Read and Review #5 - Ricochet (Krista & Becca Ritchie)

Title: Ricochet (Addicted #1.5)

Author: Krista & Becca Ritchie

Publication date: 1 August 2013

Publisher: K.B. Ritchie (Independent Book Publishers Association)

Get a copy! Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:

As a sex addict, Lily Calloway must do the impossible. Stay celibate for 90 days. Cravings and fantasies become her new routine, but while Loren Hale recovers from his alcohol addiction, Lily wonders if he’ll realize what a monster she really is. After all, her sexual compulsions begin to rule her life the longer she stays faithful to him.

Progress. That’s what Lily’s striving for. But by trying to become closer to her family—people who aren’t aware of her addiction—she creates larger obstacles. When she spends time with her youngest sister, she learns more about her than she ever imagined and senses an unsettling connection between Daisy and Ryke Meadows.

With Lily and Lo’s dysfunctional relationship teetering and unbalanced, they will need to find a way to reconnect from miles apart. But the inability to “touch” proves to be one of the hardest tests on their road to recovery. Some love brushes the surface. Some love is deeper than skin.

Lily and Lo have three months to discover just how deep their love really goes.

My rating:

5 out of 5 hours set to do work spent on reading this book 

My review:

Warning: The topic on sex is kinda heavy here. And strangely enough, it's still not erotica!

In the last book, the story left off with Lo leaving for a 3 month stint in rehab. Like I mentioned in my review of the first book, the ending was bittersweet because Loren and Lily had never been apart since they became friends. They were so dependent on each other, so addicted to each other's presence that their separation was unbearable. For me at least.

The story continued with Lily struggling to continue life without Lo by her side. She was trying to stay loyal to Lo and not break her promises to him. In the previous book, Lily never overcame her addiction or even trying to. I didn't realize it at first but the first book focused on Loren's addiction and how it affected Lily. Here, she was suffering from withdrawals from having real sex and even masturbating more to get her fix. And since she vowed to remain celibate, she could do nothing more but fantasizing about sex and self-love. Her frustration builds because it wasn't satisfying enough and kept her restless most of the time.

Since Loren left, Lily moved in with Rose who was having an on and off again relationship with Connor. Their interaction was adorable but sometimes I can't help but wanting to scream at Connor for being a smartass 100% of the time. But somehow even though he's a smartass, he's still likable.

"That's impossible," Connor tells her. "We're the two smartest people in the entire world. You put us together, and you get a superhuman."

One interesting development in this story is Ryke and Daisy's growing relationship. However, aside from a few teasing remarks from Ryke to Daisy, their interaction is always full of anger and disappointment. One minute he was teasing her and lightly flirting with her, the next he's screaming at her for her crazy stunts. I was intrigued by their relationship because Ryke didn't even like Lily and Daisy but went to great lengths protecting them. I guess that's another thing we have yet to uncover about Ryke. Right now, even if he's still acting like an asshole, I still like Ryke.

"Daisy," he coos, waving his spoon around the air to try to get her to look at him. She barely stirs. He tries a different tactic. He dips two fingers into the gooey chocolate filling. No, I internally scream in my head. He's not going to..

Every time Ryke came into the scene, I am holding my breath because the most random and funny scenes have him in it. Without all the teasing from him, this will be a very overwhelming book filled with Lily's struggle. Her therapy sessions were interesting and we slowly get to learn more about her addiction; when it started, what started it and how did she deal with it every time. 

And her Skype session with Loren...

This is a good companion book for the next installment of this series. We get to know Daisy more and also learn about the severity of her addiction. There are just as many intense drama going on in the family as the previous book. The excerpt at the end for Addicted For Now just about killed me. Definitely picking up the next book as soon as it comes out!

Read and Review #4 - Addicted to You (Krista & Becca Ritchie)

Title: Addicted to You (Addicted #1)

Author: Krista & Becca Ritchie

Publication date: 22 August 2013

Publisher: K.B. Ritchie (Independent Book Publishers Association)

Get a copy! Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:

She’s addicted to sex. He’s addicted to booze…the only way out is rock bottom. 

 No one would suspect shy Lily Calloway’s biggest secret. While everyone is dancing at college bars, Lily stays in the bathroom. To get laid. Her compulsion leads her to one-night stands, steamy hookups and events she shamefully regrets. The only person who knows her secret happens to have one of his own. 

Loren Hale’s best friend is his bottle of bourbon. Lily comes at a close second. For three years, they’ve pretended to be in a real relationship, hiding their addictions from their families. They’ve mastered the art of concealing flasks and random guys that filter in and out of their apartment. 

But as they sink beneath the weight of their addictions, they cling harder to their destructive relationship and wonder if a life together, for real, is better than a lie. Strangers and family begin to infiltrate their guarded lives, and with new challenges, they realize they may not just be addicted to alcohol and sex. 

Their real vice may be each other.

My rating:
5 out 5 recommend this without alcohol consumption

My review:

*A copy was given to me generously by the authors via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you to one of my friends on Goodreads (Jennifer) for the status updates while reading this book that made me curious out of my mind that I finally cave in and decided to read this book. I knew about this book the day it was published (because I stalk Goodreads every day) and when I read the synopsis I was a little interested but the idea of a sex addict is sort of a turn off because I thought it would lead to sex after sex and eventually turn this new adult book into an erotica. Again, I was wrong for my judgement in books.

The opening scene didn't hold back. No sugarcoating it with happy college experience like first day of school, meeting new friends etc No, it started by introducing us to Lily's addiction, then Loren's. And what better way to introduce them than a frat row?

A sex addict is not the same as someone who likes to have sex. Constantly horny =/= addicted to sex. It's a disease, something you can't get out of. Like drug addiction. A sex addict needs relief not just for fun, but because without it they'll start to feel the withdrawal, the shaking, the anxiety, basically losing their mind if they don't get their fix. That's how Lily is. She has one night stands with numerous guys every day just to get her fix, so she could function well and act like a normal person. She's so accustomed to having sex that she goes to a bar every night to get her daily dose of sex with an anonymous guy.

Unlike most characters in books, Lily doesn't have one night stands because she's suffering from some sort of abuse or is emotionally crippled. Strangely but understandably enough, her addiction just sort of started and she hadn't stopped since.

Most people don't realize they're alcoholics until they stopped drinking. In Loren's case, he's in denial. And like anyone in denial, he gets angry when being confronted of his problem. He acknowledged it but he refuses to accept it. 

The part where Lily was trying so hard to make him drink less broke my heart because he refuses to listen which made her use her addiction to distract him from his addiction. 

"We should talk, but what do I say? Lo, I wish you would stop drinking. And he'd say, Lily, I wish you'd stop having so much sex. And then we'd look at each other and wait for the other to say okay, I'll change for you. But there'd be silence so deep and cutting that I'd feel ripped open and bare."

They feed off each other's understanding with their addiction, which made their whole relationship convenient. It wasn't until they started being together for real that their convenience was shattered. He drinks more because she started to panic over being monogamous and he doesn't want her to suffer from withdrawals. She has sex with him more to distract him from drinking more. I mean, they care for each other so much but they are feeding their own addiction trying to cure the other.

This book has three prominent side characters; Rose, Connor and Ryke. All three play major part in both Lily and Loren's life. I thought Ryke was the most interesting the moment he was introduced into the story. All I could think of was, Lily must be salivating over him. Because he sounded exactly like the guy I thought she would end up with.

The ending was bittersweet. I don't know how the book could end better than the ending that it has. When I'm done, I felt so bereft that I wasn't sure what I was doing and the time and everything around me. All I can say is that it's a good read and it's hardly erotica.  

And now I'm off to the next book in the series!