Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Thoughtful, by S.C. Stephens

Thoughtful (Thoughtless, #1.5)
Synopsis:

Every story has two sides, and in this new book, the epic love story between Kiera and Kellan is shown through his eyes. 

All Kellan Kyle needs is his guitar, and some clean sheets of paper. Growing up in a house that was far from a home, he learned a hard lesson: You're worthless. Now his life is comfortably filled with passionate music, loyal band mates, and fast women...until he meets her. 

Kiera makes him ache for more. Makes him feel for the first time that he'sworth more. But there's one problem - she's his best friend's girl. 

Just when Kellan thought his emotional defenses were rock solid, Kiera's indecisive heart wreaks havoc on his soul, changing him forever. Losing Kiera is not an option.


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was pleasantly surprised! I highly recommend it for Thoughtless and Kellan Kyle fans.

Thoughtful is the retelling of Thoughtless from Kellan's point of view (the original book, Thoughtless, was told from Kiera's point of view). Read Thoughtless BEFORE reading Thoughtful to get a better grasp of their budding relationship.

Retellings of a story from another character's POV tend to be redundant in regards to the original work. THOUGHTFUL, is an exception. S.C. Stephens was able to create something new, even though the story is the same. There are a lot of new non-Kiera moments where Kellan is with the D-Bags and a lot of the Kiera moments are summarized, which I appreciated a lot. A newb to the series probably won't appreciate the depth of their budding romance at the start since a lot of scenes aren't fully retold (but that's what I loved about it), thus the recommendation to read book 1 before this one.

I disliked Kiera in Thoughtless because of the way she selfishly uses both men and this book confirmed my dislike for her (I like her in books 2 & 3). Kellan is yummy and you want to hug him the whole way through.

My issues: Kellan's thoughts are repetitive throughout the book, from his love for Denny (I was hoping for a M/M love scene) to his desperation to keep Kiera close and his addiction to her. His inner dialog is a bit much after a while because is doesn't really evolve much. The start is strong and then it fizzles a bit in the middle, only to come back full force at the end. The conclusion to the book from Kellan's point of view is sooooo good!!!

*** I received an ARC copy from NetGalley ***

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