Beautiful Addictions by Season Vining | Book Review

Title: Beautiful Addictions
Author: Season Vining
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Published: 01/28/2014
Length: 288 pages
Format: ebook, paperback
Buy At: Amazon * Amazon UK * Amazon CA * Barnes & Noble * Kobo

Summary: Josie Banks is a girl without a past.  After being found unconscious with no memory, she was shuffled in and out of foster homes where she suffered years of abuse. An experience that left her broken, damaged, and clinging to drugs and meaningless hook-ups to numb her pain.

When Josie disappeared years ago, she took a piece of Tristan with her.  She’s the girl he thought he lost forever—the one he’s never been able to forget.  Now a twist of fate has brought them back together, and he never wants to let her out of his inked arms again.  But Tristan is haunted by a dark past of his own.  On the run from ruthless criminals that shattered Josie’s world years ago, reentering her life puts them both in danger.

As Josie and Tristan’s lives become tangled once again, they find themselves unwilling and unable to escape the relentless pull that draws them together.  But will the past leave their love in ruins—or bind them together for a lifetime?

My thoughts: This book is going into my “great NA books to read”. I thoroughly enjoyed that there is an actual plot besides the romance, a plot that makes sense for most of the part, a plot that gives a sense of rawness and authenticity to the story. I should also mention that I really felt immersed into the story. I read sometimes on the bus and I actually missed the stop where I was supposed to get off because I was just too engrossed with reading.

The main character is Josie Banks, a tortured artist, addicted to drugs, random sex and, may I say, tagging, She doesn’t remember her past and was in and out of foster homes where she was abused. But she is attracted to Tristan, a guy she saw from the fire escape while having a crisis. Tristan is actually not a stranger, but a boy from the past she doesn’t remember, a boy with whom she had an actual relationship. That’s one more reason for me to love this book because I like it when the protagonists knew each other in the past and have another shot at love.

I liked Monica, Josie former social worker, that felt guilty for not helping her enough. She tries so hard to be there for Josie and even though the girl is kind of a bitch in the beginning, she comes around. That’s why the end is heartbreaking. Also, Alex, Josie’s neighbor who kept tabs on her, was a great character and it’s great he also got a happy ending (even though, he would have deserved a book on its own).

Also, it was refreshing to see a NA romance written in limited POV (3rd person) and that we get the POVs of multiple characters, not only Josie and Tristan. That really helps shape the plot and tie most loose ends. There were some plot twists I saw coming (like Monica’s boyfriend), but there were other that surprised me. I would have liked to see Josie addictions and her past in foster homes explored more.

Another thing I really enjoyed were the chapters’ names. For example, the first chapter is called “1. Conjunction – Two planets in close proximity to each other in the sky”.  In this chapter, Josie and Tristan meet for the first time. The writing flows very nicely and sometimes it takes a rather lyrical turn. Although, one thing that distracted me was Josie’s humming because I found myself humming. Yeah, I’m weird.

I totally recommend this book for you to read and it’s an amazing debut novel. I’ll be watching Season Vining closely from now on. And I think I deserve a cookie because I wrote such a spoiler-free review.

My rating: 4.5 stars

About the author:  Season Vining is the author of Beautiful Addictions, a New Adult Romantic Suspense novel from St. Martin’s Griffin. She received her three-book deal and agent representation as a result of attending the 2013 Jambalaya Writers’ Conference. She first gained attention for the book in Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award in which the story was a Quarterfinalist. Season is a graphic designer by trade and adores all form of art. She’s a fan of live music, vintage cars, and people who know the difference between their, there, and they’re.

You can connect with Season on these websites:

There is also a giveaway where you can enter to win a signed copy of the book: a Rafflecopter giveaway

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