After being caught in the middle of a love triangle which led to a devastating betrayal, Kiera pledged to learn from the mistakes she’d made. She was determined to never again inflict that kind of pain on anyone, especially the soulful, talented man who held her heart. But life offers new challenges for every relationship, and when Kiera’s love is put to the ultimate test, will it survive? Love is easy . . . trust is hard.
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I was mostly disappointed in this book because it seemed like an unnecessary extension of the first book. It's an almost 500 page epilogue, really.
As I mentioned in my previous review of Thoughtless, one of the things I like best about Stephens is her character development. Unfortunately I also thought it was what was most missing in the sequel. Some of the secondary characters make a few steps forward in their lives. Kiera's sister, for one, and Denny for the other. On the whole though, they stay relatively stagnant even thought their worlds are exploding and expanding around them. The guy's band takes off for a nationwide tour, and it brings all of the drama you'd expect, but without any of the growth.
I did like that that Denny made an appearance in this book as well. Not immediately and not without scars, but he was probably the character that developed the most through the second novel. It would have been very easy for Stephens just to send him back to Australia, throw him out as a character and we would never seen him again. I think she tackles a very difficult plot point by bringing him back into the fold. Admittedly, I'm not sure how realistic it is, but I respect her choice.
Unlike the first book, there were large portions of this book that just felt entirely unnecessary. Stephens jumped forward through months at a time, quickly covering the entire year that the band was on tour and jumping ahead to the dramatic plot points. The sex scenes also seemed more frequent and almost gratuitous. I enjoyed Kiera's trip back to Ohio and her family home, but it was short lived. I was disappointed that Stephens (so great at character development) didn't take the opportunity to let us get to know Kiera better through her parents.
I didn't like Effortless nearly as much as Thoughtless… but I'll probably finish the series just to see how Stephens brings the drama to an end.
As I mentioned in my previous review of Thoughtless, one of the things I like best about Stephens is her character development. Unfortunately I also thought it was what was most missing in the sequel. Some of the secondary characters make a few steps forward in their lives. Kiera's sister, for one, and Denny for the other. On the whole though, they stay relatively stagnant even thought their worlds are exploding and expanding around them. The guy's band takes off for a nationwide tour, and it brings all of the drama you'd expect, but without any of the growth.
I did like that that Denny made an appearance in this book as well. Not immediately and not without scars, but he was probably the character that developed the most through the second novel. It would have been very easy for Stephens just to send him back to Australia, throw him out as a character and we would never seen him again. I think she tackles a very difficult plot point by bringing him back into the fold. Admittedly, I'm not sure how realistic it is, but I respect her choice.
Unlike the first book, there were large portions of this book that just felt entirely unnecessary. Stephens jumped forward through months at a time, quickly covering the entire year that the band was on tour and jumping ahead to the dramatic plot points. The sex scenes also seemed more frequent and almost gratuitous. I enjoyed Kiera's trip back to Ohio and her family home, but it was short lived. I was disappointed that Stephens (so great at character development) didn't take the opportunity to let us get to know Kiera better through her parents.
I didn't like Effortless nearly as much as Thoughtless… but I'll probably finish the series just to see how Stephens brings the drama to an end.
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