ARC Review: Wallflower by Cookie O’Gorman (Blog Tour) +Giveaway

Hey! I’m so excited to say that today’s my stop on the blog tour for Wallflower by Cookie O’Gorman. I absolutely loved this book and hope you do, too. My stop is a review stop plus I’ve added all the details for the book and Cookie O’Gorman. At the bottom, there’s a giveaway too, so be sure to enter in that!!

Wallflower (wohl-flou-erh): Identifier for someone who is shy and/or awkward. For reference, see Viola Kent.

Seventeen-year-old Viola Kent likes being invisible. Well, not literally, but she’s content being a loner, reading her books, and hanging out with the animals at the shelter. She just wants to keep her head down and get through her senior year at Durham High.

Driving Dare Frost to school every day wasn’t part of the plan.

And when Viola finds out her dad recruited Dare, his number one player, to be her friend?

Her inner Slytherin demands revenge.

The solution: Get Dare to be her fake boyfriend.

Convincing the star athlete to pretend is easier than she’d thought it would be. The hard part is protecting her heart. With every word, touch, and kiss, Viola’s feelings become more real.

The problem: Viola knows she’s falling for Dare—but he doesn’t believe in love.

This book features two sets of soulmates, one happy pooch named Hermione, so many sizzling kisses and answers the question:

Can a dork and a jock fake their way to true love?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hilarious and absolutely swoon worthy, Wallflower was the story about Viola Kent, a loner who loves reading romance novels and spending time at the shelter and whose dad is the high school soccer coach, and Dare, her father’s number one player. Her father believes she needs to find more friends while she’s content where she’s at. Her father asks her for a favor, to drive Dare to school because his car’s at the mechanic and she agrees, although grudgingly, but when he follows her around and tries to talk to her all the time, she finds out that her father recruited him to befriend her instead. Now, her ego is bruised and she needs revenge. What better way than to date the number 1 playboy at school who happens to be her dad’s best player and show her dad that he shouldn’t mess with her and that his plan backfired? Here, begins this beautiful story.

I loved this story, it was the perfect YA Romance and a very light read. (hence, this didn’t make me cry which every book seems to do) I loved the romance between them and slowly watching it grow. Supporting each other, being there for each other and doing things one doesn’t like for the other (ie, Viola going to Dare’s game). I loved watching them grow. God, from the first day when Violet absolutely did not want Dare in her car and when she was eating, he was making puppy dog eyes because he wanted food too to a point where Vi looked forward to this and brought extra food for him. SO CUTE.

The characters were carefully thought out and I loved them as a whole. We had Viola, who’s extremely shy, a nerd, loves reading books, hanging out with dogs, but she had such a cute personality, she was sweet, innocent and (in my mind as I imagine her) beautiful. She cared about people so fiercely and she was sarcastic and smart and, although being a nerd is not something I aspire to be, she was everything I think I wish I was. And then we had Dare. The star athlete whom everyone loved, who had a kind heart, was so special and who unfortunately, did not believe in love. (That honestly made me so mad) But Dare was so caring and him and Mr.Snape were so cute, I might cry.

I loved how Vi made more friends throughout the book. Especially Estelle, I absolutely loved her. I loved how Violet felt at home, her “tribe”, with Ty, Estelle, Jo, Dare, etc. Another thing was her relationship with her parents. As a book lover myself and someone who doesn’t have anyone in her life who reads, I was dying during her conversation with her mom about a book and how they could just sit and read. Her relationship with her parents was perfect and just adorable.

Another thing I loved about this book was that it was a simple love story. There was a base to it, they started fake-dating to get revenge of Viola’s dad, but there were no twists that I know every book has. Towards the end of every love story, I can feel the point where I know a twist is about to come, a character is about to ruin it all, a lie is about to be revealed and then the characters are on the outs until they give speeches about how much they love each other and then the book ends. While I like that sometimes, all the time just sucks. I loved that this book was straight-forward and the fact that both of them were in love with each other but neither told the other? That was way too hilarious for me.

All in all, this was an amazing book with such a cute romance, cute dogs, and just absolutely swoon-worthy. I loved the author’s writing style, it really spoke to me and I will 100% be reading more of Cookie O’Gorman’s books. (I’ve already added Adorkable and more to my TBR!) A definite recommend to YA Romance Lovers and more.

This had to be a dream, I thought. Either that or a hallucination.

Standing in our driveway, leaning back against my little Honda, hands in his pockets like he was Jake Ryan from Sixteen Candles or something, was a guy who knew he looked good even in sweats and a hoodie.

Dare Frost.

His six-foot-three frame dwarfed my car. Dare was the last person I expected to see waiting outside my house on my last first day of high school. I was so surprised it took me a second to find my voice.

But Dare just cocked his head.

“Morning flower,” he said. “Better hurry or we’ll be late.”

I shook myself out of it. “Are you lost?”

“Nope, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”

“What are you even doing here?” I asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” He held his hands out, a small smile playing on his lips. “I’m here to bum a ride to school. Speaking of, could you pop the locks?” Dare rubbed his hands together. “It’s a little chilly out here.”

I laughed, couldn’t help it. “Are you crazy? Dare, I’m not taking you to school.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No. I’m not.”

Dare shrugged. “Coach said you would.”

My jaw dropped. “He did what? When? Why?”

“That’s a lot of questions,” he said. “But yeah, your dad and I talked the other day after practice. He said you’d give me a ride because we live so close to each other. Said it would be no problem. I run by your house every morning anyway. Plus, my car’s in the shop for repairs.”

“Didn’t you just get that car?” I asked.

The question made Dare smile for some reason. “You keeping tabs on me, Vi?”

I choked. “What? No!”

“Hey, no worries,” he said. “I’m not mad about it. A lot of girls do it. Just wasn’t aware you were one of them.”

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Cookie O’Gorman writes YA & NA romance to give readers a taste of happily-ever-after. Small towns, quirky characters, and the awkward yet beautiful moments in life make up her books. Cookie also has a soft spot for nerds and ninjas. Her novels ADORKABLE, NINJA GIRL, The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, The Good Girl’s Guide to Being Bad and WALLFLOWER are out now! She is also the author of NA sports romance, The Best Mistake.