Thoughtful (Thoughtless, #1.5) by S.C. Stephens

Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Release Date: February 24, 2015

Blurb:

A new novel in the Thoughtless series from #1 New York Timesbestselling author S. C. Stephens! 

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. 

Review: 

It’s better to never say goodbye, to just move on, to end the lie.

As much as I love Kellan Kyle, I have to be honest with you. Reading the book was a pure torture. In most of the book he was hurting and his feelings are not on the happy side.

I'm in love with you. You gave yourself to me, then ran right back to him. You. Killed. Me. “I have to get my car.” I have a life without you. You’re not my entire world. You’re just the part I loved the most…


Unlike most of the books where the angst usually happens closer to the end of the story, on Thoughtful the angst in this one is constant. I needed the book to end so he could be happy for a change. It wasn't just a heart wrecking chapter at the end, but a more or less obvious and always present "buddy" who would go for a while and then come back stronger. The highs were too high and the lows too low.

Thoughtful is the retelling of my least favorite book in the trilogy, from Kellan's point of view. If I was the author I would have written Effortless from his POV, not Thoughtless. The readers were going to appreciate it in my opinion.

Kiera was never on my favorite person list and in Thoughtful I remembered why. As much as I liked how she became a better person during the whole trilogy.

I can still say that she is very annoying, self-centered and selfish. In many cases her thoughts and intentions were clear and in some others I had to run through my Thoughtless copy to see what she was thinking or why she acted like that.

Thoughtful wasn't as great as I had thought it would be, and this comes from me, one of Kellan's loyal fans who has him on her top 3 book boyfriends since 2012 when I first read Thoughtless. I can't say exactly why, but Thoughtful didn't meet my expectations. I think it's because Kella spends most of his time being lovesick. It was great reading his point of view. In this case I think it was the book that I couldn't handle. I would gladly buy the other books from Kellan's POV.

For the first time, after a lot of books I couldn't help but think of a short playlist for Thoughtful. Not one or two, but 6 and those are the ones I remembered and wrote down. Those songs where:


Temporary Bliss by The Cab
The Story by 30 seconds of Mars
I Know You by Skylar Grey
Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus
Jessie's girl by Rick Springfield
Lovesick Fool by The Cab
Comatose by Skillet


To end my review I would like to post some of the quotes that somehow made a bigger impression on me than the others.

“I love you. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. The women… I was so scared to touch you. You didn’t want me… I couldn’t take the pain. I tried to get over you. Every time with them, I was with you. I’m so sorry… I love you.”


“I’ll leave, Kiera. I’ll leave, and you and Denny can have your happily ever after.” That’s how it should be anyway. I looked back at her. “You wouldn’t even need to tell him about me. Eventually, the two of you…” Anguish ripped through my throat, choking me and cracking my voice. Another tear dripped from my eye. “The two of you would get married…” no… marry me, “… and have children…” no… have my children, “… and have a great life.” How will I live without you?
Kiera swallowed with a pained noise. Could she see my agony? “And you?” she asked. “What happens to you in that scenario?”
I die a little each day we’re apart. “I… get by. And I miss you, every day.” Every hour, every minute… every second.


I was going to finish this fucking bottle and slip into fucking oblivion. The rage would end. Then the jealousy would dissipate. Then the pain would stop.


I lifted my head and, out of habit, I gave her a soft, “Thank you.” Thank you for ripping my heart out. Thank you for showing me something I can never have. Thank you for looking so beautiful this morning, it makes me want to tear my eyes out. Thank you for not seeing me as anything more than a release.


Extras:

Teaser:

"I turned to face her, and I knew…this would be the last time we talked. This was it. This was goodbye."

Excerpt:

She blinked, and I could see the exhaustion in the bags under her eyes. I patted my lap again and gave her a warm, non-threatening smile. I just want to hold you. Like she could hear me, she nodded, then adjusted herself so she could rest her head on my lap.

She turned into me, like she didn’t care about the movie anymore, and I put my arm over her body, cocooning her in my warmth. I ran my fingers through her hair, soothing her…soothing me. She was asleep in minutes, her breath light through her parted lips. I didn’t watch the movie either, just stared at her face, memorizing the lines, curves and freckles. She was perfect. Simple, yet extraordinary.

Careful to not wake her up, I brought my knuckle to her cheek and ran it down her skin. It was like touching silk. She twitched, but didn’t move away. A smile spread on my lips as peace spread through my body. Denny was an idiot for leaving her…but I was extremely happy he had.