Book Review — Addicted To You (Addicted #1) by Krista & Becca Ritchie

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

• Buy ADDICTED TO YOU (Kindle)

WOW!!!

I have found a new favorite series!!! I swear it was like this book was written for me. It had all the elements I love in a story — great writing, deeply flawed but lovable characters and an emotional intensity that kept drawing me further and further in. I’m totally addicted 😉

The story is about Lily and Lo. They’re childhood friends who have grown up together but they each have an addiction — she’s addicted to sex, he’s addicted to booze — and if their very wealthy and controlling families ever found out, they’d both be kicked to the curb… and so they lie. They live together and pretend to be a normal, perfectly functioning couple and by doing so each one gives the other an alibi and a safe zone to feed their addiction.

“We lied for each other and hid our infidelities, playing the role of doting boyfriend and girlfriend. The deeper we sink, the harder it is to crawl out. I fear the moment when… someone discovers our secrets. At any moment, everything can crumble beneath us.”

But sometimes there are moments when their pretend relationship feels like the most real thing in the world because what neither of them are admitting out loud is that their feelings for each other are real.

“In this moment, I’m yours.”

By covering for each other and understanding what it was that they each needed, they’d found a way to cope with their addiction. It might not have been healthy but neither of them could stop and they found a balance, albeit a dangerous one, that worked for them… But everything changed when they were forced to go on a family yacht trip — sequestered together away from any possibility of enabling their addictions in secret, the only thing they had was each other…

I’m going to stop here but seriously, I just LOVED the whole storyline. I felt so deeply invested in it and I read so many scenes with that butterflies-in-my-belly feeling. I don’t know… there’s just something about flawed, damaged characters who clearly love each other SO much and are trying as hard as they can do make it through something together that just strongly tugs at my heartstrings.

Both Lily and Lo were such intriguing characters. The whole story is told from Lily’s POV and I really have to commend the authors with the way they were able to portray her addiction — the vicious cycles, her need, her self loathing, her dependence on it. It would have been very easy to make Lily just seem like a slut but they wrote it in such a way that you could genuinely feel that this was an addiction – no different than drugs or alcohol. It wasn’t just about someone who was promiscuous, this was something that was much more deeply wired in her.

And Lo… OMG Loren Hale totally stole my heart!! He was such a deeply tormented and flawed character and it was so clear how much he cared for Lil but I could also sense his inner conflict at not wanting to step in the way of what she needed while he himself was such a slave to his own addictions.

His voice lowers… “I don’t have any right to tell you to stop… I’m here for you. Always.”

They were oddly perfect for each other. They each understood the deep seeded addiction the other suffered. They’d seen each other at their worst and the way they cared for each other (and I’m not even talking romantically, I just mean caring from one person to another) was just so incredible heart wrenching…. I mean, HOLY EMOTION!!!!

And all these hidden feelings were building in the background so by the time they actually took their relationship to the next level and officially became a couple, these feelings all came to the surface and I just felt it so strongly!!!!

“I’m not one of your conquests,” he says in a throaty voice. “I know what you want, and you don’t need to take it. I can give it to you… Let me try,” he says, his hand cupping my face. “Let me try to be enough for you.”

GAHHHH!!!!! That scene!!!!! I’m getting all emotional just thinking about it!! I love Loren Hale!! I love how much he loved Lily and how he didn’t try and change her per say. It would have been so easy for a guy in his position to be jealous and irrational given the type of addiction she had but he accepted it all as a part of her. He didn’t just love her and put up with her addiction, he accepted her as a package deal.

Ok – now, I know that some of you are going to be curious as to whether or not there is cheating in this (especially given Lily’s addiction) and I’m happy to say that no – there is no cheating. However, before they’re officially a couple she does sleep around but, with the way it was written, I totally understood it and Lo understood it too. This story just has totally different parameters than a normal romance would. But after they become a couple, there is no sleeping around at all.

Towards the ending, the emotions began to intensify as their addictions began to take a stronger hold of them. You could feel the breaking point coming and it hurt to see these characters who I loved so much falling so far. I cared so much for them but had to wait for them to save themselves. My heart goes right out to Lily and Lo and I can’t wait to see them overcome the obstacles that I know will be their future. But I have faith in them and I believe that their love for each will be strong enough to get them through it.

While there isn’t a brutal cliffhanger at the ending, it definitely leaves you wanting more right away!! Think kind of along the lines of a Find You In The Dark style ending.

But luckily the next book, Ricochet, is available now with another one, Addicted For Now, coming at the end of the month so you’ll have more of the story to immediately move on to.

This series has me hooked!! I’m totally addicted and can’t wait for more of Lily & Lo! ♥

Rating: 4.5 — 5 stars

• Buy ADDICTED TO YOU (Kindle)