Eyes on Me

Eyes on Me is a wonderfully cute read that will leave you with a huge smile on your face. Lily and "Stone" are so much fun and they couldn't be more different. She is the always serious nerdy type while he is the star athlete yet they seem to balance each other out perfectly. They get to know each other when Lily's father declares Saturdays as no study days following a stress related health scare and he signs Lily up for dance class at Stone's family studio. That is where much of the story takes place. It's a sweet romance that just makes your heart happy. I highly recommend it.

I applaud Rachel Harris’ EYES ON ME. Concerned about her stress level, Lily Bailey’s father enrolls her in dance classes in hopes of relaxing her. Unknown to her, he offers star Brighton High football player, Stone Torres, money for being her dance partner. This contemporary sports romance is suitable for young adults. EYES ON ME was an entertaining and believable read. The characters were well developed. I like Lily. She puts a lot of stress on herself to become valedictorian and to get accepted to Harvard. After winding up in the hospital, her father enrolls her in dance classes as an activity to get her mind off her classes. Stone is a good guy. Out of concern for the financial well-being of his mother’s dance studio, he accepts money from Lily’s dad to be Lily’s dance partner. As he gets to know Lily, he feels conflicted about taking the money. Cameron Montgomery is the perfect antagonist. She is Lily’s competition for valedictorian and Stone’s ex-girlfriend. I enjoyed the plot. There were good life lessons and moral issues. I have taken ballroom dance classes, so I respected that aspect of the story. Being Hungarian, I appreciated that Stone’s mom/dance instructor was born there. I like that the characters faced significant obstacles and grew as a result. This is the first book that I have read by Rachel Harris. I enjoyed her writing style. I would read books by her in the future. I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

5 stars — Oh dude, this one just hit ALL the right buttons for me. Dancing? Check. Nerdy heroine? Check. Sweet hero? Check. SOLD! to Lenore!!! OK, seriously though. It took me a bit to warm up to Lily, but once I did…oh wow, I just thought she was sassy and hilarious and conflicted and I actually felt her stress. Initially I guess I didn’t quite understand her motivations for pushing herself so hard…but as the book went on, I connected with her more and more and started to see how she was using it as an escape, as something to hide behind. While I love connecting with a character right away, there’s also something amazing about an author who can take a character and make you grow to love and truly care for them. And it happened throughout the whole book, culminating in the climax with her Dad. They needed that breakdown and breakthrough, and I was so happy with how that progressed…it felt realistic. Stone. Oh Stone. He was SUCH a sweetheart, and he was another character that I just grew to love more and more as the book went on and I learned more about him. I loved that the author compared and contrasted these two seemingly opposites, and showed how they can both be dealing with loneliness and detachment, just in very different ways. My heart ached for all the pressure he was under, and how he saw his future. You don’t always get a glimpse at the depth of a character like Stone, and I was just loved getting to know him. Now obviously, he made mistakes…but I truly felt his guilt and regret, and I understood his reasons (even if I still thought he made the wrong choice). I ADORED his relationship with his family too. I love to see those close family bonds. He and his twin had something special. And then there’s Lily and Stone together. I loved the way their relationship progressed. It was sweet, and believable, and made me swoon and happy smile so many times. I loved that they developed crushes, and then got to know one another and connected on a deeper level. I really believed their feelings for one another. And the dancing! OMG the dancing. I love dancing, so I loved the connection they made there. I was worried that the conflict and climax would be too cliche, and while it did follow some of the usual lines, it did so in a ++ kind of way…like taking a trope and just making it better somehow. The showcase was just mwah perfection. SOOOOOO many great secondary characters in this one too. I loved the friendship between Sydney and Lily, and I LOVED the one that they both developed with Angéla. I loved the glimpses we got of Chase, even if I’d have liked to see more of his friendship with Stone. And I even appreciated Aidan, and how he tried to look out for Lily. I desperately hope that they ALL have books coming, because I want them desperately…PARTICULARLY Angéla and Chase. And of course I loved Stone’s Ma — she was spunky and sassy, and the perfect instructor. So yeah. As you can tell, this one just worked for me. I figured I was going to like this one given all the elements, but I connected with it even more than expected.