Long Way Down by Krista & Becca Ritchie | Rating: ★★★★★  

“I am the biographer of my own life. And no one can take that away from me.” 

Since the day we were introduced to both Daisy and Ryke I have been waiting for them to get their own happily ever after. Since the day they got together. All the way to Long Way Down, I've been waiting patiently for luck to be on their side. So much of this time has been spent getting to know them as individuals, as a couple. If there were a pair of fictional characters so deserving of greatness it's them. All the way down the path to their destiny, it's been a pleasure watching them grow and seeing them navigate a sticky world.

One of the things that strikes me most about Long Way Down is that there are so many times that you just want to cry your eyes out. At good things. At bad things. Krista and Becca Ritchie have accomplished so much with their words throughout the course of Addicted and Calloway Sisters but their greatest feat, their biggest triumph, is how they tackle the complexities of life and human emotions. Every character we've met has struggled in different ways and their approach has always been honest in displaying various coping mechanisms.


Long Way Down follows the tradition of loving family, friends and your significant others with a full heart. Much like the way they portray life in all its colours, the little differences in each story and each character just explore it perfectly. Daisy and Ryke aren't each other. They are similar. They feed each other's fire. They are good with everyone but best when together. You just can't picture them with anyone else and I really do mean it when I say no one deserves a happy ending more than they do.

I loved the overall sense of adventure and grief in this. There are many moments that will tug at your heartstrings--Daisy and Ryke struggling to have a child, the loss of a good friend, near death experiences. I have to admit that Krista and Becca had me going a few times in this one and made me feel as though my heart had plummeted straight from my chest. I'd hate them for it if I didn't love them for it. Just as there were moments of great pain, there were most of great triumph--family, a wedding, a world of opportunities and new beginnings.

My favourite theme about this series is how realistic it is but still maintains that feeling of optimism in happy endings. I don't want to say fairy-tale endings because that seems hardly fair considering the path that each character takes to get where they are, but it's close enough to how I want to describe it. Truly, the series is in a league of its own and everyday I ask myself, "Jessica, what took you so long to get here?" and "Jessica, why didn't you buy a physical copy of this instead of digital?" because the characters, their stories, have etched themselves on my heart in a way that is impossible to explain.

So much of this series has been emotionally packed but Long Way Down is one of the most moving and devastating releases to date. I laughed. I cried. Most importantly, I felt like I lived. It was by far one of the best of the series and I'm so sad to see myself one step closer to saying goodbye to these characters who have become like friends to me. I'm deeply passionate about their well-being and that is such a rare find when it comes to literature.

So grab some tissues and prepare to feel all the emotions you have come to expect from a Ritchie Squared book. Long Way Down is one of the best books I've ever read in my entire life.

I'm so happy to see the final chapter of Raisy's story and I'm so proud to see where they are.