So I volunteered to write a guest post for Zoe, something I have never done before. But writing is supposed to be the one thing I can do with ease right? And lets face it, I am never short of things to say, especially about books I’ve loved.
So what to review?
I had a quick look at Zoe’s list of reviews to find out what I could bring to the party. I decided to start at the bottom of my own favourites list, because the ones at the top of the list will have already been reviewed won’t they? Won’t they?
That’s when I noticed that Thoughtless wasn’t on the list…or Effortless…or Reckless for that matter! This is weird, I thought. Oh wait, she probably loved them so much she put them under their own tab…no? Oh maybe she loved them so much she has an entirely different blog dedicated to them?…NO!
This was that point when I got straight on to Zoe to find out what the hell was going on. “Oh, I haven’t got round to them yet.” She replies casually! WHAT????
So I have the distinct honour of reviewing my all time favourite series for you, with the hope that if nothing else it will make our esteemed blog host read them and save her reputation as a serious book blogger!
My only other issue before I begin (no I haven’t even started yet, get comfortable!) is that I’m not sure how I feel about this whole spoilers thing. I don’t want to give you a blow by blow, I want you to read them and love them. It is going to be very hard to tell you about all three books without some spoilers, but I will try to stick within what the synopsis reveals for each one.
It is no word of a lie when I say, Zoe, you are so lucky! I would give my right arm (the book holding one) to switch places with you. So that I could be the one that hasn’t read these books and you were the one recommending them…Then I could read them for the very first time, all over again. *sigh*
I read each of these longer than average books in one sitting, on consecutive nights, resulting in the kind of book hangover you never want to experience. 4-5am nights, then up for the school run, three nights in a row! I would say it was a labour of love, but it was no labour, just pure love!
So Thoughtless…
Synopsis.
For almost two years now, Kiera’s boyfriend, Denny, has been everything she’s ever wanted: loving, tender and endlessly devoted to her. When they head off to a new city to start their lives together, Denny at his dream job and Kiera at a top-notch university, everything seems perfect. Then an unforeseen obligation forces the happy couple apart.
Feeling lonely, confused, and in need of comfort, Kiera turns to an unexpected source—a local rock star named Kellan Kyle. At first, he’s purely a friend that she can lean on, but as her loneliness grows, so does their relationship. And then one night everything changes…and none of them will ever be the same.
Let me say right now. Infidelity is a HARD limit for me in life. It happens, I know. It can make for a great story, I agree. You can write about it, I will read it, enjoy it even, but don’t expect me to sympathise with the characters. Whatever they get, they deserve!
So S. C. Stephens plays a blinder here. Because all my morals went out the window, the very first time Kiera hears Kellan sing. I wasn’t endeared to Denny particularly, so that was the first dent to my moral code. I didn’t care about him enough to be outraged for him. Their relationship just never convinced me.
Kiera will most likely start out irritating you, then you will get quite angry with her and it won’t get better until you are in a full blown fit of hatred for her weak, pathetic, prudish nonsense. Seriously the blood rushes to that girl’s cheeks more often than it would to a 17 year old boy’s ‘gentleman’s area’ at a Playboy pool party! It is just ridiculous! I can’t tell you one single thing about her that shines out as a redeeming quality. On paper she is terrible, in real life I would be forced to slap her and I’m not a violent person and yet…I don’t hate her. I can’t. Because I know, that faced with Kellan Kyle, I would have been just as much of a waste of space as she was, beginning to end. Guaranteed. I mean, I definitely wouldn’t have been so prudish. But I’d have made just as many appalling decisions.
This brings us neatly to Kellen Kyle. GOD. Quite simply the most perfect man ever to occupy my thoughts. I mean LOOK AT HIM!!!
“Everything about him had screamed, I’m going to take you right here and make you forget your own name.” – Kellan.
I don’t need to tell you all about his phenomenal good looks or how perfectly imperfect his hair is when it falls just so. Kiera will bore your arse off about it constantly. It goes without saying. He is funny and talented and charming. But it is what is on the inside that makes Kellan so special, something I wished Kiera had been more conscious of. He is damaged, fragile, so vulnerable and you just know she is going to crush him with her obliviousness. (Is that even a word?)
So while Kiera hedges her bets and frankly disgusts you, you will fall so hard for Kellan that even when he is being a shit, your only thought is, she drove him to it.
“You wreck me.” – Kellan.
So, you know it will be a gut-wrenching rollercoaster. I admit that I hid it under my pillow and paced my bedroom at least once, like Joey from Friends when he hides The Shining in the freezer. But the passion and love that is expressed in this book, that you actually live through this book is worth every second of the pain. I cried, I feared a heart attack at one point and I rather embarrassingly caught myself panting every time he touched her. BECAUSE IT IS THAT GOOD.
The supporting characters are all equally brilliant. The D-Bags, Kellan’s band are all sweet hearts, well except Griffin. Griffin is something else! You will love him. He is the original FIGJAM, and he just lives to get a rise out of Kiera (I refer you to the aforementioned gratuitous blushing. PFT!). The girls are great too, Jenny is Kiera’s conscience when she most needs one, but she is a great friend to Kellan too. They are all just great.
The scene setting, the atmosphere, the pace, it is all brilliant.
Have I gone on enough? Just Read it, you won’t be disappointed!
Effortless…
Synopsis.
After being caught in the middle of a love triangle which led to a devastating betrayal, Kiera pledged to learn from the mistakes she’d made. She was determined to never again inflict that kind of pain on anyone, especially the soulful, talented man who held her heart. But life offers new challenges for every relationship, and when Kiera’s love is put to the ultimate test, will it survive? Love is easy . . . trust is hard.
I am going to try not to spoil this, or the ending of the last one for you, here goes…
Kiera is infinitely less annoying. She grew up. A lot. So that is a relief
“Loving you, Kellan, is so easy, it’s effortless…” – Kiera
You’re damned right about that Kiera!
If you thought it wasn’t possible to love Kellan any more, you were wrong. Everything that endeared you to him in the first book is still there and bought reinforcements!
“But, if for some reason we’re not closer, if something has gotten between us, please, I’m begging you…don’t give up on me. Stay. Stay with me. Work it out with me. Just don’t leave me…please.” – Kellan
The moral of this book is trust has to be earned. If everything you hold dear was acquired dishonestly, you will spend every day scared half to death that you could lose it in exactly the same way. That’s just how it is. In telling us this part of the tale, S. C. Stephens does it again, no she doesn’t do it again, she never stops doing it!
“You are told from the moment you enter school that time is constant. It never changes. It is one of those set things in life that you can always rely on…much like death and taxes. There will always be sixty seconds in a minute. There will always be sixty minutes in an hour. And there will always be twenty-four hours in a day.
Time was not fluctuating. It moved on at the same, constant pace at every moment in your life.
And that was the biggest load of crap that I’d ever been taught in school.
Truth was, time did fluctuate. It was easy to lose hours or even days in a blink of an eye. Other times, it was a struggle to get through a mere hour. It ebbed and flowed as relentlessly as the
tides, and just as powerfully too. The moments that you wanted to last forever were the ones that were washed away all too soon. The moments that you wanted to speed up, were slowed down to a snail’s pace.
That was the truth of the matter.” – Kiera
Oh and if Griffin (and his Hulk) hasn’t got under your skin yet, he will. 😉
“Well, what’s the point of being a rock star if I can’t bang the groupies?”
Rolling my eyes, I found myself muttering, “I thought it was supposed to be about the music?”
Griffin, unfortunately, heard my sullen comment and chose to respond to it. “No, no, I’m pretty sure it’s the pussy.”
Griffin ❤
Reckless…
Synopsis.
When the band hits it big, Kiera and Kellan must ask themselves: Can their love for each other survive the constant pressures of superstardom? The friendships they’ve formed, the new family they’ve found, and the history they’ve forged will all play a part in helping them navigate the turbulent waters of the band’s exploding popularity. A greedy executive hell-bent on success, a declining pop star looking for an edge, and a media circus that twists lies into truths are just some of the obstacles the lovers will have to overcome if they are going to remain together. Fame comes with a price-but will it cost Kiera and Kellan everything?
You will finish this book totally distraught that it is over.
This is all about the redemption. You more or less forget that you ever wanted to throttle Kiera. All the characters stories are developed. Griffin will become your new second favourite book boyfriend, behind Kellan. I can’t quote it without spoilers, but his speech in the VIP room at the nightclub where he tells Kiera why he didn’t fuck those two girls, was the moment I fell HARD! From there on in, I was just eating up each new sweet thing he did. Yes I said sweet, you’ll see.
God, I want to say so much (I’m bursting here!), but it will ruin it and as I said right back at the beginning, I wish I was you and it was my first time, so I know I can’t!
Knowing that I will never hear the D-Bags play, that I can’t rock up to Pete’s for a beer with the boys any time I want. Knowing that Griffin will never try and grope me and that…gulp…Kellan isn’t actually real and I will never have him…well that nearly put me in therapy.
The whole thing really is a rollercoaster. But it was the ride of my life!
I know I just chewed your damn ear off, so sorry about that, but I am slightly passionate about these books! The fact that I managed to do it without telling you to hop straight over to Twitter and follow the undisputed King of the TL, his royal sexiness, @GriffinakaHulk because he is everything you hope Griffin will be and you can actually talk to him, for real!…shit! I mentioned it didn’t I? Oh well, you should, so I’m not sorry!
Thanks for having me here, I’m sure I won’t be invited back; I talk far too much.
Kerry x
Oh, and before I go. Once you have read them all…promise me, you won’t do it until you have read them all? Ok, if you promise! Once you have read them all, check out the original ending of Thoughtless, before S. C. Stephens decided to make it a series.
To say I am glad she changed her mind is an understatement; I don’t think I could have lived with this…
http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2715147/1/Thoughtless_Original_Ending
There is also a Kellen’s POV from the rain scene, google it. X
ABOUT KERRY HEAVENS
My debut novel Just Human will be out this summer, follow me on Twitter @kerryheavens or Facebook – Kerry Heavens Author for updates.
Just Human – By Kerry Heavens
What am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you?
Liv loves Danny. She knows she loves him more than he loves her, so she lets him go without a fight when his parents make him move back to America. She knows she will never love anyone like she loved him, but she has to move on.
Danny loves Liv. He knows he loves her more than she loves him, because she does nothing to get him to stay,so he goes quietly when his parents leave the UK. He knows he will never love anyone like he loved her, but he has to move on.
Twelve years on, they have made a good job of pretending, they may have almost forgotten. But when they get in touch via Facebook, it seems that it is all still there.
Can they put aside their fears and give it a go?
Or will deep rooted doubts and insecurities tear then apart?
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Z. Elizabeth 