Review: Addicted by Charlotte Featherstone

Addicted by Charlotte Featherstone
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Spice (February 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0373605285
ISBN-13: 978-0373605286
Obtained from Amazon.com



The Blurb:
He Is Ruled By Twin Cravings:
Oblivion and Passion…

Friends since childhood, Anais Darnby and Lindsay Markham have long harbored a secret passion for one another. When they finally confess their love, their future together seems assured, sealed with their searing embrace.

But when a debauched Lindsay is seduced by a scheming socialite, a devastated Anais seeks refuge in another man’s bed while Lindsay retreats to the exotic East. There, he is seduced again—this time by the alluring red smoke and sinister beauty of opium.

Back home, Lindsay’s addiction is fed by the vogue for all things Oriental—especially its sensual pleasures—in fashionable London society. In his lucid moments, Lindsay still lusts after Anais, who can neither allow him near nor forget his smoldering touch. Tortured by two obsessions—opium and Anais—Lindsay must ultimately decide which is the one he truly cannot live without.

Okay... Now for my Short Review!

Can you say "OM MY FREAKING GAWD THIS BOOK IS FREAKING AWESOMELY ADDICTED!!!!!
You need to go to the store or go online and BUY this book now!
Okay, now that I got that off my chest, I can tell you more about the story; however, I feel my words will not be able to justify this book. The play of words, the use of the language, the move of the characters, the emotions of everyone involved, the sexual tension in the air, the desire between two people, the secrets that are hanging in the air, the love that is in the heart that binds!! OMG!! Awesome. This is a book of love; true, hardship, lasting love. But this is also about a love of another, the mistress of the red smoke. If love was not enough, this story would have never made it. Lindsay and Anais really go through thick and thin, hell and back for each other. Now, if that is not enough... Lindsay is the best damn sex on a stick man since my Nicholas and Lyon (from Elizabeth Amber's Brothers). Lindsay is freaking sex on a stick with dynamite attached!!! He will blow your mind! And Anais, because I do give love to my leading ladies... She will make you ask yourself... what would you have done? She was torn, and what does a torn woman do... Get even... But we all know that does not work... Now, since I told you that love pulls through... you will want to read this!!! Just remember, my freaking inner hussy was screaming at the top of her lungs wanting Lindsay's attention... oh and I can not forget his friend... Lord Wallingford... The two of them... Can you say Man sandwich (it does not happen in the book... just in my mind, lol). Now on for the good part... my longer review!

If you do not have time for a long review... I advise you to come back... because if you know me, then you know that when I LOVE a book... how the long review will be!!! But please I want you to read it because I want to know your thoughts!!!

The Plot:
Two childhood friends, Anais Darnby and Linsday Markham, go through life together. By each other's side, through everything life can throw. Lindsay has been her cushion when life throws hard blows; her mother betraying her father and their family. Anais being Linsday's shoulder to lean on when his father was just to much to bear. They are what true friends are all about. Their friendship was unbreakable... Or was it...
Lindsay has two obsessions... Anais and Opium... Do both know about each other? What do they do when they find out about the other? What becomes of Lindsay when one wants to conqure the other?
But the book is more than Lindsday and Anais's friendship or Lindsay's usage of Opium....
Linsday wants Anais to truly know how he feels about her, all feelings out on the table... or in the stables "so to speak." What they share is truly amazing...
Anais has a friend and we all have(had) one... that is just a back-stabbing, munipulating bitch. Well, let me introduce you to Rebecca. Supposely, Anais's best friend, the one to keep all her secrets, the one for her to confide in no matter what... not the one to do what is known as the ulitmate betrayal!
What happens when love is put to the ultimate test? Does love prevail over the evil doings of the world (or of Rebecca)? Can it or will it ever be repaired? Can two learn to forgive and forget? Will pride get in the way? What happens if/when pride does get in the way? What happens when secrets that have been lurking come out?

The Main Players:
Anais ~ Oh my! She is such a woman after my own heart. She was raised with a mother who always thought plain of her, and even told her to her face. To know that she will never live up to the likes of her two sisters (one younger and one older). Her mother was always letting her know that a man of any liking will not look twice at her because she is "over-weight" and too plain. And... she is twenty-seven/eight... so that is almost past marriage material.
So, with all that going for her...! She has Lindsay; her best friend. She holds him in a special place in her heart, and that sparkes a kinder in my heart for them two! Now you have to remember the time period you are reading in... because I am a backbone kinda girl... and you can't have backbone without being thought of as trash back in those days. So, I admire Anais for the front she puts on for her family. Her mother, besides being a bitch to her, also does not care one way or another about her family or husband. She will sleep with anything that has a penis (or at least that is how I feel.) Her father would rather not deal with the mother, so he just takes a back seat to life. Her older sister is married and on her honeymoon at the time of the story and her younger sister is well... young. So, that leaves no one in Anais's family she can really rely on, count on... or trust in. So, Anais's friendship with Lindsay really becomes her stone, her rock. They only have each other... But her feelings for him run deeper than that of friendship...
She loves Lindsay for all the blood in her body and all the soul she has to possess. But hurt by Rebecca and Lindsay, betrayed by both friends... What is she to do, what does her heart tell her to do, can she stay away from the man she has wanted her whole life and loved her whole life, can she forgive him, does she think she can be forgiven by him, does pride take over her heart, if it does, what path will it take her down?? Where does one turn when the one person that you use to turn to has hurt you??

Linsday ~ Oh MAN Oh MAN!!!! SEX ON A STICK with dynamite attached!!! This man rocked my world! I absolutely adore this man. His passion for life and Anais, his drive for life, knowledge and sex, his desire, and his emotions... all run deep within this man. There is nothing light about Lindsay. He is the modern man in an era of stuffy men. He is generous, kind, lovin, supporting and sexy as hell. He is in love with Anais... always has been and always will be. That was evident from the beginning of the book and that sucked me right into him. A man that knows without a shadow of doubt that one woman belongs to him and no other... A man that knows... what it is that is needed in his life... Anais. He vows to marry her, but wants to the asking to be very special... but something happens... Betrayal at the highest cost... Actually for him... it was his own downfall.. His one problem, he love for his Opuim. He calls her his mistress. He loves to dabble in it/with it; he does not like to confirm that he is addicted to it. For then, he would be a slave to it and he vows to never be a slave. But when love cuts at his heart core, he turns to the only other woman who vows to take away the pain... Opium. At every turn of the hat, Lindsay vows to do whatever it takes to win back Anais... even when the secrets come out and things get really nasty... He knows that no matter what has happened... it is Anais that should be in arms, not the mystical red smoke.

Rebecca - I put her here because she is the reason for the downfall to happen to Lindsay and Anais. And besides, I wanted everyone to know that she is a bitch. I just wanted to call her out on that.

Lord Wallingford ~ Oh wow!! He is the man of many women! I put him in the players category because I feel in love with his attitude. When we first meet him, he is afoot about relationships, he believes that women are here for one purpose and one purpose only... to please him. (And believe me, I would be the first one to sign up for that job... =) But he also shows that he is a very devoted friend and that is odd to find that in a man, and a man in such an era of time. To be out spoken about such things. Wallingford is the guy every girl wants, but no mother wants for their girl! But it is towards the end, when he gives Lindsay his speech that I fall deeply in love with him. For there are things he would cross the sea and back to have, but have never found them. (And believe me, after reading, I want to give them to him.) So, he pushes Lindsay to see those things. He refuses to let Lindsay wallow in the past or the "she said, I said: she did, I did" things. I can not wait to see what Charlotte has in store for him!!!!


My thoughts: Okay if you have not gotten that I am absolutely smitten by this book, something is wrong! This book rocks my world! This story has absolutely everything you could want in a story: love of the deepest kind, friendship, pain, hurt, betrayal, secrets, addictions and even has some action ~ oh and some of the hottest sex yet!!! I will leave this section alone because I believe I have told you enough of the story... you need to read it for yourself. But be warned, you willm fall in love, you will laugh, you will sigh, you will want to smack the crap out of some people, but most of... you will walk away feeling like you have read one of the greatest books ever!

Hussy Purr-notions: Okay, Screaming at the top of my lungs for a taste of Lindsay. I think I drank more ICE cold water and took more ice cold water showers in the past two weeks than I ever have in my life!!! Like I said before... Lindsay is the epitome of what Sex on a Stick stands for. Besides my Brother of Satyr... oh man oh man!!! My hussy was not only purring, she was panting, screaming, craving and driving me mad!!! Lindsay and Anais's romance was everything it should have been and more. The sex was awesome. From the way it was written, to the way it read, to the way I felt it. Charlotte's writing is extraordinary. I felt everything and it was amazing! This is an erotic novel and it does NOT disappointment!!!! But the love story is there, I promise that! Hell, I even felt tears come to my eyes as well... This book has a well range of emotions tucked into this black little book! I hope you enjoy!

The Cover: This cover is freaking amazing! I am a lover of the corsets and big gowns. I love the gown she is wearing!!! And the red smoke is just breaktaking! Now in the book and in my thoughts, you read that Anais is a voluptous woman. I love the fact that if you look at her corset, you can see her skin pulled together to suggest that she is a big girl. (Now, me being a "big" girl, I know what this means to me... sexy as hell!!!!)) This is one cover that ~ without a man on it ~ I ABSOLUTELY LOVE!!!!! I even love the ruffle on the side of the cover as well!

It is awesome!!! This book is a keeper for me. It will never leave my hands. Hell... I have even read the book twice within two weeks. Just to do the review, I re-read it! Yes, it is that amazing!

And ps... for some reason I was listening to Taylor Swift's music while reading this... and the Love Story song really stood out for me during this book. If you get a chance, list it to!! And tell me what you think!

I urge you to go by Ms. Charlotte's place, please go --->>> here.
To read an excerpt of Addicted, please go --->>> here.
To visit her blog spaces... The Quill and Ink Well, please go --->>> here.
And to visit her at another place she loves to visit (especially with Lord Craven-Moore - he is absolutely yummy), please go here (and you also meet some other wonderful ladies!!)