Review: Addicted by Nigel May

Title: Addicted
Author: Nigel May
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 13th May 2015
Pages: 402
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 4/5
Purchase: Amazon

Fame, fortune and five-star luxury. Meet four fabulous women – all of them hold a dark secret… one of them won’t live to tell the tale.

Nancy Arlow – the fading entertainer determined to gamble and charm her way out of a mountain of debt.

Lauren Everett – behind the facade of the perfect politician’s wife lies a woman with an outrageous past and a spiraling drug habit.

Portia Safari – the world famous opera diva, adored by millions, has it all, but could her secret drinking problem cost her everything?

Martha Éclair – The millionaire wine heiress whose appetite for kinky sex could bring down her father’s business empire.

Each woman must face their own addiction before they pay the ultimate price…

Regular readers of my blog will know that my favourite author is Jackie Collins, and so when Bookouture signed Nigel May, and I read that he has been called 'the male Jackie Collins' I was both excited and apprehensive to see how he would compare. I have actually had Nigel's books on my TBR since starting the blog last year when he first came to my attention, so his signing was the perfect time to finally read his books.

I was addicted to Addicted. Seriously, it has everything you would want from a bonkbuster, along with some rather incredible and outrageous main characters in the form of our four women. Nancy Arlow - fading entertainer about to develop a gambling addiction that could see her life fall apart, Lauren Everett - a woman who pretty much has no life since she became the wife of a politician, she is about to rediscover the life she left behind (and develop a drug addiction along the way...), Portia Safari - world famous diva, adored by millions, has a drinking problem that could cost her everything... and Martha Eclair - millionaire wine heiress with a sex addiction that could destroy her father's empire. All of these girls are about to collide, resulting in one of the most entertaining reads I have read this year.

Bonkbusters usually have a mystery element, and the mystery in Addicted comes at the very beginning when we witness the funeral of one of our four women, but it is kept from the reader which woman it actually is, before taking us back in time, setting the scene, introducing all of the characters, and showing us just how all of their lives come to converge. The very nature of stories like this means that they are hard to summarise, so much happens, but all I can say is that it's a hell of a lot of fun to read about. Also the sex. Any good? Yes. Let's just say Nigel has a very vivid imagination and he puts it to good use here.

I think what I enjoyed most was how Nigel May made the personalities of our four women really shine through, and not always in a good way. Not only that but that boring cliche of 'money doesn't buy you happiness', the saying that those of us without wealth can't possibly imagine to be true, is actually true because our leading ladies aren't always happy, and have the same worries and insecurities that women across the world face every single day. It's hard to discuss favourites without fully explaining why, but I must have changed my mind about who I liked the most a dozen times as I read, as the characters change so will your opinion, but as we neared the finish I was firmly on the side of some of the characters more than others. I'll say no more...

As the percentage on my Kindle got nearer to 100%, I couldn't read quick enough to discover how everything would conclude. To discover which of our characters would soon find themselves six feet under (despite having a fair idea of which one it would be...) and I was a little bit disappointed to finish this book. Aside from Queen Jackie I also love Victoria Fox, and I think Nigel May is about to sit alongside those two authors if Trinity and his upcoming new novel, Scandalous Lies, are as good as Addicted. I have no hesitation in recommending this book! It is the perfect read this summer.

4.5/5