Eloise Carmichael is the black sheep of the family: where her sisters are successful doctors just like her father, Eloise chose to run the city's library and become sort of a hippie, keeping a distance from the rest of them. When Cormac O'Malley comes in town after serving his fifteen years' sentence in jail for murder, Eloise is the only one in town to treat him as a human being and offer him a job. Eloise is warned by everyone to send Cormac away as he's bad news, but she still remembers the quiet boy from high school that helped her repair her bike causing her to develop a small crush on him. And now that he's a man, his presence is even more intimidating than before... But it seems that Cormac's presence in town is causing trouble all around, stirring the still waters when a dead body is found inside Eloise's library. Eloise may be the only person in town to believe in Cormac's innocence, but can she prove it before something bad happens to her as well or before more people start turning dead and Cormac is dragged back to prison again?

A Thin, Dark Line is a debut novel, but you won't realize that when reading it. The prose is flowing effortlessly, the characters are well developed, the touches of humour well blended with the more serious and dark parts of the story. Because essentially, A Thin, Dark Line is a dark story: a story about how cruel people can be, taking advantage of others when in need, about how hard life can be to a small boy, about how difficult it can be to fit in when you're not willing to conform with society's rules or blend with the crowd.

I loved Eloise; she was loyal, opinionated, strong but never bitchy or obnoxious. She had her flaws of course, but that only helped to make her more likable and human than she'd otherwise be. And Cormac, though we only see him through Eloise's POV, we get to know him, see the loyalty in him, the boy trying to trust, to fit in while never daring to hope for too much but never ending up maudlin or whinny, as outcast heroes are prone to do. Those two were a great fit for each other and I really liked reading their developing romance, as much as I was intrigued by the mystery in the story. The chemistry between them -despite the lack of sex scenes (besides some heavy kissing)- was hot and the time they took to get to know each other before declaring themselves in love made their love story even more realistic. The mystery at some parts overshadowed the romance, but this was well done, never completely forgetting the love story and always keeping my interest about the villain, until the very last page.

The epilogue was great, giving the reader the exceedingly sweet Happy Ever After they needed to read after all the trouble this couple went through, and leaving me with a huge smile on my face. I'm now looking forward to reading Adriana's book (Eloise's sister), whose discussions with Eloise had me laughing out loud throughout the story and really curious about who the hero will be...

ARC provided by NetGalley