3.5 rounded up. As I suspected, Just One Look is a giant cup of crazy. Cassie's life is a mess and she's about to become a total stalker. She has lost her esteemed job at a high level law firm due to an "incident" that is teased throughout the book. She is now in a lawyer temp pool reviewing emails for a case at another firm. She is broke, damaged, lonely and pretty much drinks her meals with a chaser of Tylenol pm. What could possibly go wrong? She becomes obsessed with partner Forrest and his wife Annabelle after stumbling on multiple emails from Forrest's inbox in the review queue. Her imagination is electrified by her mental state and off we go.
Ultimately I liked the book, but there were parts that fell short that left it in the "like" category and not "love". First of all, my heart ached for Cassie. I wanted to pick her up out of the pages and bring her over for a cup of tea and a good home cooked meal. It is a page turner for sure, but the tension left me mostly sad for the main character. It is entertaining and will keep you up late at night flipping through but it is quite predictable. With that said, it's a good beach/vacation read that won't need too much deep thinking.
Thank you to NetGalley and Ballentine Books for my early release copy in exchange for my honest opinion. Just One Look will be released on July 27.

What in GOODNESS grief did I just read?! Oh my word. Let's take a moment to praise the incredibly talented @lindsaycameronauthor for this deliciously wicked and HIGHLY ADDICTIVE book. #JustOneLook is sooooo good you guys. I tossed this one in my pool bag not thinking I would get much time to read it today, but I simply couldn't put it down. I adored this ... what a fun, twisty and really wild #psychologicalthriller this was. I loved the pacing and thought Cassie was the perfect unreliable narrator! You're gonna need to request this one ASAP - totally bingeable and super fun! Out 7/27 ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

Who else has an fascination with books about stalkers and obsession? You could say I’m obsessed with them 😉 Seriously though if there’s a stalker plot line I’m all in so this one caught my eye immediately.

Cassie’s life is in the shitter, both personally and professionally but when she takes a temp job reviewing correspondence things start to look up for her. When she stumbles upon emails between Forest and his wife Annabelle she can’t help herself so she decides to take just one look. But then one look becomes an addiction and thus begins a dark and toxic tale of obsession. This was so compulsive for me, I love reading books were the narrator is unhinged. Cassie always rationalizes her bizarre behavior and I just find that type of thing so fascinating. If you like books about that sort of thing too definitely check this out!

I tried to love this book but it just wasn’t catching my attention as I’d hoped. I think it could definitely be for some people, just not me.

Thank you to Random House and Ballantine for letting me read this book early. This one publishes July 27.

I couldn't get into this one! The stalker vibes, which I thought would be like the You series by Caroline Kepnes, left me wanting more. I think I just went into this one with too high of hopes. I do hope you read this one and enjoy it, but it wasn't for me.

Cassie is working a temp job and struggling to make ends meet. She gets very into reviewing correspondence which is part of her job, but she takes it too far. When a certain person catches her eye and she also has access to his personal emails, she becomes obsessed. When she tries to embed herself in this persons life to be part of the narrative, it goes to a completely new level.

I loved the stalker aspect of this book. I loved the ending and tying together the timing of things. I would suggest this one to my friends!

This was a hit of crazy. Holy cow. Fascinating though. A psychological thriller taking place in New York City. Information was given out just a little at a time so you really had to keep going if you wanted to know more. I put the pieces together before the end but that was fine. Good writing and it was an enjoyable journey to get there. I always wanted to pick it up to read more.

This is the story of Cassie Woodson and her escalating obsession with a seemingly perfect man that leads her down a dangerous path. This book takes obsession to a whole new level . So addictive couldn’t put it down

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Cassie, an attorney, suffers from the fear of abandonment and her actions go overboard in a number of interpersonal relationships.

Whoah!!!!! What a ride! This started out a little slow for me but when it going, I would not put it down!! Cassie was such an intriguing character and she was hard to figure out, in a good way. And the ending? I did not see that coming!.!

I relished this fast-paced psychological thriller featuring my favorite female protagonist: a smart girl who seemingly can't help being her own worst enemy. Cassie is a stalker and needs therapy, seriously, but don't let that stop you from enjoying her clever machinations. Professionally, she had been a successful corporate lawyer until she sabatoged herself by erupting in a violent manner at the end of an affair with a partner and was shown the door. Woops.

Now relegated to making ends meet by working as a temp at another firm, she happens upon the "man of her dreams," a powerful partner (doesn't she learn?), and starts devising ways to get him to notice her.

Reading Cassie's story was like watching a train wreck bearing down. You know there will be casualties, but for whom? I couldn't look away.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House/Ballantine for an ARC of this novel.

Who doesn’t love a good stalker story? Add in a little bit of an unreliable narrator and a “steal your life” moment and you have this book nailed.

Cassie Woodsen was an up and coming attorney when the “incident” happened. She is now struggling to make ends meet and has started a new job as a temp going through emails for a law firm. It was all pretty mindless until Cassie discovers some personal emails from a partner at the firm, Forest. After reading the private exchanges between Forest and his wife, Annabel, Cassie knows she needs to learn everything there is to know about him. When that’s not enough, she needs to meet him. But that doesn’t seem like enough either. Where will her obsession stop?

I really enjoyed this read. It was fast paced and liked the side characters that were also used to push the story along. I don’t know anyone in my line of work that puts that much personal info in to their work emails so you might need to ignore that detail, but maybe it’s a normal occurrence in the law field. It’s definitely a troupe I am going to look for in the future, and can’t wait to read more by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Cassie Woodson took a fall from grace in her career and love life. This is one of those novels that’s so well written it makes for an uncomfortable read. Cassie has some mental health issues and becomes a stalker! Put this book on your to be read list, I read it in one sitting. It is a fast paced thriller that uses email's to get an inside look on someone's life. I really enjoyed this novel in advanced thanks to Net Galley #NetGalley and thanks Lindsay Cameron for making such a fun read.

After an embarrassing incident causes Cassie to lose her job, she uses her law degree to temp at entry level. When a software error sends her an executives emails, she gets a look into his personal life.. and likes what she sees.

Ever since You, stalker books have been pretty hot. This one was a fresh take because we’ve got a female stalker! The best part is that it’s from her perspective and you really like her and root for her. I mean, we all are fascinated by Joe Goldberg but he still creeps us out… but Cassie, she’s cool; I’d hang. It was a definite page turner and it took some unexpected turns and got pretty exciting! This is a summer 2021 must read!

“This wasn’t a decision for Forest Watts to make. It was destiny. If Forest Watts didn’t realize we belong together, then I would take matters into my own hands.”

Just One Look comes out 7/27.

For fans of You, Just One Look is a story about a female stalker. Cassie Woodson is a lawyer reinventing herself after a fall down the corporate ladder. She starts out on the lowest rung of the lawyer corporate ladder, working as a temp attorney. She is performing document review for the law firm, reviewing materials to determine if emails have any relevance to the case at hand. However, there is one partner's emails who are swept up in Cassie's review box. The partner and his wife have such tender interaction. Can Cassie find someone to love her like that in her life? Is everything just as charmed as it seems?

When I started my legal career, I also worked as a temp lawyer, and the author clearly did do her research. It is very disheartening to graduate from law school in the top 10 percent of your class, pass the bar exam on the first try, and only be able to find a job which pays $20 per hour without any benefits while also being shackled with $100,000 of student loan debt. Some of Cassie's inner reflections resonated with me - We all look around and try to get a feel for cultural norms at work. Does everyone wear black suits/ties or jeans? Does everyone leave at 5 pm on the dot or does everyone work overtime regularly?

This was a quick read, and I enjoyed it. That being said, I read A LOT of mystery and thriller, and there is definitely a little bit of art and science to it. There should have been a bit more intrigue. There were also a few scenarios where it felt a little bit off, and I had boiled down the ending to one or two scenarios and it was one of the two I had envisioned. The mysteries that are the best are the ones where you don't see the ending coming, and this book just wasn't quite there yet.

Overall, this was an enjoyable book. Although it is definitely a stalker book, it was a good reminder that maybe I could pay a bit more attention to the details of those I love.

*Thanks, NetGalley, for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.

DNF.

I’ve discovered something about myself in the reading of Just One Look. I love romances and thrillers featuring male stalkers…but I just can’t get into a female stalker. Internalized sexism, here I come.

Cassie was just a hot mess of a character. She’s pretty one-sided with no depth who easily becomes obsessed and attached to people. She reads one man’s email to his wife and goes down the rabbit hole to learn everything about them both.

I kept reading hoping there would be more to it but I felt like I was cringing every other page. Queen J coined it best: I like my stalkers to be more professional and Cassie was unpolished. And yes, I know the insanity of that statement and I stand by it.

Just One Look definitely had some potential but not enough to keep me around.

This book was so amazing. After reading the description I knew I had to request it. I got major "You" vibes. I'm a huge fan of books that revolve around people being obsessed with others, especially ones they don't know.

Cassie was an awesome main character whose obsessive personality was portrayed perfectly. She was great to read about and the air of mystery behind her past was just enough to keep me guessing the while book. I loved the idea of her reading through e-mails and making assumptions of people, and how we got to hear how her mind worked.

This book blew me away! I thought the twists and turns were written so well that just when I thought I knew what was going on I was hit with how wrong I was! I would definitely recommend this one for any fan of psychological thrillers based on obsessions and fans of the "You" series.

I went into this book with really high hopes and maybe that is where I went wrong.
I had been told it was like YOU but told from a female's POV. Well, that sounds just up my alley. Let's get stalking!

Just one look is told completely from Cassie's POV. Cassie was a lawyer but was fired from her job. We don't know the details until later, but we know that she basically lost everything because now she is obtaining work from a temp agency. When she is placed, she is working at another law firm, but not as a lawyer. I would call them minions. Not even paralegals. Just people they pay to do some major boring grunt work. This is where Cassie meets Dalton and they start a sort of friendship. Well, at least at work. At one of their meal breaks, Dalton mentions something in passing and that sets Cassie off stalking emails and one particular lawyer's emails. His name is Forest Watts and while his emails seem mundane, she starts stalking ALL of his emails, taking notes and wanting to fit into his life. Here is where we get the You vibes and the stalkerish ways. But this is also where the similarities end to me.

Yes, Cassie seems a little off and infiltrates her way into Forest's life by gathering intel on him and his wife, but it was so SLOW. So boring. I constantly was waiting for SOMETHING to happen. For example, she doesn't even meet Forest until half way through the book. It kept my attention enough, but barely. I needed more substance to the story. I felt like it was missing the meat. The whole middle part was repetitive and dragged on. I wanted and needed some action. And that action came, but it wasn't until the last maybe 50 pages or so. Then we finally get a lot thrown at us. It didn't even really build up and set us up, it just happened. And while I enjoyed the ending more than the majority of the first 3/4 of the book, it was too little too late.

Overall, it was an ok book that fell flat for me. The characters and story had potential, but it was lacking in grabbing my attention the whole way through.

This book was entertaining and it kept my interest throughout, but it wasn't a big wow thriller. I enjoyed the perspective of the main character; and her perspective was very interesting. I like that the main character was extremely flawed, and that she was an individual that was impaired mentally and morally. Though this book was entertaining it was lacking in some parts. The middle of the book felt very slow and dragged on and on. I find that stories about people that are obsessed tend to drag. The character was often too repetitive and I felt as if I was waiting for the main action to occur. What made this story not a hit for me was the ending. It was all over the place and I just couldn't make myself love it. The ending was packed with things that could have occurred in earlier chapters. Overall it was a good. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Cassie had a law degree and a job with a prestigious NYC law firm. But then something went horribly wrong and she loses that job and basically everything. (And we won't know what for quite some time).

She finds herself working a legal temp job in a dark and dank room as just a number in a workstation reviewing documents for an impending lawsuit. She stumbles upon the emails of a partner who inadvertently end up in the "dump" of emails and it immediately sucked into his life and he becomes her obsession.

Cassie is not a particularly loveable character, yet you still find yourself rooting for her as her obsession builds and you watch her stumble through the story uncovering secrets and trying to claim what she wants. Things definitely get interesting and you'll be on the edge of your seat as you travel along with Cassie!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House (Ballantine Books) for an advance copy in exchange for an honestly review.