4.1
-
15,284 ratings
The TikTok sensation Addicted to You, now in a print edition with special bonus material! She's addicted to sex. He's addicted to booze...the only way out is rock bottom. Fall in love with Lily and Lo in this edgy new adult romance set in a world of lust, fame, swoon-worthy men, and friendships that run deeper than blood in this special edition with bonus materials—in print only!
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.
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ISBN-10
0593549473
ISBN-13
978-0593549476
Print length
384 pages
Language
English
Publisher
Berkley
Publication date
August 15, 2022
Dimensions
5.46 x 0.81 x 8.2 inches
Item weight
10.4 ounces
I’ll always be yours. No distance or time apart will change that, Lily. You need to believe that.
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He knew the only way for me to truly fight is if I have something to lose.
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No one told me you can love someone and still be miserable. How is that possible?
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B00DE5EBZ8
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2814 KB
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Enabled
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Supported
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Enabled
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"I seriously love this series. I read all the books and I did a re-read backwards. If you haven't started this, then you are insane." - Jacqueline's Reads
"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" - Aestas Book Blog
"Destructively romantic and full of secrets, Addicted to You is a highly character driven story with an ending that will leave you gasping for more." - Xpresso Reads
"This is a deeply flawed couple who's behavior I really should find abhorrent but this is clever writing and I found myself sympathizing strongly with them, even wanting them to succeed in their deception." - Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews
"The characters have this undeniable chemistry." - Pearl's Book Journey
"Heartbreaking and soul-crashing but simultaneously beautiful and entertaining modern family drama." - Reading is My Breathing
"6 Glowing Stars!!!" - Book Vigilante Reviews
"I loved the writing style, the emotional underpinnings were so realistic. The co-dependent relationship, so realistic. The love they shared and the turmoil, totally realistic." - Reading Haven
One
I wake up. My shirt crumpled on a fuzzy carpet. My shorts astray on a dresser. And I think my underwear is lost for good. Somewhere between the folds of the sheets or maybe hidden by the doorway. I can't remember when I took them off or if that was even my doing. Maybe he undressed me.
My neck heats as I take a quick peek at the sleeping beauty, some guy with golden hair and a scar along his hipbone. He turns a fraction, facing me, and I freeze. His eyes stay shut, and he groggily clings to his pillow, practically kissing the white fabric. As he lets out breathy snores, his mouth open, the strong scent of alcohol and pepperoni pizza wafts right towards me.
I sure know how to choose 'em.
I masterfully slip from the bed and tiptoe around his apartment, yanking on my black shorts-sans panties, another pair gone to a nameless guy. As I pick up my ripped gray tee, tattered and practically in shreds, the foggy image of last night clears. I stepped through the threshold of his room and literally tore my clothes off like the raging Hulk. Was that even sexy? I cringe. Must have been sexy enough to sleep with me.
Desperate, I find a discolored muscle tee on his floor and manage to tug it over my shoulder-length brown hair, the straight strands tangled and greasy. That's when I find my woolen hat. Bingo. I smack that baby on and hightail it out of his bedroom.
Empty beer cans scatter the narrow hallway, and I stumble over a bottle of Jack Daniel's, filled with black spittle and what looks like a Jolly Rancher. A photo collage of inebriated college girls decorates the door to my left-thankfully not the room I exited. Somehow I was able to dodge that Kappa Phi Delta horn dog and find a guy that doesn't advertise his conquests.
I should know better. I swore off frat houses after my last encounter at Alpha Omega Zeta. The night I arrived at fraternity row, AOZ was hosting a theme party. Unaware, I stepped through the four-story building's archway to be met with buckets of water and guys chanting for me to rip off my bra. It was like Spring Break gone awry. Not that I have much in the upstairs department to show off. Before I convulsed in embarrassment, I ducked underneath arms, wedged between torsos and found pleasure at other places and with other people.
Ones that didn't make me feel like a cow being appraised.
Last night I broke a rule. Why? I have a problem. Well, I have many problems. But saying no happens to be one of them. When Kappa Phi Delta announced that Skrillex would be playing in their basement, I thought the crowd would be a mixture of sorority girls and regular college folk. Maybe I'd be able to land a normal guy who likes house music. Turns out, the demographic centered on frat guys. Lots of them. Preying on anyone with two boobs and a vagina.
And Skrillex never showed. It was just a lame DJ and a few amps. Go figure.
Deep, male voices echo off the marble balusters on the balcony and staircase, and my feet cement by the wall. People are awake? Downstairs? Oh no.
The walk of shame is a venture I plan to avoid all four years of collegiate society. For one, I blush. Like intense tomato-red. No cute flushed cheeks. Just rash-like patches that dot my neck and arms as if I'm allergic to embarrassment.
The male laughter intensifies, and my stomach knots at the nightmarish image spinning in my mind. The one where I stumble down the stairs and all heads whip in my direction. The look of surprise coats their faces, wondering what "brother" of theirs decided to hook up with a flat-chested, gaunt girl. Maybe they'll throw a chicken bone at me, teasing me to eat.
Sadly that happened in fourth grade.
Likely, I'll sputter unintelligible words until one of them takes pity on my flaming red leopard spots and shuffles me out of their door like unwanted garbage.
This was such a mistake (the frat house, not the sex). Never again will I be forced to hoover tequila shots like a vacuum. Peer pressure. It's a real thing.
My options are limited. One staircase. One fate. Unless I happen to grow a pair of wings and fly out of the second-floor window, I'm about to face the walk of shame. I creep to the balcony and suddenly envy Veil from one of my newer comics. The young Avenger can vaporize into nothingness. A power I could surely use right now.
As soon as I reach the top step, the doorbell rings and I peek over the railing. About ten fraternity brothers are gathered on leather sofas, dressed in various versions of khaki shorts and collared shirts. The most lucid guy nominates himself for door-duty. He manages to stand on two feet, his brown hair swept back and his jaw intimidatingly squared. As he answers the door, my spirits lift.
Yes! This is my one opportunity to dash out unseen.
I use the distraction to glide down the steps undetected, channeling my inner-Veil. Halfway to the bottom, Squared-jaw leans on the door frame, blocking the entrance. "Party's over, man." The words sound cottony in his mouth. He lets the door swing shut in the person's face.
I hop over two more stairs.
The bell rings again. For some reason, it sounds angrier.
Squared-jaw groans and yanks the knob hard. "What?"
Another frat guy laughs. "Just give him a beer and tell him to piss off."
A few more steps. Maybe I can really do this. I've never been a particularly lucky person, but I suppose I'm due for a dose.
Squared-jaw keeps his hand planted on the frame, still blocking the passage. "Speak."
"First of all, does it look like I can't read a clock or furthermore don't know what daytime looks like? No shit, there's no party." Holy . . . I know that voice.
I stay planted three-quarters down. Sunshine trickles through a tiny space between the door frame and Squared-jaw's tangerine-orange Polo. He clenches his teeth, about ready to slam the door back in the other guy's face, but the intruder puts his hand on it and says, "I left something here last night."
"I don't remember you being here."
"I was." He pauses. "Briefly."
"We have a lost and found," Squared-jaw says curtly. "What is it?" He edges away from the door frame and nods to someone on the couch. They watch the scene like a reality rerun on MTV. "Jason, go grab the box."
When I glance back, I notice the guy outside. Eyes right on me.
"No need," he says.
I sweep his features. Light brown hair, short on either side, full on top. Decently toned body hidden beneath a pair of faded Dockers and a black crew-neck tee. Cheekbones that cut like ice and eyes like liquid scotch. Loren Hale is an alcoholic beverage and he doesn't even know it.
All six-foot-two of him fills the doorway.
As he stares at me, he wears a mixture of amusement and irritation, the muscles in his jaw twitching with both. The frat guys follow his gaze and zero in on the target.
Me.
I may as well have reanimated from thin air.
"Found her," Lo says with a tight, bitter smile.
Heat rises to my face, and I use my hands as human blinders, trying to cover my humiliation as I practically sprint to the door.
Squared-jaw laughs like he won their masculine showdown. "Your girlfriend is a skank, man."
I hear no more. The brisk September air fills my lungs, and Lo bangs the door closed with more force than he probably intended. I cower in my hands, pressing them to my hot cheeks as the event replays in my head. Oh. My. God.
Lo swoops in behind me, his arms flying around my waist. He sets his chin on my shoulder, hunching over a little to counter my short height with his tall. "He better have been worth it," Lo whispers, his hot breath tickling my neck.
"Worth what?" My heart lodges in my throat; his closeness confuses and tempts me. I never know where Lo's true intentions lie.
He guides me forward as we walk, my back still pressed against his chest. I can barely lift up a foot, let alone think straight. "Your first walk of shame in a frat house. How'd that feel?"
"Shameful."
He plants a light kiss on my head and disentangles from me, walking forward. "Pick it up, Calloway. I left my drink in the car."
My eyes begin to widen as I process what this means, gradually forgetting the horrors that just occurred. "You didn't drive, did you?"
He flashes me a look like really, Lily? "Seeing as how my usual DD was unavailable"-he raises his eyebrows accusingly-"I called Nola."
He called my personal driver, and I don't begin to ask why he decided to forgo his own chauffeur that would gladly cart him around Philadelphia. Anderson has loose lips. In ninth grade when Chloe Holbrook threw a rager, Lo and I may have been discussing illegal narcotics that were passed from hand to hand at her mother's mansion. Backseat conversations should be considered private among all car-participants. Anderson must not have realized this unspoken rule because the next day, our rooms were raided for illegal paraphernalia. Luckily, the maid forgot to search in the fake fireplace where I used to keep my X-rated box of toys.
We came away clean from the incident and learned a very important lesson. Never trust Anderson.
I prefer to not use my family's car service and thus embed myself further in their grips, but sometimes Nola is a necessity. Like now. When I'm slightly hungover and unable to drive the perpetually drunk Loren Hale.
He has knighted me as his personal sober driver and refuses to shell out money to any cab services after we were almost mugged in one. We never told our parents what happened. Never explained to them how close we were to something horrible. Mostly because we spent that afternoon at a bar with two fake IDs. Lo guzzled more whiskey than a grown man. And I had sex in a public bathroom for the very first time. Our indecencies became our rituals, and our families didn't need to know about them.
My black Escalade is parked on the curb of frat row. Multi-million dollar houses line up, each outdoing the last in column sizes. Red Solo cups litter the nearest yard, an overturned keg splaying sadly in the grass. Lo walks ahead of me.
"I didn't think you were going to show," I say and skirt past a puddle of barf in the road.
"I said I would."
I snort. "That's not always accurate."
He halts by the car door, the windows too tinted to see Nola waiting in the driver's seat. "Yeah, but this is Kappa Phi Delta. You screw one and they may all want a piece of your ass. I seriously had nightmares about it."
I grimace. "About me getting raped?"
"That's why they're called nightmares, Lily. They're not supposed to be pleasant."
"Well this is probably my last expedition into a frat house for another decade or at least until I forget about this morning."
The driver's window rolls down. Nola's deep black curls caress her heart-shaped face. "I have to pick up Miss Calloway from the airport in an hour."
"We'll be ready in a minute," I tell her. The window slides up, blocking her from view.
"Which Miss Calloway?" Lo asks.
"Daisy. Fashion Week just ended in Paris." My little sister shot up overnight to a staggering five-foot-eleven inches, and with her rail-like frame she fit the mold for high fashion. My mother capitalized on Daisy's beauty in an instant. Within the week of her fourteenth birthday, she was signed to IMG modeling agency.
Lo's fingers twitch by his side. "She's fifteen and probably surrounded by older models blowing lines in a bathroom."
"I'm sure they sent someone with her." I hate that I don't know the details. Since I arrived at the University of Pennsylvania, I acquired the rude hobby of dodging phone calls and visits. Separating from the Calloway household became all too easy once I entered college. I suppose that has always been written for me. I used to push the boundaries of my curfew and spent little time in the company of my mother and father.
Lo says, "I'm glad I don't have siblings. Frankly, you have enough for me."
I never considered having three sisters to be a big brood, but a family of six does garner some unique attention.
He rubs his eyes wearily. "Okay, I need a drink and we need to go."
I inhale a deep breath, about to ask a question we've both avoided thus far. "Are we pretending today?" With Nola so close, it's always a tossup. On one hand, she's never betrayed our trust. Not even in the tenth grade when I used the backseat of a limo to screw a senior soccer player. The privacy screen was up, blocking Nola's view, but he grunted a little too loud and I knocked into the door a little too hard. Of course she heard, but she never ratted me out.
There's always the risk that one day she'll betray us. Cash loosens lips, and unfortunately, our fathers are swimming in it.
I shouldn't care. I'm twenty. Free to have sex. Free to party. You know, all the things expected of college-aged adults. But my laundry list of dirty (like really dirty) secrets could create a scandal within my family's circle of friends. My father's company would not appreciate that publicity one bit. If my mother knew my serious problem, she'd send me away for rehab and counseling until I was fixed up nicely. I don't want to be fixed. I just want to live and feed my appetite. It just so happens that my appetite is a sexual one.
Plus, my trust fund would magically vanish at the sight of my impropriety. I'm not ready to walk away from the money that pays my way through college. Lo's family is equally unforgiving.
"We'll pretend," he tells me. "Come on, love." He taps my ass. "Into the car." I barely stumble on his frequent use of love. In middle school, I told him how I thought it was the sexiest term of endearment. And even though British guys have claimed stake to it, Lo took it as his own.
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Becca Ritchie
Krista & Becca Ritchie are New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors and identical twins--one a science nerd, the other a comic book geek--but with their shared passion for writing, they combined their mental powers as kids and have never stopped telling stories. They love superheroes, flawed characters, and soul mate love.
For more information visit www.kbritchie.com
Stay up to date on new releases, bonus content, and more by signing up for Krista & Becca's newsletter. To sign up, copy and paste this link into your browser: www.kbritchie.com/newsletter.html
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Customer reviews
4.1 out of 5
15,284 global ratings
shabbyarora
5
All walks of shame
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2024
Verified Purchase
This book is not for the faint of heart. The emotional impact gouges your heart with a blunt spoon and leaves behind holes, the size of moon craters. This was the most conflicted I've been while writing a review because this book was difficult to judge. Raw and painful journey into black hole of addiction is the central theme, but surprisingly not the oft repeated kinds. It took me a few chapters to come to terms with the open gaping wound that is this story. The further I delved into it, the further it hurt ME, still like a masochist I couldn't put it down. when did these character' pain became mine, I cannot pinpoint the moment. The worst part of being an addict is not only is the debilitating illness has your life in a chokehold or your alienation from all those who love and care for you, or your devil-may-care viewpoint towards your future, career, dreams that are all drowning in a vat of hopelessness and pity... Nope, not even that, dismal as it is... The Absolute Worst part is..when you fall in love with another Addict!!
You become both Cause & Effect for each other. Enabling, suffocating, impeding each other's lives without meaning to This degree of toxic, tragic love could not have any chance of surviving intact and THAT is the undertone of this deviously penned book. So many sentiments are flying around, it's hard to pin your attention to just one of them.
Loren Hale is an alcoholic. Has been since he was a child. Carrying a huge boulder of abandonment issues on his shoulder, this Atlas is weighed down heavily in the bottom of bourbon bottle and has no desire to climb back up. His pretend/fake girlfriend - Lily Calloway is a closet sekks-addict. Her urges are uncontrollable like a runaway train. It's a serious malady complete with panic attacks, unsuppressable urges that prompt her to take unnecessary risks at the stake of personal safety. Withdrawals, body shivers, foggy mind till she get her fix. I was stunned speechless reading it, my heart goes out to every victim of any kind of addiction.
The mood is sorrowful, lo and Lily both full of self pity, trying to decipher the train wreck that is their lives. She continously chases the high while intoxicated, with no recollection of events the morning after, except sobs and tears. It was harrowing recount to say the least. The book ends on a sort of cliffy or to-be-continued spot. And its a series of 3.5 books and I need a break from sadness and gloominess to recoup enough to carry on The thing that irked me a tiny bit is that When building a Billionaire or trillionaire world of world-dominators business tycoons, the authors should not only focus on clothes and branded cars. The vocabulary, the language characters use, their mannerisms should also be kept in mind. A soda pop manufacturer (I'm thinking as big a C cola) daughters don't talk like middle class people. And with so many resources, clandestine help at hand wasn't a far reaching dream. Therapy could've been sought easily in secret. And the prolonged & overstretched plot of who blinks first, got the book to sag in the middle. It was hard to concentrate. Also I can understand the root cause of Loren's anguish, but Lily is blessed with a loving, caring family and her sisters are checking up on her constantly. Her shame stops her to seek help professionally and personally but in the end family is the one she leans on!
And for a girl in UPenn, she's pretty dull minded. Academically and socially. And this is the only thing that was my personal pet trigger. My son lost out a set in UPENN Despite everything going for him by a hair-width margin, because people like her, with a wealthy last name take them and they have no business being there. She's not very smart, without her addiction too. Still a really good book, written well, story so powerful. 4.5 stars for walks of shame
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Ms.Meesh
5
Addicted to You: Addicting!!
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2013
Verified Purchase
Copy provided by author an honest review **** 4.5 addicting stars**** "She's addicted to sex. He's addicted to booze...the only way out is rock bottom."
When I first read the blurb of this book, I knew this would be intense and different from the usual story-lines that I normally read. The authors, Krista & Becca Ritchie, did a fantastic job in writing and addressing a sensitive matter, addiction and the people who enable the addiction.
Addicted to You, focuses on two rich and prominent childhood friends, Lilly Calloway and Loren Hale. From the outsider's perspective, they would be seen as two childhood friends in a loving and stable relationship while attending college at the University of Pennsylvania. Lilly and Loren seem to have it all: a perfect relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend, money, family and friends. What friends and family don't know, is that Lilly and Loren have been keeping secrets of their addiction.
Lilly Calloway, comes from a loving family with three sisters: Poppy, Rose and Daisy. She has parents who love and adore her. Sisters, who are fiercely protective and loving especially her older and closest sister, Rose. What they don't know is that Lilly has an addiction to SEX.. Lilly is not just obsessed but seriously addicted to sex. Her daily routines must consist of sex, watching porn, daydreaming of sexual fantasy and masturbation. Lilly cannot function without achieving her sexual high/desires. Her addiction has affected her schoolwork and time with her family.
Loren Hale, son of Jonathan Hale of Hale Corporation, is rich, handsome, and attends a prestigious University. Loren, also known as Lo, seems to have it have all but is addicted to ALCOHOL.. His addiction to alcohol is so severe that his morning consist of the hard stuff and ends with him either passed out or completely blacked out. He's consistently drinking whiskey, bourbon, beer or any hard alcohol that he can get his hands on. His addiction is affecting his lack of schoolwork, attendance, and personality. Lo, stems his addiction from the pressures of his demanding father and the abandonment of his mother.
Being childhood friends, Lo and Lilly knows each others addiction. For three years, they have been deceiving their family that were boyfriend and girlfriend. They have been covering up for one another so they can continue their addictions. Soon, Lo and Lilly decides that they no longer want to be in a fake relationship but a "real one" together and that they can help each other out with their addictions. Lo will help satisfy Lilly's sexual addiction and Lo will try to cut back on drinking. As it turns out, their addiction only intensifies and they soon find themselves enabling one another. They become addicted to not only sex and alcohol but to each other. Lilly craves the sexual highs that Lo can provide for her. He has become her crutch and vice-versa. Both are well aware of their addictions and feel guilty about it but they just can't seem to stop doing it.
Lo and Lilly loves each other so much that they are afraid to lose one another. Their addiction has reach a point where it has gotten unhealthy and destructive and soon their family and friends have to step in to intervene.
This book ends with Lo and Lilly going their separate ways trying to get healthy and beat their addiction. It ends with them promising to wait for each other. Lo will be entering rehab and Lilly starting all over at new school with her sister, Rose and getting therapy. Their journey to getting healthy continues in the next book of the series. Will they succeed or fail?
"I'll always be yours. No distance or time apart will change that, Lilly. You need to believe that."
What I like about this book, is that it allows readers to get into a glimpse of the daily lives of two individual struggling and battling with their addiction: alcohol and sex. Addictions that have become destructive and ruining their lives. Readers get to witness the deep love that Lo and Lilly has for one another and at the same time witness that are indeed enablers to their loved one's addiction. It is very rare to hear or read about a book that deals with a woman's addiction to sex. This book introduces us to great group of characters in Connor, Rose and Ryke whom have become the supporting pillars for Lo and Lilly.You get to feel the pain Lo and Lilly experiences through their eyes. I felt their love, shame, sadness, and guilt. I look forward to reading the next book to see what becomes of them and I am hoping that Lo and Lilly will find their way back to each other healthy and be able to make their relationship work because I felt the love that they have for one another. They have that kind of relationship where words doesn't need to spoken because they already know what one's thinking or feeling.
I open my mouth, wanting to express all of my feelings at once. I love you. I'll wait for you! You're my best friend and my soul mate and my lover. I'm so proud of you. Please...come back to me. His lips upturn in a hopeful smile.. "I know."
I would recommend this book and give it 4.5 stars. It's one of the stories that you find yourself hoping that Lo and Lilly will beat their addictions and find their way back to each other.
Thank you to Krista and Becca Ritchie for the opportunity to read and review your book. I look forward to the second book and the journey of Lo and Lilly.
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4 people found this helpful
Sharon Hedden
5
A must read!
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2024
Verified Purchase
I just finished Addicted to You! First time reading Krista and Rebecca Ritchie! I, for one, can see what all the hype is about! Why people are going crazy for this series. And that is after just reading the first book in this series. Wow. It is such a wonderful story. It’s about Loren and Lily and they each have an addiction. So please check TW before going into this book. But it’s written so good and beautifully. These two lost souls have their addictions and they feed each other’s addictions but they care about each other so much. They love each other so deeply. And they are on a road to destruction but meet two new friends who help them see their destructive path. And so toward the end they both start on their journeys to heal and get better. I highly recommend this book! And I cannot wait to go on. This is going to be such a ride and I’m there for it. I don’t want to say too much to not ruin it for those of you who have not yet read this series. I am so there and again, cannot wait to go on this journey with Lo and Lily and the rest of gang. Please read this! You will not be sorry. It is sad at times but it’s such a beautiful story.
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