This narrators were absolutely great! But unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me.
Drew has ZERO redeemable characteristics. And I felt like all throughout the book. There were statements that were contradictory to one another. Just a small example was a moment where Drew was quickly scanning a set of text messages while simultaneously reading each each individual one. And that just kept happening and I couldn’t really get past it. Drew‘s character was just awful.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! This book was DARK! I was shocked by how dark and twisted Drew was and the relationship between Drew and Bel started off as very cringeworthy. I was hoping he would become a better man for her, but maybe the next book will have him explore a better side of himself. I am looking forward to where this story will go next.

What’s it about?

Let’s get this out there first: this is a dark romance with a lot of intense content, like abuse and dub-con.

Belle is at college on a scholarship, tutoring and taking odd jobs to help pay for her ill mother’s exorbitant medical care.

When her friend secures an invite to the “Hunt” she goes because the winner can nab $25k.

But the Hunt is run by rich boy Drew and his cronies. And anything and everything is allowed on that chase through the woods.

Soon Drew becomes obsessed and possessive over Belle, in a way he’s never done before.

But Belle’s mom is getting sicker, and Drew is at the mercy of his father’s desires and abuse.

My thoughts:
This book is intense and Drew is a walking red flag—the kind of guy that is only acceptable in fiction. He’s demanding and possessive and generally kind of awful.

But I couldn’t stop listening either. I was so invested with what Drew would do next and how innocent Belle would cope with it all.

Also the stakes are high and the drama constantly ratchets up with each chapter.

My one complaint is that a lot of the dialogue is repetitive, many phrases and sentences repeated in certain scenes.

Still though, I’m invested in the story and can’t wait to see what happens next.

🎧 The narration on this audiobook is exceptional. Renee Thorn and Ryan Stone are so believable and knock it out of the park. They made it easy to get sucked into the story.

I received an advanced listener copy of this audiobook, and the narration was great! Both narrators seemed to portray the emotions and tone of each moment well with their inflection.

I wish I could say I felt the same about the story.

The premise was interesting, and this book seemingly sets us up for some interesting twists in book two, but it just wasn't enough to hook me in this one. There's no romance or even a moment of real emotional connection here, and I was really missing it. I couldn't suspend disbelief enough to accept that the MCs kept allowing things to play out as they did.

That being said, if you're a big fan of college age, secret society-esque dark romances, and don't necessarily look for the rhyme/reason for two characters to be together, this may be a hit for you. Just was not for me.

It's the book one of the series and I had an amazing time reading this. I absolutely love the writing style of the author and also the flow of the plotline. Eagerly waiting for the next instalments in this series.

I’m going to start this one talking about the narration. Both narrators were new to me which was one of the main reasons I requested the book. I think Ryan Stone did an excellent job and loved his narration style. Renee Thorn on the other hand made me think the whole time I was listening to a book that was with an older fmc. For this character a younger voice would’ve sound better. This was a virgin heroine who was a young college student but listening to the narrator was like listening to a 30-something woman. I think she’s a great narrator but she definitely could be used for other roles rather than these.

Now on to the book. Honestly it just wasn’t for me. I don’t mind dark romance, I actually enjoy it. But this one just left a sour taste for me. There were times I wanted to stop listening but because I wanted to know what happened next, I ended up finishing. I would read the next one just so I can find out what happens with the MCs considering that plot twist at the end was crazy.

"I want you to scream for me because of me. I want you gasping for breath. I want you crying, your eyes shimmering with tears. I want you running, doing everything you can to escape me, while knowing deep down inside you’ll never get away. I want all of it. So I'll give you one more chance to get away."

This book was H O T!! I am beyond grateful I was able to receive the audio arc for this book.
Their relationship was spicy, your typical bad boy x good girl with a bit of bully romance(my favorite tbh)
I will happily reread this sometime and will most definitely be rec. others to read

4.5⭐️
The Wallflower is the first book of the Oakmount Elite series and can’t be read as a standalone…that cliffhanger is a doozy as well as the twists at the end! Holy moly I don’t even know what to say about this book! First of all, Drew is a douche canoe and I really didn’t like him the first half of the book. But the further I read, the more I understood why he is the way that he is. My heart was breaking for him and the way his father treats him. Bel is a sweet and innocent book nerd who steps in when she sees someone in trouble and catches the eye of Drew. He is obsessed with her from the beginning and the fire between these two just grew hotter throughout the book! By the last chapter I was thrown through the wringer of emotions and didn’t know how to feel. I can’t wait for the next book to come out and need some answers!

I listened to the audiobook while annotating my paperback and Renee Thorn and Ryan Stone both did an excellent job of bringing these characters and story alive for me. They brought out all of the emotions of Drew and Bel. Highly recommend the audiobook!

Lawd have mercy!! 🥵

The Wallflower is a dark, sexy, toxic college romance, so be sure to check those trigger warnings (there’s quite a few).

Bel is the quiet “nerdy” girl. Drew is the school “jock”, and he knows what, how, and who he wants. 😜
It started as a game to win $25k, and ends with the most brutally breathtaking CLIFFHANGER.

The scenes in this are 🔥🔥🔥!!
“Even villains need to be loved.”

I listened to the audio which was exceptionally done with 2 narrators.

Now can we get book 2 PLEASE?!

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this advanced audio in return for my honest review.

Pub date: 16 April 2024

If you like dark bully romance you are in for a sexy emotional toxic treat!

There is so much going on in this book beyond the romance. There are complex family dynamics at play for both the FMC Maybel and the MMC Drew. I'm not quite sure who Drew's father is, but he blackmails and abuses his son into doing his bidding. He has created an "angry God" that unleashes his desires on sweet bookworm Maybel.

Maybel and Drew's "relationship" is also complex. It's blackmail, coercive, noncon/dubcon, highly sexual, toxic and confusing for the both of them.

It all makes perfect sense - it actually makes no sense. Yet it is compulsively listenable because it is still really hot, spicy and intense.

There are some major twists thrown in at the end just to make you gasp, throw your eReader and curse that you have to wait for the next book because it ends on a doozy of a cliffy!

The narration was good but it would have been knocked out of the park if it was duet instead of dual.

Listen to The Wallflower if you are into dark, sexy dubious, toxic reads like me. Be mindful of the triggers: child abuse, noncon/dubcon coercive sexual situations.

“Even villains need to be loved.”

If you don’t like bully romances – RUN, this book isn’t for you. If you’re still here, The Wallflower contains: secret society, touch her and die, primal play, secret society, rich and elite psycho jocks, and many, many more tropes.

Drew, a jock, and Maybell, a nerdy girl are two very interesting characters. These two are vastly different from one another but they seem to work well together. I’ll be honest, though, on her own, I didn’t find that Maybell was all that enjoyable. She’s supposed to be an extremely smart person; however, I found that she wasn’t the brightest when it came to Drew. He’d tell her one thing or try to hint at something and it’d totally go over Maybell’s head, which was very frustrating. And maybe it’s a case of just being book smart, but I dunno… it just felt off. And it made it hard to connect with her, on top of the fact that we’re constantly told her mother is sick, but no major details are told about it. She’s not my favorite character that I’ve read, but I enjoyed the moments of when she was with Drew.

Drew’s backstory is pretty messed up and even though he’s a total psycho, it makes you feel sad for him and the things he’s gone through.

The twists in The Wallflower were absolutely insane.. I found myself gasping multiple times while trying to listen as fast as my ears would allow. You’re left on an extremely wild cliffhanger, which absolutely makes me want – no, need – the next book like NOW.

The audiobook quality was great; however, I wasn’t crazy over Maybell’s voice (Renee Thorn). Don’t get me wrong, her voice grew on me over time, but it just wasn’t what I expected. Drew’s voice – Ryan Stone – was spot on, at least for me.

I went into this book mostly blind (minus checking out the trigger warnings!).
In life, some people are dealt an obvious shit hand. And then there's people who are dealt a shit hand dressed as a golden hand. One is Maybell; one is Drew.
Maybell, while naïve at times (but who isn't for a hot guy who can play you like a fiddle), was likeable. She works hard, loves and supports her mom, and isn't a complete idiot over Drew.
Drew... I kept trying to find reasons to like him, and all I got is he's a great son. He obeys his father - after some backtalking - just to keep his mom safe, even when his father forces him to do things he doesn't want to. Though, he does know how to hunt well...
I love primal, and this had a whole "group" primal scene.

This whole book is a trigger warning, from CNC to abuse to attempted SA to cancer to violence. Definitely check those out before picking this book up!

Now to wait for book 2 of the series...

DNF @ 40%
I got this audio for free. Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media.
I am regrettably not feeling this book. I read the blurb and thought it sounded great. At first it was giving Rina Kent’s LOG vibes and I was here for it. And then Shantel Tessier LORDS vibes and I started to be less into it. It’s like the author took what is most popular now in dark romance and put it together. It didn’t all mesh that well. Plus I’m thinking there’s some CNC, which I’m okay with, but there was never an expressed WANT from the fmc. That gave major ick vibes. I’m just not that invested to keep going. The narration was okay but it felt forced when they had to voice the opposite sex.

A dark romance that I advice you check the tw. That being said if you are okay with that then it's a good read. The narrators the male narrator I enjoyed better than the female. While she was okay she was not my favorite. All in all they did a good job.

This is my first time trying audiobook and got this as ARC as well, so thanks a lot for that!

I did enjoyed the narration of both narrators, especially the Bel (FMC) part. This book is in dual pov (MMC & FMC) which I also like and preferred. English is actually not my first language, but listening to this audiobook is great, the narration are clear, love their effort with their tones and everything in order to make me enjoy listening to the story and didn’t even confuse or whatnot at all.

As for the story / plot itself, I gotta say it’s kinda typical but still enjoyable for me, since I do love some of the tropes contained in this book. It have : bad boy x good girl, secret society, dark college romance, JP MMC, millionaire / wealthy family of MMC, v-card FMC, stalking, and more. Do check the tropes & trigger warning first please before diving in into this book, as I know it’s not for everyone. It does contain degrading, violence, red flag MMC, dubcon / cnc, trauma, owd & omd (but no cheating), and more. If you have an ick for any of these, perhaps you better skip it.

It also ended with a cliffhanger - I kinda managed to guess / put my nose right on where it should towards the ending regarding some of the surprise / twist in the story, and despite the ending is a cliffhanger, still manage to make me wanna read the next book because I do wanna know the whole thing from the past. Some things kinda confuses me but I guess everything might be revealed / explain in the next book, so yeah looking forward for the next part too! Overall, I did enjoyed this audiobook, and great job to both narrators!

It's an adult-dark college romance novel; adults are clearly college students, but the plot takes serious turns and twists throughout the narrative. The story begins with Hero Drew (Andrew), a collegiate football team captain who is simply synonymous with the renowned, planning the hunt of the year with his equally famous friends Sebastian, Aires, and Lee, and it is their event to shine, control, and dominate.
Next, we have our heroine, Bel (Maybel), who is a financially suffering but brilliant studious student who manages to care for her mother. Drew once held out another student regarding an assignment and threatened him.
when Bel saw that and tried to stop; that's where she got his undivided.
So the story moves on to the famous hunt, when there are many conflicts, disagreements, dominance, extortion, and so on in order to capture Bel's entire attention, which Bel may not enjoy. That is how their push and pull, as well as emotional covering, begin unwittingly. When they realize they're playing their own games, Drew's duty pulls them in and kicks off the true game with interesting twists.

I give this book a four out of five stars. It's my first audiobook experience, and I've come to enjoy reading slowly in this format over time. The darkness of the story becomes more palpable when we hear the narration via humans; here is where the hunting scene or Bel's denial to Drew felt off. Aside from this point, I enjoy this author's work and have read many of her works. She is one of those authors whose books I will continue to read simply because of their name. The story construction near the conclusion is good, and we looking forward for next installment.

The Wallflower by JL Beck is a fun romp of dark seduction between Drew - a college football star with more money and power than most people can conceive of - and Bel, a struggling college student doing everything to help her sick-but-in-denial mother. Their worlds, lifestyles, and morals couldn’t be more different but they are matched by their sexual desires - him to chase and capture, and her to run and be taken.

What starts as a night of pain and pleasure when she is hunted during an event quickly escalates into more when he can’t help by obsess over her and twists take this story in a different direction than I anticipated. The story is dark and angsty, and it scratched my dark college romance itch - those stories aren’t for everyone but if they’re for you, you’ll have fun with this.

The audio for this was great - I don’t believe I’ve listened to these narrators before, but I really liked their voices. They matched the characters well and flowed smoothly. It’s dual narration but neither of the narrators tried to go beyond their pitch range in a way that sounded obviously fake, which I prefer if it’s going to be dual narration.

The ending left me craving book 2 desperately because I’m eager to see how it will all be resolved.

This story started out really strong and I was throughly enjoying it. After about half of the book the story felt redundant. I had a bit of a hard time connecting with these characters and their troubles. Excellent spicy scenes scattered throughout. Unfortunately, I don’t think I will continue this series.

Thank you to Netgally for providing this ARC.

The Wallflower- JL Beck
Narrated by Renee Thorn and Ryan Stone

Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
Spice 🌶️🌶️🌶️.5
Narration 🎧🎧🎧🎧

This book was WILD! The last 15% was sucker punch after sucker punch…literally. I need book 2, like yesterday. There were SO many questions left wide open at the end of book 1. There was still a lot of questions about what exactly Drew’s dad does, for what he’s grooming Drew to take over. It’s got mafia/secret society vibes, but that is kind of still let unanswered, and I’m not sure if it’s because it’s not necessary to know or if we’ll find out more in the next book. Drew and Bel’s connection is like a rollercoaster. They are toxic and volatile, but can’t seem to stay away from each other. They are at each other’s throats and in each other’s pants at every turn.

Ryan and Renee did a really great job. They are both new to me narrators and I look forward to hearing more work from them in the future, but their voices aren’t exactly what I had envisioned in my head for these characters.

This was a surprising audiobook. Dark Romance is not my go to genre but I am trying to read more of it and this was a great book to consume.

These narrators were amazing. The man sounded a lot older (which was perfect for me) and the woman did, in my opinion, a really great male voice when she did her chapters. Usually women doing male voices in romance books just isn't believable for me but she was excellent!

The story itself was great. I went through this audio fairly quickly. The only downfall for me was the ending. It felt really abrupt and I didn't feel like there were enough clues through the book to lead us where it went. Just felt rushed and last minute to me.

That being said I am curious where this story is going and would absolutely listen/read more from this author in the future.

Thank you so much to JL Beck, Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this audio ARC. I am leaving my review voluntarily and honestly.