Heart Eyes
Effie Campbell
Listen, he uses her stolen panties as a coffee filter.. proceed with caution.
Cover and Synopsis
Heart Eyes Cover & Blurb
She saved me once.
She probably doesn’t remember.
But I can’t forget.
Fourteen years ago, when we were small, I was starving.
Not just my stomach rumbling, but hungry for kindness. For someone to look at me like I mattered.
She did.
Until she couldn’t look at me at all.
I learned how to survive without being wanted in foster home after foster home. Holding on to my memories of her. Of how she saw me as more than nothing.
And now she’s back in my world.
Bright. Successful. Untouched by the ruin that shaped me into the monster I am.
I should stay away.
Men like me don’t get women like her.
But I’ve never been good at letting go.
So I watch. And I wait. Telling myself it’s harmless.
That loving her from the darkness is enough.
Until I see him.
A face from our past.
Someone who remembers what she did.
And wants to make her pay for it.
I have survived worse than him. I’m not afraid to abandon any remaining morals to keep her safe.
My love for her was born in darkness and fear. A glimmer of hope for a boy who had nothing.
Obsession.
Ruin.
But it’s the only good thing I’ve ever felt.
And this time… I’m not letting anyone take her from me.
Book Information
Heart Eyes
Independently Published May 2026 by Effie Campbell.
Genre : Dark Romance
Pages : 340 pages, Kindle Edition
Heart Eyes Trigger Warnings
This book deals with many difficult topics, including extensive references to historic child abuse (not described on the page). There is copious explicit intimacy, unhinged actions, dubious consent, forced intimacy, violence, kidnapping, and murder. It’s a dark romance with thriller vibes. Proceed with caution.
Heart Eyes Dedication
Some people deserve to die. Painfully.
Heart Eyes Tropes
Second Chance
Masked Stalker
Childhood Trauma
Review
Heart Eyes by Effie Campbell
Minor Spoilers
My eight-year-old heart had fallen in love just like a little penguin gaining her first love pebble.
Heart Eyes is the first book the Lovesick duet. A dark, second chance, masked stalker romance by Effie Campbell. I stumbled across Heart Eyes purely on accident. I happened across a handful of upcoming release posts and then a call for arc readers. So of course I signed up. That booksta algorithm works in mysterious ways. As always, these are my honest thoughts and opinions.
Fourteen years. One month. Two weeks. Three days. Fifteen hours. Thirty-three minutes. My chest burns with need, ‘There you are,’ I breathe.
Heart Eyes is a dual pov story about childhood friends, Kat & Liam. Neither one had a very good childhood, but the things Liam has endured is heartbreaking. They lose touch after Liam is placed into the system one summer day. Neither Liam or Kat have forgotten each other or what happened the day they last saw each other. And listen, what happened wasn’t good but it rarely is in dark romance. The important thing is, Liam escaped. He might not be the most productive member of society, but he got out.
I need to walk my girl home. From half a street behind her.
I really liked Kat & Liam, they are adorable. In many ways they are still very childlike and innocent, stunted from childhood trauma. I read another book not too long ago where a similar trait was incorporated into the characters. It didn’t work for me in that book, the characters just came off as immature and reckless. In my opinion, Campbell nailed the naivety in Heart Eyes. And yes, I know trauma manifests differently for everyone. When Liam comes across Kat on the university campus he begins stalking his long lost love. He is obsessed, stealing Kat’s panties to use as a coffee filter. Points for creativity. Loved it.
Double the fun with two stalkers.
Kat & Liam’s past has come back to haunt them in the form of their very own unhinged stalker. I wish there was a bit more happening with the stalker plot point. It didn’t feel overly threatening. That being said, even though this is a dark romance, I found it quite mild. In my opinion, Heart Eyes could be a good introduction to the genre as it’s on the lighter side of dark romance.
Her chest rises and falls, one breast making an attempt to slip free of her pyjamas as she lies on her side. If it does, I fear I might actually die. Heart attack via nipple slip.
I believe Kat and Liam’s story will be turned into a duet. It’s not a hundred percent official but book two is set up nicely. Heart Eyes does not end on a cliffhanger its just left open ended for a possible vengeance arc. I would like to see book two a bit darker than Heart Eyes. With everything Kat & Liam go through at the end a tonal shift into something darker can happen without being abrupt or feeling out of place. Whatever book two brings, I will be adding it to my tbr.
Quotes
Heart Eyes Quotes
The scrap of white cotton snags my gaze again as I pull myself from her. Stooping, I pull it from her trousers and ball it up in my hand. A little piece of her to bring home.
I’ve never been good. But for her, I’ll try.
I’ve kept my soul for him all these years.
The first touch of our lips is so tender it’s barely a kiss. Yet it reaches to the pit of my soul and twists it tight.
Liam doesn’t eat me like he’s doing me a favour; he licks, and sucks, and consumes me like I’m the answer to his starvation.
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