ARC Review: Thoughtful by SC Stephens

24 Feb 2015

24372365

RELEASE DATE: 24 February 2015

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In Thoughtless, Kiera told her story. Now it's time for Kellan Kyle to share his side in Thoughtful . . . 

The only place Kellan has ever felt at home is on stage. Gripping his guitar in a darkened bar, he can forget his painful past. These days his life revolves around his music and his band mates, and that's the way he likes it. And then one woman changes everything . . . 

 Kiera is the kind of girl Kellan has no business wanting - she's smart, sweet, and dating his best friend. Certain he could never be worthy of her love, he hides his growing attraction . . . until Kiera's own tormented heart hints that his feelings might not be one-sided. Now, no matter the consequences, Kellan is sure of one thing: he won't let Kiera go without a fight.

{READ MORE FOR JASMINE'S ARC REVIEW!}


3 STARS! 
★★★ 

 

"For a minute, I could pretend that I meant everything to her, because she was certainly starting to mean everything to me." 

 Y'all know I'm a self-proclaimed angst-whore but if there's any book I've read that managed to cause a massive explosion of blood vessels and induce Kindle-throwing outburst, Thoughtless| is THE ONE. Everytime I think about that book and the most indecisive heroine that is Keira, the amount of RAGE I feel is enough to cause me stomach ulcers. But alas there's Kellan Kyle that completely redeemed the initial read for me and being one of my all-time favorite book boyfriends, I couldn't pass on the chance to be inside his head this time around. 

 Let me first reiterate the obvious: This is purely a retelling of Thoughtless. It's literally Thoughtless: Kellan's POV, so if you're going in hoping for fresh material, you might be disappointed. Being in Kellan's head brings you on an emotional journey as you get to live through the angst and heartbreak again and most importantly, the extra bit that wasn't present in the first one which lets us delve into his childhood past that left him those emotional scars. 

 I really appreciated those parts the most as it gave me the closure I needed to understand what made him so broken on the inside, being drowned in that sea of loneliness and how he came to found solace in Keira. My heart really hurt for him with those scenes and once again brought up those ragey feels in me that had me yelling that Keira didn't deserve him.

   

 However I found it off-putting that Kellan's POV wasn't what I expected at all. For a good portion of the read, his inner monologue came off as clingy & borderline obsessive for Keira, it was like a truckload of repetitiveness of how much he loved her and couldn't let her go. I could feel myself cringing at his choice of words and his train of thoughts that could have easily passed off as a girl's POV. Also, a lot of scenes dragged on more than I like which nearly sent me into a snoozefest and I couldn't find it in myself to be fully immersed in this lengthy read. Perhaps I would have preferred it better if it leaned towards a novella read instead of a full-length novel. But that's just my opinion :) 

Overall, Thoughtful wasn't as angsty as I hoped to be especially since I'm already well aware to anticipate the trainwreck that awaited me. Although with the minor issues in this read, I'm still glad that we finally got to read Kellan's side of the story and appreciate getting to understand what shaped him to be that rockstar we all came to love. Honestly had this been any other read, I'd rate it less but Kellan Kyle holds such a dear place in my heart since the very beginning and reading this surely stirred back up those strong emotions in me ♥ 

 I think it's safe to say that fans of Kellan Kyle who have been dying to get any bits of him since the end of the trilogy will rejoice in getting their Kellan fix. But be prepared to have your heart break all over again for him just like in Thoughtless. 


  ARC kindly provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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