See the world of Kiss The Sky and Hothouse Flower through the eyes of Lo and Lily.
Dates Read: 30/08/2022 to 31/08/2022
Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Word to describe: Understanding
Genre: Romantic Fiction
It has been a while since I read this book, but I will do my best to re-capture the love and excitement I felt while reading this series.
TW: bullying, addiction, alcoholism and alcohol abuse, unplanned pregnancy, mentions of childhood abuse claims.
The one thing I loved about this book is how well it could tie together all of the loose ends from the previous two books (Kiss The Sky and Hothouse Flower). By adding in Lily and Lo's perspective, we can see everything that led up to that tumultuous moment in Kiss The Sky and how the inevitable development of Daisy and Ryke's relationship affected the group dynamic from new perspectives. We already know the storyline that this companion novel will cover, but as readers, we are able to understand the actions of the characters more.
Lo's development throughout Kiss The Sky and Hothouse Flower was phenomenal and Thrive helps readers to be able to interpret how this came about in a clearer way. Of course, we know that the media had managed to twist commentary from Lo and his father's relationship into accusatory claims of sexual and physical abuse, we know that Lo adamantly denied this but we get to learn more about his feelings on this. You begin to understand that Lo's character has always been complicated and his determination to not succumb to his alcohol addiction is a fight he prolongs every day. Each struggle mounts and we finally see him snap when the group go to France to visit Daisy after her modelling disaster.
Lo's impending slip into the abyss and he drowns his feelings in alcohol is accompanied by an inner monologue on how his life is a constant torment - this is one thing I love about Lo's character. As a reader, we already understand that Lo is a tortured soul brought up by an unloving and at times cruel father and sinking into a dependency on alcohol at a young age -so it is not surprising that any downfall in his sobriety is linked to his mental state and a relapse into depression. There is no sugarcoating his alcoholism and each time he slips up and recovers again it is obvious how hard he is trying. I truly feel like his character captures the pain associated with a lifelong addiction to substance abuse.
On the other hand, (moving back in time in the story), we see another side of addiction with Lily Calloway. Her sex addiction is one that has been ridiculed over and over again, and with her best efforts to tame the rumours of a threesome relationship between her, Lo, and Lo's brother Ryke, nothing she can do is working. During the brief stint of her time as the Princesses of Philly, (the Calloway family reality show) it became clear that her admission of sex addiction would not be leaving the public eye any time soon. With constant media stalking and a producer who is hell-bent on stirring up some drama Lily is caught between a rock and a hard place - and not the innuendo kind. From leaving pornographic magazines and teasing her with a private screening of Magic Mike, producer Scott Van Dyke is hell bent on ruining Lily's life and increasing the shows ratings. Readers get to see how well Lily is doing in her recovery and the amount of strength it is taking her to refuse these advances - similar to Lo, Lily's recovery has been hard but this book showed just how much she has grown as a character.
Both characters showed an immense amount of character development in this book that was more behind the scenes in the previous two book of the series. Alongside this development the major plot points for both books were further explored, and shocking twists and turns were even wilder in this new point of view.
Other than the obvious character development throughout this book I loved the addition of little scene between characters that we do not get to see in the previous books. I missed the small connections between Lily and Lo and watching their romance blossom in my mind. I missed the sisterly love between Lily, Daisy, and Rose, and I missed the love-hate friendship that Connor, Ryke, and Lo share. This book helped to re-introduce me back to the characters I first fell in love with when starting this series. There is no changing how much I love this little family of characters.
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