Reckless by S.C. Stephens - Review and Giveaway

Can love survive when life gets Reckless? 

When the band hits it big, Kiera and Kellan must ask themselves: Can their love for each other withstand the constant pressures of superstardom? The friendships they’ve formed, the new family they’ve found, and the history they’ve forged will all play a part in helping them navigate the turbulent waters of the band’s exploding popularity. A greedy executive hell-bent on success, a declining pop star looking for an edge, and a media circus that twists lies into truths are just some of the obstacles the lovers will have to overcome if they are going to remain together. Fame comes with a price—but will it cost Kiera and Kellan everything?

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"Because I love you more than any one person should be allowed to love someone."

Oooooooo weeeeeee.

Finally we get to see where life takes Kellan and Kiera, our crazy couple who we love and hate.  Well, I think we all love Kellan and hate Kiera, but we might just hate her because she has Kellan and well, we live in reality.  

The story picks up where Effortless left off.  Kellan and Kiera are madly in love and the D-Bags are on the brink of hitting it big.  

As we all know, fame and fortune isn't all it's cracked up to be and sometimes it comes with a price.  People will try to take advantage of your situation for their own motives and unfortunately, our D-Bags and their lead singer are their newest targets.

All sorts of people come out of the woodwork to take advantage of the hype that is surrounding the D-Bags as they are about to explode.

"Well, if I've learned anything in this business, it's that you either roll with the punches, or your simply roll over.  And I'm not rolling over for anyone."

Kellan never wanted the fame and fortune.  He just loves to make music.  But he puts up with it all because the other guys in the band don't have anything else to fall back on.  He sacrifices things for his band brothers because they sacrificed so much for him when they were still trying to make it big.

"It takes a special person to be able to handle all of the attention he'll receive.  Are you sure you're that woman?"

Kiera, of course hates the attention.  She hated the attention Kellan got when he was just playing at Pete's.  Now he was on his way to rock super stardom and the attention he would receive would be unparalleled.  Could she handle throngs of wannabe groupies throwing themselves at him where ever he went?

Trust has always been a big issue in their relationship, considering how they started out.  Could she trust him to be faithful?  Could he trust her to stick by him no matter what?  Would this all become too big for them to handle?  Sure it was one thing to be in love without the whole world knowing, but could their relationship last all the scrutiny?  Would Kiera stick it out with Kellan though the good and bad or would she run back to Seattle where things were normal and easier?

This leads me to the story.  The story is good.  Really good.  I was shocked at how long and thick it was (insert "That's What She Said" joke)!  But that didn't matter because I couldn't put the darn thing down!  

You will fall in love with the characters and their development.  Some of them grow so much from when we first met them in Thoughtless and some, not so much.  You'll be loving them, hating them, wanting to smack them and wanting them to push you up against a wall.  You'll have these feelings within pages of each other.  It's almost exhausting, but so worth it.

S.C. Stephens did not disappoint her faithful fans in this last installment of the Thoughtless series.  I'm sad that it's over, but I'm ok with how it ended.  And I think everyone will be too.

And there's also a small nod to fellow author K.A. Linde in the story, just like Linde did for Stephens in the Avoiding series that she wrote.  Keep a look out for it!  I love the community of authors and their support for each other.  It really is an amazing thing to see.

Now for the giveaway.  Enter to win a paperback copy of Reckless.  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post!  Don't forget your email address so I can contact you win.  Giveaway is open to US residents only and will end on March 11, 2013.  Good luck and happy reading! Giveaway is now closed!  Winner will be contacted via email.  Thank you!