Thoughtless, Effortless, Reckless : Series Review

Genre : New Adult, Contemporary, Romance 

Written by S. C. Stephens, the Thoughtless series follows the story of Kiera Allen, your pretty normal next-door-girl and Kellan Kyle, the hot and handsome, sexy as hell rockstar. The three book series follows the story of these two people, how they meet, fall in love, and in spite of all the various difficulties fame and stardom has for them, they make it through.

[Note : There is also a fourth book to the series, named Untamed, but since it follows the story of another character, I excluded that from the review. Besides, the book is due to release this November.]

Book 1 (Thoughtless)

Kiera and Denny, who’ve been dating for around two years, move to a new city for Denny’s dream job and Kiera’s education at a top-notch university. Denny is the perfect chocolate boy – sweet and loving and attractive and considerate. He’s by far my favorite character in the series. They move in with Denny’s best friend a.k.a. the rockstar – Kellan Kyle. Flames erupt between Kiera and Kellan (woah, talk about being dramatic) and soon, they get involved in this physical dance with each other where that can’t help being sexually attracted, and yet resist this force for the same reason : Denny. However, one thing leads to another and they soon spend a drunken night with each other, while Denny is out of town. Kiera – repeatedly – sleeps with Kellan until finally she has to make a choice – Kellan or Denny.

Book 2 (Effortless)

Well, writing the summary of this book would more or less give away how the previous one ended, and whom did Kiera finally choose. But it’s not that much of a big deal since it was anyway very much predictable. So, she chose Kellan. Kellan and Kiera’s are finally together now – after betraying the perfect Denny – but will they survive the challenges? Kellan and his band have been gaining some recognition, and when Kellan has to go away on tour for several months – can their relationship survive the strain? What happens when lies, suspicion, jealousy and stardom gets in the way?

Book 3 (Reckless)

Kellan and Kiera, now married – married in their hearts, as they say – set off to taste success together. Kellan and his band, ready to record their album and Kiera, ready to start writing. So what goes wrong? Media, paparazzi, declining stars hungry for fame, and all those perks of being a superstar. Can their relationships – with each other as well as with their friends and family – live through it?

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The first book was based on a pretty disgusting concept – betrayal and cheating and lust – and it is hard to see the main characters do so themselves. But, since the story was good, I kept reading, hoping that it’d get better. The next two books are more or less based on the same – personal relationships being tested by fame and stardom. The story is good, at least in the first book, but the next two books were pretty much predictable. By the end of the third book, I kind of already knew what was going to happen but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it.

There are a lot of unnecessary sex scenes – which could be easily deleted to cut short the length of the books. Each book is around 500 pages, and though 500 pages isn’t much, for a story which doesn’t have much matter, it seems to drag on and on and on.

The writing, I had a problem with. It’s just bland, inexpressive writing, which doesn’t really evoke much in you. Though that is even acceptable, however, the author writes in a style which is overtly-melodramatic and somehow, not convincing. For eg : “I looked down the hallway toward where the injured love of my life was waiting for me“. *cringes inwardly* injured ‘love of my life’?? Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a sucker for romance but this book is not the kind of a book which demands such writing. And I just hated phrases like these randomly popping up in between.

I disliked all the characters initially (except Denny) but then after reading so much about them, by the end of book 3, I eventually warmed up to them I guess. I felt happy seeing their happiness in the last few pages of the book. The last book is too much about media and fans and paparazzi and it gets annoying after a bit. I wish the author had cut it down a bit.

So, all in all, considering all aspects of the books, I have to say the series is good. It’s good for a one time read but that’s about it. Nothing too special or out-of-the-box. I honestly don’t understand why people in GoodReads are so gaga over it.

My rating : 3/5 stars

Thanks for reading!