Redeeming 6

Redeeming 6 is a 2023 novel by bestselling novelist Chloe Walsh, and the fourth book in her Boys of Tommen series. A new adult romance about love, family, and new beginnings, Redeeming 6 centers on the relationship between two 18-year-old students, Aoife Molloy and Joey Lynch. As a sequel to the previous novel in the series, Saving 6, this novel continues the story of their breakup, reconciliation, and how they become parents. By employing many classic tropes of new adult romance, Walsh explores themes including Addiction and the Road to Recovery, The Power of Unconditional Love, and The Impact of Childhood Trauma.

This guide refers to the 2023 Kindle edition of the text.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of bullying, gender discrimination, antigay bias, sexual violence, sexual harassment, rape, ableism, mental illness, child abuse, child sexual abuse, pregnancy loss and termination, child death, death by suicide, suicidal ideation and self-harm, substance use, addiction, graphic violence, sexual content, cursing, illness and death, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.

Plot Summary

Redeeming 6 is the continuation of the previous book in the Boys of Tommen series, Saving 6, both of which are told from the alternating perspectives of Aoife Molloy and Joey Lynch. In Saving 6, Walsh reveals Aoife and Joey’s early friendship and how the two fell in love but also exposes Joey’s great hardships and abuse at home. At the end of Saving 6, Aoife finds Joey nearly overdosing on heroin and has to save him. Shortly after, Joey breaks up with Aoife, feeling he is not good enough to be with Aoife and that he must improve himself.

Redeeming 6 picks up a few days after the previous novel ends, with both Joey and Aoife heartbroken and still broken up. Whenever they get a chance to talk, Aoife tries to tell Joey that she doesn’t care that he isn’t perfect because she loves him unconditionally. It hurts Aoife more to be without Joey than to be with him through his addiction, and she wants to help him stay sober.

Joey and Aoife both end up at a party thrown by the rugby players at Tommen College, a neighboring school. Aoife finally convinces Joey to get back together. The two reconcile, have sex, and drink heavily through the night. The next day, Aoife is extremely hungover and vomits constantly, affecting the efficacy of the birth control medication she takes daily.

Aoife and Joey slowly learn to become better partners to one another. Meanwhile, Joey’s home life gets worse as his father Teddy’s abuse continues, and his mother Marie continues to support Teddy. Joey is deeply wounded by the fact that Marie won’t take her children’s side.

One day, after Teddy beats Joey’s sister Shannon mercilessly, both parents disappear, leaving Joey and Aoife to take care of the four younger Lynch children. When Joey finds his mother again, she is in the hospital because she lost her pregnancy. Aoife, meanwhile, is at the Lynch home, taking care of the children. Teddy returns to the house and sexually assaults her, but Joey and Marie find them before Teddy can go further.

After the assault, Aoife doesn’t want to talk about it or see Joey, as he reminds her of Teddy. Joey’s despair at this thought leads him back to his drug dealer, and he relapses.

As Aoife comes to terms with her assault, she also deals with strange cravings, gaining weight, and missing periods. Her best friend Casey notices how differently she is acting and asks if she is pregnant. Aoife discovers that she is, and she is due to deliver shortly after they graduate.

Aoife confides in her mother, who helps her, but she is scared to tell Joey, even more so when she learns he has relapsed. However, Aoife’s brother finds out that she is pregnant and tells their classmates. During math class, Joey hears from Aoife’s ex-boyfriend that Aoife is pregnant.

Though Joey is angry that Aoife didn’t tell him sooner, he understands why She wanted to protect him by keeping the secret about her pregnancy. Joey tries to be more present in their relationship, wanting to support Aoife and the baby as much as he can.

One night, Joey is called home by his brother, who tells him that Teddy is killing Shannon. When he gets home, there is blood everywhere, everyone is in terror, and Shannon is barely breathing. Teddy and Joey fight, and Marie tries to defend Teddy.

By the time Aoife arrives, Teddy has fled, and Joey asks for her help getting Shannon to the hospital, where she goes into surgery. Joey also has several scans and tests that reveal he has been physically abused since infancy. Aoife stays by his side at the hospital, while it takes a few days for Marie to come. When she does, she brings her oldest son Darren, who Joey feels abandoned the other Lynch children when he left the house five years earlier.

Joey sneaks out of the hospital and goes back to his drug dealer. Shannon and her boyfriend Johnny Kavanagh eventually find him, and Johnny’s parents, Edel and John, take Joey in. Aoife doesn’t recognize Joey anymore, as he continues to go about his regular life and continues to use drugs.

One day, Joey runs into Teddy, who compares Joey to himself. This causes Joey to realize that the only way to protect the people in his life is to leave them. He storms out of the house, intending to die by suicide, but is stopped by one of Shannon’s friends. When Joey returns to his house, it is on fire. He realizes that Teddy set the house on fire to kill the family and escape. However, only Teddy and Marie are killed, as Johnny took the other children to his house earlier.

Darren convinces Joey to go to rehab after his parents’ funeral. In rehab, Joey learns to gain control of his impulses and understand his trauma better. He is set to leave a few weeks before Aoife’s due date, but Darren tries to get him to stay longer. Johnny’s parents, who have been fostering the other Lynch children, say they will pay for Joey to go back to school if he can leave rehab on time.

As soon as Johnny gets out and sees Aoife again, she goes into labor. They rush to the hospital, where she has a complicated delivery. Aoife gives birth to a baby boy, who they name Anthony Joseph Lynch. Joey is terrified his son will end up like him and his father.

Aoife and Joey have a difficult first few weeks of parenthood, but Joey knows they can make it work if they stick together. In recovery and understanding the importance of family and unconditional love, Joey does everything he can to support Aoife and the baby. They move into the annex that the Kavanaghs built in their backyard, and Aoife and Joey plan to finish their last year of school together at Tommen College.