Kiss the Sky / Hothouse Flower (Calloway Sisters 1 & 2) by Krista & Becca Ritchie-reviews

KISS THE SKY
(Calloway Sisters #1)
by Krista & Becca Ritchie
Release Date January 24, 2014
Genre: New Adult, contemporary, romance, erotica
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO

Virgin. Sex addict. Daredevil. Alcoholic. Smartass … Jackass. Her five friends are about to be filmed. Reality TV, be prepared.

Rose Calloway thought she had everything under control. At twenty-three, she’s a Princeton graduate, an Academic Bowl champion, a fashion designer and the daughter of a Fortune 500 mogul. But with a sex addict as a sister and roommate, nothing comes easy.

After accepting help from a producer, Rose agrees to have her life filmed for a reality television show. The Hollywood exec is her last chance to revive her struggling fashion line, and boundaries begin to blur as she’s forced to make nice with a man who always has his way.

Twenty-four-year-old Connor Cobalt is a guy who bulldozes weak men. He’s confident, smart-as-hell and lives with his equally ambitious girlfriend, Rose Calloway. Connor has to find a way to protect Rose without ruining the show. Or else the producer will get what Connor has always wanted—Rose’s virginity.

This New Adult Romance can be described as Friends meets The Real World. Expect fist fights, drugs, sex of varying degrees, crude humor and competitive alpha males. Definitely for mature readers audiences only.

***Authors’ Note***
Kiss the Sky is a spin-off of the Addicted series. If you’d like to read the Addicted series beforehand, you should read them in order (see below) before starting Kiss the Sky or else the time jumps will be jarring.

Addicted Series Recommended Reading Order
Addicted to You (Addicted #1)
Ricochet (Addicted #1.5)
Addicted for Now (Addicted #2)
Kiss the Sky (Spin-Off)
Hothouse Flower (Spin-Off)
Thrive (Addicted #2.5)
Addicted After All (Addicted #3)

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REVIEW: KISS THE SKY is the first instalment in Krista and Becca Ritchie’s contemporary, new adult, erotic Calloway Sisters series-a spin off from their successful Addicted Series. This is Rose Calloway and Connor Cobalt’s storyline – all the previous series characters play a major role. If you have not read the original series much of this particular story will be lost to a new reader. It is highly recommended that you read the Addicted series prior to reading the spin off.

Told from two distinct first person POV (Connor and Rose) the focus of the storyline is Rose and Connor’s building relationship -one that started as teens and is put to the test when the Calloway sisters agree to participate in a six month reality show that will feature the sisters and their boyfriends-in all of their glory. If you are familiar with ‘The Jersey Shore’ or ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ then the premise will not be lost on the reader. KISS THE SKY is an adulterated, exaggerated and off the wall version of reality tv.

I will say, before I go any further, that I am not a fan of the unreality of the ‘reality’ TV show. Nothing can be gained from the humiliation and degradation of airing one’s dirty laundry in public and in this, much of the storyline content follows a similar pattern. Rose and Connor are intellectually gifted, up and coming entrepreneurs and successful in their own rights but what ever possessed these children of the uber rich to star in their own reality television show leaves questions of sanity and stupidity. Everything that could go wrong, does go wrong and grows exponentially worse with each day.

We are reintroduced to Rose’s troubled sister Lily and her boyfriend Lo-both recovering addicts; seventeen year old and youngest sister Daisy-a successful model and minor in the eyes of the law; and Ryke-Loren’s half brother and the man who will be featured in the next instalment HOTHOUSE FLOWER as Daisy’s love interest. Each character will suffer during the six months of shooting but none more so than Connor and Rose-all of their lives will become fodder for the tabloids but our leading couple will suffer the most. And, in the end, when someone hands you lemons, why not make lemonade and sell it back to the public.

Kristi and Becca Ritchie have proven they are a masterful team when it comes to writing an angst driven and heartbreaking storyline that focuses on some ethically and morally questionable situations and, KISS THE SKY is no exception.

The characters are raw and unencumbered-they say and do what they want without forethought of the consequences-and consequences-they will suffer. The storyline is fast paced, in your face-dark and gritty. You can’t not be affected by the actions of these six young adults and you know that everything they do and say will be captured on tape for the world to see. The reader is pulled into the multi layered relationships between family and friends-no one is unaffected by the lies, love and protective nature of six friends who are willing to risk everything for one another.

KISS THE SKY reveals the inner thoughts and emotions of two people who were previously presented as cold and uncaring but again, in this, we were completely wrong. Connor is the master of his own destination, both inside and outside of the bedroom; and Rose needs someone like Connor to master her needs and wants. KISS THE SKY is an erotic, compelling, dramatic and intense storyline that reveals the probability in an improbable situation.

Reviewed by Sandy

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HOTHOUSE FLOWER
(Calloway Sisters #2)
by Krista & Becca Ritchie
Release Date March 27, 2014

Genre: New Adult, contemporary, romance, erotica
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO

Ryke Meadows, meet Daisy Calloway … she’s all grown up.

Twenty-five-year-old Ryke Meadows knows he’s hard to love. With a billion-dollar inheritance, a track-star resume, and an alpha-male personality—he redefines the term likable asshole. But he’s not living to make friends. Or enemies. He just wants to free climb three of the toughest mountains in Yosemite without drama or interruption.

And then he receives a distressed call from a girl in Paris—a girl that he has never been allowed to have.

Daisy Calloway is eighteen. Finally. With her newfound independence, she can say goodbye to her overbearing mother and continue her modeling career. Next stop, Paris. Fashion Week begins with a bang, and Daisy uncovers the ugly reality of the industry. She wants to prove to her family that she can live on her own, but when everything spirals out of control, she turns to Ryke to keep her secrets.

As Daisy struggles to make sense of this new world and her freedom, she pushes the limits and fearlessly rides the edge. Ryke knows there’s deep hurt beneath every impulsive action. He must keep up with Daisy, and if he lets her go, her favorite motto—“live as if you’ll die today”—may just come true.

New Adult Romance: recommended for readers 18+ for mature content

***Authors’ Note***
Hothouse Flower is a spin-off of the Addicted series. Kiss the Sky is required before reading, and we strongly recommend reading the Addicted series before this spin-off.

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REVIEW: HOTHOUSE FLOWER is the second instalment in Krista and Becca Ritchie’s contemporary, erotic, new adult Calloway Sisters series-a spin off from their popular Addicted series. This is Daisy Calloway and Ryke Meadows’s storyline. Daisy is the youngest sister of Rose and Lily Calloway; Ryke is Loren Hale’s half brother. This is a friends to lovers storyline -one that started years before with a simple introduction between family and friends. Because the series and storylines are interconnected you must read the previous instalments in order for this particular story to make any sense.

Told from two distinct first person POV (Daisy and Ryke) the storyline follows Daisy and Ryke’s forbidden love. Daisy has just turned eighteen years old and twenty six year old Ryke has always had a hands off policy where it concerned Daisy due to their age difference, her minor status  but also out of respect for his brother Lo. Ryke has been in love with Daisy since their first introduction but their age difference meant that he could only watch as Daisy’s world begins to fall apart around her. But Ryke knows more about the emotional and physical suffering that Daisy has had to endure and he is the only one who is there when her life takes a dangerous turn.

Lo has always been protective of Lily and Daisy but when Lily and Lo’s personal life spiraled out of control, Daisy had been pulled into a media frenzy when her sister’s sexual addiction became the stuff of her own nightmare’s. When everything goes wrong on a trip to Paris, Daisy and Ryke will take their friendship to the next level but in doing so raise questionable doubts about Ryke’s true intentions and a timeline that also questions the length of their relationship.

Krista and Becca pull the reader into a storyline that takes the definition of dysfunctional family to another level. No one is left unaffected by the sins of the parents and of the past. When addiction, humiliation, degradation and infidelity become the storylines of two families connected through three sisters, heartbreak and sorrow are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg when revenge, betrayal and scheming exes want to push in the knife and twist.

The ensemble cast includes all of the previous storyline characters and is the key to Krista and Becca’s successful series. Their lives, their loves, their heartache and their pain are intertwined and amplified when six friends must endure the media scrutiny that has splashed their lives on the front pages of every tabloid around the world. No place is safe. And it is with staggering realization that the next generation of the uber rich must pay for the sins of the fathers.

HOTHOUSE FLOWER is a fast paced, profound and controversial storyline that looks closely at two dysfunctional families and the devastation that has become their lives. The novel will captivate the reader and pull you into a story that is heartbreaking, dramatic, abrasive and intense.

Reading Order
Addicted To You
Ricochet
Addicted for Now
Kiss The Sky
Hothouse Flower