Attack in Place - isn't?

I have not much playtime under my belt, but I'm having terrible issues with attack in place. I have a sorceress. I'll be using mouse movement, something will jump out and I slam the shift key. Usually, if I left click my weapon will fire at the point, but my character may or may not stop anytime soon. when i slam shift, I want to STOP. and as long as I hold it, I want to be rooted there unless knocked back or I choose to move, by dodging or lifting shit. instead, the character seems to move towards whatever I'm clicking on to aim at, about 7 times out of 10. AM I missing something here? if I'm holding shift, the mouse pointer should be my aim, and when i left click I should NOT move. The unpredictability of whether I move or not has already cost me lives.

Basically, it takes you out of the flow of the game - controls that don't do what you ask is a sure way to turn off new players. The game looks nice, and I'd love to get into the story more, but the first dungeon is testing my patience beyond belief fighting the controls. am I just missing something ELSE I'm supposed to be doing? It feels like I must be hitting the wrong key, but according to the controls settings, i am not.