Review: Reckless Hearts by Sean Olin

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***I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my opinion. The review below reflects my open and honest thoughts.***

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

What do you do if you find yourself fantasizing about kissing your best friend? Sensitive guitarist Jake has been asking himself that same question for a long time, and there’s no easy answer. Telling his dream girl—talented anime artist Elena—about his feelings might lead to the ultimate rejection, but not telling her just might kill him.


Before Jake can make his move, though, a new mysterious guy enters the picture in an unexpected way. In Elena’s mind, Harlow is excitement personified: a rebellious yet kindred spirit who she instantly connected with online. Jake’s gut is telling him that something about Harlow is off and that Elena is in way over her head, but the more Jake pushes the issue, the more he pushes Elena right into Harlow’s arms—and into a tragic situation that neither of them could ever see coming.

Reckless Hearts is the second book in the sexy and suspenseful Wicked Games series, where lies, passion, and betrayal collied in the steamy beach town of Dream Point.

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed the first book in this "series", Wicked Games. Okay, it's not really a series. They are companion novels, but same concept as far as plot goes. The first one was a total guilty pleasure book for me. It was entertaining and screwed up and I couldn't look away. But this one just didn't grab me the way the first one did. Here's why:

I didn't care about the characters.

This is the number one reason why books lose stars for me. Flat characters. If I don't connect with the characters, I'm docking a minimum of one star, if not more. I didn't like the MC. So much so that I don't even remember his name right now and I read this less than a week ago. Oops. I thought he was really whiny and angsty and I just never cared about him or his romantic plight. And the female lead. She was so... stupid. I can't use a better word for her. She was kind of an airhead in my honest opinion. She was very focused on getting a man and being with a guy and it annoyed the crap out of me. And she made the dumbest decisions. Getting on a motorcycle with some random dude you met on the internet? And even before that, giving the random guy on the internet your home address before making sure he's not a sociopath? Seriously girlfriend, use your brain.

The plot was extremely predictable.

I figured it out almost immediately and that made the book boring. I remember reading the first one and being surprised at what ended up happening, but this one was just way too predictable for me. I wanted to be shocked, but nothing about this book surprised me. 

The one thing I really liked was the music. 

The main character is a musician and I did enjoy that aspect. I enjoyed reading about him writing new songs and how music gave him an outlet for his emotions. I loved that music brought him and his dad together. When something happens to his guitar, I'm not going to lie, I was a little heartbroken. 

The sister relationship was on point.

The female lead has this sister who is pregnant and in a bad relationship. The sisters are nothing alike and so they don't always get along. But even though they were completely different people, they were there for each other no matter what. They would drop everything for each other and even put themselves on the line to stick up for the other. This was so realistic and I really loved reading about their relationship. 

Overall this one was a miss for me. 

I didn't enjoy Reckless Hearts as much as I thought I would. The predictable plot and characters I couldn't connect with kind of killed the book for me. I did like a few aspects of the story, but it wasn't enough to make up for the things it lacked. 

Have you read this one yet? What did you think of the two main characters? Did you figure out the plot right away? Did you read the first one in this companion series? Which did you like better?