Meribel is an actress who has a stalker. He was escalating so she took a job in her old home town of Atlanta, GA. She took her daughter and started her new life, but the stalker somehow found out.

I feel like this book picked too many twists. It should have picked one or two and stuck with it. I understand making multiple people the suspect but they were immediately taken out of the picture in the next paragraph. There were a lot of twists, and some of them seemed a little far fetched. Is Meribel a magnet for men who are not well?

That said, I did want to know what happened but it took me a couple hours to sit through the last few chapters.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

One-sentence summary:
An actress being stalked by a mysterious stranger moves across the country with her daughter to find safety, but when she realizes that she’s still being watched by someone who wants to do her harm, every man in her life becomes a suspect.

—--------

I really loved this one and read it in almost one sitting! It’s bold, twisty and - at times - shocking. I got soooo pulled into it.

Jackson did a great job building out the experiences of Meribel – a TV actress approaching forty who is traumatized from the experience of being stalked. This book NAILED what it’s like to be an actor in Los Angeles, as well as the sense of isolation, self-doubt and exhaustion that comes from being stalked. Sadly, on all counts, I know this a bit from personal experience…

Meribel’s adopted daughter, Honor, is on the spectrum, and her POV is written with realism and empathy. Honor misses social cues, lacks emotion at times, and experiences stims, and she’s just the most interesting, lovable and strong 13-year-old. There’s also some great humor – both of the absurd and dark variety – stemming from her. I’d read an entire series focused on Honor, I loved her so much. I also really liked Meribel’s ability to anticipate and understand her daughter’s triggers, moods and unique method of communicating.

This thriller is of the slow-burn variety, but it is VERY bold in its plotting, with lots of twists you probably won’t see coming, so it makes for the perfect summer, by-the-beach read!

This is out today!!

Thank you William Morrow for the ARC!

With My Little Eye
by Joshilyn Jackson
Pub Date: 25 Apr 2023

I feel the story started out slow, I almost quit reading at one point but decided to stick it out as it was an advanced reader copy. I'm glad I hung in as it did pick up and was suspenseful. I was totally surprised by the ending.

Synopsis:

It started with letters, he's been in her home, he's watching her. Who else might be watching—her ex-husband? The lover she left behind in LA? Her new neighbor? Suddenly, every man in her life is a suspect, but she can’t keep herself and her daughter safe from a monster she can’t identify. When the paths of all of these men collide, Meribel will find herself alone in the fight of her life, desperate to protect those she loves as danger closes in from all sides.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

In this thriller, Maribel Mills leaves California with her daughter to escape the stalker they call " marker man" because if the smelly markers her uses to send her letters. Maribel has a sixth sense in that she feels it when being watched. After a brief sense of relief of leaving her stalker in CA she again experiences herself being watched more and more. When the letters start coming directly to her new address, things start to escalate.
This is a page turner you won't want to put down!

3.5 stars, rounded up. A long build up to a rushed ending (I really wanted to know more about the aftermath of everything that happened). I loved the characters, with Meribel in particular being a complicated, interesting woman. There are so many eerie, tense bits and I didn't necessarily piece together how it was all going to coalesce. The weirdness of fan culture and the downsides of fame were really compelling.

I loved the premise of With My Little Eye -- an actress and single mom being stalked, and even a move across the country doesn't slow the stalker down. There's much more going on in this story, with quite a few storylines and many characters. At times it felt a little all over the place and slow-moving, but it all comes together in the end with some surprises and a big bang! The last 25% of the book is everything I love in a thriller -- fast-paced, nail biting, and unpredictable. While I typically don't mind open-ended endings, I would have appreciated more closure. I wouldn't mind reading more about these characters!

Grab With My Little Eye if you want a slow burn, drama-filled thriller with a heavy dose of suspense!

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for a complimentary digital copy of this novel. This novel is about Meribel, an actress with a 13-year old adopted daughter, Honor, who is on the spectrum. They end up having to move from LA to Atlanta because Meribel has a stalker. Between her stalker, her new neighbor, her ex-husband, and her ex-boyfriend, there’s a lot going on for her. The part I enjoyed the most about this book was trying to guess who the stalker was. However, I had a hard time following the characters. I felt the book was all over the place. In some chapters, there was information from the pasta d then suddenly it would revert to the present without warning. That got to be confusing and frustrating. The ending of the novel was way too abrupt! It just ended with no further details. I’ve read one of Joshilyn’s novels before and really enjoyed it, but unfortunately, this one didn’t have the same outcome for me.

Thank you NetGalley, William Morrow, and Joshilyn Jackson for the advanced copy of With My Little Eye in exchange for my honest review.

I admittedly struggled connecting with this story and unfortunately decided to DNF at 42%. As is always the case for me, I will not review this book anywhere except NetGalley as I don't feel it's fair to rate books I do not finish.

I will definitely not hesitate to read this author again in the future as I've really enjoyed her previous works.

A popcorn thriller with short chapters and steady pacing. A bit corny at times and some annoying characters, but fun as a buddy read. The highlight for me was the MCs autistic daughter, Honor. She goes on my list of favorites forever! Thanks NetGalley and William Morrow for the gifted ebook!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⚡️

The master of domestic suspense and queen of thrills, NYT bestselling southern (favorite) author Joshilyn Jackson returns following Mother May I (5 Stars) with her latest twisty suspense thriller, WITH MY LITTLE EYE —an actress/mother is forced to move herself and her daughter across the country to escape a dangerous stalker—only to discover he follows them.

July 2016 Los Angeles, CA: "I never thought I was famous enough to get murdered." —Meribel Mills

Meribel Mills is approaching 40, an actress — not a young celebrity who often sparks obsessive fans; nevertheless, she still receives fan mail and some not-so-good. Downright disturbing and CREEPY. However, this goes with being famous.

This one disturbing fan she and her daughter calls Marker Man, the unhinged guy (due to the cheap fruit-scented markers) he used for his letters. The envelopes were addressed in huge, jagged handwriting that glared cherry pink, lime green, or berry blue, which smelled of alcohol solvent and sickly-sweet faux fruit—a STALKER.

Meribel is a single mom of a delightful adopted tween (almost thirteen) daughter, Honor, through the foster system. She is on the autism spectrum. (loved her)

For their safety and her sanity, they are forced to move 2,000 miles away, across the country back to (Midtown) Atlanta, Georgia— to a furnished condo a year from the date of his first letter. A place she swore she would never return to.

She takes a new job that films in Atlanta, a recurring role on the second season of last year's breakout hit. Her character, the new lawyer at a firm specializing in representing ghosts, had a pickup option to become a regular series if it went well.

She had hired a forwarding service to send her Marker Man's letters. However, soon after she arrives in Atlanta, the letter postmarks are from towns closer and closer to where they live.

Marker Man is COMING for them.

Detective Johnson was making no progress while a psychopath edged closer and closer. His letters were arriving almost every day!

People still remembered her on the street from Belinda's World.

Meribel feels she is being watched and someone has been in her condo. She sees someone across the street. Was it James, her ex, or has the Marker Man already gotten closer?

Meanwhile, Honor was adjusting to a new school and a new therapist. She loved rules and memorized them. She also develops a friendship with a homeless girl, Sheila, whom she calls Princess Xena.

There are also men in Meribel's life.
~Cooper, her new neighbor in Atlanta
~James, her ex-husband (now married with three children)
~Cam, her LA ex-boyfriend-bodyguard

Told from POVs, Meribel, Honor, and the Marker Man, each intense and spine-chilling! Each letter includes an illustration and a violent threat. Meribel must protect her daughter. Honor is trying to protect her mom. How will they escape this madness? No one can escape social media and the internet.

Whom can they trust? Every man in her life is a suspect. When they all collide, Meribel fights desperately to protect her daughter as danger closes in.

A huge long-time fan, I have read all of Joshilyn Jackson's books, and WITH MY LITTLE EYE was spectacular!

Joshilyn is a master storyteller and always surprises you with every book, each unique. In WITH MY LITTLE EYE, she pulls out all the stops with a riveting clever psychological thriller, a strong emotional mother/daughter story, a fun beach read, and a compelling book club pick ripe for discussions.

A nail-biting thriller, well-paced, action-packed with dark humor, a well-written story, and unputdownable. Filled with suspense, courage, fear, obsession, revenge, and forgiveness.

The author highlights women, aging, and their role in business and as mothers. The pressure we are under to remain young and thin, how much our value is attached to our age, weight, and looks.

Readers will adore Honor — with all her quirks, the story's heroine.

AUDIOBOOK: Joshilyn is a former actor and a popular narrator of audiobooks. I have pre-ordered and am excited to listen to this audiobook, narrated by Joshilyn (Meribel) and her real-life daughter Maisy Jane, who is narrating (Honor)! With a full cast, I adore Michael Crouch—also performing: Graham Halstead, Jeremy Arthur, and Jesse Vilinsky. Assured it will be an award-winning performance as the characters come alive.

Stay tuned for my #AuthorElevatorSeries Q&A with Joshilyn, where we go behind the scenes of the book & this multi-talented author, on April 25th!

Special thanks to #WilliamMorrowBooks for a gifted ARC via #NetGalley for review purposes.

Blog Review Posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollis | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: April 25, 2023
April 2023 Must-Read Books

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel, releasing today!

Y'all...

I'm a Joshilyn Jackson completist and really enjoyed all her southern family drama stories; she's more recently moved into this series of thrillers (the books are unrelated though all the titles reference traditional children's games). This one follows an actress who moves back to Atlanta to avoid a stalker, who follows her across the country putting both her and her daughter, as well as new friends and acquaintances in danger.

With a disclaimer that I don't generally read thrillers, I thought Jackson's first two were alright, so I'm really not sure what happened with this one. There is one subplot/relationship that serves almost no purpose and doesn't go anywhere. Basically all of the characters are unlikable, including our lead Meribel (I did like her daughter Honor, and was glad she became a more developed and involved character as the story went along). The reveal of one of the "good guy" characters as a villain seems to come out of nowhere; I had to re-read the page where his intentions are revealed three times because I thought I was misunderstanding something or had him confused with another character. The ending is also incredibly abrupt and unsatisfying; it feels as though a timer went off and she had to stop writing under threat of punishment. Sorry to say almost nothing about this book worked for me.

Maribel is an actress with a lot going on. She has a daughter with autism, a stalker, and a boyfriend she can’t seem to commit to. When the police can’t seem to help with her stalker situation she decides to move to Atlanta, a place she swore she would never return. It’s full of memories, an ex-husband, but also a chance to start over and keep her child safe. The problem is that no one is safe from “The Marker Man” as dubbed by Maribel’s daughter. He quickly finds out where she has moved and is coming to find her. She tries to surround herself with people she can trust, but she isn’t sure who those people are.

I am a fan of Jackson’s books. They are all well written and full of surprises. This one is no different. I was impressed with the turn it took and how it was all tied together. I do have some questions about the ending, but I guess it was left so you could decide for yourself how things would turn out for the remaining characters .

𝙈𝙮 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)

𝙈𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨:

Ok… I’ve got mixed feelings on this one…

First, let me just say that disability rep in books is always a good thing. And I loved the parts of this book that were written from the autistic character’s pov.

But… some of the other parts felt a bit too “autism mom” for my tastes. The mom (MC) felt a bit too overbearing at times. Was that on purpose? It’s quite likely. Ms. Jackson is on the spectrum herself, so it’s very possible that she’s experienced some of that well-meaning pushiness by adults in her own life. But (spoiler alert) we never find out if that’s the case.

As far as the rest of the book goes… I found it enjoyable. I wasn’t a huge fan of the MC, even looking past the “autism mom” behavior, but she was likable enough.

The ending was a little abrupt. But maybe it was a set up for a sequel?

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow Books and Joshilyn Jackson for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

With My Little Eye will be available in the US on April 25th 2023.

Actress Meribel Mills has been getting letters in the mail from someone she calls "Marker Man", because they are written in big letters with scented markers. They have become increasingly more perverse and violent, and there have been signs that he has been in her home. Meribel and her daughter Honor move across country to Atlanta to try to escape Marker Man. But she is still getting the forwarded letters, and they are no longer coming from L.A. He is on the move, and coming for her. Meribel keeps feeling someone watching her. Now everyone she sees is a suspect, and nowhere feels safe. How is she supposed to protect herself and Honor when she doesn't even know what he looks like?
I am a huge fan of this author's books, and while this one wasn't my favorite, I did enjoy it immensely. It read more as a drama than a thriller most of the time. It had a great twist at the end I wasn't expecting at all that really made the book, in my opinion. Oh, and then there was Honor. Honor was the star of the show, so to speak. Honor is on the spectrum, and says exactly what she is thinking, and is smart and brave. I only have two small complaints about the book. The book is told in the POV's of different characters, but the names of the characters weren't listed above the chapters, so it takes a couple of paragraphs before your brains clicks over to recognize this is from an entirely different POV. I wish the chapters had names above them to make it easier. Also, I really wish there were an epilogue. I really wanted to know what happened with all of the characters, even a six months later sort of thing would have been nice. I especially wanted to know the fate of the homeless teen, Maxene. Other than that, I highly enjoyed it, and think you should definitely add it to your TBR pile if you are a fan of dramas, thrillers and suspense.

I have loved all of Joshilyns previous books and was so excited to get this ARC. However this one was not my favorite of hers. It was a little chaotic at times, a lot of different storylines that didn’t mesh well together and characters that weren’t very likable. The ending felt very rushed and not finished. It had a good premise but a lot of things just did not work for me.

Meribel moves across the country from LA to Atlanta to put space between her family and a stalker. She’s lucky to find an acting job there because women near 40 are at the end of their shelf life… or so she is told. Honor is her daughter and has her own challenges, but Meribel is determined to help her through them.

This story has a great premise. I love the stalker storyline, but the multiple possible love interests is all a bit much. I get lost there for awhile. It does come together in the end quite beautifully.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the early ARC.

Jackson showed so much promise with her debut, never I have ever. Mother may I never really lived up to the promise she showed with her first novel and this one falls even further. With my little eye is the story of Meribel-a minor actress who catches the eye of a stalker and tries to seclude herself and her daughter, retreating to a condo in Atlanta. However, her stalker has found them and she feels this stalker getting closer to them. The cast is filled with red herrings (all placed in the novel for that purpose and all underdeveloped and interchangeable). For a thriller, the pacing is slow and the middle is almost painfully boring. The ending has some twists in it, but feels disjointed and with many loose threads hanging. I was disappointed and may give up on Jackson after this one.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

With My Little Eye is a stalker-thriller from Joshilyn Jackson.

"Meribel Mills had some fame playing a character on a popular TV show. She attracted the attention of a stalker who sentlots of mail using scented markers describing what he would do to her. She called him Marker Man. Meribel moves to Atlanta with her 12-year-old adopted daughter hoping to be rid of him. When the mail starts up again, she knows she must find a find to get rid of him for good."

Throughout the book, Jackson lets us know just how well-known Meribel is - people of all ages recognize her and her catch-phrase from the show. Meribel is interesting because she is torn between doing the things necessary to keep working in Entertainment and guarding her privacy and that of her daughter that happens to be autistic.
Meribel has a superpower - the ability to know when she's being watched. Sometimes it helps - but the stalker knows this and does his best to stay on the periphery hoping to catch her with her guard down.
Some red herrings but Jackson has her reasons for them. One character has a dark, dark past.

The ending is wild especially after the identity of the stalker is revealed. And it's an ending that left me wanting more.

An interesting take on the price of fame. This is a good story from Jackson.

With My Little Eye
By Joshilyn Jackson

This is thriller – or at least it would have been if its various parts had tied together better. Or maybe if there weren't so many disparate parts that really didn't come together to make the storyline believable.

The female protagonist is Meribel Mills, a second rate actress past her prime, but still having some name recognition. We find out early on that Meribel had been married previously to James in Georgia, but had run off to California when they found out they would be childless. Somehow through all this she has adopted a drug addicted autistic child named Honor. She has also started a relationship with Cameron, a man she met in a dog park. But Meribel has attracted a stalker, who seems to be more and more unbalanced and dangerous. Thus she accepts a job and moves her and her daughter back across the country to Georgia to escape him.

From here on, the number of characters multiplies: James, the ex-husband; Cam, the man she dumped who follows her east; Cooper, her new neighbor; and Marker Man, the nameless stalker who also manages to follow her trail. Additionally, we have Addie, Cooper's ex and her daughter Sheila, and Xena, a homeless teenager.

As well as the standard thriller "red herrings", this book contains many
situations that never really hang together or are explained. While the story is interesting, for me the author may have overreached by adding too many variables, which made the book hard to follow.

I enjoyed this book overall, but the ending seems unrealistic, rushed, and unfinished. I enjoyed the premise of the book however the writing was not as strong as I think it could have been.