Review - Effortless (Thoughtless, Book 2), S.C Stephens

A lot can happen in a year. You grow, you change, you learn from your mistakes. And Kiera had made a lot of mistakes to learn from. But she had learned, and she was determined to never cause a man pain again, especially the amazing man who currently held her heart. But life offers new challenges for every relationship, and when Kiera’s love is put to the ultimate test, will it come out the other side unscathed?

Love is easy… trust is hard

So, I wont lie, I feel somewhat hypocritical reading this book given that Thoughtless, the first book in this series, didn't exactly get a sparkling review from me. I hated Kiera to the point where I considered putting the book down, the storyline kinda bored me, and I wasn't blown away with the writing.

The only saving grace, however, was Kellan Kyle, because I'm a total sucker for a boy in a band with a troubled past and possessive tendencies. *sigh*.

He's basically the only reason I picked up Effortless, and while I can't say it was a complete 180 and it's now my favourite book ever, it was definitely a lot more enjoyable than Thoughtless and I didn't consider putting this one down. Huzzah!

So Effortless basically revolves around Kiera and Kellan maintaining their relationship while Kellan goes on tour, with a few little obstacles in between. The story line alone had me enjoying this book much more, simply because I could sympathise with Kiera who faces a lot of worries about Kellan and cheating on tour, groupies, when he's coming home etc etc.

I grew to like Kiera in Effortless and found her a more believable character. She faces some self confidence issues which I think most girls can relate to, and throw in a super hot boyfriend who spends a good deal of time in the company of other attractive females and you've got yourself a believable character.

The sub-characters were also a great deal more interesting, as I found that they offered little to the narrative in Thoughtless. Kiera's sister, Anna, has her own story line going on and more is made of characters like Jenny and Kate, as well as the other D-Bags.

Kellan, as before, was an enjoyable character and his relationship with Kiera became less about the sex and more about the actual bond, which was a nice change up from Thoughtless which predominantly focused on how sexually attractive they found eachother.

Having said that, I still don't have anything amazing to say about Effortless, there was nothing about it that screaming THIS IS AWESOME. I've read a lot of other books involving the whole rock/music/band thing that I enjoyed much more and I've definitely read other new adult/contemporary books that Effortless couldn't hold a torch to. *cue hordes of angry fan-girls*

For that reason I'm going to give Effortless a 3 out of 5, as I did Thoughtless. In my first review I said I wouldn't recommend it, and I think I stand by that, though maybe not as passionately. I won't tell you to put it down, but I'm not shoving it under your nose.

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Review - Thoughtless (Thoughtless, Book 1), S.C. Stephens

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.

Firstly, I didn't realise when I first picked up this book how freaking long it was! 530 pages (paperback), is a pretty epic read by any New Adult/Contemporary standards.

Half way through, I was definitely waning. If you've seen any of my GoodReads updates you'll see just how irritated I was becoming with the length of this and how drawn out I feel the storyline was in places. However, I'm glad I didnt review this straight away, because the more I think about it, the more I actually quite liked the elongation of the plot points.

You can tell from the blurb that Kiera gets it on with Kellan, so I'm not giving anything away there, and what I found with Thoughtless is that the length of the book almost brings a sense of realism to the whole situation. Normally, I'm complaining that stories are too short, relationships aren't developed enough, and there's too much wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am going on. But with Thoughtless I really felt the bond between Kiera and Kellan growing.

I liked Kellan as a character and I think Stephens did a good job of portraying his torment about hurting his friend, Denny, by sleeping with Kiera. He fits the typical hot rocker/bad boy mould, but I'm not complaining. Kiera, on the other hand, annoyed the hell out of me. I cannot stand prudish characters and this is exactly what she was. Doesn't swear, doesn't talk about sex, only slept with one guy, blushes a lot - argh I can't stand it. I don't know about you but I don't know a single girl that is THAT prudish.

She annoyed me because not only can I never see someone with Kellan's characteristics looking in her direction, but she spent paaaaaages and paaaaages whining about her problems. For someone so prudish and morally upstanding she sure did a great job of screwing over her long term boyfriend... then whining about it. It bugged me. A lot. For that reason, I actually considered putting the book down part way through, but I stuck it out for Kellans sake.

The story naturally revolved around the whole affair and wasn't too deep. Sub characters were okay, the other D-Bags had some personality, but not loads. The writing was okay, nothing spectacular. All in all it was a pretty average book and I've given it a 3 out of 5. I probably wouldn't recommend it, but I am currently reading Effortless (Thoughtless, Book 2) so what do I know?

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Review - The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden, Jessica Sorensen

Okay, so Jessica Sorensen is officially my new favourite person in life. I'm not even going to bother posting up a blurb about this book because all you need to know is that you have to go and read it right now.

If you're a fan of NA/contemporary books then there's no doubt in my mind that you will fall completely in love with this story.

I tend to stick to YA fantasy stuff but every now and then I take a break in favour of something a little more mushy, enter Jessica Sorensen. After reading The Secret of Ella & Micha I wasn't too sure how good or different Callie & Kayden's story would be but oh my god.

Its painful, its beautiful, its passionate, its devastating, and while I sometimes struggle to sympathise/empathise with storylines like this, I found myself in complete agony for both of the main characters.

Sorensen is such a beautiful writer and has an amazing way of entwining the main narrative and dialogue of her books with the thoughts and feelings of the characters. Cheesy as it is, she's the kind of writer that really takes you on their journey and I truly felt like there were times I was drowning along with them.

I found myself grinning like an idiot just as much as I felt sorrow, and I'm pretty sure I didn't take a breath for the last few chapters. You know those times when you don't realise that your whole face is contorted with tension, like real ugly style, until you try and stretch out your muscles? That's how the ending of this book made me feel.

With most NA books, or even romance in general, I tend to find that the storyline moves a little too fast paced for me, ala Twilight, when Bella falls in love with Edward after like, a day, but the relationship between Callie and Kayden flowed perfectly. I felt the trust building between the two, even after both of their traumatic pasts, and even found myself revelling in the joy that that kind of relationship would bring two people so hurt.

I know this is less of a review and more of a gushy demand to go and read this book, but seriously, if you like this genre then I bet my house you will love this.

5 out of 5 stars, I'm begging Sorensen for a copy of the second book right now.

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Review - The Secret of Ella & Micha, Jessica Sorensen

Ella and Micha have been best friends since they were kids. But one tragic night shatters their friendship and their lives forever.

Ella used to be a rule-breaker with fiery attitude who wore her heart on her sleeve. But she left everything behind when she went to college and transformed into someone that follows the rules, keeps everything together, and hides all her problems. But now it's summer break and she has nowhere else to go but home.

Ella fears everything she worked so hard to bury might resurface, especially with Micha living right next door. If Micha tries to tempt the old her back, she knows that it will be hard to resist.

Micha is sexy, smart, confident, and can get under Ella’s skin like no one else can. He knows everything about her, including her darkest secrets. And he’s determined to bring his best friend, and the girl he loves back, no matter what it takes.
I don't read too many NA/Contemporary books, and those that I do, I don't tend to review. I don't know why, has just worked out that way. But every now and then I'll come across a book that I adore so much, I have to let you know. This is one of those books.

Firstly, the main thing I love about this book is that its so beautifully written it feels like every chapter could be the end. You know those moments in books where the last paragraph or last sentence is just heartbreaking, and you think "this has got to be the ending, that's too stunning for it not to be". And every time I came across that moment, I let out a sigh of relief when I turned the page and realised I had yet more of Sorensen's gorgeous writing to indulge in.

I won't lie and say that the story line is unpredictable or particularly original but where Sorensen does differ from other typical NA books is that her characters are so strong. Ella and Micha are fantastic protagonists, neither one lacks self-preservation, neither is too whiny or irritating, and the way their personalities brighten when they're interacting is really refreshing for this genre.

I couldn't help but make comparisons to Abbi Glines The Vincent Boys, given the whole hick-town, bad background similarities (this is what I mean by nothing particularly original), and every time I did, Ella & Micha came out on top by a country mile.

The ending was superb and again contributes to how much I loved the strength of the characters. Ella & Micha refuse to be defined by their pasts, and while Ella does have a few wobbles, they're not persistent enough for her to become irritating or for me to lose interest with her as I find I do with a lot of main characters of this genre.

The Secret of Ella & Micha was one of the rare books that I read from start to finish in one sitting, in around 5 hours, and I got up this morning to find that The Forever of Ella & Micha wasn't even out yet! Devastated. So now I'm going to continue to fill my NA craze with The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden (also by Sorensen), purely because if the writing is anywhere near as beautiful as Ella & Micha, I know I'm going to love it.

A solid 4.5/5 for Ella & Micha (a 5 on GoodReads).

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Review - The Vincent Boys/Brothers, Abbi Glines

I've just read both of these books over the last couple days so I thought it would be good to review the two of them at once and give a bit of a comparison (because one is definitely better than the other).

I don't tend to stray too far from paranormal reads because, frankly, I find most other stuff quite boring, but I loved Abbi Glines' Existence Trilogy and I've heard a lot about The Vincent Boys series so I figured, why not.

The Vincent Boys, the first book in the series, I actually really liked. I found the characters really captivating and I loved the romance between Ashton and Beau from the get go. Its a very typical 'girl loves the bad boy and bad boy loves the girl, and really isn't much of a bad boy' storyline, which is fine (and a reason I tend not to read this kind of book), but predictable, too.

I usually find the main female characters kind of sappy but Ash wasn't like this at all. There wasn't too much of the whole ' Oh my gosh, I'm such a bad person, what shall I do' blah blah. Ash doesn't want to hurt Sawyer, obviously, but that doesn't stop her running to Beau anyway which was somewhat refreshing. I got slightly irritated with all the talk of the 'good girl and bad girl' sides of Ash and how she needed to let her 'bad girl' free but her actions definitely justified it, so I'll let that go.

Overall, The Vincent Boys was quite an exciting read, Beau was a sexy character, Sawyer's sappiness more than helped aid Ash's affair, and Ash was a pretty cool chick in general.

However, the second book of the series, The Vincent Brothers, didn't do it for me at all. I was expecting more of Ash and Beau but when Lana popped up in the narrative I was immediately dubious. Lana and Sawyer are boring characters, it's as simple as that. The storyline was a bit droning too, an extended string of frustrating miscommunications and over exaggerated teen angst.

The only reason I found myself powering through this book is because I was waiting for Ash or Beau to reappear. The first book left a lot of questions unanswered about Sawyer and Beau's father and I felt this should have been much more of Beau's story than Sawyers.

Lana was such a dreary character and everything I just mentioned that I don't like in a heroin. Whiny, self concious, desperate, and just a bit pathetic all round. And all the shit she forgives Sawyer for? She's the kind of person you want to shake and scream 'snap out of it, woman!' at. Sawyers personality and actions changed far too much from the first book, to the point where he could have been a completely new character, and not a particularly likeable one.

I'm trying not to talk too much about the storylines and I don't want to give any spoilers away but I'm guessing that from the end of The Vincent Brothers there's not going to be a third book? (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong). If this is the case then the whole 'father' issue seems irrelevant to me. No questions were answered, it didn't help Sawyer and Beau's relationship and it certainly didn't aid the storyline.

Overall I'd give The Vincent Boys a 3.5/5 and The Vincent Brothers a 2.5/5, purely because Sawyer and Lana bored the hell out of me. I went into this duo with an open mind purely because I think Abbi Glines is fantastic, but unless there's more Dank Walker-esq characters, I won't be reading any more of the romance stuff.

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