ARC Review: On the Floor by Jennifer LaCross

General information:

Title: On the Floor

Author: Jennifer LaCross

Release date: April 2014

Genre: New Adult Romance

Series?: First in a series about band members, can be read as a stand alone.

Ending: HEA

Pages: 245

Blurb: Rachel Harris has been closed off since high school, when her mother passed away. Worrying about her family has made her own happiness her second priority.

Jake Price has had family issues of his own, leaving him incapable of having anything more than a physical relationship.
When Rachel meets Jake on the dance floor, sparks fly. Fires burn. Their worlds change. 
And then he walks away with no more than a thank you...
Through a twist of fate, they are brought back together when Jake shows up the next day as Rachel’s new co-worker. They reluctantly decide to put aside their attraction for each other so they can work as friends. 
But when that attraction becomes something more, will Rachel and Jake be able to figure out how to work together, be together, and open up to each other? Or will their old issues be something that destroys everything they have built?

Meet Rachel,  a student at a Music and Art school, who has not had a boyfriend for a while. She's been through quite a lot in her life and you follow her through most of the book. I liked Rachel. She's not a holy virgin, but not slutty either. She takes responsilibity and she takes great care of the kids on her floor. I've never heard of Resident Adivsors or Academic Mentors before, but that could just be because we don't have them here in the Netherlands. Rachel is passionate about (teaching) music and helping the younger 'kids'. Her AM - Ty - is horrible and after he makes the millionth mistake, he is fired. I'm very glad that he wasn't her love interest, because he was awful and the prospect of having him for the whole book didn't exactly fill me with joy. But thank god, he isn't! 

"He would be my perfect boyfriend, except for the fact that he already has one."  

Rachel and her best friend Jenna go out dancing. Once, there Rachel has a wonderful dance with the mysterious hot 'Mike'.....and I was hooked. Sadly, he walks away and you're left wondering when they'll meet up again. You don't have to wait very long, because 'Mike' turns out to be none other than Jake, the new AM who'll live across the hall from her. What follows is their wonderful story. I won't tell you anything else about the story beyond that, so you can experience it for yourself.

Jake was an interesting character. I loved him at some points in the book and could slap him silly in other moments. He's hot and seems to care about Rachel and he does have his funny and sexy moments. He hasn't had a very easy life either and it's interesting to watch him grow throughout the book. I liked his personality and what he does and plans to in life. He seems perfect in some ways, but flawed in others - which I love. I'm not a fan of the typical perfect guy or the big manwhoring asshole. He's perfectly balanced and I'm sure other readers beside myself will love him too.

The book contains a few entertaining and great secondary characters. I love Jenna - Rachel's best friend. She was funny, supportive and very um.. vocal about sex. She's Rachel's family away from home and I mostly enjoyed their exchanges a lot. There are also Jake's band mates who make interesting characters and I also really enjoyed Rachel's and Jake's family (well.. for the most part).

Why not 5 hearts?
I had some trouble getting into the story in the beginning. I struggled a bit to get used to the writing style in the beginning and it just took me a while before I really 'felt' the story. But I got used to it or the writing changed a bit after the first chapter, since I was hooked from chapter 2. I'm not entirely sure why that is. Maybe I just really didn't like Ty or I just had to get used to Rachels' 'voice in the beginning'. It's only a minor thing though, since I really loved the rest. So if you feel yourself struggling a little in the beginning, do yourself a favor and just read on a little, because I'm sure that you'll all be hooked from chapter 2.

Overall
I really enjoyed this book and I stayed up very very well, early ^^ to finish it. The characters feel real and I loved being a witness to the love story of Rachel and Jake. It was fun, sexy and emotional. It has a HEA ending and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys NA books and doesn't might a lot of steamy and sexy scenes - that are at times quite explicit. The book is mostly told from the POV from Rachel, with a little bit from the POV of Jake at the end. I'm looking forward to reading the books about the other band members - they seemed like an interesting group of guys. I'm especially looking forward to Nate's story.

*ARC kindly provided by the author in exchange for beta read and an honest review*