After the Storm / Linda Castillo / 306 pages

This is Linda Castillo's seventh book in her Kate Burkholder series.  Kate is the Chief of Police of Painters Mill, Ohio.  Painters Mill is a small town with a large Amish community.  Kate grew up Amish, but left her faith and family as a teenager.  This personal history helps her in her job when she needs to deal with the Amish community.  In this book a set of old human bones is found near an old abandoned barn after a tornado comes through Painters Mill.  Another mystery for Kate to solve!  The story has a lot of excitement and action. 

Watch Me/Jody Gehrman/308pgs/College Setting

If you love the stalker movies that the Lifetime channel used to show, then put the kettle on because this is your cup of tea!  Kate Youngblood is a creative writing professor and recent divorcee in a small Ohio town.  After the small success of her debut novel and a painful awareness of her oncoming middle age, Kate has hit a slump in her life.  Feeling unwanted and unnoticed, she throws herself into work in the hopes of gaining tenure.  Through all of her frustrations, a pair of watchful eyes follows her life on campus.  With a pair of "intense" and "piercing" blue eyes that would make any YA author swoon, student Sam Grist purposely inserts himself into Kate's life at every turn in the hopes of one day claiming her as his own.  Unaware of his predatory plan, Kate finds a writing prodigy in her student and takes Sam under her wing, all the while ignoring that small burst of attraction she feels for him in return.

The narrative jumps back and forth each chapter between Kate and Sam's perspectives, allowing the reader to understand the competing motivations for the two leads.  Neither of the characters are incredibly likeable, but the story is entertaining and follows a quick pace.  I think the author could have stood to push the envelope further with the main relationship, but I recognize I have a penchant for the lurid, so in all the novel could be considered "complete."  Watch Me is a worthwhile read for those seeking out a thriller of sorts.