3.5 stars, rounded down for various spelling and punctuation errors.

A Path of Petals is at its heart a love story between two very different people. Griffin Holt is a 35 yo business man, divorced, rigid and controlled, abrasive and in need of removing the stick up his ass. Rain Teslar is 24, a free spirit, a little kooky, tattoo'd, with a lip ring, dancing through her life and taking nothing too seriously. She embodies everything that Griffin hates.

Upon Griffin's arrival in the sleepy little town of his deceased father, their world collide. Griffin is initially mostly annoyed by Rain (as was I, because that girl apparently has never been taught any personal boundaries), but his annoyance soon gives way as he loosens up his rigid stance on things. As the novel progresses, they develop a friendship that turns into a sweet love story.

I appreciated the growth in Griffin's character, as he starts to be less stuck-up, and learns more about his past, a past that was contorted to the extreme by his mother. Rain manages to bring the little boy in Griffin back to the surface, and she is the catalyst for his change.

The UST was panty-melting, and when they finally gave into their lust for each other, I could hear fireworks. M.A. Stacie can write a great love scene.

The message in this story is that it's never too late to change who you are if you find that who you've become is not who you want to be. And that sometimes all it takes is an odd girl to show you the way.

I am taking off points because of the spelling and grammatical errors. Sometimes words were used incorrectly, and punctuation needs to be revisited. This did not distract me from my reading experience, but any published book should be proof-read multiple times to catch these things. I am not blaming the author in this case, but her publisher.

The writing itself is not overly flowery, yet very emotionally charged, and the plot flows well.

The bits of angst and drama in this story were well-placed and furthered the plot, though I would have liked to smack Rain over the head a few times when she intentionally (or so it seemed) misunderstood something Griffin said to her. And both Anna (Rain's friend) and Griffin say it very well towards the end when they point out that she's been running from people all her life - because that way she can run before they get a chance to leave her.

Two very interesting and opposite characters make for a very nice love story. Well done.

I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.