Damaged Like Us by Krista and Becca Ritchie | Rating: ★★★★☆

"I hoped for someone who wasn't afraid to put me in my place, someone who made me feel human. I hoped for someone who could be strong so I could be vulnerable, but still never make me feel weak or less than. I hoped for trust and understanding and an innate love of my family."

Krista and Becca Ritchie: *releases something new*
Me: *trips over myself to buy it immediately.*

Ladies. Darling. Ritchie Squared. Queens of Romance and Making-Jessica-Feel-Things. Can we just sort out a few things first? Like, your complete ownership of my wallet? At this point, I may as well just sign the damn thing over to you. I'm not mad about it. At. All. I'm so happy to see the delicious and emotion-packed stories continue on with this spin-off of Addicted.

When I first read the previous two series, I had no idea what I was getting myself into but at this point it's beyond safe to say that my #GIRLS Krista Ritchie and Becca Ritchie have shaped my twenties in the same way that J.K. Rowling. The biggest thing to note about their characters is that they become a part of you almost instantly. I've got bits of them scattered throughout me now and forever. I'm not even being dramatic about it.


Damaged Like Us continues this trait and follows the offspring of our favourite family. I'm not one for spin-offs that take place in the future with the children of main characters but this is the exception to my rule. I love these families--this family--so much I could read literally a hundred books about them throughout the generations. I wish I was kidding about that--but now you see my comparison to HP is in terms of how much I love these characters.

First things first: the flaws. I had two complaints throughout this book and they are the only reason that I didn't give it a solid five stars.

One, the "you know *insert character* as...' format.

*Ducks* Okay, okay. It's not at all bad. It just was something that got a little off-putting after each introduction. Nothing to glare about. Just a little tick that made me go 'mehhhh' the more it was used. At the same time, I think that it fit quite well with the reality-television qualities to the family and made things seem a bit more intimate towards the readers.

Second: the rumors towards the end of the novel that tabloids spread about Moffy and Jane. If you have read it, you already know what I'm getting at. If you haven't, I'm not going to spoil it--but this made me immensely uncomfortable and the way that everyone seemed to respond to it made me put-off again.

That being said... I loved Moffy and Farrow! Their relationship was very steamy and sweet. A true Ritchie Squared quality. Who else can make you swoon, weak-in-the-knees, hot in one quick shot? The love that their characters hold for one another is so pure and I love that they always know how to make a love story seem real. There's always flaws in it but that's what makes the series so fun to read. As always, we see ourselves in the pages and words and characters. Damaged Like Us takes what we know and love about previous installments and tunes it to a new generation.

Everything is different. The feelings are the same.

I also enjoyed getting to know Jane and Sulli and Luna. They were probably the most prominent of the next generation of kids that were featured but I wouldn't mind expanding on them and the rest of the kids further. I loved that we saw the family element played up again and when we see the original core six, they're just the same as they were. It gives you all the feels and makes me want to do another reread of the series ASAP!

Overall, Damaged Like Us is fun and sexy. Heartfelt and completely entertaining. Ritchie Squared slays again with the first installment of a brand new series and I cannot wait to see where it goes next. One things for certain, they always get better with each release and we're surely in for a treat with the Like Us series.

About my wallet...