I am kind of embarrassed to admit that I'm rating this up because it was so funny. Kit is so awkwardly endearing and just plain funny (nerdy-funny) that I lol'ed several times. Thankfully I was at home and not on the subway, so there were no weird looks.

The story is told from Kit's 1st-person p.o.v. and Dillon's motivations don't get revealed until very late, but he seems like a cool dude, despite his sounding like a dude-bro. But he's aware of his bro-ness, so that's cool I guess?
The sexy bits were pretty hot even if they were totally OTT. The whole story is kind of OTT actually, but in a good way. ( )

Unf unf unf!

This books is pretty much a package deal.
Kit, a writer, reads a little of her book to a friend who without fail bursts out laughing. To figure out what's missing, Kit attends a sex therapy group. Only she's exposed as a fake by Dillon. He takes it upon himself to help Kit, and so the two start reenacting the different scenes from the book.

Kit has an incredibly unique mind. Her inner self is hilarious in a "I didn't mean it" kind of way. She also lacks any ability to flirt, and sometimes the ability to comprehend what flirting is - which makes every word coming out of her mouth beyond amusing.

Both Kit and Dillon change throughout the story. Kit's evolution may be more obvious to the reader, as she gets more comfortable in her own skin and realizes she actually has the ability to be sexual, flirty and passionate. Dillon's story is cleverly hidden, almost as subtext, which makes the ending a lot sweeter than what I anticipated it to be.

I've highlighted so many lines in this book, but I can't bring myself to share any of them. Most won't even make sense out of context, so I guess you'll all have to suck it up and buy the book.

Charlotte Stein is pretty amazing in her writing. It's fresh, light, meaningful, with a very unique cheeky-dark twist. At first I thought she had to have been at least tipsy writing this book, but then I realized her mind is just THAT awesome.

( )

I've been a fan of Charlotte ever since she hooked me with my favorite book of 2012, [b:Sheltered|13518793|Sheltered|Charlotte Stein|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1331337808s/13518793.jpg|19078103]. There is just something real about her storytelling that I can relate to. While the heroines are generally as far from me as one can get, I still get them, and that is something incredibly hard to do...to get a reader to relate to a character so far from themselves.

But Charlotte does it. In every book, every time, I feel like I'm right there in the head of the heroine, rooting her on, feeling her insecurities and pains and motives and excitement.

I'll admit that when I started this book, I was scared. Everyone who knows me knows I am not a fan of BDSM. At all. Not even a little. And in the opening chapter of Addicted, it's a BDSM theme. In fact, I was so worried, I went back and read the summary, just to make sure I didn't miss the glaring sign that said WHIPS AND CHAINS WILL BE USED IN HERE. But, of course, if I was a little more observant, I would've seen that this first chapter was actually the words of our heroine, Kit. She's a librarian by day, an erotic romance writer by night, but there's something missing in her writing. Her friend encourages her to go to a, well, a sex group, I guess. And against her better judgment, she does.

And there...oh, man. There we meet Dillon. And the way Charlotte describes her heroes is...delicious. I absolutely love the way she forms the phrases to envoke this perfect sort of picture without using the boringly trite things. She doesn't say something like, "He's broad shouldered." Oh, no. She says, "First, his arms and his general chest area are absolutely enormous. They're so enormous that they briefly blot out all the light in the universe, and cause a cataclysm the likes of which the world has never known. And: Those earth-destroying arms are covered in tattoos."

Do you see?

She tells it so organically, so richly that you're sucked into these amazing little descriptors, you're lost in the story because of them.

However, the one thing that I love in Charlotte's writing is also the thing I dislike at times. This book was very heavy on the narrative. And, like I said, how she weaves a story is very stream-of-consciousness, so it feels like you're right inside the head of the heroine. It's jumbled and messy and not perfect. It's beautifully flawed. But, at times, it can be heavy. I found myself straining for more dialogue. I wanted to hear more of her words rather than feel them, if that makes sense. And I definitely wanted more of Dillon's.

And why wouldn't I with all his tattooed covered massive armed gloriousness? He's the kind of hero she always creates. This wonderful dichotomy of rugged masculinity and shy vulnerability. And I love that mix. I love a good Alpha man as much as the next girl, but there is just something about a man who is a nice balance of both. Who can be that all demanding, powerful guy, but who knows how to step back and let someone else lead.

And watching Kit grow into herself, watching her want to lead, was what this story was really about. It wasn't some huge revealed climax, where the hero and heroine are separated and they get back together in the end. This was very much an emotional journey, and one you ride on the coattails of, thanks to Charlotte's emotional writing style.

ARC provided by author in exchange for an honest review. ( )

A cute romance with some hard to read moments. ( )

Addicted was funny, steamy and very emotional. Loved this book and look forward checking out others from this author. ( )