Thank you NetGalley for my arc. I really wanted to like this one but I did not. I struggled to finish reading and the storyline was all over the place.

I was so happy to receive a Joshilyn Jackson book through NetGalley but I found this book alittle all over the place and it was hard to keep track of everyone. In the end I felt lost. With this being said, it will not discourage me to read Josilyn Jackson books.

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

This novel was a fast-paced one. There was stalking and kidnapping and romance drama. I liked Honor's POV and her role in the story, although at times I could not care less about her homeless friend. Her autistic mind was a delight to read, and she seemed really intelligent for someone her age. Joshilyn Jackson somehow always seems to write amazing characters, and I liked Meribel too. First person POV is my favorite, so I read this book pretty quickly. My biggest issue was the ending, though - I really wish it hadn't been so abrupt and that we had seen Meribel reunite with Honor and Cam. I dropped a half star from my rating solely because of the ending.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! I Can honestly say that I had no idea what I was getting into with this book and it had me on the edge of my seat! The story is about an actress in her late thirty’s (early forty’s) who moves with her daughter from California back to her home state of Georgia for an acting job and a fresh start. There were so many layers and main characters that things got a little mixed up in my head at the beginning but after a bit a knew who all the players were. Aside from the mysterious “marker man”. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes psychological thrillers, just make sure you lock all your doors first!

DNF @ 50%. Tried to skim the rest at that point, but even that couldn't hold my interest.

Boring, slowly paced plot, uninteresting characters

With My Little Eye
By Joshilyn Jackson

Meribel Mills, a former popular teen actor, has an obsessive fan dubbed Marker Man. He has gone from adoring, to obsessive, to very disturbed. Marker Man’s notes are escalating in the violence they portray but the police are of no help. Meribel grudgingly decides to take a project in Atlanta the home town she vowed never to return to. But what choice does she have? She is being stalked by a very creepy fan, she is quickly aging out of film, and she has an autistic daughter whose safety needs to be protected. The story takes the expected twists and turns and introduces a number of possible suspects including the ex- husband and the boyfriend she dumped and left behind in California.

With My Little Eye managed to do what most readers are looking for in a thriller. Jackson is skilled at creating an atmosphere of suspense and peril. The reader is able to feel a building sense of paranoia as Meribel feels constantly watched and grows suspicious of all the men in her life. Where the book doesn’t quite work for me is that I could never real care about the main character. Did I want her to be hacked up into little pieces? No. But I also couldn’t understand so many of her stupid decisions nor those of some other characters. The storylines also got a bit muddled and left me questioning whether the author was going for thriller or a final girl potboiler.

Nevertheless, I think this book will work for fans of Joshilyn Jackson’s more recent releases. It may also work for those looking for an entertaining escapist thriller with a dash of horror.

My thanks to @NetGalley and @WilliamMorrowBooks for the opportunity to read this digital copy.

Joshilyn Jackson is one of my favorite writers, first as an author of brilliant—and often hilarious—Southern fiction, with bestsellers such as Gods in Alabama and Almost Sisters, and now with acclaimed suspense novels. All of the latter have titles that use the names of children’s games to chilling effect. She began with Never Have I Ever, followed with Mother May I, and her current release, With My Little Eye. Jackson never disappoints.

My thanks go to Net Galley and William Morris for the review copy, though I’d have paid cold, hard cash if push came to shove. This book is for sale now.

Meribel Mills is an actor with a past and a problem. Years ago, she fled her hometown in Georgia and her marriage following a traumatic surgery, but she realized her dream of becoming a working actor. But a persistent stalker has caused her to flee Los Angeles with her adopted daughter, Honor, and now she’s back in Georgia, laying low, working locally, and stalking her ex-husband.

Wait. What?

This intrigues me, the notion that a stalker might also be stalked. Meribel’s intentions are benign, as she wistfully revisits the past, but she’s also over the line, obsessively following her ex’s social media accounts, mostly via his second wife, and at one point following them out to dinner. The heck? And so I wonder if that will be the focus of the story.

But Jackson never does anything predictable, and that’s part of what keeps me coming back.
Throughout the story, I am on the back foot, trying to ascertain which of her would-be swains is a genuinely nice guy, and which is the creepo. At one point I begin to wonder if she has multiple stalkers! And Jackson makes a strong point about the worthlessness of law enforcement when it comes to dealing with stalkers and women threatened with violence:

“Rape threats, abduction threats, death threats, and I got forms and tutting and sad jazz hands…I made copies [of the letters] and took them to the police, who filed them for just in case he killed me, later. Then it would be serious. Then someone would find his ass and get him into prison. It would make a great Lifetime movie, with a purely fictional, leggy lady cop as the necessary strong, female protagonist. And me? I’d be playing the dead girl, once again.”

But the best part of this novel isn’t Meribel or her stalker(s), it’s the children. Daughter Honor is Autistic, though very bright and relatively high functioning. Her new friend comes with baggage of her own; both of these girls is so well developed that I feel I would know them if I saw them on the street. They develop a friendship with a homeless teen who also has an important role here, and these girls are what make the story shine.

The resolution is believable and nothing comes from left field. This is an outstanding read, and I recommend it to you.

I enjoyed Jackson’s past books and was so pleased to receive a copy of her latest novel. A stalker fan sending disturbing letters to Meribel Mills, Sounded right up my alley. I enjoyed Honors parts the most. She was such an interesting and quirky character. The bond her and Meribel share was a wonderful part of the book and then Cam ( swooning over here). I overall enjoyed the read.

The first half of the book was a slow burn but the need to know who the stalker was kept me reading. The second half of the book was where things really started to happen and I was glad I continued reading. The twists were absolutely shocking and I never guessed who the stalker was. This is a new author for me and I will definitely read other books by this author. Thank you Netgalley and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for sending me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Look for it now in your local and online bookstores and libraries.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Meribel Mills is an actress who found fame on a popular sitcom in the 90s, and she’s been acting somewhat regularly ever since. She’s famous enough to have attracted a stalker who is making her life very uncomfortable. She decides to take a role in a series filming in Atlanta to get herself and her daughter out of LA. Unfortunately, it isn’t long before her stalker finds her.

This book is kind of all over the place. For the first half, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it, but around the midpoint, it took a turn and I was glued to the page until I finished it. I really liked Meribel’s daughter’s character, Honor. She’s on the spectrum, and I loved looking at the world through her eyes.

Trigger warning for SA.

This novel was a thrilling read. I thought from the beginning that I knew where it was going, and I never did. It's smart with a lot of heart. I loved Meribel's smarts, her flaws and her devotion to her daughter.

I liked how the author wrote from various perspectives, including the stalker. I also appreciated how there were small clues that would lead you to suspect one person or another. I think I pretty much suspected everyone at one point, except for who the person actually ended up to be. Part of me wishes there was a little more leading us to that person earlier in the book, but the fact that it could be anyone for any reason helped with the thrill.

I had a hard time with this one, strictly because of the super slow start. It really took a lot for me to get through this one, not because it didn't end up being good, but because it didn't grab me at the start.

Joshilyn Jackson never disappoints, and the trend continues with With My Little Eye. Stalker tropes are one of my favorites, and I thoroughly enjoyed the cat-and-mouse game between Meribel and Marker Man. I was also impressed with the realistic depiction of families dealing with autism. The relationship between Meribel and Honor isn't always easy, but it's honest, and it was one of my favorite things about the book. Also, kudos to tackling the issue of homelessness in a way that takes away some of the stigma. With My Little Eye would be perfect for buddy reads and book clubs!

I really enjoyed reading this one. I read it with friends and we guessed about everything along the way. Definitely the most fun way to read a thriller. I highly suggest it.

Before I talk about the book, I have to gush about the way the author wrote Honor’s character. It was refreshing to read about someone on the Spectrum and even how others interact with her without a stigma. It showed how she processed things and coped with things. And you were also able to see that not everything was different for her .While this is just a thriller or a book of fiction, it still brings awareness to their trials and tribulations. And even to an extent how her Mother, Meribel, parents a child on the spectrum.

But on to the book itself. There is a former child star that has a stalker. She chooses to move from LA to Atlanta to take work and protect herself and her daughter. In this one the stalker has a voice too. I always find that adds a dimension to the plot. There are many suspects for her stalker including multiple love interests of Meribels and new friends the two meet in Atlanta. I was the least interested in the love story, but I worked my brain hard trying to figure out who the stalker was without any luck. Any easy to read thriller that keeps me guessing is a win in my book.

Reading Between the Wines book review #52/115 for 2023:
Rating: 3 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book 🎧: With My Little Eye
Author: Joshilyn Jackson
Available now!

Sipping thoughts: This book started off so strong and intriguing. It took a little turn and then I got somewhat confused. I definitely think there were some unanswered questions and loose ends. The POVs were very confusing and there were a lot of extra characters that did not add much to the story. The reveal of the stalker really did not make sense, especially their journey to find Meribel. I normally like Jackson’s books and this one was not horrible it was only just good. The ending was flat to me.

Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley and @WilliamMorrow for an advanced copy of @WithMyLittleEye.

#WithMyLittleEye #JoshilynJackson #WilliamMorrow #NetGalley #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers #GeneralFictionAdult

I absolutely loved this new Joshilyn Jackson book! I adore these new thrillers she's writing and they are just as good as her southern fiction. In this book, Meribel, a middle ages actress, has a stalker, and there are two men in her life who don't seem to be likely suspects. Meribel has a tween daughter with autisim, and the way she writes this character and her personality and how she deals with her autism is so well done. She is definitely my favorite character in this book - so brave amidst all her struggles. The ending is perfect! It had every aspect I could have wanted and all loose ends got tied up in just the right way. This is not one to be missed. None of Joshilyn Jackson's books are.

Thank you to the publisher & Netgalley for my copy of this book!

I read it in two sittings and could have done one if I didn't have life commitments. Jackson's characters are complex and layered (and, in many cases, extremely creepy). No one is who they seem. And perhaps the best thing Jackson does is lure you into a sense that you know what's going on -- only to soon realize you're completely wrong.

I really enjoyed Jackson’s earlier books. This was my first time trying one of her thrillers and unfortunately it was a miss for me. Meribel moved from LA to Atlanta to get away from a stalker who was sending her disturbing letters. However, even moving across the country wasn’t enough to deter the stalker.

There are a LOT of other characters and POVs through the story. I stuck with it because I was interested to learn who the stalker would be. I wish I hadn’t.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced reading copy.

I didn't like this as much as other books by Jackson due to a few too many plotlines. The characters are still well developed and I liked the way autism was featured through a child's perspective. Dialogue was great and I would have been happy with, say two plots. Overall not bad

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley