Title: Wallflower
Author: Jessica Prince
Series: Redemption
Contemporary Romance; Small Town Romance; Unrequited Love
She’d spent her entire life as a wallflower, hiding from the rest of the world.
Willow Thorne had gotten really good at blending in with the wallpaper. The shy, quiet little mouse was more comfortable spending her days in her protective little bubble. Then she met a big, burly mechanic who looked really good on a motorcycle and made her feel things she’d never felt before.
Gavin “Stone” Hendrix didn’t do commitment, and love was completely out of the question. After spending the first half of his life taking care of everyone else, he was done being the responsible one. Then he met a shy, nervous brunette who knocked him off his feet and made him question everything he thought he believed.
Willow brought out his protective instincts. Stone made her want to step out of her shell.
No one in a million years expected the hard-as-stone biker to fall for the wallflower, but the small town of Redemption was in for a major surprise.
**The Redemption series is a series of interconnected, standalone, small town romances.**
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It had been a good day.
Actually, that was an understatement. It had been a great day. At least until I got to my dad’s house to go through his kitchen and see what all he needed, only to discover that Elaina had seriously downplayed the need for food in his house.
I’d played it off that I was totally fine for my father’s benefit as I stewed in my anger while making a grocery list that took up the front and back of the page.
By the time I got to the store, I was in serious need of an outlet, so I cued up the Pissed Chick playlist on my phone, stuffed earbuds in my ears, and got to work. I was halfway through shopping, Alanis Morissette wailing about how you oughta know in my ears when I rounded the corner and my cart crashed into someone else’s.
“Sorry, I—” The rest of the words died in my throat when I looked up and saw the cart I’d plowed into belonged to none other than Stone himself, the very man I’d been thinking about nonstop since my talk with Lark earlier that morning. “Stone,” I said on a gasp, sucking back the air that my lungs had expelled at the mere sight of him. “Hi.”
He said something I couldn’t hear over the music ringing in my ears.
I gave him an apologetic smile and yanked the buds out of my ears. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you. What was that?”
The song had just reached the chorus, the volume so loud it carried several feet, and I could tell from the grin on his face that he definitely heard it. “Wow. Didn’t take you for an Alanis fan,” he said in that gravelly rasp that always made my skin tingle and pressure build between my thighs. What could I say? The man gave great voice. I didn’t know if male phone sex operators were a thing or not, but if they were, he could make a freaking fortune.
“Oh, uh, yeah. Sometimes. I have a playlist I like to listen to it when someone’s made me ragey.”
On cue, the song ended, and the next queued up; this time, it was Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name.”
His eyes went big at the sound of it. “You’re just full of surprises, mouse.”
Listen to Willow’s Pissed Chick Playlist!
I have been a Jessica Prince reader for a few years now, so I have known Gavin “Stone” Hendrix from way back in the Civil Corruption series. I was so happy when he moved back to Redemption and we got him in this series, and I couldn’t wait to see which heroine would bring this stone-cold guy to his knees. Stone and Willow’s story was everything I wanted for them!
So we have Stone, who saw his mom go through guys like she went through cigarettes, and after she pawned off his little sister Shane on him when he was a teenager, Stone swore he’d never be in a committed relationship because he was so burnt out from having to take the responsibility of caring for his little sister. But then sweet, shy Willow crashes into his life, and all of those protective instincts flare up and he doesn’t know what to do with himself. I loved that while Willow’s life was in the crapper, she kept her head held high and made things work. She was not the damsel in distress that Stone assumed she was, and I loved how strong she is! I also hated her sisters fiercely until the very end of the book. How selfish of them to just let her be the one caring for their ailing father because she’s not married!
Many of JP’s books have some element of danger involved, where the H has to rescue the h. That wasn’t the case with Wallflower. This time, it’s a family issue that arises where Stone steps up and helps Willow, cementing their relationship and showing him that he does know how to be a good boyfriend. Through it all, Willow undergoes an amazing transformation, not only with her clothes and makeup makeover, but with her family. She begins to stand up for herself with her sisters and with Stone, and I loved how much she grew as a person.
This book is a super slow burn — aside from a kiss or two, nothing happens until the last quarter or so of the story. And for fans of the Civil Corruption series, there’s a really nice nod to the character of Will, when Stone and Lyla share a phone call on the anniversary of his death.
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
Visit Redemption
a series of interconnected standalone romances
Born and raised around Houston Texas, Jessica spent most of her life complaining about the heat, humidity, and all around pain in the ass weather. It was only as an adult that she quickly realized the cost of living in Houston made up for not being able to breathe when she stepped outside. That’s why God created central air, after all.
Jessica is the mother of a perfect little boy–she refuses to accept that he inherited her attitude and sarcastic nature no matter what her husband says.
In addition to being a wife and mom, she’s also a wino, a coffee addict, and an avid lover of all types of books–romances still being her all time favs. Her husband likes to claim that reading is her obsession but she just says it’s a passion…there’s a difference. Not that she’d expect a boy to understand.
Jessica has been writing since she was a little girl, but thankfully grew out of drawing her own pictures for her stories before ever publishing her first book. Because an artist she is not.
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