent set of suspects, alibis and red herrings to keep me guessing. Best of all, she didn't include the big bad's POV - I hate it when a book includes the bad guy/gal's POV in the narration - it ruins the flow and, honestly, it always seems cheesy to try to explain or demonstrate how batshit crazy they are.

The dynamic between Micki and Savannah worked particularly well - gotta love the ice queen melts trope - with a great chemistry and some amusing dialogue. The love/hate dynamic works well in place of the "instalove" you sometimes find in lesfic novels - the idea that the attraction was there, but masked by the sniping/one-upmanship of the MCs. Both characters were engaging and believable and the evolution of their relationship worked. Even the secondary characters seemed three dimensional.

I'm surprised this is Stiling's first novel and I will be looking for her next one.

By the way - I do agree with the stalker, asparagus is better when it's steamed.