Weeks became months, and months became years. Each day, nudged Kason deeper into his addiction. Each memory of the girl destroyed fed the craving for what he could never have again. Leaving a life-altering first love behind, Adaline tried moving forward to find love and trust and happiness. Pain eventually faded, wounds slowly healed, yet scars were forever left behind.But some scars feel like … scars feel like kisses.
When the shattered pieces of their hearts are forced to meet again, the two of them must decide how much pain their love is worth enduring.
This is what happens when one person loves beyond the craving and the other craves beyond the loving.
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There is so much going through my mind right now. So much I need to release. So here goes:
I don’t know who E.K. Blair is. I don’t know if the E stands for Erica, Ernesto, Emma, or Edmund. I don’t know how I have never managed to actually pick up one of E.K.’s books (though several are on my TBR and at least one is on my kindle). I don’t know why this duet screamed to me- not called. No, screamed at me that I needed to read it. I don’t know why more people aren’t talking about it and forcing it on their friends.
What I do know is this:
E.K. Blair is a talented wordsmith. There is absolutely no way to avoid the intense emotions dripping from these pages. They bleed. Bleed. The agony, the longing, and the utter devastation will ring in your ears and vibrate through your mind long after you have finished this duet. I can’t even begin to describe the feels in these pages. The love, the heartache, the confusion- all torment the reader as much, if not more than the characters. I can’t imagine the satisfaction an author must feel when they learn the story they crafted makes others live it. E.K. Blair earned that satisfaction.
I read the first book in this duet and was tormented. I went through the seemingly endless cycle of soul crushing shame, heartache, and desperate need. Only to have it be an endless loop. The characters hurt and I hurt but Crave Part Two was my complete undoing. It obliterated my heart. It destroyed my faith and hope. It hurt me to read and it hurt me to consider not reading.
If you haven’t read Part One, you cannot understand. The ending was traumatic. The beginning of Part Two is more so. The emotional upheaval hurts. The story hurts. And the love…the love hurts more.
I cannot even begin to describe the intensity of my reactions. I was confused, upset, and longed for something more. Do NOT!!!! Do not take this as a disagreement with the book. I just couldn’t accept the characters decisions. It hurt too much. But have faith because the author knows. This book had butterflies jumping in my throat. Not my stomach, my throat…they went way past my stomach and were causing sheer worry to eat away at my fragile hopes.
With quotes like these you can’t help but feel the cutting edge of a knife into your heart.
“Now, here I am, a foul excuse for a human, who’s hopelessly in love with the ghost of my past.”
“I feel the wetness from a teardrop when it falls onto my chest. It burns into my skin, creating yet another scar of my love for her.”
Seriously, shredding my heart and soul one word at a time. This duet is eye opening to a problem that no one wants to address. It gives understanding to something most would want to hide from. But most of all it shows LOVE. Love for all. Love gives strength. And sometimes that’s all we need.
I have no idea if the author’s intent is to shed light on an addiction most right off as a person being a deviant, instead of needing help. I don’t know if it was just a story that E.K. Blair needed to write just to silence the voices. What I do know is that Crave parts One and Two are a painful and real love. This story is so much more than my words can express. I just hope that you decide my rambling is enough to read one (meaning the duet as a whole) of the best books I have ever experienced.
Reviewed for Sweet Spot Sisterhood
Adeline is a victim. In the end of book 1, she’s victimised and this book starts from there. The horrific assault she suffers leaves her body and soul shattered . She withdraws in her shell, gets depressed and starts avoiding people. Her mom, her lover, her friends , her classes. And she fails on every count. This is what happens to assault victims.
She’s drifting, and I don’t know why.
The pathos is the central heroine of the story. For The uphill ardous task , that is recovery ,The courage has to come from within. Ady is not in a state of togetherness of her mind yet. Shes going through the stages of post trauma
Denial
Anger
Depression
Bargaining
Acceptance
The toughest being bargaining, cause she bargains her heart to the abuse. She literally crushes it under her own foot.
I was flabbergasted, hated Ady so much. She had so much support and love all around her, but I guess her trust was broken and she lashed out and recoiled from it.
Kason Stratton. O. M. G. Whenever he came to the scene, I cried my heart out. This guy has suffered so much .. his own horrific past and now Ady withdrawing, it’s like God is stabbing and then twisting the knife ! He’s seeking solace and reprieve but it comes wrapped with shame and guilt
I cried and sobbed and bawled for him
I kneeled and pleaded and begged with him
I crumbled, I went to hell, I lost myself after him
I’m so alone, so miserable, so damn pathetic. Shameful, uncontrollable, and possibly even unlovable. Maybe it just took her this long to realize it.
My body is its own machine, and I gave up on it a long time ago. It calls the shots, not me. It drives me from one high to the next. When I’m not high, I’m consumed with shame. And when that happens, I drink to become numb. And it’s somewhere between those three emotions that I bury myself in work and school.
He’s a fantastically created tragic hero. One you want to cuddle, hug and envelop in your arms.
EK has angst pouring out of her proverbial pen. The discerning grief just casts a gloomy grey cloud over the story and excruciating pain is just soaked with tears.
The central theme is courage and conviction, to fight your demons, you have to leave the dark and step into the light , as excruciating as the steps maybe. Just one foot after the other !
I’m not a YA / NA fan at all. Yet this story touched me. Especially Micah and Kason.
It’s a cry fest so get the tissue box handy people.
4 Kleenex Stars
Addiction and violation. Heartache and love. Kason and Adaline. E.K. Blair took a tortured love story and made it hurt so much more. I thought that Part One tore me into pieces, but Crave: Part Two completely shattered me.
After her first party as a college freshman ends with no memory and a sense of violation, Adaline tries to move on. Every day with Kason gets harder and harder as she tries to keep him from the truth. Until she can’t take it anymore and she disappears from his life without notice. What follows is months, then years of healing on one side and a downward spiral on the other. Then a tragedy brings them back together and even though Adaline has moved on with someone else, she still loves Kason. With her heart torn in two, she must make the choice to leave him again, or follow her heart and stay. Is she strong enough now to let him in?
Holy f****** s***!! I don’t know who I felt worse for, Adaline, Kason, or Micah. Let’s start with Adaline. Man, that girl went through some crap. I wanted to hate her for the way she was acting and how she wouldn’t open up, but I couldn’t. Truth is that is what happens when someone goes through that experience. The shame, the fear and the blame. I just wish she would have given Kason a chance to help her through it. When she left him, I thought that this story was going to end in an entirely different way and I didn’t want to read anymore. I wanted Kason and Adaline together, so much so that I put the book down and walked away. But my natural inclination to know what happens whether I like it or not, brought me back. And I am so glad I picked my kindle up again.
Which brings me to Kason. Adaline’s leaving did a number on him. I feel like she should have seen it coming, but she was too deep in her own issues to worry about his. I hated that she thought he would move on and everything would be fine. Especially since she was the one that was trying to get him to get help for his addiction. She read about how debilitating it could be and I know I can’t blame her for not thinking about that, but I kinda do. Her actions sent him on a path of self-destruction. I just wanted to hold him and make everything better each time she pushed him away and broke his heart a little more.
Speaking of broken hearts, not only did Adaline break Kason’s but also Micah’s. I always thought that Micah was a great friend to both of them, even after the confrontation with Kason in book one. He is perfect in every way. Sweet, caring, and loyal. I felt bad when she hurt him, not once but twice. But they were never meant to be together. I think that is what made me so mad when I think about how broken hearted he was. I loved them as friends but I couldn’t get behind them as a couple.
I am emotionally wrecked, still. I am late writing my review because I just couldn’t find the words to express how I felt. I probably still haven’t quite made a dent into the frustration and sympathy that I felt for all of these characters. E.K. has blown me away with how she put the realness of these issues into written words. FIVE crave worthy stars! P.S. I want Micah to get a happy ending, please give it to me.
This is the conclusion to Kason and Adaline. Adaline is struggling with the terrible events that occurred in part 1, and Kason is struggling with his sex addiction.
The first 20% of the book is about Adaline’s emotions. She feels lost, dirty, and alone. To start her healing process, she feels like she needs to start over. A different city, a different scene, a different college.
Kason gets left behind and gives into his addiction completely. Without Adaline, he is alone and has no more drive to get better.
Days turn into weeks, and the weeks turn into years. But the craving for each other never goes away. Kason and Adaline aren’t done.
I really enjoyed this book, but a part of me wanted to shake Adaline. If she made different choices, a lot of pain could have been avoided. I wouldn’t say this was my favorite series by E.K. Blair, but this was still a very good read.
5+ STARS! If you loved Crave: Part 1 You will LOVE Crave: Part 2. At least I did! This book will pull at your heart strings! It is a raw and emotional book to read! I cried big sloppy tears.
Crave: Part 2 is the conclusion to the Crave Duet series. Part 1 left off on a HUGE cliffhanger. Something bad happened to Adaline at the ending of Part 1 and she is now having to deal with it. Only she doesn’t deal with it well. Kason is aware that something is wrong. He just doesn’t know how to fix it. There were times that I got tired of Adaline but, I had to keep reminding myself. How would I act if what happened to her would have happened to me. Was it so wrong that she couldn’t cope? I don’t think so. I hurt for Kason, I hurt for Adaline and I hurt for Micah.
Crave is a page turner. I found myself up late last night and then had to get up early to finish reading this book! As I am sure you can tell I loved this book.
I voluntarily read an Advanced Reader Copy of the book. I look forward to reading more books by E. K. Blair.
3.5 stars–CRAVE Part Two is the second installment in E.K. Blair’s contemporary, new adult CRAVE duet that focuses on the relationship between two high school lovers, and the resulting turmoil and fallout as each enter their first year of college. CRAVE Part two cannot be read as a stand alone as it picks up immediately after the events of CRAVE Part one.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Adaline and Kason) CRAVE Part two covers several years in the life of Kason, Adaline and her best friend Micah but mostly focuses on the struggles of our story line heroine. At the end of Part one Adaline’s life was destroyed; the pain and humiliation found our heroine walking away from the young man that she loves in the hopes of protecting not only his heart but from a future marred by memories and tears. Adaline believes revealing the truth will hurt everyone involved but her secrets and lies will eventually destroy the boy that she loves. Fast forward five years and our heroine must return to the town and people where it all began as tragedy continues to destroy the young man she left behind.
CRAVE Part Two is a story about one girl, two boys and a lifetime of secrets, heartache, addiction and recovery. Kason’s life slowly began to unravel when Ady refused to admit or acknowledge the truth about that fateful night that would tear apart their lives. Kason would remain oblivious but suspicious about the events that led to Ady’s spiral out of control while his own demons would demand and take hold without a second backwards glance. There are moments of infidelity, grief, shame and revelation. Age does not equate to maturity, and in this, our story line couple will continue to hurt the people they love. Ady runs when things begin to overwhelm; Kason buries his feelings with every willing female that crosses his path. Adaline will make selfish choices that affect the people in her life knowing that she will destroy a young man who has already suffered more than anyone could have ever imagined.
CRAVE Parts One and Two reads like a mature YA (Young Adult) story line rather than the more age appropriately titled new adult genre. The $ex scenes are implied and fade to black; the requisite love triangle is pervasive and frustrating, angst filled and frustrating; discouraging and frustrating ; heartbreaking and …frustrating ! Everyone deserves a happily ever after in a romance story line but with love triangles there is always someone whose heart will be destroyed never alluding to a happily ever after. The premise is emotional but I struggled with the love triangle aspect of the story- at times my lack of sympathy for the heroine bordered on apathy in light of what happened years before. The consequences of her choices, and her decision to remain quiet and run destroyed several lives in the process. The characters are dynamic but immature; the romance struggled with too many demons both current and past. CRAVE Part Two concludes Adaline and Kason’s roller coaster relationship-here’s hoping that Micah, Trent and Kate find their own happily ever after.
HOLY HELL!!! I thought book one was good… E.K. Blair blew me away in Part Two… I started book one around 4 pm and as soon as I was done I jumped into this book… I finally finished around 2 am! I was hooked from page one of book one all the way to the end of book Two.
Ms. Blair had me an emotional wreck all through part two. I don’t think I was able to stop crying once I started. A Mixture of happy tears, sad tears, and heartbreak tears.
FANTASTIC job on this Duet E.K. Blair. I cannot wait to see what you bring to the table next. I know it will be beyond amazing.