Свидание по контракту

The blend of love story and suspense kept me hooked, but I wonder if the pacing for both was planned from the start or evolved during writing.

There were moments that made me root for the characters, but also made me uneasy about the secrets they were hiding. How did the author balance these feelings?

The town felt so vivid and real—I'm curious whether it was based on a real place or entirely fictional, and what the author wanted to evoke about small-town life.