Addicted to You

Becca Ritchie, Krista RitchieFiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2013

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-6

Chapters 7-15

Chapters 16-23

Chapters 24-33

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Sex

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of substance use, addiction, sexual violence, and sexual content.

Sex is the central motif in the story and the one that bleeds the most into all aspects of Lily’s and Lo’s lives. The story opens with Lily waking up after a one-night stand and being picked up by Lo, who worries about her safety in such situations. Lo is protective of Lily but simultaneously takes advantage of her sexual compulsions by teasing her and always drawing her into his influence. Lily constantly thinks about sex when she isn’t having it and even gets caught watching porn in class one day. She misses family events to have sex and disconnects from them to keep her addiction a secret. Lily enjoys having sex in the moment but always feels strange and guilty afterward: “My confidence has sputtered out with my climax, and all I feel is the heat of shame blooming across my ears” (34).

Lily’s sexual addiction began when she was just 11 years old and started watching pornography. When she wasn’t watching it, she was waiting to watch it. This evolved into going into mature chatrooms and eventually having sex. Lily sometimes has sex with multiple people in the same day, and when she devotes herself to Lo, she becomes extremely demanding of sex from him as well. Lily finds sex with Lo more meaningful but needs it more than ever, and she ends up disappointing her family on multiple occasions. Lily only starts to look at her compulsiveness when she is assaulted in a club bathroom and Lo decides that he needs to seek professional help. Until then, Lily lied to herself and made herself believe that her addiction wasn’t dangerous.

Alcohol

Alcohol is a central motif in the story, being at the heart of Lo’s addiction and the issues in his life and acting as a barrier between him and the rest of the world. Alcohol is a manifestation of The Precarious Nature of Addiction and becomes intertwined with The Truths and Lies of Love in Lily and Lo’s relationship. Lily sees Lo as being all-consumed by alcohol, and he carries a drink with him everywhere he goes. Lily has to help Lo when he’s hungover or passed out, and while Lily doesn’t drink as much as Lo does, she occasionally uses alcohol to make her sexual experiences with strangers hazier. Lo’s dependency on alcohol is both a physical danger to his health and harmful to his relationship with Lily. Lily works to help Lo keep his alcohol dependency a secret from his family and defends him against criticism, not realizing that she is enabling his problem. When Lo starts engaging in dangerous behaviors like stealing liquor from a house party and passing out constantly from overconsumption, he begins neglecting himself and Lily to the point where he isn’t there for her anymore. Ryke and Connor both come into Lo’s life to help him see the truth about his alcohol use disorder and seek help for it.

Comic Book Heroes

Comic book heroes are used as a motif in Addicted to You to represent the innocent sides of Lily and Lo, their childhood bond, and their desire to cling to a piece of their old selves in the face of addiction. Comic book heroes remind Lily and Lo of simpler, more easygoing times and were one of the first things they bonded over as kids. Lo keeps a photo of him and Lily dressed as X-Men characters in his room, which Lily finds mortifying, but Lo sees it as a highlight of their relationship and lives together. Lily and Lo revive those same costumes for the Halloween party with Connor, where Ryke is also dressed as a superhero (Green Arrow). Becoming those characters again and keeping comic books in their lives not only reminds them of who they used to be but also serves as a welcome distraction from the daily stressors they experience: “We don’t talk about our addictions. Not outright. We bury them with booze and sex and on the occasion where we feel lost we return to the nostalgia of comic books” (321). Within the story itself, comic books are the one “innocent” or childlike activity that Lily and Lo engage in within a world of sex and alcohol.