Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: Trouble and the Wallflower

AUTHOR: Kade Boehme

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 200 Pages

BLURB: Raised in near seclusion by an agoraphobic mother, Davy Cooper’s social skills are almost nonexistent. Now that his mother has died, he needs to make friends for the first time in his life. He catches Gavin Walker’s eye, but the sexy, confident, bad boy hipster intimidates shy Davy so much that he throws away Gavin’s number every time he offers it.

When Gavin defends Davy from a rude guy, Davy begins to warm to him. However, with his limited experience, he thinks he and Gavin are too different, and anything more than a casual acquaintance will end in complete disaster.

REVIEW: If my review ends up sounding like one big rambling mess I intend to blame Kade Boehme and sleep deprivation. So, I did that stupid thing that all book addicts do and thought, I’ll just have a peek at the beginning of the story before I go to bed. Why do we even try to kid ourselves like that? Of course I stayed up until I finished the whole thing.

What hooked me instantly were the characters. Let’s start with Gavin. Gavin is an art student, a bit of a party animal and an absolute ho. That’s not all he is, but that is all he allows the world to see. When he spots Davy serving up ice cream he’s instantly attracted and continues to flirt and leave his number despite constant rebuffs.

In the beginning I tolerated Gavin as a main character with the assumption that the author would somehow make me like him by the end of the book. And I did, I loved Gavin by the end of the story but boy did we ever take the scenic route to reach that place. It’s not until Gavin starts opening up to Davy that we start to see the scared guy who hides behind his party boy persona. And the reason he became the commitment phobe that he is, well damn, guess you’ll have to read the book to discover it, but that was some real nasty business. I guess I can forgive him some douchery. (Dictionary is telling me that douchery isn’t a real word. But it should be.)

I was glad that the story included Gavin’s point of view and not just Davy’s. I don’t know how convinced I would have been of Gavin’s abrupt shift in attitude with Davy if I wasn’t privy to these thoughts- Gavin was coming to find that even in his shyness and awkwardness, Davy was a force of nature with a surprising, quiet strength. As much as he didn’t want to trust how he was feeling, he’d seen the moment when Davy had opened his heart to Gavin, and Gavin had felt his heart tether to Davy’s.

Now Davy, I fell in love with him before I finished the first chapter. He’s been raised by his mother in isolation from the rest of the world, and now that his mother has passed away he’s trying to live a more normal life. The trouble is, he doesn’t really know how to deal with people and has been taken advantage of by men before. So naturally he’s leery of confident, flirty Gavin, who has a reputation for being a bit of a player. When he starts getting glimpses of a different Gavin he finds him even harder to resist but is still wary- In those moments, when Gavin’s smile was genuine or when he looked at Davy as though maybe Davy had the answers to all his questions, Davy just couldn’t help thinking Gavin was the most beautiful person he’d ever seen.

I thought briefly that Davy’s shy, hesitant character, while endearing may also get irritating but just as Gavin was more, so too was Davy. Though he doesn’t deal well with people and conflict Davy doesn’t hesitate when Gavin needs support. In some ways Davy is stronger than Gavin. What I liked most about Davy? That boy isn’t shy once he gets into the bedroom! It was like a secret, confident side to Davy was revealed and I loved it.

But then there was this! He knew Gavin was an asshole and he’d prepared himself. But that didn’t stop the sob that tore from his throat.

Seriously!? I looked up from my iPad and thought, What the f**k just happened? And I had a cry with Davy, and it was bloody brilliant. Not the crying, that’s almost a natural state for me when I’m reading. But that bit just came out of nowhere and I love not being able to guess what’s going to happen next.

I realize I’ve gone on about nothing but Gavin and Davy, but that’s what this story is about. There are no murders, no vampires, no mysteries, no BDSM clubs and no adorable puppies bringing two lost souls together. It’s just two flawed, wonderfully real men (and a slew of amazing secondary characters) who manage to struggle their way into a relationship and then dance their way around an ice cream shop. Davy laughed at Gavin’s sweet abandon as they danced together. By the end of the song, they were both laughing and Davy was feeling light as air. Davy stopped, completely taken with the joy on Gavin’s face. Gavin smiled so serenely at him, eyes full of happiness. “God, I’m so in love with you, Davy Cooper.”

God, it was so adorable.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: Dreamspinner