#Review Thoughtful by S.C. Stephens

Thoughtful on Feb.24, 2015
Purchase links: Amazon, Audible
Add to Goodreads
Source: NetGalley

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's worth 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.

We received this book/audiobook for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the book or the content of our review.

MORE KELLAN KYLE!?!? YES, PLEASE!!

Kellan Kyle is one of my original book boyfriends and has a special place in my heart that no other BBF could quite fill. I was THRILLED beyond words to learn that our blog received the arc for Thoughtful. I may have even done a real happy dance in my living room when I saw it on my kindle and I may have called all my book besties to brag about it 😉 But, I will admit, I was also a tad nervous to read Kellan’s POV in Thoughtful…I was a WRECK after reading Thoughtless (kudos to S.C.Stephens for doing that to me lol). I knew I had to be in the right frame of mind when I read about my dear Kellan again, especially with it being in his POV. Kellan you WRECKED me for any and all future BBF’s! 😉

**Side note, I strongly recommend reading Thoughtless (book 1 Thoughtless series) before reading this!**
This was every much of an emotional rollercoaster as was Thoughtless for me. But whereas Thoughtless was in Kiera’s point of view, Thoughtful is in Kellan’s POV. That being said, Thoughtful was in NO WAY just a rewrite of Thoughtless. Yes, there are parts that couldn’t be avoided that are the same in some aspects, but it is not just simply a rewrite. I know a lot of readers get worried when an author writes “the same book”, but in a different characters POV, that it’ll just be a rewrite… S.C. Stephens did NOT do that. She encompassed all of the emotional, physical and mental breakdown that happened for Kellan in his journey throughout his and Kiera’s love story. I felt every one of his emotions: The love, the joy, the peace, the pain, the anger, the despair, the turmoil, the loss, all of the ups and downs…I.FELT.IT.ALL!

“Please tell him you want me. Please come find me. Please choose me, Kiera. Please.” -Kellan *tears*

Kellan is this broken character that had a terrible upbringing full of neglect, resentment and pain. As a result, to mask his pain, he seeks to find a comfort in any way he can…meaningless encounters.

“Sex was a release for me. It made me feel like a part of something bigger than myself, made me feel connected to the world around me. And I needed to feel that way. My life was full of empty spaces.” -Kellan

Those encounters at one time made him feel complete, but now they’re beginning to lead to him feeling empty inside and alone. He is not experiencing the solace he once did after having random sex with others. He’s learning that he truly just wants to love and find someone to love him in return.

In the beginning, he is in awe of Denny and Kiera’s relationship because he has never experienced any true affection to any degree, let alone the affection they were displaying. He has NEVER experienced love :’(

“Love equaled pain in my world.” -Kellan *breaks my heart!*

From the first moment Kellan sees Kiera from across the room before he knows she belongs to Denny, he senses something in her.

“For the first time in a long time, I was looking at someone who saw me. Not the rock star, not the playboy, but me. The real me.” -Kellan

Kiera senses something in him as well when she sees him for the first time. And so, what starts out as purely innocent affection between Kellan and Kiera, develops into something more….something neither of them imagined would happen! Both Kiera and Kellan are trying so desperately to deny this pull between the two of them, but it’s impossible. If they caved to these feelings, they would be hurting Denny and if they denied them, they would hurt themselves by denying their true feelings. No matter what they do, it was unavoidable; they would consequently end up hurting each other and others around them.

“Our ‘innocent’ flirting was complete and utter bullsh*t. Nothing we were doing was innocent. Maybe it wasn’t quite so bad as a full-on affair, but it was damn close. We were both emotionally cheating on Denny. Of that, I was certain.” -Kellan

At this point in their love story (Thoughtless/Thoughtful), I would consider their relationship “toxic”. It is all about timing and it was not the right time for their relationship to start, but it did and they had no choice but to ride it out and pray for as little destruction as possible along the way.

“As long as neither of us brought it up, we could pretend nothing was wrong with what we were doing.” -Kellan

Many readers have complained that Kiera is “whiny and selfish” in Thoughtless, but what they fail to grasp is the fact that she is literally stuck between two wonderful men and she is scared of breaking either of their hearts. Denny was her first love and Kellan is her soul mate. Readers also need to look at who Kellan was before Kiera came along. He used sex as a way of affection. He went through women like they were water. Kiera knows this and she’s scared he’ll do the same thing with her…have her and leave her for “the next hottie”.

“I got scared that the heat would burn out…and you’d leave me for someone better…and then I’d have nothing. That I’d throw Denny away for a hot romance that would be over before I knew it, and I’d be alone. Flash fire.” -Kiera

As a reader, I urge you to look past that aspect of Kiera being selfish and Kellan being a “manwh*re” and dig deeper into why they are in this tug of war with their feelings for each other. In Thoughtful, we finally get to “see” what Kellan is thinking every time Kiera goes back to Denny and how he copes with betraying his best friend. None of this is easy for either of them.

“She was confused, hurting and scared…just like me.” -Kellan

Kellan genuinely doesn’t know what to do with his feelings for her. He’s never experienced anything like it before. And Kiera is truly scared of her feelings for him. How can she leave the first man she loved?

One aspect I didn’t consider was the other relationships that I was going to learn about in this book! Kellan and his band mates: Griffin, Matt, and Evan. But mainly Evan’s friendship was what intrigued me the most. Evan and Kellan’s friendship was so laid back and easy to read about and learn about its depths. Not even Kellan knew the true depths of that friendship, so it was amazing to watch him learn this throughout the book.

And then there was Kellan and Denny’s friendship. Their bond went farther back and was stronger than many of Kellan’s friendships throughout his life. This is why there was so much turmoil within Kellan when he realizes he’s falling in love with his best friend’s girlfriend.

“I’d wanted her, so I’d taken her. I was no friend to him, to anyone.” -Kellan

I’m glad I can say without a doubt, I still LOVE Kellan Kyle and he is still one of my top book boyfriends! I believe fans of the Thoughtless series will love this book! Thoughtful was addictive to the point where I couldn’t put it down and I would wake up in the middle of the night to continue reading. Emotional to the point where my heart was racing and I had a tissue box by me at all times just in case. During the happy parts of Kellan and Kiera’s relationship, I felt pure joy with a shadow of dread looming over me: “when is the other shoe going to drop?” and during the sad parts of their relationship, I caught myself rushing to get back to the happy parts. There was such a tug of war with my own emotions throughout the book, but it was worth every minute to know what Kellan Kyle was experiencing and thinking throughout the beginning of their relationship.

“There was nothing between us now but love. This was how it should have been, from the very beginning.” -Kellan *happy dance!!!*

WARNING: Tissues needed

I want to say a HUGE thank you to S.C.Stephens for allowing “Collector of Book Boyfriends” book blog to have an advanced reading copy of Thoughtful!!! <3 Kellan Kyle

5 stars!