The reviews catch up continues with a summary of what I read in November–one nonfiction running memoir that I found on recommendation from a friend and the later half of the New Adult Addicted series by Krista and Becca Ritchie. As always, I link the cover photos to Goodreads, so if you’re looking for a summary or more info on a particular title, you can click there:
Confessions of An Unlikely Runner: A Guide to Racing and Obstacle Courses for the Averagely Fit and Halfway Dedicated by Dana L. Ayers
I think the title of this one is just about as long as the actual book…it was a very quick read, which was perfect. (I kinda think any memoir by anyone under the age of 40 or so should be relatively short…) It was fun to read, Ayers is funny and her personality really shines through; making this relateable, whether you can run long distances or not.
Hothouse Flower (Calloway Sisters #2) by Krista and Becca Ritchie
Hothouse Flower is the first installment in the series that really focuses for more than a scene or three on Lily’s younger sister Daisy and Lo’s older brother Ryke. Daisy is a pretty compelling character and Ryke impresses me as well, but they do both grate on me a bit and I was never quite able to get over the fact that Ryke was attracted to Daisy back when she was only 15 (she’s 18 in this book, but they talk about it and it gives me the skeevies). It’s assuaged a bit by the fact that we see the whole thing from inside his head as well as hers and it’s never particularly predatory, but it still rang a bit wrong to me.
Thrive (Addicted #2.5) by Krista and Becca Ritchie
The really weird thing about this installment was that it primarily covered all the same events as the first two Calloway sisters books. It’s necessary to have so that the Addicted books can stand separately as a complete series, but if you’re reading the spinoff in the recommended reading order (which slots them in before this one) it gets repetitive. It’s still a good story, and I still enjoyed it, but you really have to love the characters to find the fun in watching the same scenes from different perspectives.
Addicted After All (Addicted #3) by Krista and Becca Ritchie
One thing I haven’t mentioned is that all of these books are long–up around 400 pages or so, so by the time you reach the 5th novel featuring the trials and tribulations of two characters, the conflicts have become a bit ridiculous and scenes begin to feel overly drawn out. But because of all that time we spend with Lo and Lily, it’s plain fun in this one to see them dramatically improved from where they started in book #1 and to see them face new challenges as much better people.
Fuel the Fire (Calloway Sisters #3) by Krista and Becca Ritchie
Fuel the Fire picks up around the same time as the end of Addicted After All with Lily’s older sister Rose and her husband Connor. They featured in the first book in this spinoff series as well and ended in a pretty solid place, so I wasn’t sure where this one would go in terms of conflict, but I wound up really loving it. Pressure comes from outside the relationship more than from within it, so they’re allowed to grow and change as a team, rather than pushing and pulling at each other. This installment definitely cemented them as my favorite couple to read in the series.
Long Way Down (Calloway Sisters #4) by Krista and Becca Ritchie
We go back to Ryke and Daisy for the final installment in this whole super-series and I enjoyed this one quite a bit. The larger Calloway family–the parents and the oldest Calloway sister Poppy, features in this one a bit more, which I appreciated, especially since Daisy’s fraught relationship with her mother needed some more resolution. Ryke had some compelling conflicts in this too and overall it was another excellent character study mixed in with the excellent as always romance. A lengthy epilogue gives a glimpse at the future (and lots of warm fuzzies) so it’s a satisfying conclusion to the whole series.
The Starlight Shelves 