Sweet Addiction

Sweet Series, Book 6

By: Maya Banks

Narrated by: Caroline Wintour

Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Cole is successful beyond his wildest dreams. He can have any woman he wants, but there's only one he can't stop thinking about: his childhood sweetheart, Ren. He's never forgotten his first taste of innocent love and the desire that consumed them - or the pain he brought upon her.... Her long ago brush with submission awakened a longing in Ren that drove her to walk the darker edge of desire. She's become a beautiful woman at ease with her sexuality and unapologetic about her need for a dominant man.

When Cole finds her again, he's gutted that she belongs to another. Ren's current master agrees to give her to Cole for a short time, but then she must return to his keeping. And though Cole agrees to this bargain, he knows he will never be able to let Ren go again....

©2012 Maya Banks (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Banks has hit the mark for those who crave all-out sub-dom erotica." ( Romantic Times)

Sweet addiction

I have enjoyed this series tremendously, and was excited to listen to Coles story. Overall I felt it was a good listen, but I have to say I’m disappointed with the end result of the story. I understand why the author chose this path but find myself, even at the end disliking the character of Lucas. I would have been more satisfied if Cole would have won the girl outright, Lucas I feel was manipulative throughout the book.

Does a woman get a say?

***Spoiler alert***

This story is very predictable to the end; so listen to it for the ride. It's about two dashing successful rich men playing a dense game of ping-pong. Where Ren is the ball going back and forth. I almost got a whip-lash. As in the game, the ball doesn't get a say as it's passed around. Having said that, this was the most disappointing part of the story. Two men madly in love with the same woman, simply can't live without her, didn't even bother to ask what SHE wanted. I didn't really feel the depth of their commitment to her. Come on!!! If you can persevere through this, then the story is worth listening to.

The ending... well, it's what you expect. And, you will want to know how they will do it. That's the point isn't it? Well, you won't know. It's extremely rushed HEA! This was more disappointing.

This book is definitely over-the-top erotic and narration is perfectly done. This is the reason you should get this book; not for the story line.

You will for sure enjoy the book if you are up for a great ride knowing it's predictable and Ren has no say; it's like a roller-coaster ride... up and down... you know whats coming... you can see it.

Enjoy!

Great combination of romance and suspense

Would you listen to Sweet Addiction again? Why?

Sure, it was great entertainment and a reading pleasure

What other book might you compare Sweet Addiction to and why?

Play by Sylvia Day

What three words best describe Caroline Wintour’s performance?

Clearly, emotional and realistic

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Surprising but beautiful

What did you love best about Sweet Addiction?

The deep connections between the main characters.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Sweet Addiction?

When Ren is torn by misunderstanding of what the 2 most important men in her life want from her.

Which character – as performed by Caroline Wintour – was your favorite?

It's hard to say as you get to know each character you slowing start to understand

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

It's possible

Another good book..

Would you consider the audio edition of Sweet Addiction to be better than the print version?

I liked the audio version of this better.

What did you like best about this story?

It's another good boy in this series. It's alot like the other books but had a huge twist!

What about Caroline Wintour’s performance did you like?

She shows alot of emotion in her reading.

ughhhh

I dont like this one. for dom/sub storyline, the sex sucked ... and for all their talk of pleasing her, it didnt talk much of that. the story was just so done and not believable ... lots of money, houses, a yacht, private jet, private island .... and here take my submissive that I love for 2 weeks. I hated the whiny heroine too. Narrator didnt work for me either.

Thumbs down on this book in this pretty good series

Didn’t like how the progression of the storyline at quite few points it became uninteresting. The concentration on BDSM overrated. I felt sorry for the main character with her idiosyncrasies of being accepted.

Love All 6 Books

Best ever I love the whole series and wish there was more to the collection

MAIN CHARCTER (REN) IS A PROSTITUTE/LOVE TRIANGLE

What would have made Sweet Addiction better?

Change The Main Character (REN)/Oh & Get Rid Of Lucas. Changed The Publisher's Summary To Add That This Is A Love Triangle Book For People Who Hate Them Can Save Their Money!!

Has Sweet Addiction turned you off from other books in this genre?

The Main Character (REN) - She Lets Men Pay For Housing, Clothes, Food, Workspace, Ect. In Exchange For Sex & Submission. To Me This Whole Book SCREAMED Upscale Escort Or Prostitute. Then When She Like Having Sex With Other Men It Just Confirmed It For Me.

Did Caroline Wintour do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

She Actually Did A Good Job So No Complaints There.

What character would you cut from Sweet Addiction?

Lucas After The First Couple Of Chapters, But I Don't Like Love Triangle.

Any additional comments?

I LOVED All The Sweet Books Except I Couldn't Stand This One From The Start. I Think The Main Character (REN & LUCAS) Turned Me Off The Entire Book.

Uhg! Both men in this story were complete idiots!

2 stars

***spoiler warning***

Well, what can i say other than "Uhg"! I was very disappointed with this story. As the story says, Ren and Cole used to be in a serious relationship when they were younger. They experimented with BDSM and Cole ended up going too far and hurting her. He started pulling away and ended up leaving her, convinced she wouldn't want to stay with him or submit to his dominant needs. 10 years later, Cole sees Ren in a restaurant with Lucas and he finds out that she's a submissive and is "owned" by Lucas.

Cole has never been able to get over Ren and never found a woman that could take her place so when he sees she's into BDSM, he has to see her again. When he does, their meeting shows Lucas that there's something major between them. In Lucas' effort to figure things out, the whole situation gets turned into a huge mess. Basically, Lucas decides that Ren should have the chance to figure out who she truly wants to be with...not taking into account that he would just be causing Ren stress with this idea. We get to see Lucas and Ren together for about the first 25% of the book until he decides to give Ren to Cole for 2 weeks. The problem is, he doesn't bother to tell Ren about the situation before leaving her with Cole so Ren thinks Lucas is ending their relationship.

So Ren is hurt and confused by Lucas but decides to take advantage of the time with Cole. Thing go well for them and I actually got to a point where I was happy with the way things were going. I wasn't too hot with Cole sharing Ren with a couple of virtual strangers but as it being part of the whole BDSM experience I could have dealt with it. But then the 2 weeks end and Lucas shows back up. Ren is happy and relieved to see him and in her happiness, she convinces Cole that she really wants Lucas so he leaves her free to be with Lucas, thinking it would make her happy. Of course it doesn't...she can't be happy without either man now that she's had them both.

As if Cole and Lucas hadn't already messed up things with Ren badly enough, Lucas decides to approach Cole and suggests that they do a m/f/m relationship so they can both have Ren. Now it's bad enough that we have 2 men that barely know (or like) each other deciding that they can just put aside their jealousy and issues with each other to share Ren and that it would be fine. What's even worse is the fact that once again they messed up on their approach to Ren and end up messing things up even more before finally smoothing things out. I mean these guys were just total IDIOTS!!!! And I'm sorry, I know there was a short epilogue that indicated everything was going perfectly for the trio, but I just can't see this as a HEA.

TBH, the whole story was just messed up. The men passed Ren around like a piece of meat and didn't ask for any input from her on how she felt about the whole thing. They even did it again after realizing just how badly they messed up in the first place! And they did it again!!! Seriously!?!? I mean these 2 men barely knew each other and yet they thought they could move from an uneasy truce to sharing the woman they loved with each other? Really? I just don't see it and this whole plot is just lame and an insult to women. I don't care if Ren's a submissive...even a submissive should have some input into her emotional welfare and shouldn't have her feelings hurt and bashed around like that. :P

I made the mistake of buying all 6 books in the series while they were on sale on Audible.com and now I'm regretting it. The middle part was alright and that's the only reason it got 2 stars...if not for that it would have been a 1 star (or maybe a DNF...I came close on this one). I'd call this one a disappointment at best...