Review: Thoughtless

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.

Title: Thoughtless (Thoughtless ~ Book 1)
Author: S.C. Stephens | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website
Publication Date: August 12 2009
Publisher: Gallery Books 
Length: 544 Pages
Add it to your TBR Pile: Goodreads
Buy It: Amazon US / Amazon UK

Source: Purchased (Kindle Edition)
Cover Love: I love these new covers, not too over the top and quite pretty.
Point of View: 1st person, following Kiera

My Rating: 5 Stars

I have read a lot of books in my life... Never has there been a book that has made me so very happy and equity as angry.  One page the smile across my face would reach from ear to ear and the next page I would see red.  I lost count at the number of times I actually put my Kindle down, not wanting to keep reading right away.  Only to pick my Kindle right back up again to keep reading.  And so this cycle continued.

“I don't know how to let you back in"  My heart beat spiked and I closed my eyes when he whispered, "I don't know how to keep you out either.”

I feel that I need to first discuss what made me see red, I can have my little rant and then I can move on.  Since this is a story about a love triangle and in that love triangle there is cheating, you may be thinking that is what I was upset about.  Nope.  My anger was mostly targeted at Kiera.  There I said it and I feel so much better for getting that out there.  Please don’t get me wrong,  I don’t hate her.  Although there were times when I felt like I did and there were even more times when I actually thought I didn’t think she was good enough to end up with either Denny or Kellan *sigh* ( Sorry... I can’t type, read or hear the name Kellan Kyle without letting out a little *sigh* Although for the purpose of this review I will do my best to refrain).

“You should pick one, Kiera.  Pick one, and release the other.  You can’t keep them both. ”

Please don’t take my feelings toward Kiera as a reason not to read this book/series.  As you can see I have given Thoughtless five stars so even though Kiera annoyed me I would strongly suggest that everybody read this.  She does get better... after a time and in the end I did like her.  There are just too many times I wanted to strangle her.  Her thought process was shocking at best most of the time.  I have heard that she really grows as a character as the series goes on so I have hope of me coming to love her.

So you may be wondering how, if Kiera annoyed me so much, can I still strongly suggest that you read this series... That would be Kellan *si..  oh sorry I promised I would try to not do that.  It is just so darn hard not to...

“Everything about him had screamed, I'm going to take you right here and make you forget your own name.”

Kellan Kyle. Holy hotness.  Talk about a swoonworthy character.  You have no idea how hard it is for me not to sigh right now.  It will be of no surprise to anybody who follows my reviews that I get a little book boyfriend crazy.  There is nothing better than a really great swoonworthy guy and Kellan fits that description perfectly.  And... he sings. Yes you read that correctly.  He is a rock god. 

Coming from a terrible childhood and past it is hard for him to see that there are people that love him.  When he gets closer to Kiera he doesn't understand the emotions and feelings he is having because for him it has always been about the one night stand.  Floating from one girl to the next in order to try to feel something... anything.  A connection.  There had never been a girl who was first a friend and everything that happens between them grows from that. 

“His eyes were still closed and his body rocked gently to the music, but his face was almost...desolate.  His words matched his face, as he sang about how each day was a struggle, and never seeing my face caused him physical pain.  He sang that "my face was his light, and he felt drenched in darkness without it."  Tears fell freely after I heard that line.”

As mentioned before this book involves cheating and I know this is not everyone's cup of tea.  But the moments that Kellan and Kiera share...  Right or wrong, I just couldn't find myself caring that she was cheating on Denny by being with Kellan.  I love Kellan so much and I wanted him happy and if that means somebody had to get hurt along the way I didn't care.  I know this makes me sound like a cold hearted witch but I just can't help it.  Kellan must end up happy and whatever it takes to make that happen is fine in my eyes.

This doesn't mean that I hated Denny.  I really did like his character but to me he was just someone that was standing in the way of Kiera and Kellan being together.  Do I like how Kiera and Kellan went about with the affair?  No way.  She should have broken up with Denny as soon as she knew she had feelings for Kellan.  Going behind somebody's back and right under their nose is wrong.  Kellan has never been in a relationship so I understood why he allowed it.  He didn't want to lose what he had only just found with Kiera.  I did feel sorry for Denny but again... you know I was rooting for Kellan so I must not have felt that badly for him.

“He relaxed and looked at my lips and then my eyes and then back to my lips.  “How do we do that?  This is what we do…back and forth, back and forth.  You want me, you want him.  You love me, you love him.  You like me, you hate me, you want me, you don’t want me, you love me…you leave me.  There’s so much that went wrong before…”

And oooOOOooohhh the feelings... I am a pretty emotional person and have never hidden the fact that I cry when books are emotional.  While reading Thoughtless I experienced tears of happiness, sadness, confusion, anger.  When things are good... things are really good.  But when things are bad... things are really really bad.  The angst is unlike anything I have ever experienced.  It is difficult to even explain coherently the feelings that you experience.  But trust me when I say that all the bad is OH SO worth it when there is good.  Because the good is some of the best I have ever read.

“It was heartfelt, it was heartbreaking. It was extreme joy, it was bone-crushing grief. It was fiery hot, it was icy-cold. It was true love sprouting... it was true love dying.

It's like we were both trying to hold onto something that was slipping through our fingers, and we didn't understand why.”

So if you haven't figured it out I am in love with this series now and will immediately be starting book two, Effortless.  I waited to start this series until closer to the release of book three, Reckless and I am glad that I did.  My heart would never have been into having to read another book during the wait for them to be released... I am already dreading the end of Reckless and I still have two books to read.

Kellan... *sigh* (sorry couldn't help it)

“I want you and only you and I can’t bear the thought of sharing you.  I’m sorry.”  He looked down sadly. “I want to be with you in the right way – in the open.  I want to walk into Pete’s with you on my arm.  I want to kiss you every time I see you, no matter who’s looking.  I want to make love to you without fear of someone finding out.  I want to fall asleep with you in my arms every night.  I don’t want to feel guilty about something that makes me feel so…whole.   I'm sorry, Keira, but I’m asking you to choose.”

MORE QUOTES FROM THOUGHTLESS