Reviewed by Julia Hopkinson for Readers' Favorite

It’s Just a Little Crush is an absolute joy to read. Caroline Fardig’s first novel is narrated by Lizzie Hart: 26 years old, reluctant cat owner, and Copy Editor extraordinaire at the local paper in the small, Midwestern town of Liberty. Lizzie works alongside the paper’s small team of journalists, including her long-time best friend, the local introverted geek, and her bitchy office nemesis. When she is not busy checking on their grammar, Lizzie is preoccupied with checking out new boy, Blake Morgan – tall, dark, handsome, and recently arrived in town from Chicago. When murder and violence strike the small town, Lizzie is drawn into an investigation, but will she find that the culprit is closer than she could ever have imagined?

I really enjoyed reading It’s Just a Little Crush. It is very well written, sassy, funny, and exciting, with a smart, well-developed plot, a devious crop of sneaky suspects, and some heart-fluttering romantic clinches. It very much reminded me of two of my favourite pieces of fiction: it gives a very good idea of what the TV series ‘Murder, She Wrote’ would have been like if Bridget Jones had taken the lead! Caroline Fardig’s story is intriguing and keeps you turning the pages, and the gossipy workings of small town life are exposed to the full, as ever giving the amateur sleuth the edge over the more official investigators. This is a brilliant start to the book series and I am very much looking forward to reading the next one.