Addicted 

By Zoey Williams

Synopsis

Talia Truman is a manager’s worst nightmare. A former child star, Talia traded in her braids and became a smart-mouthed party girl with a penchant for bad boys and even badder decisions. (Usually involving alcohol.) With a massive movie deal on the line, however, Talia needs to keep herself—and her purple thong panties—out of trouble. But sex-addiction rehab? Definitely not her idea…

Unfortunately, being stuck in rehab with emerging country music star Matt Skyler—aka The Most Delicious Man Talia Can’t Have—is testing Talia’s newfound chastity. All she wants to do is fall off the wagon and onto Matt. But Matt isn’t exactly the bad boy she thought he was. In fact, Talia is starting to suspect that this cowboy might secretly be a total gentleman. And worse still, she likes that.

Now, under the blinding glare of the paparazzi, this not-so-bad boy and trying-to-be-good girl must choose between their reputations…and who they really are.

Buy: Amazon / Barnes and Noble / ITunes

Tina’s Review

*** Provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ***

Talia Truman was a television child star and is trying to break away from that persona with her partying, drinking and boys. She thought she scored a movie franchise deal only for them to threaten to take it away. She needs to clean up her act – now – if she wants any chance at keeping the movie deal. More for publicity than need, her manager decides that the best way for Talia to clean up her image is to admit her into a sex addiction rehab facility.
CMA’s “Best New Artist” nominee, Matt Skylar, is a bigger fake than Talia! He’s taking it real hard that although he’s nominated, he’s not KNOWN. All the publicity and attention falls to the Bad Boys of Country. So, a he figures he’d rough up his appearance and plan a stint in rehab that he purposely extended from two weeks to six weeks. On the eve before his “graduation”, Talia joins the facility and calls his bluff.

Novella, under 100 pages. Stand-Alone. No Cliffhanger.
The characters, all of them, have a caricature feel to them; like they are exaggerated for comedic purposes. In this, Ms Williams would be successful. The dialogue is witty and sharp. Banning the toothbrush was funny, but it escalates from there. There’s a fluidity of the read, making it an easy, joyful piece to read. The action causing the conflict is believable, the reactions to the building conflict are very appropriate for the characters and the resolve is perfect. There really is not a lot of predictability in whole and the conclusion is solidly wrapped up.