After watching Jillian's NA recommends video I decided to pick up 'Addicted to you' by twin sisters Krista and Becca Ritchie on my e-reader (it was free at the time, I'm not sure if it still is).
Title: Addicted to you
Author: Krista & Becca Ritchie
Genre: contemporary, NA
Publication Date: June 13th 2013
I you want to know the synopsis, you can click on the title in the introduction.
What first attracted me to this story was that the female character is the one with the sex addiction. Sex addiction is still a taboo and to read a story about a female sex addict sounded 'refreshing'. This addiction is not the only one in the book. Loren - the male protagonist - is an alcoholic, what they refer to as 'a functioning alcoholic'. He can go through almost every day without people realising he has a drinking problem. Lily and Loren have known each other since they were little and this allows them to cover for each other. They pretend to be in a relationship so they can help each other out. This is important for them, because they don't want their families to find out about their problems.
From the start of this book, you really feel for the characters. Even though the protagonists are both addicted, you immediately sympathise with them. Throughout the story new characters are introduced and you follow the evolution of the relationships. You have front row seats to everything that happens with the characters and you get sucked into the story.
I really liked Lily and Loren's characters. I didn't care much for Lily's sister Rose as she seems a stuck-up little thing at first, but as the story evolves so does her character and she becomes a person you can rely on.
Connor and Ryke are two boys who come into their lives for very different reasons and even though Lily and Loren aren't used to people being friendly to them and they have a hard time accepting them as friends. At first Connor is really pretentious and Ryke can drive you up the wall, but they turn out to be good guys that stick with Lily and Loren through the rough patches. (I was glad to learn that they have their own stories in the spin-off series. You can find the reading order for the whole series here.)
Since this story deals with pretty severe addictions, it's nice that nothing is sugar-coated, so you get a pretty realistic image. (Be advised: like almost every NA story, this contains sexual content, but it also talks a lot about alcohol) That's what appealed to me so much: you actually start to believe in these characters, they are so unbelievably realistic. You can tell that even though they want to help each other out so badly, they aren't good for each other at the moment. But you still want them to be there for each other and be together. They are trying to deal with their problems and I really really want them to be able to work through them. For me that means it's a very good story: I consider them to be real characters. That's why I'm both scared and excited to continue with this series! I want the characters to be okay, but I'm scared they still have a long way to go before they can become better.
The story also shows you that even though your family is loaded, that doesn't mean that you're happy or that nothing is wrong!
It's been a while since I was sucked into a story and felt so much for the characters! That's why I gave it 4.5 stars on Goodreads. (This is the highest rating I've ever given an NA book and even the highest rating I've given any book this year!)
Hope you liked this review and if you're interested be sure to pick up this book, it's worth it.
If you've read this book or are interested in reading it, let me know in the comments!
Bye for now
Annelies
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