Book Review: Eye of the Beholder (Stone Springs #1) by Gracie Ruth Mitchell

Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 234 pages
Author: Gracie Ruth Mitchell
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: September 23rd, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

One girl. One boy. One bargain…

Mina
Look, I’m no social butterfly. I don’t care what the extroverts say; talking to people is scary. I’d rather hang out with my books than actual human beings. Books don’t call you names or dump water over your head in the cafeteria.
But high school is almost over, and I’m realizing I have nothing to show for it but good grades. I need to come out of my shell if I want to get the attention of a certain football player, and I’m going to need help. My neighbor Cohen is the man for the job. Sure, his attractiveness makes me nervous, and yes, he smells obnoxiously good all the time, but it’s fine. I’ve got this.
I mean, probably.
I’ve probably got this.

Cohen
Mina’s got a thing for my buddy Jack. I’ve got a thing for getting into a good college. My plan is simple: I’ll help Mina get Jack’s attention if she’ll tutor me for the ACT. No big deal, right? But working with Mina isn’t going to be easy. Her social skills are iffy at best, and don’t get me started on her (lack of) flirting skills. It’s a good thing she makes me laugh, because we’re going to be spending a lot of time together…

MOSTLY CUTE.

This was a quick, sweet read from Kindle Unlimited. Though as I’m sitting here to write this review (a few days after finishing) I’m realizing I don’t remember much. And that’s the story of this book. It wasn’t that memorable.

I think the interactions between Cohen and Mia were overall cute. I liked the banter when they starting acknowledging feelings between each other. Cohen was charming and kind, Mia very insecure, but working on her confidence.

What I didn’t love was that some scenes felt cringey. I understand that Mina was getting a make-over and it was supposed to be sweet, but it was heavily focused on this aspect. Like if she changed all of these things people would like and notice her. And I’m NOT saying that if you want to do those things you can, it was the way that the scenes came off that rubbed me the wrong way.

Different pieces were great, others not so much. I know a lot of others who’ve loved this so if you’re interesting in a young adult appropriate romance this could be for you!

Overall audience notes: