Sweet Addiction [Paperback]

Maya Banks (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 3, 2012

He awakened a need within her...

Cole is successful beyond his 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...


But now she belongs to another...


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...

Editorial Reviews

Review

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

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

About the Author

Maya Banks is the New York Times bestselling author of Sweet Possession.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade; 1 edition (April 3, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425245659
• ISBN-13: 978-0425245651
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (122 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Maya Banks lives in Texas with her husband, three children and assortment of pets. When she's not writing, she can be found hunting, fishing or playing poker.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

(What's this?)

#31 Overall (See top 100 authors)

#10 in Books > Romance

#13 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance

#14 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Erotica

#16 in Books > Romance > Contemporary

#17 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance > Contemporary

#10 in Books > Romance

#13 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance

#14 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Erotica

#16 in Books > Romance > Contemporary

#17 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance > Contemporary

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars This book is not for the vanilla reader! I found some sections a bit too shocking for me. April 3, 2012

By Bookaholics Reviewer

Format:Paperback

Sweet Addiction by Mary Banks
Contemporary Romance -April 3rd, 2012
4 stars

Fans of Maya Banks will love her latest book, especially if they like dominant heroes who will do almost anything to lay claim to the woman they want and make her their own.

Cole is powerful and wealthy but he can't forget the one woman he left. Ren and Cole were high school sweethearts but when his dominant side showed up in the bedroom and he inadvertently hurt Ren he could not forgive himself and left her.

It is years later and this early taste of domination stirs a fire in young Ren. She loves the sense of belonging and easily explores her submissive side. Her latest Master, Lucas is one that she has a comfortable relationship with. But when Lucas displays her at an exclusive club called The House, she is seen by Cole, who is shocked by his anger and jealousy. But most of all, he is shocked by his possessive need to have her for his own again. He persuades her current Master to loan her to him but what he really wants is Ren all for himself. And he will do anything he can to make her realize how much he wants her back.

This book is not for the vanilla reader! I found some sections a bit too shocking for me. Many of the scenes push the edge. Cole and Lucas have strong sex drives and are very dominant. And reading their intense focus on pleasuring Ren is sizzling hot. Those who are not afraid to explore their sensual side will enjoy this book. While this book has steamy sexual scenes, it is also dark and tormented as Ren is very conflicted with her feelings. Warning -this book gets very intense and emotional. This book also has an unconventional ending as Ren makes a surprising decision between her old and new Master.

Darkly erotic and surprising, this book is one that will draw you into Ren's amazing sexual odyssey of submission and love.

Reviewed by Steph from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Not so "sweet" and not so "addictive" April 27, 2012

By StoryGirl

Format:Paperback

This book (if it can be called such) is my first time reading any of Maya Banks' work. I must say, I'm not impressed. I'm use to writers such as Joey W. Hill that take that subject of domination and submission and fill it with substance and have an actual storyline full of intricate plot twists, rather than just one sex scene after another, each one pretty much the same as the last. This book felt like nothing but a porno flick in book form; no substance, one dimensional characters, zero story going on.

As other people who have reviewed this book have mentioned; it was truly annoying starting a book thinking you were going to be reading a story about one character (Cole) and as you're reading you feel as if you're watching the man who is supposed to be the main character, be pushed to the side in favor of another man (Lucas) who is barely mentioned in the book's synopsis. The book was supposed to be a story about Cole and his long lost love Ren. Instead, its a story about how Ren has happily moved on with a man named Lucas and how Cole comes pushing his way back into her life as some sort of unwanted sloppy seconds side note. Not very romantic.

The "events" in the book were surprisingly dull considering the book is basically non stop graphic sex. Each sex scene is similar to the last, and as soon as one sex scene ends; another begins. There are no other events to brake it up and no other elements are added to the storyline to actually enhance these scenes or make the book a bit more interesting. I never actually thought sex could be dull in a book until now, after having read Sweet Addiction. The only scene in the book that is remotely different is an extremely brief scene where Cole takes Ren to dinner at his friend's home where she VERY briefly talks with the wives of his friends and surprise, surprise; most of that conversation is about sex. Now don't get me wrong, I love my spicy sex scenes just as much as the next girl, but when the sex continuously goes throughout the entire book basically without stopping, and each sex scene is pretty much the same as the last; it gets downright boring.

I also found the characters extremely annoying and poorly written; especially Ren who was, in my opinion, a whiney, flimsy, dishrag of a girl who was content to have sex with anything with a male sex organ, as long as she had at least one consistent male in her life that made her feel as if she was being cared for. The male characters are totally lacking in any real depth and basically seem like the same man, the only real difference being Lucas is supposed to be older than Cole. It felt like a total lack of any real emotion was going on throughout the book. Banks writes about how Ren is supposedly gutted and bereft with the prospect of having to choose between the two men. Yet, none of that emotion really comes across as real and the whole thing comes off as extremely fake and forced. The ending is also totally unrealistic and personally left me scratching my head and going "Okay...?????"

I seriously don't recommend this book. If you actually like your novels to have a bit of substance, you'll be sorely disappointed.

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Not such a sweet addiction April 3, 2012

By Cindy

Format:Paperback

Who the heck is Lucas and why am I supposed to care about him? This book ended up being such a waste of my time. It didn't feel like Cole's story at all and the ending felt so forced.

The first part of this book is about Ren and Lucas. You can feel the strong connection these two have for each other. By the time it comes to Ren being with Cole it felt so forced you feel sorry for Ren because she really doesn't want to be there. She spends most of her time thinking about Lucas and wanting to please him. When she feels like Lucas isn't going to come back for her she clings to Cole like all she really wants is someone to take care of her and it's whoever happens to be handy.

At the beginning of the book Cole is watching Damon with Serena and wishing he had a relationship like theirs but when it comes to being with Ren he ends up acting like Micah. From the first few pages of the book I got the impression it was going to be another sweet story like Damon's then it kinda did a 180 and became something totally different. Cole didn't seem like the same person from the beginning of the book to the end. He would say one thing and end up doing something different. He wasn't the strong, confident, dom you would expect by the end. He seemed like someone who couldn't make up his mind.

Never really got to like Ren. One minute she acts like she really doesn't care who she's with just as long as she's having sex and someone is there to take care of her and the next she's wishing she was with the one who's not at hand.

By the end of the book it really felt like it was about Ren and Lucas and Cole was just an after thought. When I finished reading it I wanted to throw the book and tell Cole to man up and quit begging for seconds, he deserved alot better than what he got. If we had met Lucas in another story it might have worked but the fact that he was a stranger and ended up taking over Cole's story really sucked. Cole just got screwed, literaly.