Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Addicted to You

The Addicted/Calloway Sisters series has been on my TBR for a while and I finally picked up the first book. Sometimes I'm in the mood for a book that's easy to binge and similar to the Magnolia Parks books - toxic relationship, drama, stupid rich people, braindead entertainment - and Addicted to You definitely falls under these categories.

The book was easy to binge and somewhat entertaining. I was never fully invested in Lily & Lo, they're so bad for each other and I didn't want to root for them as a couple. Lily started to annoy me towards the end, girl had me rolling my eyes and face palming. I liked the introduction of Connor and Ryke, if the entire book was just Lily & Lo off in their own world I think I would've DNF'd.

I'm not itching to start the second book, but will probably come back to this series whenever I need a palette cleanser.

Content Warnings

sssar_'s review

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challenging emotional funny informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

aaand we're done with the first book of the addicted world.
I don't really have anything to say in the plot, I think it was very interesting and by the end of the book it depicted well how both Lily and Lo are destructive together in those conditions. The story is well performed and it's only the first book so despite expecting to be left with questions I'm not, it's just pure waiting to see what will happen next with Lo and Lily. I loved how they showed us Lily's relationships and LOREN'S, LIKE, I LOVE ALL OF HIS RELATIONSHIPS. Whether it's Lily,Rose,Connor or Ryke their all top notch!! it's rare for me to be satisfied about these things, especially as a side characters lover.
I don't have much to say about their characters and rn we've gone through their addiction(I guess?) so I'm kind of curious about what will be going on with the next book since their five if I'm not wrong. What I mean is that the development can't really be talked about cuz it's like we're going through a stage and in the next book it'll be another. Either way I'm keeping their characters'reviews for the last book or the other one if there's something important I'll feel like mentioning.
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Fav character: Loren.
Fav side character: Rike.
Fav plotwist: Rike's intentions (?not sure how to phrase it without spoilers).
Fav chaps:14,21,28,32
Fav quotes and scenes in the spoiler section ⬇️

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Abandonment and Sexual content

“In this moment, I’m yours.”“And as your boyfriend,” he murmurs, “I really hate to share.”/ “You’re a permanent fixture in my life. You’re not going anywhere.” /“Did you feel like you couldn’t talk to me?” “Things were changing,” “I know I can be a royal asshole. But I love you. You’re my best friend and the only person I’ve ever told that I have a problem. It doesn’t matter if we’re in a fucking fake relationship. We’re supposed to talk to each other. Come to me before you go off the deep end, okay?” / “I’m here for you. Always.” /“You know you can tell me anything, Lil. I’m not going anywhere.” / “I’m clearly an option, and yet you still can’t ask me. I don’t fucking get it. Am I that revolting to you? You would rather go through withdrawals and bang some asshole than sleep with me?”/ “Have you ever thought about it?” “Have you ever thought about me inside you?” “Have you ever thought about us together?” ”Together?” “Where I don’t share you with any other man.”All the time. “Yes.” “If I could be enough to fill you, would you let me?” “Yes.” “Then let me try,” he says, his hand cupping my face. “Let me try to be enough for you.” /“I didn’t know you wanted to…you never said anything,” I stumble.“How the hell could you not know?” “I’m dirty,” I refute, hot tears brimming. “You don’t want me.”His face twists in pain. “I don’t think that. Neither should you.” His lips graze my neck and then find my ear. “Lil, I want you to ask me. I need you to.” “Help me” /“I thought it was part of the lie. I thought you were just pretending.” How could I know that he wanted more?“I’ve never pretended, Lil. We’ve been together, even if you thought it was some fucking lie. We just weren’t having sex.” He stares at his glass. “On bad days, I’d touch you more than I should, I admit. Like when Daisy spent the night, but I was hoping you’d finally open your eyes and realize that I was there. You didn’t have to suffer or go be fulfilled by some other guy. I was right in front of you.” /“I want to love you more than I love this”—he waves his bottle—“and I don’t know how else to do it unless there’s something to lose.” /“I’ll have three chicken tacos. She’ll take beef with extra lettuce.” He knows my order by heart, not surprising since we eat here regularly, but now that we’re together, it seems sexier.“You want hot sauce on those chicken, right?” “No, not today.”I frown. “You always get hot sauce.” “And you hate spicy food.” WhaaatOhhhh. It clicks. He plans to kiss me sometime soon. That, I like./ And honestly…” His eyes dart between Lo and me with a growing smile. “Fizzle and Hale Co., you both still haven’t realized who I am. And I have a good feeling you wouldn’t give a shit if you knew.” / “How about this?” His husky, low voice takes my breath. “Just repeat this phrase whenever you feel the urge to jump some other guy’s bones.” His mouth brushes my ear. “Loren Hale fucks better.” /“I know you’re not really writing an article, so you don’t need to ask these things.” “I fucking know that, Lily. I’m asking because I’m genuinely curious. No offense, but I care about your boyfriend more than I care about you.” “Are you sure you don’t have a crush on him?” “Seriously, Lily?” “What? It’s an honest question. You’re obsessed with Lo.” “I’m not obsessed. Don’t use that word. I’m just curious. I want to know him. Why do I have to be in love with him to want such a thing?” “I don’t know. It’s weird.” /Ryke refuses to back down. He meets Lo’s challenge, not deterring from his sharp gaze. He even goes one step further and sets a gentle hand on the back of Lo’s neck. “I’m sorry,” Ryke breathes with so much hurt that it takes me by surprise. “I’m so fucking sorry, Lo. I’m here for you now. Whatever you’re going through, I may not have experienced it, but I’m right here.” / “I love you, but I want to love you enough that I never choose alcohol over you. Not even for a moment. I want to be someone you deserve. Who helps you rather than enables you, and I can’t begin to do that until I get help for myself.” / “I’ll always be yours. No distance or time apart will change that, Lily. You need to believe that.” /“Wait for me.” The words come out choked and pained. “I need you to wait for me.” .

hollymileham's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

absolutely love this series already, fake relationship and famous people? say less...

Content Warnings

eveling_99's review against another edition

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dark informative sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

bethanysbooknook's review

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

After hearing people rave about this series on Twitter, I thought I was going to love it. Honestly, it was just okay. Nothing to scream to the rooftops about, but not necessarily bad either. However, I did like how they portrayed their addictions because it was very accurate. I think I will continue the series just to see what happens.

Content Warnings

meeklovestoread's review

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adventurous emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I'm sorry in advance for how long this is.😅

Okay I'm really surprised by this book. I've been putting it off since I've heard about it on the book side of social media for about a year now. It has alot of popularity, but all the tropes I heard people listing weren't favorites of mine. Plus the main thing that made me put this book off for so long was that I heard it depicts a toxic relationship. And I personally loathe reading about toxic relationships.

However, I've finally conformed. It's been on my reading list for a while so I finally decided to pick it up and I can say that I'm pretty surprised on how much I enjoyed it.

Don't get me wrong the relationship between the main characters Lily and Lo is nothing to emulate your relationship after. But in my opinion their relationship is more so "dysfunctional" rather than flat out toxic. Throughout the book both parties have displayed on numerous occasions how much they care, love, and appreciate one another. (the shower scene) They have the potential for an honest, heartfelt, and healthy relationship.

However like I stated previously, their current relationship is nothing to emulate your romantic relationships on. They enable each other's addictions with knowledge that it's not gonna help them out in the long run.

there's an scene in the book where Lily and Lo are at a Halloween party and Lo breaks into the owner's cabinet of expensive booze and she just let's him have at it. By the end of the night Lo almost gets into disastrous dibocal and then passes out leaving Lily to clean up his mess. And she's so desensitized to his problem that when Ryke and Connor (especially Ryke) are looking and Lo passed out in concern Lily sorts just brushes it off because "he's always like this". And she's always taking care of him when he goes over the limit.

And I also think Lily can be too occupied with her own addiction to really realize that Lo is down bad. I hope we get more insight into how these addictions started.

Lo also becomes desensitized to Lily's actions as well.

Up until he found her having sex with two guys at the same time and hooking up with random guys through random phone exchanges, and even considered Craigslist was when he decided to drop the ball on her. And urge her to dile it down. He was so desensitized that it was said that he'd often offer the men that come out if Lily's bed coffee.

Lo can be pretty nasty towards Lily especially when she tries to interfere with his drinking. And when they do start dating for real Lo literally expects Lily to cheat on him because Lily is constantly fighting her sexual compulsions in order to stay celibate/monogamous to Lo. Of course in a healthy relationship you shouldn' t have to constantly worry that your partner is being unfaithful. And the fact that Lo has a tendecy to be pretty hot and cold with Lily (one minute he's a sweetheart, the next a dickhead) is a big red flag. Also Lo's aggressive tendencies are not ideal either (he doesn't hit her at all; there is no physical abuse depicted in this book; he just always has a tendecies to pick up fights with other people). He's just very immature and lacks ambition. They both defintely have alot of growing and maturing to do before they can reach consummate and stability in their lives and relationship.

So dysfunctional and unhealthy. Like I said nothing to aspire to, but definitely not damaged beyond repair. Plus they do seem to be trying to fix themsleves towards the end of the book. And I think that maybe what the writers' objectives are. To showcase the ugly parts of their relationship so they can commence on the journey towards healing. At least that's what I hope the other books are about.😅

Also, I actually like how the authors depicted their addictions and them as characters. Lily being all shy and introverted with a sex addiciton and Loren battling his was really well depicted. And her inner dialogue that she has with herself where she talks about on herself for having her addiction, her social anxiety, and her friendship with Lo, and their background was very entertaining to read about. I was really it was dual POV.

Oh and we also got to meet the future characters of this book series which was cool. So here are my first impressions:

Connor - superficial privileged prick who says out of pocket and insensitive comments and thinks he's above everyone else due to his wealth and intelligence, but deep down has a decent, loving heart (he's okay but certainly my least favorite out of the bunch)

Rose - superficial mean judgmental privileged girl, but the way she scares about Lily and her family warms my heart (also I have to admire how unapologetically smart she is)

Ryke - nosy, but really means well; I liked him and I admired how much he stood up for girls (didn't appreciate him the comment he made about Lily's weight though) so far he's my favorite guy

I saw the twist of him being Loren's brother a mile away, but it sure it make the book more emotional

I'm more into plot driven books so it took me a while to get through this because a whole lot of nothing was happening. So this is definitely a character based book. I think when it was around the 70-80% mark was when I started to feel it just a little bit (it was still entertaining though) and because I read this as in e-book it did take me quite a while to get through this, but I surprisingly enjoyed the read and will be continuing on with the second book.

Content Warnings

wickedgrumpy's review

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

What did I just read? Why did I even read it?

I don't know what I was expecting, but it definitely did not deliver. Also, the twist was obvious from a mile away.

I think I was swayed by those that said they loved the couple. I've read darker romances before and they've been meh to okay so I figured, maybe this is the one. It was not the one.

Content Warnings

iramdham's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful informative sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

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