Review: Thrive by Krista and Becca Ritchie

Title: Thrive (Addicted #2.5)
Author: Krista and Becca Ritchie
Published: July 18th 2014
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Two years will change them forever.

When rumors spread like wildfire—like having three-ways with her boyfriend’s rock climbing brother—Lily Calloway spirals into a dark place. Her bedroom. Loren Hale is more confident and determined to keep their sex life private, even from their friends, and he helps Lily in the only way he knows how. But how much love is too much?

Their lives are filmed, watched, and criticized. And through it all, Lily and Loren have to face enemies they never thought they’d see, demons they don’t know if they should bury, and setbacks they didn’t think they’d meet. Not this soon.

And one rumor could be too much for them to handle. It will test their greatest limitations, and if they don’t hold onto each other, someone is going to drown.

A full-length New Adult Romance that bridges the gap between the second and third books. Thrive must be read before Addicted After All if you have not read the Calloway Sisters spin-off series.

*There are NO spoilers whatsoever in this review for any of the previous books nor for Thrive.*

Hiii, y’all. So it’s that day again on le blog where I get to fangirl endlessly. Do you guys even take me seriously anymore when I mention this series to you? Honestly, it’s not my fault these books are so devourious (not a word, I know, but it should be: these books are meant to be devoured!). In all honesty, this book and series can be summed up in two words: READ. THIS.

"We’re going to have our happy ending. It just may take us awhile to get there."

I want to get the thing that bothered me out of the way now and not waste any time on it later. You see, Krista and Becca love Ryke and Lily’s friendship and everyone else seems to as well. I don’t, unfortunately. I like them separately and I appreciate this bond they’ve formed thanks to Lo; I love how up-front Ryke is about everything, I love the awkwardness that is Lily. However, when Ryke looks at Lily like she just said something dumb and sometimes tells her some rude/mean-ish stuff (only in my opinion since, again, everyone ships this friendhsip), I always, always cringe. It’s not that Lily can’t protect herself, it’s that I want to protect her from Ryke’s hard edges. Lily is too sweet to have to bear Ryke’s hard edges and even though Lily isn’t even hurt by Ryke’s sometimes-very-harsh comments, I am. That’s the only thing that bothers me about Thrive. Reading about their friendship from Ryke's POV isn't an issue, but from any other POV? It kind of is for me. Moi is weird, I'm aware.

Since the plot is too spoily to talk about, I’ll discuss it very briefly. Thrive contains everything that happens after the second book [Addicted for Now] and the two companion novels [Kiss the Sky and Hothouse Flower], so it spans throughout a few years. It’s hard to put every single scene into this novel and some fan favorites were left out (though YAAAAAS! It has this particular scene from Kiss the Sky that always brings chills all. over. my. whole. body). We have a ton of new scenes that we haven’t seen before, including something regarding Rose and Connor which had me in so many happy tears that I just couldn’t handle. We also get Comic Con and a few special bromance scenes which I did not drool over. (Ok, I totally did, but don’t tell anyone else.)

As for characters, well.. Thrive is a character growth novel and basically a filler story between two periods in Lily and Lo’s lives. I love how awkward our adorable female MC is. Lily and Lo’s nerdiness is so relatable. ALSO, DID I MENTION THE HARRY POTTER REFERENCES? SPELLS. HOGWARTS MENTIONINGS. ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING A GIRL (OR A GUY) COULD ASK FOR? And it’s all spiced with a touch of awkwardorable (read: awkward and adorable) manner that’s so unique to Lily and Lo. And there's a Teen Wolf reference ;____________; I just about cried when I saw Sterek mentioned. Swoon mode is 100% activated, let me tell you. This basically sums up everything:

The side characters are extremely important in this series. Ofc I love all the 6 main characters *duhh* but there are a few people whom I’ve grown to love more or less throughout the series and one of them is Jonathan Hale. ”WHAAAT?” you ask. “Siiri, this is not a person to love O____O” Well, guys, my love for this character is weird. I specifically love to hate him. He’s not an obvious villain. He’s the Dan Scott of this story while Lo represents Nathan. Lo, like Nathan, is desperate to prove himself to his father and find his approval. Jonathan, like Dan, is never satisfied with anything and is constantly pushing his son to the lowest point until neither of them has anything left but try and fix what's been broken over and over again. I’m really looking forward to seeing if and how Jonathan Hale can be somewhat redeemed. He has his moments, but it’s a long, long road ahead of him and I don’t know if he is able to reach the other side of the street before the series ends.

There are two more things I need to speak more about and first of them being Ryke, Connor and Lo's bromance. Bromance is something I always fangirl over and especially in this series. It’s just so real, banter-y and you can see the layer of care and concern underneath all the jokes. It’s exactly how my guy friends are with each other, so it’s humbling to see that in fiction as well. Doesn’t hurt that it includes Connor Cobalt who is the most shippable person in any fictional work I have ever read. I ship him with everyone and everything! *dies of swoon* And last, but definitely not least, the sisters! It’s so endearing to see a bond that grows throughout years; that only gets stronger and stronger. As much as I adore the romances and all the bromances, to me, the Calloway sisters are the heart of the story. Le amazing bromances and le wonderful sisterly bonds are just my favorite things about this series. Every time a book in this series ends, I just want to crawl into a corner, sob and cry: "COME BAAAACK!" And yes, I'm aware that this Stiles gif will make us all *ahem* me *cough* sob all on its own, but still.

So what can you take away from this review, you ask? Simply put: read this series! If you’re looking for an original, quirky, fun, emotional (oh, ‘em tears, you guys!!) and love-triangle-free series that will keep you on the edge of your seat, always craving for more and has no cliffhangers? This right here is it! Krista and Becca are a force to be reckoned with in New Adult literature and they have rocked every part of my soul with Thrive.

There are a ton of books in the whole series (Addicted + Calloway Sisters spin-offs). If you want to know in which order you should read them, head over here. 

Overall rating: 4.5 out of 5.0
Stars: ★★★★★

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