Becca Ritchie

*eARC received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Addicted to you is the beginning of Lo and Lily's story. Both are from affluent families and while they use their families money, they would rather not be part of their families. This isn't a story of two spoiled rich kids who party all the time and then go home and pretend that nothing happened.

Lo and Lily are both in college and while they do "party" it's not what you would think. Lo has a drinking problem that he has had since he was a teen and Lily is addicted to sex. I know, you're thinking "addicted to sex? How can a girl be addicted to sex?" It was my first thought too, but trust me, it is possible and it happens more than you think.
lo and Lily have been pretending to be in a relationship to help cover their addictions from their parents. Lo is an only child who was raised by an alcoholic father that was at times abusive, or so I gathered. lily is one of 4 girls, who were all named for flowers and while Lily isn't the youngest, she is treated almost with kid gloves by her family. Both Lily and Lo dodge their families as much as possible during the book and while they claim to have friends they really don't.
Lily has a hard time throughout most of the book trying to figure out if Lo actually has feelings for her or if he is just really good at pretending. We don't get to see things from Lo's pov so we don't really know until everything comes to a head between the two and Lo confesses that it annoys him that even though Lily needs to have sex and he's right there she won't ask him.
Lily and Lo decide to give having a monogamous relationship a try and while things seem to be going good at first things quickly change. Lo seems to be drinking more and while Lily doesn't cheat, it seems that she has more fantasies of other men and that she ends up freaking out and pushing herself until she gets "withdraw" symptoms.
We are introduced to two new people in Lo and Lily's life Connor and Ryke, I'm not sure what Connor's role in the story is, besides getting close to the couple and introducing Ryke in a way. But Ryke's involvement is a major one and while I would love to share I think this is one you will want to figure out for yourself. The ending had me in tears and i can't wait to get my hands on the next books!

He opens his mouth, and I think he's going to let me off the hook. He's going to tell me that i can cheat on him and get a free pass. instead, tears flow and he says, "Wait for me." The words come out choked and pained. "I need you to wait for me."… (mais)

Full Review on NetGalley

I really enjoyed this.
This is a deeply flawed couple who’s behaviour I really should find abhorrent but this is clever writing and I found myself sympathising strongly with them, even wanting them to succeed in their deception.
I was hooked by their story.

The story ends, not on a cliffhanger, but with so much left to tell and thankfully the next books are out already so I won’t have long to wait.
… (mais)

Thanks to Bree from @inloveandwords for recommending this book.

When Thora James fails the audition for Aerial Ethereal (like Cirque du Soleil), she wonders if her trip to Las Vegas was all for nothing, but when the star of Amour Amour, Nicolai Kotova, offers to train her, she decides to stay until January when she can audition again, but that means leaving everything she has ever known behind and lying to her family and friends about what she is doing. As she and Nik spend more time together training, they begin a more physical relationship and Thora gets closer to the entire Kotova family. As challenges mount, Thora begins to wonder if she has made the right choices.

The Failed Audition is the first book that I've read by Krista and Becca Ritchie, and I now understand why their books get so much praise. This story is engrossing and the characters are well defined, but in this particular plot line, I'm not sure I like the character arc of Thora or the character of Nicolai. However, the background of the Cirque du Soleil - like show is fascinating and Nicolai's family is fun and engaging. There is plenty of drama and angst throughout the book with some very tension filled steamy scenes that add to the story. Overall, The Failed Audition (Also known as Amour, Amour) is an extremely well written romance with unique characters and a fun plot.… (mais)