Book Review — Ricochet (Addicted #1.5) by Krista & Becca Ritchie

“I love you,” he says again, “and no other man will ever say those words and mean them the way I do.” 

• Buy ADDICTED TO YOU (Kindle) – Book #1 (start with this) 
• Buy RICOCHET (Kindle) – Book #1.5 
• Buy ADDICTED FOR NOW (Kindle) – Book #2

I am in LOVE this series!! Absolutely ADDICTED!!! 

This the kind of story that I most love to read — a story of two people who are completely and totally in LOVE with each other fighting as hard as they can to overcome the obstacles in their lives and be together.

Ricochet is the full-length companion novel to  Addicted To You (Read my Review) and continues Lily & Lo’s tumultuous, heartfelt and emotional journey towards healing. I can’t get enough of this series!!!

As a quick, spoiler-free recap, Lily and Lo have been in each other’s lives since they were kids, they are both best friends and lovers, but they each have an addiction — she’s addicted to sex, he’s addicted to booze — and in the last book they reached a point of no return where things needed to change… I won’t mention any more though because I don’t want to spoil the story for anyone. But just be sure to read book #1 first!

From the first few pages of this book, I was reminded why I love this series so much with this quote …

“I don’t think many people can understand what it’s like to be so invested in someone… We have an unhealthy, co-dependent relationship.

I know this.

And I’m trying to change, to grow beyond him, but why does that have to be a stipulation?

I want to grow WITH him.

I want to BE with him.

I want to love Lo without people telling me that our love is too much.”

The story told in Ricochet takes place over the 3 months in between the first and second novels. When I first heard about it and realized that it was a full length book as opposed to a novella, I wondered why it wasn’t just labelled as the second book in the trilogy but, having read it, I now understand.

It has a very different vibe than the first one. While it is still told from Lily’s POV, we see a lot of Rose & Connor and Daisy & Ryke which serve to set up their books that will be coming next year as spin-off novels, but we also do see quite a bit of Lily & Lo too through both flashbacks and present day scenes but just, given their situation, their interactions are a little different than in book #1 but no less emotional.

I just loved them together SO much!! As I mentioned before, they’re exactly the kind of couple that I love to read about. In this book we see them both trying to get better and rid themselves of their addictions. But the road is not easy and they each have their own battles to fight but what gets them through is holding on to their unshakable love for each other.

“You make me want to live. And I want to live with you.”

The pacing of this book is also a little different than the first – there were some slower parts but there were also some absolutely EPIC scenes that gave me shivers!!! Seriously a few of the scenes were just pages and pages on end of pure awesome! Even though the highlights of the book are definitely Lily and Lo, I also like that there is a larger character group. The whole family dynamic is intriguing as is seeing each of these characters’ issues, quirks, personalities and relationships play out. It’s genuinely the kind of cast where I’m interested in pretty much everyone.

Lily’s therapist also was another highlight. With her help, Lily begins to see a light at the end of her tunnel as she’s shown that maybe there is a way for her and Lo to use their love to help one another heal.

“Rose tells me that he’s enabled you your whole life, and in turn, you’ve enabled him… In order to become healthy, you’re going to have to do the reverse. Instead of enabling each other, you’ll need to help each other.”

All the scenes with Lo once again tugged each and every one of my heart strings. I think it’s a sign of how invested in a story you are when even the mention of someone’s name kicks your heart into overdrive. If it’s possible, I love him even more after reading this book!!

With Lily & Lo, I really felt like the emotions were deepened because their relationship went back to childhood and so their lifelong history together really gave their story so much more depth.

“Am I [a trigger]?”

“No, Lil,” he tells me…”You’re the opposite. You’re my stability…my home.”

They had so much to work through both individually and together but what I loved most about them, and the element that has put this story on my favorites shelf, is how much they wanted to be together and how they were willing to go to any lengths to help each other heal. And how not being together was just never an option, not really. That is the reason I’m so addicted to this series and it really is the epitome of the kind of book I love — where you have characters with a ton of issues to work through working hard to be together and to build a functional relationship — where it’s not about dealing with stupid mistakes but rather genuinely about overcoming the obstacles life gives them. Together.

“If we want to stay together, like REALLY stay together and not go back to enabling each other, then yes, we’re going to have to talk. I need to know when you’re freaking out, and you need to know when I am so that we can stop each other from doing stupid shit.”

I really just want to highlight how much respect I have for these authors for not incorporating any “stupidity” into the story. There was genuinely no “drama for drama’s sake”. I absolutely adored that there wasn’t any “big bad” trying to keep them apart. Facing their addictions was big enough of an obstacle and I loved that there were no external plot elements that came between them. Everything that happened made sense and the focus was on them finding a way to be together and to be healthy. I have to say that I am SO impressed that I am now two books into this series and not even once have I rolled my eyes at anything. It was just them working as hard as they can to make their relationship work. And. I. LOVED. It.

“He’s given me hope again. That I’ll kick this addiction. And I won’t have to be alone when I do it.”

Also for the record, since I know many of you are wondering about this — there is no cheating!!

This might sound like an odd combination but I almost feel like fans of both the Crossfire series and also the Find You In The Dark series will enjoy this… *happy sigh*… I just love these books.

This series shows the journey of two people willing face their worst demons for the sake of love. Lily and Lo’s story is heart wrenching, emotional, and addictive. If you’re looking for a new series to fall in love with, I highly recommend picking this one up!!  ♥

4.5 — 5 stars

• Buy ADDICTED TO YOU (Kindle) – Book #1 (start with this) 
• Buy RICOCHET (Kindle) – Book #1.5 
• Buy ADDICTED FOR NOW (Kindle) – Book #2