Guarded Addiction

Forgotten Legacy, Book 3

De: L. Ann

Narrado por: Thomas Locklear

Dex Cooper

Bassist, addict, charmer.

He came blaring into my world playful and demanding. Hiding his demons behind a panty melting smile. I knew he was bad for me but Dex made bad feel so good. So I played along with his games until he destroyed everything. With Dex Cooper, everything was a game but I’m done playing.

Siobhan Rawlings

Fiery redhead, cherry pie, mine.

She eased the cravings that ruled my body. Gave me peace from the memories that haunt me. But I knew it wouldn't last. I couldn't keep her. I destroy everything and I would ruin her if I didn't let her go. But I couldn’t do it, so I made her my wife.

She thought we were just having fun, thought this was just another game we were playing.

She’s wrong and now I have to prove to her that this time I'm playing for keeps.

Return to the world of Forgotten Legacy.

©2021 L. Ann (P)2021 L. Ann

Excellent!

Finally! I feel like I have been waiting forever for Dex's story. This story was nothing short of amazing. Filled with angst, drama, and secrets galore, Guarded Addiction drew me in right from the start.

The chemistry between Dex and Siobhan was off the charts. Some of the scenes...well all I can say is HOLY HOTNESS! First we had strawberries, now we have cherries. I don't know about you but I can't look at fruit the same way anymore.

This Forgotten Legacy tattooed, bad boys series has quickly made its way onto my all-time favorites list.

Love it!

Dex and Siobhan

The narrator did a really great job. Dex is the bassist in the band and Siobhan is a stranger he met on the train. Dex is my favorite he is the charmer, cocky, fierce, protective ahole. Like the other ones this does go from past to present. Dex is an addict who has escaped death a few times. Siobhan is a stranger Dex was standing next to listening to her conversation with her landlord and ends up pretending to be her fiance to then being her husband. This also explains Dex's role in how Harper and Siobhan become roommates and friends and not knowing in the beginning. As with the other ones great characters entertaining and enjoyable.

He is my favorite

- dual POV
- dual timeline
- found family
- addiction
- sex
- rock and roll
- assault
- second chances
- hidden marriage
- psychotherapy
- mystery

This book picks right up where book two ended. The epilogue was dicey and got me hooked IMMEDIATELY! My heart was racing and I knew we wouldn't get answers to that epilogue for a good chunk of the book. Chapter one then starts by showing how much the four guys love each other. Again, melts my heart how strong the connection is in this found family, despite how messy things can get between them.

I really like L. Ann's style of having chapters bounce between the past and current timeline, especially because the chapters that go back in time align with the timeline in the other books. Intertwining all the details continues to connect each book to each other, the overall story, and the plot. Creates depth in a way I have not seen a series do when it changes couples/characters POV from one book to the next.

The last book was from Seth's POV and I loved his and Gabe's banter. This book was from Dex's POV and I LOVED the banter between his bestie, Luca. They were so funny and I was giggling often.

I really liked Dex's POV, he was hilarious. I knew he would be one of my favorite characters when he saw "Red" in the train station and played around with her. His personality and story was so different when compared to Gabe and Seth. Don't get me wrong, he had a lot in common with the other guys (e.g., trauma history), but his personality was different then the brooding, extravert or introvert. Dex has a significant substance use disorder. He used substances to avoid processing his trauma. Of course, L. Ann did an excellent job representing addiction. She demonstrated well how someone's thoughts about substances can consume them, how people often deny the seriousness of their issue, and how they can lie to hide their true issues. Dex had fantastic growth and I loved seeing his character grow.

Dex was someone who was manipulative, playful, and assertive. He made a ton of mistakes and was a jerk, often. The MFC, Siobhan was his perfect match and I really enjoyed her chapters too. L. Ann did a great job writing someone who has strength and can fire back, as well as how people who love someone with addiction can give in often because of that love and connection. I liked how she was written super realistically, such as often getting caught up in the moment and making more impulsive decisions, later regretting some and not others. I loved that she learned that living in the moment was not a bad thing all the time. Siobhan also had fantastic growth and I enjoyed seeing her grow just as much.

Something else I really enjoyed about this book was that the two MC‘s had a pretty big history prior to the band. This was something I didn’t see you coming and made the storyline more unique.

The narrator, again knocked the voices out of the park. Each character continues to have their own unique voice, continuing the voices they had from the first two books. I am impressed that the narrator could do this consistently across the series.

The addition of a little mystery of where the drugs were coming from was a sweet little side plot. Didn’t take up too much space, yet added a little more intrigue to the plot. The other mystery about what would happen with the landlord was also interesting. I’m so glad Dex showed up in time and justice was served. The author included a very realistic component about how women are often blamed, go unheard, and traumatized further post assault. I loved that the MMC was there for her!

This is the first book in the series I did not rate 5 stars, and that was for two reasons. I loved the story, but two things pulled one star away:

One aspect of this series I have loved is how realistic it all is. Fake or highly embellished stuff doesn't occur in this series just for the drama. Therefore, what I HATED in this book that was highly unrealistic was the psychologist slept with the MMC within ten minutes of meeting him in the substance rehabilitation facility. As a clinical psychologist, I am so over this trope: therapist sleeps with patient. Yes, psychologists and masters level therapists have crossed that line in real life, but it is rare. We, doctoral level psychologists (who was represented in this book), have to get our undergraduate degree (4 years), masters (2 years), PhD from an APA accredited institute, which is very hard to get accepted into (4-5 years), and complete an APA accredited internship year (1 year). After that, we have to take a huge test to obtain our license to practice. All that hard work and money to throw it away for sex with a patient, especially only after 10 minutes? YEA RIGHT!!!!! Also, of important note, in many states this is illegal. Why would someone throw away all that education, their license, AND face prison or jail time for a hook up WITH A PATIENT, especially only after ten minutes of meeting them? Because the patient was attractive? Psychologists are used to patients pushing boundaries, and unfortunately, women psychologists are used to men pushing sexual ones. We know how to say no, model healthy boundaries for the patients, and challenge them to be better. Also why this irks me so much is that most psychologists are trained heavily in power differentials and understand the context of a patient seeking help for mental health and substance use issues. They are in a vulnerable place. Taking advantage of that is disgusting. 👎🏻 I hate that this trope exists.

Another reason I gave this 4 stars: Yet again, another MFC that hits the man in her life. I was hoping for one woman who didn't hit or throw things. I'm not sure why domestic violence is something all these women participate in. This MFC was the worst. She punched and slapped the MMC, often. Although the MMC was manipulating and not being nice, hitting him was NOT the answer.

Love this book

I absolutely loved this audio book. This story is interconnected with Forgotten Legacy series. I loved the characters, Dex Cooper and Siobhan Rawlings. Dex is a charismatic hot bassist who is in denial of his addiction. Siobhan is a sweet feisty young woman who is best friends with Harper (Harper is the female lead in Tattooed Memories). Dex officially meets Siobhan on a train when they were in their early 20’s and they feel a connection right away, it’s love at first sight. Then one day Dex disappears with no explanation leaving Siobhan devastated. Several years later he comes back into Siobhans life and the sparks between them are still there. But there are dangerous dark secrets that Dex is keeping and Siobhan can’t afford to trust him.

This story had everything I look for in a book, romance, super hot loving, mystery, a little danger and we get to catch up with the characters from the previous books.

I recommend this audio book for all the reasons listed above but also because L. Ann is such a fantastic storyteller, this book has so much emotion in the written words, I stayed up way past when I should have been sleeping to finish this book, it was that good.

Oh these boys

I can’t not get enough of the bad boys of forgotten legacy and Dex is no exception! The roller coaster of this mans actions are enough to keep you entertained for days. Siobhan, she’s a doll. A sweetheart who just can’t seem to resist the bad boy. The story isn’t just an entertaining romance, L. Ann takes it to the next level and get your emotions all involved and just wrings every emotion out of you till you are not sure you love or hate her! (Definitely love her). Her ability to transport you to the rockstar world and endear all her characters blows me away every time and while you can read each story as a standalone, you gain so much by reading them all so when other characters appear you are already invested in them too. I don’t have enough good things to say about this book or this series.


Thomas always does a wonderful job giving books life and I was sucked back in and loved every minute of it. I love to read then listen because what I focus on and what the narrator emphasizes opens my eyes to things I missed while reading adds and extra layer of emotion and just blows me away.