I don’t like giving bad reviews but I felt his book was hard to read/follow. I found myself skimming through a lot. I used to really enjoy this authors books, but this one wasn’t for me.

Eyes

I received this ARC from NetGalley.

I have previously read this author and enjoyed her work. This one … not so much. Too many things didn’t make sense. Why would an actress think she could leave L.A. for an acting job in Atlanta and not be found by her stalker? Uh, hello nitwit, ever heard of social media? One character has a habit of killing the young daughters of his girlfriends. Why? No idea. And then there’s the melodramatic ending which would have been better suited to a crappy movie than to a good book.

Thank you for the opportunity to read an ARC of “With My Little Eye”.
I went back and forth with 3 and 4 stars because I felt the first 19 chapters or so were slow and I felt it was hard to keep going at times but once a reveal of a character happened-the book took off and I found it hard to put down. The twists and turns were insane and I swear I was in a constant state of anxiety-but in a good way. I loved the way that Joshilyn Jackson portrayed Meribel’s daughter Honor. She was one of my favorite characters! Those reasons are why I rated it 4 stars. Although, I have to say without giving anything away….I wish that the ending was wrapped up a bit better.
That being said, it was definitely worth the read and I will be looking into more titles by this author. Thank you again!

“With My Little Eye” is the latest captivating thriller by Joshilyn Jackson, author of “Never Have I Ever” and “Mother May I.”

Meribel Mills, an actress best known for playing a teen in her twenties, leaves Los Angeles because of the threatening letters she receives from "The Marker Man," his signature being that he drafts letters with grotesque pictures by using fruit scented markers. She returns to Georgia with her adopted autistic daughter, Honor, in tow, but she still feels as if she is being watched. Then the letters start up again. Could they be from her first husband who has moved on with a new wife and kids, her hunky neighbor (Cooper) or the boyfriend (Cam) she left in L.A.? Or is the Marker Man someone else entirely and if so, how far is he willing to go?

This thriller is told via Meribel’s POV (first person) as well as the third person POV of Honor, her homeless friend (Xena), Connor and the Marker Man. The tense writing keeps you guessing, and I really loved getting into Honor’s head in particular. In a few places, the novel did stall, and the tug of war for Meribel’s heart between Cam and Connor was a bit overdramatic. Overall, I recommend this book to anyone wants to stay up all night to finish this hair-raising tale.

Many thanks to Joshilyn Jackson, NetGalley and William Morrow for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Imagine moving across the country to get away from a stalker, only to have him follow you. Imagine not knowing who you can trust. This book is full of twist and turns, with an ending you never see coming. All I can say is, wow!

This book was just okay for me! It started out a bit slow and didn’t pick up enough for me.
It’s a classic stalking story which kept me entertained. Meribel is an actress who has a stalker. I like the story line, but it just dragged a bit for me. Overall I’m glad I read it.
Thanks

In With My Little Eye, Meribel Mills is a C-list actress who flees LA for Georgia after her stalker's behavior escalates. She ends a relationship with her boyfriend before moving to Georgia. Once her and her daughter are settled, the stalking resumes. Who is the culprit? The list of suspects includes her ex-husband, her ex-boyfriend, and her new neighbor.

I read and enjoyed Jackson's Mother May I, so I was hoping that this one would be as good or better. Unfortunately, this one was a miss for me.
The beginning of the story was slow and the writing was very disjointed. There seemed to be a lot of plot points that made no sense or didn't contribute anything to the story. The last 40 pages really picked up the pace but the ending then seemed rushed and was disappointing.
I think the biggest reason I didn't enjoy this book was Meribel. Her character is awful. She is extremely superficial, and there are a lot of in-depth descriptions of her beauty routine, plastic surgery history, and restrictive diet. Who cares? And for a woman who moves across the country to avoid a stalker, she makes a lot of stupid decisions.
Like deciding to leave her daughter unsupervised with a man she barely knows because she saw her stalker and got spooked. Sounds reasonable enough, but instead of splashing water on her face and getting back to being a parent like a normal person, Meribel decides to take a full shower, blow dry her hair, and do makeup. All while her autistic daughter is with a man who is practically a stranger.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book

Kind of a crazy book. You have to get past the fact that an actress moves cross-country to get away from her stalker and yet starts acting again, under the same name - not exactly hard to find. After that, the book picks up steam and gets better with lots of POVs and strange characters who alternate being bad and good.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC - this will be a good summer read for people.

Stalking stories are always a immediate read for me and "With My Little Eye" has some nail biting moments. Meribel Mills is an actress pushing 40 who was in a popular TV show when she started receiving disturbing messages from a stalker. At the time, Meribel was divorced and living with her adopted daughter Honor, a young girl who is autistic and the two of them move to Atlanta to get away from the stalker and to shoot a new TV show. It isn't long though before Meribel begins receiving letters, written in fruit scented markers which make threats to her life. At first the letters come through forwarded mail but before long they are left at her doorstep and she always feels someone is following her and watching outside her window. Who is the stalker and what lengths will they go to get at Meribel?

I liked Meribel and especially liked Honor who had a fully fleshed out personality and liked to read. However, the story went on. a lot of different tangents and it seemed like several novels put together as one. The story about the stalker, nicknamed "marker man" was interesting enough to be the entire plot. But there were several other plots including one involving a neighbor Cooper that seemed unbelievable and had nothing to do with the main storyline. Meribel seemed to spend a lot of time daydreaming about her ex-husband James and stalking his wife on social media as well as driving to spy on his family in person. I was never sure why she was daydreaming about him because she also had a romance with a man she met at a dog park named Cameron, and a budding romance with her neighbor Cooper. There is constant talk about food and Meribels perfect diet and even her neighbor and the marker man himself describe the dishes they are making. When not talking about food we are getting descriptions of every outfit the characters are wearing, again unnecessary.

During the last third of the book there is a totally unneeded long chapter about a trip taken to a water park including everything ate and drank and what outfits were worn. The idea was to get Meribel out her apartment but it could have been done in another way. Another sub=plot about a homeless girl was just flat writing and I never got a real sense of Xena/Maxene and her personality. The ending was very abrupt although I liked the scenes at the campground. I didn't hate the novel and I really liked Honor but the story needs tightening up. Thank you to NetGalley and he publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.

2.5 ⭐ rounded to 3 because of the character of Honor. She completely saved this book & the coffee shop downstairs of her apartment sounds bomb . 😂

I was stoked to get an Arc of this but unfortunately it was sooo boring I could not get into it . Merebiel was not an interesting or relatable main character , I enjoyed hearing about & from her daughter Honor but that aside there was a lot of characters in this book that I still don't understand their role .. they seemed very unnecessary & made the book almost ridiculous.
Sadly this book fell flat for me but I still want to read Josilyn Jacksons other works .
Thank you Netgalley for the Arc . 🖤

I have really enjoyed other of Joshilyn Jackson’s novels, but for some reason, this one just did not do it for me. It seemed quite different from her other books that I have read.

The premise for the storyline is an interesting one: Meribel, a fading actress, moves with her daughter from LA back to her home state (Georgia) because of a stalker (Marker Man) who has been sending creepy letters to her and whom Meribel believes has even been in her house. Once in Georgia, though, she continues to believe she is being watched, and basically every man in her life becomes a suspect.

The novel started off pretty slowly and was a bit difficult to get into, but soon the plot picked up — only to sort of bog down again in the middle. There were plenty of twists and turns to keep me reading, and then the ending fell flat for me because it seemed way too abrupt.

Nonetheless, i remain a fan of Joshilyn Jackson and look forward to her next work.

Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for honest feedback.

It pains me to rate anything by Joshilyn Jackson anything 2 stars but this book was just not it for me. The multiple POVS was confusing. If it had just been Meribels and Marker Man’s I think the book would have been stronger but I felt like you lost the plotting when you threw in an occasional chapter from someone else’s POV.

I also felt like the book could have been 2 separate books (Meribels story and Coopers story). Both plot lines had the making of a good thriller but slapping them together made the book feel disjointed at times.

I didn’t care for the abrupt ending either. The book was finally getting good and it just ended. It almost seems like the author had 2 different book ideas but not enough to flesh them out so decided to put them in the same book. We really only get full resolution on Coopers storyline. A Epilogue would’ve been a nice way to wrap Meribels storyline up.

Meribel Mills has discovered the dark side of fame in the form of an escalating stalker. Fleeing across the country to save her young teen daughter and herself, she also learns that it isn't really possible to be both celebrity and anonymous in any location.

I received a Netgalley digital ARC of this book. There were a fair number of typos and a couple of glaring errors I ran across that hopefully will be fixed for final publication.

For a main character, Meribel seemed...flat. I found her 12-turning-13 daughter, Honor, a much more interesting and well-rounded character; whereas Mirabel was often reduced to "oh she's an actor" tropes. (Actually, there are more than a few eyeroll-inducing "my actor brain" mentions that essentially implied being an actor brings about superpowers. While actors may be wired differently...just no.)

As a thriller, after a somewhat slow build for over half the book, a lot of unexpected twists happened in quick succession. Were this not a book waiting for review, I definitely would have put it down several times instead of pushing through.

Character flaws aside, this one gets 4 stars from me for the truly surprising plot twists, a thrilling final few chapters with parallel stories, and for excellent inclusive writing for a character with autism. It's not my favorite Joshilyn Jackson book, but it's a solid thriller.

The amount of twists and turns had me spinning and guessing until close to the end! A creepy stalker forces Meribel and her daughter to relocate, but it seems the stalker has caught up with them. The letters and packages that seemed to stop have returned with fury. Meribel doesn't feel safe anywhere. Who can she trust? She meets a few people at her current apartment complex, but does she really know them?

The story also switches to Meribel's daughter and her perspective for a good chunk of the storyline, taking on a YA feel. The ending tied all the storylines up in a nice package.

Overall a slow burn thriller, I would are 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 based on how well everything wrapped up. I did find myself struggling to push through at about 40%, but it picked up nicely afterwards.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I usually enjoy this authors books and for the most part this one was good also.
However two things stopped me from giving it 5 stars. Personally I didn’t like being inside the head of the stalker so much and the ending was so abrupt and unfinished that I feel part of the story was missing. Overall it was suspenseful and a page turner with a couple surprising twists, but where’s the rest of the story?

Joshilyn Jackson stays true to her unique combination of mystery with a splash of horror in her latest novel, With My Little Eye.

Maribel is a single mom and an actress. As an actress, she’s often in the public eye, and she has picked up a stalker along the way. As the stalker is increasing the threats in his letters and the police are unable to do anything, Maribel decides to move across the country to protect her daughter, with the excuse/reason of a new job. However, her stalker doesn’t give up and seeks her out across the country. Maribel is scared for both her safety and the safety of her daughter, and turns to her neighbor, Cooper, for friendship and security.

As Maribel’s stalker continues to circle around her, we also get the story of Honor, Maribel’s autistic daughter. Maribel struggles with friendships, but has made a couple of friends since they moved. Although her mom is happy she has made some friends, the reader will have concerns about the quality of Honor’s friend group.

Things rapidly escalate, and soon Maribel is desperate to protect both herself and her daughter. However, there are dangers Maribel hasn’t seen yet; how can she possibly protect
Honor from danger she doesn’t yet know exists?

With My Little Eye weaves a tale of suspense throughout, as it is told in alternating viewpoints. I found Honor’s perspective as an autistic teenager interesting, and would love to know more about Joshilyn’s research into or experience with individuals on the autism spectrum to know how well this aligns with one possible autism experience. This is a great book to read if you’ve enjoyed Joshilyn’s other novels, or if you enjoy mysteries with a twist.

Thank you to William Morris Publishing and Joshilyn Jackson for the advanced copy. With My Little Eye will be out on April 25!

So many storylines that lacked cohesion, this one was not for me. It felt written down, Jackson's trademark smart and dark edginess was missing here

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

2.5 stars

I haven't read many stalker based stories. so I was excited to get into this one, but it wasn't as enjoyable as I'd hoped. It took awhile for the momentum to pick up and there were too many characters and plot points that ended up being superfluous. I didn't enjoy Meribel as a main character or her interactions with the various men in her life. The only character I was truly invested in was Honor. I thought the author did a great job writing her as an autistic preteen. Honor's chapters and the mystery of the stalker's identity kept me reading until the end. While the reveal was unexpected, the ending was way too abrupt. There should have been one more chapter or epilogue to wrap things up.

Meribel Mills is an aging actress by Hollywood standards. She enjoyed a smattering of success on a network show early in her career which affords her the opportunity to continue booking acting gigs. Like most actors Meribel has fans, but she also has a stalker. Initially she writes off this person as an overzealous fan, but when his marker-scented letters become increasingly graphic and violent she starts to take notice. Soon she starts to smell an unfamiliar scent on her sheets and things are moved around in her home. He's been closer than close and she is terrified.

For the safety of herself and her 12 year old daughter, Honor, Meribel decides to move across country to Atlanta. She hopes putting some distance between herself and "Marker Man" will keep her and her daughter safe, but he's not so easily deterred. Soon letters start arriving at her new condo postmarked from locations inching closer to Atlanta.

The synopsis and author had me super excited to get my hands on a copy of this novel. Joshilyn Jackson usually can do no wrong in my book. Unfortunately, this story fell a bit flat. There were too many elements/characters in the story that seem to be there to throw the reader off the "scent" of Meribel's stalker. The extra plot points and players did nothing for the main storyline. Although we are given the stalker's POV throughout I still didn't have a sense of who he really was and why he was doing this beyond he was just very disturbed. The ending felt a little too neat and yet incomplete.

**Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review

B-list actress, stalker, parenting, suspense…. This book had all the makings of a great story but truly fell a little flat for me.

The overall premise of the story was great — aging actress has a stalker and has to uproot her life to try and escape him. I didn’t love Meribel, the main character, but I adored her daughter, Honor, who is on the spectrum. Her character felt very real.

A few people were unnecessarily added in the story to keep you guessing on who was the stalker, but I really felt like some of them could’ve been left out and the story would’ve felt the same.

I enjoyed the main twist although that entire storyline seemed so far out of left field.

Lastly, the big reveal toward the end and the ending were abrupt and were executed less than the reader deserved! I found myself disappointed and wanting more. I have so many more questions and respectfully request a sequel!! Why, Marker Man, Why!!!!

Overall, this was my first Joshilyn Jackson book and it definitely won’t be my last. Although this book wasn’t my favorite, I enjoyed it and couldn’t wait to get to the end. Jackson is a great writer and kept my attention throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC!