The Wallflower by J.L. Beck

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

She needs me, because she needs money. 

I don’t need her. Just her complete submission…

Maybell Jacobs is the Wallflower: quiet, shy, socially awkward and hell-bent on hiding even from herself, that is until a chance encounter takes place between us.

Instantly she hates me and for good reason. I’m a walking-red-flag. Filthy rich jock, short tempered, and violent. 

I can have anyone and anything I want.. except her.

Little does she know her disgust, anger, and hate for me fuels my obsession to own her, completely in every single way. 

Maybell resists, predictably… but her fight only makes her more desirable and I have plans that will lead her right into my lap and never want to leave. 

When she joins the sinful tradition put on by the elite of the town, the Hunt, I’m shocked. The pretty little thing has no idea how much danger she’s in if she decides to become my prey.

Sweet, innocent, and fragile like a flower. I’ll have to be careful or risk breaking her. 

Because I’m the ultimate predator and when I play there are no rules. 

I don’t chase. I capture.

And I like to own my bait.

★ Tropes include: secret society, college, touch her and die, CNC & chasing bait fantasy ★

The Wallflower

Hurt people hurt people!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙❤️💚💜
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌏🌍🌎
Character development: 😊😘🤓😟🥰
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration

The Hero: Andrew “Drew” Marshall – he comes from a wealthy family and is a football star, the quarterback of the football team at Oakmount university. He is bored, arrogant, obsessed and more than a bit psychotic. He is the guy all the other guys want to be, and all the girls want. He takes full advantage of that. He and his friends, Ares, Sebastian and Lee are in charge of The Hunt, which is a spectacle they put on once a year by the elite of the town. It is a game where the guys chase the girls through the woods and get to enjoy whichever prize they catch.

The heroine: Maybell “Bell” Jacobs (a.k.a. Wallflower) – she is a scholarship student, from a poor family. She is also a bit of an introvert, though she isn’t afraid to stand up for herself and others if she feels they need it. She is also socially awkward and tries to stay in the background where she isn’t noticed. Her mother is sick, and she is trying to get enough money for her mom to go to the doctor.

The Story: One thing I didn’t like was from the beginning, Drew was shown harassing a nerd who was supposed to deliver him an essay he paid for. I think the scene was to show what a bad guy Drew was, and it was the vehicle for Bell to first see Drew being a jerk and standing up to him. Though to me it just showed that he wasn’t smart enough to do his own college work. I like a Hero who is able to take care of his own business.

Anyway, Bell gets Drew’s interest when she stands up for the nerd in the library. Even more so, when she wants nothing to do with Drew. He tells her that there is no escaping him now that he wants her. Later, Bell’s best friend tells her that she got them an invitation to The Hunt, and that there is a $25,000.00 prize for the first person that makes it to the cabin. She can’t turn it down since she needs the money for her mother.

I didn’t really understand Drew and his friend’s relationship to the mill and what exactly the mill was. Drew certainly had some daddy issues. I have to say, I really disliked the way Drew, Lee, Ares and Sebastian talked about women at the start of this book, though this is far from the only dark romance where men have a terrible opinion of women at the beginning of a book. I guess seeing a Hero, or Anti-Hero changing throughout the book is part of what I like. Drew’s dad treated him terribly and he ended up treating Bell in much the same way.

This audiobook was told in dual points of view via dual narration and was narrated by Renee Thorn and Ryan Stone. Ryan Stone has a nice deep voice that I like, though he does sound somewhat older than what the main characters are supposed to be, but I grew to like his voice more and more as the story went on and he sounded very sexy in the intimate scenes. Renee Thorn has a pretty deep voice for a female narrator. Her voice isn’t unpleasant, but I guess I just expected a more feminine voice for Bell. Though she did show emotion through her voice very well and she was able to do different voices for different characters.

I voluntarily read & reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts & opinions are my own.

Blog|Goodreads|Facebook|Instagram|Pinterest|BookBub

View all my reviews