Review: I loved this book
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 21, 2014
Wow.  I loved this book.  It was absolutely amazing, and I think by the end of the book I was actually salivating a bit.  No sh*t.  Anyway.  I have given every book released by the Ritchie sisters so far 5-stars.  There is a reason why this one was only given 4...If you have read previous reviews you may have seen the 3 star review given by Kalian Williams, to which I agree with a lot of which she said.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I absolutely loved this book but this story rehashed a lot of old material.  While overall, I did enjoy the book, there were times where I found myself skimming or wanting to skip something because I already knew what was coming or what was going to happen.  It's not like I didn't know that this was coming, the Ritchie sisters did tell us the timeline of this book, but like the reviewer Williams said, it's just a difficult thing to pull off when authors attempt something like this. And I think the Ritchie sisters had moments in Thrive where there was room for improvement.One thing I am really hoping for, is something MORE to happen with Lily's mother.  I'm a little confused with her character.  On one hand, we have this picture painted of her as a cold callous woman, who for the majority of Lily's life has pretty much ignored her daughter, and subsequently become the reason for her sex addiction.  And then on the other hand, in Daisy's story, she is a loving mother, who, while over bearing and somewhat controlling, only does what she does because she only wants the best for her children.  If you go back far enough (back to Addicted to You) Rose tells Lily that her addiction affects their whole family and that their mother reads books like "How to reconnect with your daughter"  this seems to me like she wants to have some kind of involvement in Lily's life and yet we don't really get any of that in the most recent books.  I'm also conflicted on how I feel about Johnothan Hale. He is a cruel and viscous excuse for a human being, who drove both of his sons to alcoholism and yet I felt as if there was an expectation to just.... forgive him?  I'm expected to believer that he LOVES his sons?  I'm not to sure if this book and Ryke's book were supposed to be some kind of redemption for Mr Hale, but I don't think I can do it?  He is a horrible man, and I think the Ritchie sisters need to work on more development for his character before making me believe that Johnothan Hale is worthy of his sons affections.  Because he is not.Aside from these few things, I really did enjoy this book.  The character development for Lily and Lo has been done exceptionally well over the last few books.  And over the time span the Ritchie sisters has given us, has seen Lily and Lo grow from strength to strength.  There were may times throughout the book where I was laughing so hard I thought I would pee my pants and there were times were I bawled my eyes out like a big fat baby (when Lo comatose on booze?! Totally cried!!) While I had the issues above, it WAS nice to know how Lily and Lo were feeling at the time of Kiss the Sky and Hothouse Flower.I love Lilo so so much, and the Ritchie sisters did so well with Thrive.  I can't wait for the next books!