Addicted to You - By Becca and Krista Ritchie (#ReadingCram)

Book 1 - Addicted Series

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.

How can I even begin to explain how much I love this book? How much it blew my mind and ripped out my heart? How my mind was stolen and not returned until I'd read the entire series? How I lost the will and want to read any other books but these? How I stalked the authors because I loved their writing so much I needed more? How I felt like I had read nothing before I read this book? How does one even begin to describe perfection in words that fail to encapsulate the full emotional and mental gravity of how this book affected me? I imagine this is what souls feel like when someone asks "what's heaven like?" Nothing can adequately represent it. Nothing. "Addicted to You" took my expectations, crushed them into tiny pieces and from those pieces built something beyond my imagination, beyond words. This book is the start of a whirlwind series that will steal your life away until you only breathe the literary genius of Becca and Krista Ritchie. I was hooked from the first page and for good reason. "Addicted to You" is fast paced, heart wrenching, grimace worthy, love inducing real life. My attempt below to explain the "why" is only that, an attempt because I can only try to explain instead of simply writing - Read this fucking book because I can't write about perfection. I don't think book reviews work that way but this one should. Anyway if you want my sad attempt at explaining then read on, if not - buy the book.



The characters are so real and that's the magic. They could be your friend, your family and lord knows they are the charismatic type that people hate to love. As the blurb explains this book is definitely not sunshine, daisies and rainbows. The real life grit of addiction and enabling addiction is laid bare in an upfront and frank manner. Neither author romanticizes addiction into a romance tool with pretty bows. Becca and Krista are unapologetic in creating Lo and Lil's addictions as painful and crippling. Lil jumps from male to male in order to satiate her need, Lo doesn't spend a single moment in a day sober and yet despite this, I love Lo and Lil. I found myself horrified at their actions, the way they hid and perpetuated a life that gave them no satisfaction. I wanted to bitch and yell at them for being stupid, for believing they were worthless. I wanted to make them stronger while loving them as they were. I was so deep in this book I was surprised to lift my head and realize I hadn't left my room.

"Addicted to You" entices a mix of envy and repulsion that holds you perfectly balanced between both. It could be so easy to hate these characters but Krista and Becca Ritchie skillfully allow their characters to be loved, flaws and all. Such a beautifully crafted novel has the world at it's feet. If you don't grab a copy you will be missing on the BEST SERIES OF 2013 - SERIOUSLY. I'm going to sum up this novel in the apt words of Mr. Kanye West, "Man, they don't make 'em like this anymore" (Stronger).

5/5
xxx Literary George
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