What a pulse-pounding thriller that will definitely keep you up at night!

This thriller opens with the ominous line “I never thought that I was famous enough to get murdered.” That’s Meribel, a recognizable but minor actress from a decades old TV show, who is approaching the dreaded career-killing age of forty. But she’s not that obscure to not have an escalating stalker, whose antics prompt a move from the West Coast back to her home state Georgia.

Ah, celebrity stalkers… something I really know way too much about. I worked in a place where we dealt with all kinds of famous people and their crazy followers, and we were trained by security expert Gavin deBecker (“bodyguard to the stars”). I learned there were 4 types of celebrity stalkers: two types were harmless, two weren’t — but you could trigger a harmless one to convert to a crazed one. The number one rule: do not engage.

Meribel does not engage “Marker Man” (his threatening notes and gory drawings are rendered in fruit-scented kid markers), but she does some of her own stalking of her ex-husband James (who she might be hallucinating about seeing him in the rain outside her apartment building) and his James’ Instagram-obsessed wife.

However, Meribel also has Cam, the security expert/part-time boyfriend she left behind in LA who suddenly appears in Atlanta, and Cooper, a neighbor with relationship issues of his own (like an on-again/off-again irritable ex living on the same floor and some other questionable past liaisons), who seems to be trying to establish a new relationship with Meribel. When an anonymous predator makes you paranoid, everyone takes a turn being a suspect. Meribel is also primarily trying to protect her nearly 13 year old autistic daughter, Honor, who has remarkable perception and is an amazing character.

I just had to know how this ended, so it was one of those power reads over two days. If you like tension building mysteries, this is for you. 4.5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES The main character, Meribel, has green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO But I was not amused by Cooper’s unrepeatable description of lantana’s fragrance (granted, it lands somewhere “between fermenting citrus and gasoline” according to ScienceX).

When a somewhat-famous actress is being stalked in Los Angeles, she moves with her autistic daughter to Atlanta in With My Little Eye by Georgia author Joshilyn Jackson due out in April.

The stalking began with letters created with scented markers to Meribel Mills followed by an invasion of her home. Dubbed Marker Man by Meribel, he continues the letters that start taking on postmarks from cities other than LA as he makes his way across country to find her. The letters have become more frightening over time with drawings of an unclothed Meribel tied up or cut into pieces.

What to do when the police insist that stalkers rarely become violent? Because of years in front of a camera, Meribel is convinced she has a superpower that allows her to know when someone is looking at her. She gets the feeling of bees inside of her skin that alerts her to the watcher.

Could it be her ex-husband James who is doing the stalking, or Cam, a lover she broke up with when she and Honor moved to Atlanta? Even her new neighbor Cooper gives her cause to wonder. When she least expects it, Meribel comes face to face with Marker Man, and the choices she makes next could cost her life and leave Honor an orphan.

This is the twelfth novel for Joshilyn Jackson, a former actress. Reader of the audiobooks of her work, she has been nominated for awards in this medium’s categories. Her novels have also attained accolades including the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance’s 2005 Novel of the Year Award for her debut novel, Gods in Alabama. Jackson won Georgia Author of the Year for her second novel, Between, Georgia. She lives in Decatur, Georgia, with her family.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting March 29, 2023.

I would like to thank William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

The premise of this book sounded so promising. Unfortunately, it fell flat. I found myself skimming over lots of pages as the details seemed irrelevant. I was close to DNF at 57% of the way through. The main character seemed annoying and was clueless. I did power through and finish it. It finally picked up for the last 10-15% of the book. Sadly, that didn’t make up for the other 85% being so meh that it took me a week to finish.

Big yikes! This one was a roller coaster of a ride with an aging Hollywood starlet with a very aggressive stalker. Add a private eye ex boyfriend, a flirty new neighbor, his jealous ex and a daughter on the spectrum who is coming of age and you have a cast of characters that has you all over the place trying to figure out who you can trust. Maybe it’s no one.

Meribel Mills, an actress, and a star in her youth, is being stalked by a man who is sending her pictures that he has drawn - showing her dead in many horrible ways. She fled where she was living to the hopeful safety of her hometown, with her autistic daughter, Honor, after taking an acting job there. As they begin to get settled and make new friends, and possibly enemies, it appears they may still not be safe.

Joshilyn Jackson, writes another novel, sure to be a hit. She sets the stage meticulously, as she helps the reader to fall in love with her spunky, interesting, and troubled characters. Meribel is easy to root for as she tries to provide a good, safe life for her 12-year-old daughter. She does an amazing job with Honor, as she describes what it is like to have an autistic tween and what it is like to be a tween with autism. She displays a young homeless girl with sharp detail. She creates relationships that the reader will root for and some that will cause the reader to pause. Ms. Jackson draws the reader into this world and this reader had to hold on tight with a book she wouldn’t let go, until the very end.

Wonderfully written, interesting, and creative - With My Little Eye was an exceptional novel.

Sadly, this book missed the mark for me. Too many characters and plot lines. I wasn't able to stay engaged (due to those issues, as well as a slow pace) or connect with the characters. The ending leaves the reader with questions. Perhaps there's supposed to be a sequel. The big reveal was lackluster.

With My Little Eye is a hard-to-put-down thriller with an age-old actress-stalking protagonist and enough flare to make a common storyline interesting. The writing is great overall. Perfect for suspense. Not too wordy. Just the right amount of dialogue.

There are lots of moving parts in this book to keep readers engaged. Actress Meribel Mills and her adopted daughter, Honor, flee Hollywood after a stalker sends “gifts” to Meribel. They move back to Georgia where Meribel once lived with her first husband. After a few weeks, Meribel feels eyes on her and believes her stalker has followed her. When a neighbor she meets in the coffee house, Cooper, befriends her and arrives at her apartment, dinner in hand, he finds a package at her door with several gifts. Meribel immediately knows the stalker has found her.

Enter several characters, ex-husband Jeff, ex-LA boyfriend Cam, neighbor lady and daughter, back-alley homeless girl, and various others. Readers quickly jump on the who-dun-it wagon, pointing a finger from character to character, attempting to identify the stalker, tagged “Marker Man.” (Because he signs his notes with flamboyant-colored, fruity-smelling markers.)

Without spoiling the plot, I’ll say the suspense the author created kept me turning pages. I tossed all my other books aside to quickly finish this one.

Jackson’s character development is exceptional. I loved Meribel; adored her daughter Honor (who was autistic, intelligent, clever, and humorous); liked Honor’s friends Sheila and Maxine; and felt the appropriate amount of suspicion for all others involved.

There is an unbelievable coincidence. (Would the lives of Cooper and Marker Man intersect in real life? I kept waiting for the author to link them together even in some minute way.) Some unimportant deliberating. (What was all that about her ex-husband, James? And Honor’s LA birthday-cake friends? I can’t remember their names.) And lose ends. (What happened to the LA friends and Meribel’s mother?)

Overall, a great read. Thoroughly enjoyed. Many thanks to the author and NetGalley for this ARC.

(There are grammatical errors. I didn’t begin noting until the third mistake. I’ll mention here for the proofreader but not on other sites. Only because I appreciate when someone does that for me.): I’m going pop down—I’m going to pop down (2168); the second I saw I saw her—I saw her (2528); “Why I don’t make—why don’t I make (2882); huge pool was that made waves—huge pool that made waves (3090); body wanted thrash—body wanted to thrash (3145); meant that meant Honor—meant that Honor (3544); added in way—added in a way (3688); Cat was or hurt or dead—was hurt or dead (3950); more factors in play here then there—more factors in play than there (4258); I dream that plate—I dream of that plate (4393); enough about to her—enough about her (4786).)

I usually enjoy reading this author...but this felt unorganized and all over the place. I understand she wanted to slowly give us information about the characters, but some of it seemed like it didn't match. The story itself was interesting--actress being stalked, so she moves far from LA with her autistic daughter. Also, the ending seemed rushed and left us hangin a little bit. I would have liked an epilogue!

With my Little Eye - Joshilyn Jackson

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC of this book.

Meribel Mills, an actress whose adopted daughter is autistic (she is "on the spectrum") moves to escape a stalker. Ultimately, Meribel's stalker finds her (or there wouldn't be a novel) and the struggle is on for Meribel to protect her life, and her daughter's...

I am not entirely sure what it is about stalkers that we find so fascinating, as they are such undefined lost souls. Perhaps some of the fascination is that it is so random - sure, you hear about celebrity stalkers, but really these criminals can become just as attached (as firmly as a leech) to any of us, and escalation in violence upon rejection is almost their modus operandi.

Admittedly, reading and watching shows (both true and fictional) about stalkers is one of my "guilty pleasures", although I am still unsure why I find these stories so fascinating.

Regardless, Joshilyn Jackson does a great job of slowly building the tension up to a fever pitch in this stalker novel (with, of course, a twist or two in the mix to keep your interest dialed up to the boiling point).

Until next time, watch out for those who are overly enthusiastic about your mere existence.

When increasingly disturbing letters written in fruit-scented markers are sent to actress Meribel Mills, she turns to the police for help. Yet without a name, the police can do nothing to help. After realizing he's been in her home, Meribel desperately moves her and her teenage autistic daughter to Atlanta. But Meribel can still feel eyes on her and begins to question the motives of every man she meets: her ex-husband, her ex-boyfriend, and her new neighbor, wondering if they might be the crazy stalker who refuses to give her up.

Usually I can count on Joshilyn Jackson for a compulsively readable escapist thriller, but With My Little Eye was just so unsatisfying. More than anything, Meribel was irritating. Although she's a good mother, the entire book is dedicated to her thoughts on the men in her life. To make it worse, the chapters from the deranged male characters' point-of-view were off-putting. I will say, the one bright spot of the novel was Meribel's daughter, Honor. She was a fantastic character brilliantly written and was the absolute highlight of the book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the electronic copy for my early review and opinion.

This book was fast paced and kept me turning the pages, but the clues were a bit too obvious and the twists frustrating. I liked the story and the characters for the most part, but then the book got frustrating. Suddenly characters who were good took a sinister turn and the who-done-it came out of the blue with a brand new character. I don't like mysteries that are solved from out of the blue. This ruined the book from being a decent one to ridiculous by having to wrap up quickly. Suddenly Cooper was a bad guy with no indications he was not stable- just one page he was bad. The ending would have been fine without the demise of Cooper, or the entire book decent without his story line. Just wrapping up who the stalker was would have been an OK ending. Having both bad guys was unrealistic and the two unrelated events happening simultaneously was eye-roll worthy. Both did not need to be included. It was a very abrupt ending. The book was fine for entertainment value, but not one of Jackson's best works, and I'd recommend a different thriller/mystery. This one was a little too much absurdity at the end.

This book is another amazing thriller! Joshilyn Jackson does it again! With so many twists and turns, you’ll never want to put this book down! One of my all time favorite books this year!

Joshilyn Jackson delivers some serious suspense in her new thriller, With My Little Eye. I was pretty creeped out by this stalker drama - Jackson's latest novel has the highest "creep" factor of all her previous books. This author always gives the reader interesting and unique characters, and I loved those she invented for this story. I think she did a brilliant job portraying an Autistic tween girl. Indeed, she brilliantly renders all three teens/tweens in the book. This book hooked me immediately, and I read it almost straight through. Thriller readers want unexpected reveals, and I was surprised multiple times as the story unfolded. The ending was abrupt, and an epilogue would have been nice, but it also left room for the reader to imagine the long-term outcome.

If you are already a fan of Joshilyn Jackson, you'll enjoy this book too. If you're new to this author and like thrillers with a lot of character development and a backstory, you'll also enjoy it.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an electronic ARC in exchange for a review.

Joshilyn Jackson is always a go-to author for me. Her books are always a little fun, and a little dark. Though I read this one, I absolutely love listening to her books on audio as she is an outstanding narrator ... I almost prefer to listen to her books.

That being said, this was typical Jackson fun. Some interesting characters, a mystery I didn't predict (sort of) and a good level of suspense. Maybe one extra storyline which wasn't entirely necessary but overall another hit by Jackson. She's so entertaining you can forgive the occasional misstep.

Unfortunately I didn’t like this one at all. The characters were boring, I couldn’t Invest in this story at all. I placed it down multiple times begging myself to DNF but I ended up pulling through, no idea why I did that to myself.

This was an odd book & I’m struggling with my thoughts on it. In short overall I liked it. Like if I was talking to a fellow suspense book loving friend I’d say that “short story this book was pretty good but I wouldn’t make a point to go out & read it right now”. Sorry.

There are things about it that I think just didn’t work for ME, so I may be unfairly rating this based on my reasons for a lower rating?
•I did like the idea of the storyline, which is the main character Meribel has a stalker which prompts her to decide to leave state with her daughter Honor to get away from him, but of course he’s able to quickly find her.
•I’ve now read two of Jackson’s books & I like her writing. In my opinion I think she did a good job differentiating the characters, how they spoke in their pov.
•I thought that her having an autistic daughter & the reader experience her pov was a creative spin & interesting to me since I do not know a lot about autism. Honor was one of my favorite characters💖 The only thing I didn’t love specifically about Honor’s pov is she talked a lot of Greek mythology & Dungeons & Dragons which I have zero interest in.

There are quite a few points of view in this. Meribel, her daughter, a homeless gal, a few different male characters that are linked to Meribel. The multiple pov’s was fine, it didn’t make it confusing to follow if anything it was interesting getting perspective kind of full circle.

What I didn’t like. I feel like the book was very drawn out & then the ending was rushed & I felt things were kind of unresolved. It was finished in the sense of the word but there was so much that could’ve been added to make it more satisfying. It has a good ending as far as what a reader would like to happen but I didn’t like the ending as far as how abrupt it was. Also, maybe I totally missed something but I can’t tell you why the title is titled With My Little Eye🤷‍♀️

I appreciate the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review, many thanks to NetGalley & the publisher William Morrow.

Note.. yes I’d read another book by Joshilyn Jackson. I think she’s a very talented author this just wasn’t a book that I’d necessarily recommend or that stands out.

3-1/2 ⭐️ rounded down

This book was underwhelming. I have enjoyed other Joshilyn Jackson books, so my expectations were high. The overall storyline was intriguing - a stalker. But once you learn who the stalker is, it goes downhill (and it takes awhile to get there). There is also a secondary "bad guy" introduced and that storyline is left without being buttoned up. These opinions are only my own, but I will not recommend this book.

With My Little Eye by Joshilyn Jackson had so many good things going for it. The unknown stalker. The ex-husband. The dishy neighbor. Maribel herself. And my favorite character, Honor. Honor, Maribel’s adopted daughter, is a well developed character and we see many sides of her. Her life has been uprooted. She’s moved across the country. Her mom is freaked out about the stalker. The new neighbors are friendly?,or are they?, I definitely liked Honor. Maribel, in comparison, seemed flat and one dimensional.
The plot is intriguing and the moves along fairly well, but chapter headings would have helped. The story bogged down for a while, but the last third was well done. I really wanted to know who was the “Marker Man” and as a result, I finished the book.

I honestly thought this would have been a 4/5 read, but no, for me, it’s a solid 3.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel. All opinions in this review are my own.

DNF @ 26% 3/22/23 - just could not get into the plot; the description makes it seem so promising but the execution was just boring. Nothing happened in the first quarter except her moving to Georgia and her stalking potentially following her. The chapters were confusing as to who was narrating. I just didn’t care to finish unfortunately.

This thriller is about a Meribel, an actress and her daughter, Honor. They move from California to Georgia to escape her stalker, although he finds her and follows her there. There are plenty of questionable characters who could be guilty but I was bored with the parts that went in to these sketchy characters backstories. Parts really dragged for me, where I was waiting for something to happen.