Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Top 13 of 2013

Can you believe it's the last day of 2013? Where did this year go?! It must've slipped past me while I was losing myself in books. So many amazing books came out this year, and it's going to be a struggle to determine my top thirteen, but here it goes! I'm not ranking them, because well, that'd be too damn hard, so they're in no particular order.

Tessa's Top 13 of 2013




Losing Hope by Colleen Hoover   /   Finding Cinderella by Colleen Hoover



Tangled by Emma Chase



A Beautiful Lie by T.E. Sivec



Shine Not Burn by Elle Casey



In Flight by R.K Lilley  /  Mile High by R.K. Lilley



Vain by Fisher Amelie



Running on Empty by L.B. Simmons



There is No Light in Darkness by Claire Contreras  /  Darkness Before Dawn by Claire Contreras



Beauty From Pain by Georgia Cates



Code Red by Amy Noelle




Ashley's Top 13 of 2013


I'm still not sure how I narrowed down the long list of amazing books I read over the past year to just my 13 favorites. But somehow, I did it. 2013 flew by, and so many books took up residence not only on my iPad and my bookshelf, but in my heart. So, without further ado -- here are my top 13 books of 2013. 

13. Sins & Needles by Karina Halle




12. Light in the Shadows by A. Meredith Walters



11. Vain by Fisher Amelie



10. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green



9. Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker



8. Tangled by Emma Chase



7. Tears of Tess by Pepper Winters



6. Blind Obsession by Ella Frank



5. Quintessentially Q by Pepper Winters



4. Try by Ella Frank



3. Ricochet by Krista and Becca Ritchie



2. Addicted to You by Krista and Becca Ritchie



1. Addicted for Now by Krista and Becca Ritchie



**Cheers to 2014 and all the incredible books that I'll find my nose buried in over the next year ;)**






























Monday, December 30, 2013

REVIEW and GIVEAWAY: Addicted for Now by Krista and Becca Ritchie

(Addicted series, book 2)
He's addicted to booze. She's addicted to sex...staying sober is only half the battle.

No. More. Sex. 

Those are the three words Lily Calloway fears the most. But Loren Hale is determined to be with Lily without enabling her dangerous compulsions. With their new living situation—sleeping in the same bed, for real, together—Lily has new battles. Like not jumping Lo’s bones every night. Not being consumed by sex and his body.

Loren plans to stay sober, to right all of his wrongs. So when someone threatens to expose Lily’s secret to her family and the public, he promises that he’ll do anything to protect her. But with old enemies surfacing, Lo has more at stake than his sobriety.

They will torment Lily until Lo breaks. 

And his worst fear isn’t relapsing. He hears the end. He sees it. The one thing that could change everything. Just three words. 

No. More. Us. 

New Adult Romance recommended for readers 18+ for mature content


******


Yep. That’s me. Fangirling like it’s my job, because I am ridiculously, obsessively, probably unnaturally in love with this series. I have tried to convey my feelings through my reviews of Addicted to You and Ricochet, but honestly, I don’t think they do justice. No matter what I say, it won’t adequately describe how incredibly amazing this series is. Nevertheless, I’m going to give it another whirl with this review, and who knows…maybe third times a charm.

Addicted for Now starts off right where we’re left at the end of Ricochet. Lo is back home after his stay in rehab, and Lily is slowly working to overcome her addiction to sex and self-love. Going without sex for 90 days while Lo was away tested her strength and self-control like never before, but now she is faced with an even bigger challenge; sleeping in the same bed as Lo, every night, not acting on her physical urges, and letting Lo control their sex life.


But that isn’t the worst of Lily’s problems. Someone knows about her addiction, and has threatened to expose her secret. Between Lo striving to maintain his sobriety, Lily struggling to relinquish her sexual control, and the hunt to find out where these threats are coming from, these two are challenged over and over again; but through it all, they always have each other.



One of the reasons why this series is so remarkable, in my opinion, is the character development. Lily and Lo aren’t just two, entitled rich kids who have dependencies that can’t be explained, or addictions that were taken up simply due to boredom. These are two broken people who have developed and leaned on their addictions, and each other, because of deep seeded issues. But it’s not just the character development of Lily and Lo that blows me away; it’s for all the characters. Connor, Rose, Ryke, Daisy – all of them are so magnificently written that even though these books focus on Lily and Lo, the secondary characters don’t feel that way. They aren’t pushed to the background, and simply looked over. The storyline involves them in such a way that makes them every bit as essential as Lily and Lo, and I legitimately adore every single one of them. (If you read my review of Ricochet, you’ll know my love for Ryke shines brighter than the rest, but that’s neither here nor there.) The relationships are genuine, the situations are immensely well thought out, and the combination of character originality and storyline perfection is what makes these novels pure brilliance.

The Ritchie sisters continue to blow me away with their writing abilities, although I don’t know why I would expect any less at this point. They seamlessly weave these six characters’ lives into a storyline that not only highlights each of them, but makes them feel real. One scene in particular that comes to mind is towards the end of the book, and it involves Ryke and Lo. I broke down into a crying mess. The sheer emotion in that scene just wrecked me. Oh, and the situation with Lily and the new therapist?!?! AND the identity of the leak?! I can't even....


Look, here’s the bottom line: Krista and Becca Ritchie can fucking write, and they have managed to create an original series that just keeps getting better and better. If you haven’t read these novels yet, you are missing out on some of the most original characters, creative storylines, and utterly superb writing I have ever experienced. If someone were to ask me “Why do you read?”…I would say “Because of series like this. That’s why I read.” 


MY RATING: 5 STARS




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