Erik Keston, son of the Keston Real Estate empire, knows what it takes to be successful. Despite his inherent wealth, he holds his own. He works hard, he’s grounded, he’s brilliant. He’s also secretly in love with his best friend.
Monroe Wellman lost his parents three years ago and never grieved, never recovered. Inheriting the family company and wealth means nothing, and his spiral of self-destruction is widespread and spectacular. Dubbed Sydney’s bad boy, he spends more days drunk than sober, and the only person who’s stuck by him through it all is his best mate.
But when Monroe hits rock bottom, Erik gives him an ultimatum, and his entire world comes to a grinding halt. It’s not until the haze lifts that Monroe can truly see what he’s been searching for was never in the bottom of a bottle. It’s been by his side all along.
* * *
An 80,000-word friends-to-lovers story about fighting the demons within and trusting in the love that takes its place.
“Because when all you drink is hate, that’s all there is inside you.”
Amazon – Kindle Unlimited
Wow…
What a relevant topic of today. Addiction.
I’ve gotta say that this one was incredibly emotional for me, as someone who not only has struggled with alcohol addiction but also grew up with an alcoholic father, it was so well written and described every part of the recovery process perfectly.
Erik and Monroe have been best friends since they were 18 and met in college. More than best friends though, one cannot function without the other, and since Monroe lost his parents in an accident three years ago, he’s needed more from his friend than is healthy. Using alcohol as a way to cover up all the feelings and grief associated with losing his parents that he didn’t have a great relationship with, he let himself get carried away with his addiction.
Erik though, man… there would never be a more patient and supportive friend, but support can so easily turn into enabling and it’s a fine line between the two if you don’t know how to handle someone with an addiction. Erik cared so much, love his friend so much that he let him get away with so much, as long as it kept him happy. But, with any kind of addiction, if left untreated, it just gets worse and worse, and Erik was afraid that if Monroe didn’t get control of it, he’d end up in prison, or dead. His family used their connections and set up a type of intervention to get Monroe some help, but wow, it was not easy.
I loved that we got to see the addiction from both POV’s. I love how raw and painful it was, but that’s honest. I liked the way it was described because it isn’t just the one with the diseases battle to beat, it affects so many people, the people closest to you especially. Monroe hurt his best friend time and time again. He hurt his father’s old friend, and lawyer Jeffery, and Erik’s parents and sister as well. He realized this after he was forced to listen to their intervention, and it was enough to make him want to get help. It was heartbreaking for all of them.
They were all there for Monroe, but they needed to be there for Erik as well, and he was such a strong person… his love for Monroe kept him strong because he needed him to get better. Their relationship may have seemed co-dependant, and maybe a little bit, it was, because they needed each other’s happiness to be truly happy… but with the help of Saul, the therapist, (who is the epitome of amazing) they got through it and used it in a healthy way.
I know addiction is stigmatized and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth when someone mentions it… but like with these two, it can grab ahold of anyone and it’s so easy to get lost down this rabbit hole of numbness and easy ways to forget; and it’s hard to pull yourself out of it. Almost impossible to do on your own, and I loved how real and honest it was with the whole process. Not everyone has success stories, not everyone has support systems and if Monroe didn’t have Erik, I don’t think he would’ve had anyone else.
Each of them had to prove that they could handle things on their own so they could be better for each other. It was emotional and sometimes a struggle and I shed many tears for both of them. What an awesome read though, I really enjoyed it. And the ending was perfect and they both deserved it after all their hard work. It just tied everything together perfectly. I definitely recommend!
5 pieces of eye candy from me!
