Rachel Harris' <i>Eyes on Me</i> was fine as far as young adult romance goes. Though I didn’t feel particularly connected to the characters, the story itself was decently engaging. The novel follows a familiar romance setup and engages in tropes that readers will recognize instantly. Often times I, alongside many readers, can be quite weary when the miscommunication or omission trope is involved, I will say that this book handles the trope better than most. Rather than relying on pointless secrecy that could be resolved with a single conversation, there are actual stakes involved in telling the truth. When everything inevitably comes out, the fallout isn’t just between the love interests—it also impacts Lily’s relationship with her father which adds an extra layer of tension that felt earned rather than forced.

Lily’s struggles with anxiety play a key role in both her personal journey, her complicated relationship with her father, and her burgeoning relationship with Stone. Her father's overprotectiveness isn’t just strict parenting but is deeply tied to his fears about her well-being, making his decisions and the forced omissions feel more understandable, even if frustrating at times. The emotional weight of that made the conflict feel more natural, even if some of the drama was a little over the top for my taste.

I appreciated the way the book balanced romance, family conflict, and personal growth, but something about it just didn’t completely hook me. The emotional moments were well-written, and I can see how readers who love high-stakes young adult romance would get more out of it than I did. While <i>Eyes on Me</i> wasn’t a standout for me personally, I can still recognize that it’s a pretty well executed take on the genre and will likely appeal to readers looking for a heartfelt, dramatic love story.

Eyes on Me by Rachel Harris is a young adult romance that pairs Lily, an academically driven "nerd," with Stone, the popular football star, through unexpected salsa dance lessons. The novel explores themes of grief, friendship, and stepping outside one's comfort zone. While the story offers charming moments and a sweet romance, it follows a predictable flow and character dialogues feels repetitive and occasionally off-putting.

I absolutely love Rachel Harris' writing. She is so fantastic. She writes such great characters and such cute stories. This is another one that you will not want to miss. These characters were just so much fun.

I made it through 241 pages/70% of this book.

Overall I did enjoy parts of this book. I liked how stone helped Lily with her anxiety.

But a lot of this book I just couldn’t get passed. Especially the part where stone was being payed by Lilly’s dad to dance with her. This made the whole friendship/relationship just feel wrong to me. Which made it really hard for me to keep reading this book. I do think they did like each other but because he was being payed by her dad and wasn’t telling her and I just couldn’t get passed that part. The farther along in the book I started liking stone less and less because of it and it just made it so I wasn’t enjoy the book at al because I just felt bad for Lilly and knew it would break her heart when she found out. Which is why I decided to not finish this book.

I do think this book will work for some people, it just wasn’t for me.

This book has the vibes of 'Ten Things I Hate About You' and all the exciting parts of falling in love for the first time
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It is an Opposites attract in a friends to lovers of forced proximity
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I have to say that when I started reading it I didn't realize that it was a young adult, and I thought it was going to have a lot of drama but luckily I was wrong
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Lily is the typical studious overachiever girl, who after losing her mother focused on school and getting enough merits to be the best in her class and then go to Harvard, but that same obsession is what made her sick. Now her father offers her a deal, if she takes dance classes she can continue to keep all the classes.
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Suspecting that his daughter will abandon the class when the first opportunity arises, her father makes another deal with the son of the dance teacher, who also happens to be the most popular boy in school.
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Stone challenges Lily in every possible way and in every conversation and dance step he drops the mask he keeps for the rest and new feelings begin to flow and shift between them
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I really enjoyed reading this beautiful story with the perfect amount of conflict, friendship and love, a connection emerges between them that is strengthened with each page and portrays that beautiful time of love and friendships that mark life
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Thanks to Rachel Harris and Entagled Publishing LLC for give me this beautiful book in exchange for my honest opinion

I barely got through this. It was one of my first requests on Netgalley when I wasn't sure what I was looking for. There's nothing wrong with this book, but there's also nothing exciting about it, unfortunately. But I think you can sort of tell all that from the cover.

I floved this book so much!! It was so stinking adorable and had all the makings for a good romance. Rachel never disappoints. And this was no exception. I couldn't put it down. And found myself so on love with the characters and their story

I really loved this book, it was adorable and easy to get lost in. Not only did it have a sweet, cute romance, but it showed the importance of friendship and family, two things teen books are lacking I think. I don't think there was anything I would change about the story, it was swoony and romantic as well as realistic and fun, even if the final public romantic confession made me cringe with awkwardness for everyone involved (very much a grand gesture like all the movies show!). I ended up blowing through this in a single day because I did not want to put it down, and I need to now read more from this author.

This is the perfect read for anyone who likes YA contemporary romances, the allure of high school drama and football, ballroom dancing, nerd and jock romances, friendship, and plots with miscommunication and deals.

Eyes on Me is an adorable love story that is sure to capture your attention from the very beginning. A captivating read that draws you in with each page you read. Harris writes with a loving touch that makes it easy to get lost in the story, the characters. Eyes on Me is a love story for the ages. The chemistry between the main characters is electric and undeniable. I highly recommend Eyes on Me to anyone who loves a sweet romantic read

This wasn't my favorite book, though it was an easy read. It felt familiar to me, almost like a lifetime movie, so it was entertaining and I did finish it, but I don't think it was something I would recommend to others.

This is a DNF for me, The story did not catch my attention. It felt like a story I had read a thousand times, it was not original at all and I felt that I knew the ending as soon as I started reading this book

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy,

I sadly DNFED this book because I struggled to connect with the writing style.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Basically this book reminded me of every hallmark/lifetime movie out there.

Eyes on Me was predictable. After meeting the two MC's, you just know what was going to go down and what the ending was going to be like. That doesn't mean it wasn't cute AF, but it was predictable. Lily and Stone were kind of two peas in a pod. He was super popular and she was the nerd. He was dealing with his stalker-ish ex girlfriend and she just wanted to be perfect in every way for school.

Lily's life turned upside down the day her mother died from battling cancer. She also stresses out way too much and far too often when she doesn't understand something. School is her life and basically everything to her. Well, until it gets her body into trouble. Her dad steps in and makes sure she doesn't just focus her entire life on school. I mean, she's in high school and should be hanging out, getting into trouble, and idk gang-banging. Who knows what kids do nowadays.

Enter Stone. They are dancing together and wham bam - love is in the air folks. It was cute.. but I was also bored with my life. I knew that something was going to blow up in their faces - which it did. Again, predictable but still sickly cute.

Overall, the ending was adorable. Fluffy clouds and rainbows kind of thing. Enjoy kiddos.

This was a sweet, swoony contemporary. Dialogue was slightly cheesy at times, but still a solid story with great characters. I think readers 13-16 would enjoy this book, especially if the reader is very involved in school work - they would connect to the main character.

What a nice find. This was the first book I've read from this author and I really enjoyed it. The story was different from anything I've read recently and really captured my attention. It was so well written and the characters were fantastic.

I never like to be a naysayer but in this instance there are so many other books that you can read that will be better than this one. It truly was predictable and is your typical teenage story. I had hoped there would be a more redeeming quality to it but it was cliche to me. The writing was okay but it was the subject and lack of memorable characters for me that just did not hold up to the other stories like it out there.

Eyes on Me is Rachel Harris’s latest release and is a sweet and endearing contemporary read with a passionate and adorable love story that sees two teens more alike than they think dance their way into love.

High school senior Lily Bailey has a plan; first valedictorian, then Harvard, but when too much stress takes a toll and she’s emitted to hospital her father is puts his foot down. She’s to take one night a week off studying and signs her up for dance lessons, hoping she’ll find a way to relive the stress that is eating away at her. Lily knows she’s a klutz and wouldn’t describe herself as graceful so she doesn’t expect to enjoy dancing, even if her dance partner is her schools golden boy. As quarterback, Ágoston “Stone” Torres is the star of his small town football team, but behind his perfectly practiced smiles, he’s worried. His family’s dance studio isn’t doing so well and more than anything Stone wants to help. So when Lily’s father offers him extra money to be her fulltime dance partner during lessons, Stone agrees, but what started out as an easy way to make some money to help his family soon spirals into a crushing secret as Stone and Lily find themselves falling for one another. Will Stone find a want to tell Lily the truth and save his family’s studio? Or will he loose the girl he loves AND his family’s livelihood?

Eyes on Me was a really effortless and fun story to read. Unfolding through the back and forth perspectives of main characters Lily and Stone, Eyes on Me was a sweet but saucy YA in the tradition of all the best dance movies/books. It’s a case of opposites attracting as our two protagonists connect and come to realise they’re not as different as they think.

The story Rachel Harris tells may not be all together unique—nerd girl and sports star falling for one another as they dance together—but it’s still very well told with Eyes on Me a fun and lively tale. Both Lily and Stone are highly likable and have a fabulous chemistry together. They grow sweetly as friends and then ultimately become a couple and manage to bring out the best in each other. They’re supported by some great side characters including Stone’s twin sister Angela who becomes a good friend to Lily and Stone’s vivacious family including his mother Viktoria.

I liked the honesty of Lily’s foray into dancing. She didn’t begin dancing and find herself a natural talent, but by hard work and a lot of effort she slowly improved as she learnt to let go and not overthink the steps and moves. I saw myself in Lily—I can’t dance for my life—and enjoyed seeing her take a chance and find happiness in something that gave her a different perspective. It didn’t hurt that Stone was sexy-as-sin and very much the swoon worthy love interest as well.

Sizzling kisses on love seats lit up the pages and endearing moments of tenderness between the two teens won me over as the story progresses more and more. Coupled with your typical teen concerns—studying, dances, football games—the problems Stone and Lily faced were well explored and resolved alongside their romance.

Adorable YA contemporary, Eyes on Me builds to an ending right out of your favourite dancing movie (literally and with inspiration in this case) and leaves me satisfied with Lily and Stone’s tale. I’m hopeful that Rachel Harris might one day write a sequel/companion novel as I would love to explore Angela and Chase if given the chance and think that would make for a great story!

Eyes On Me was an adorable read! The story was everything I hoped it would be and more :) It was so cute, heart wrenching and fun to read! It made me tear up multiple times, especially towards the end. I really appreciated how it wasn't 'just' a cute read, but also discussed some serious topics like grief. I also really liked that it incorporated dancing, which kinda made me want to take dance lessons myself! I definitely recommend this if you're looking for a fun and quick read!

I have only read one other Rachel Harris book before, and that is "My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century". A book by her about dancing seemed okay.

After reading the first couple of pages, though, I'm sorry to say I didn't like it. It was a bit of a downer with grieving Lily having anxiety attacks and Stone's love-hate relationship with his mom's dance studio while trying to avoid an ex-girlfriend who might want him back.

The characters felt typical, like any other teen book. There was nothing that felt really special or stand outish about them.

If you're a fan of the author, you might like this book. But to be honest, I like the other one I read better

I read Eyes on Me all in one sitting, and I have no regrets!

Lily and Stone were just too cute and I loved all the dancing elements presented. Lily is going through a tough time with her dad and grieving so her dad signs her up for dance lessons. She is heavily against this at first, so her dad does a thing that is not a good father choice to help make sure she keeps going. Lily struggles a lot to find this new balance of "something fun" and her school course load. I found her struggle and going from point A to point B in her life to be truly realistic and helpful for those struggling to find balance as well.

Stone is the son of the dance studio's owner and Lily's partner. He's the star quarterback, but is helping out at the studio to help his parents out as they're in some financial trouble. Stone is in on this thing with Lily's dad, and really struggles with it (as he should). I appreciated how dedicated he was to his family. His relationship with his twin was prominent and I couldn't help but adore their sibling relationship. I also loved that Angela all but adopted Lily right from the get go.