Review: Review from The Not-So-Literary Heiresses
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 7, 2014
Actual Rating: 3.5 StarsI’ve only read Sweet Dreams from The Colorado Mountain Series and although it is a fan favorite and one of the most recommended among Ms. Ashley’s works, I found it be chaotic, with too much unnecessary drama from over-the-top characters. That said, maybe that is also the reason why it is an all-time favorite. It just wasn’t for me.Kaleidoscope is more toned down than its predecessors. I know this even without reading the other books because what happened to each character in their respective stories  was mentioned here, and all I could think of was how crazy Emme is for moving into that county knowing all the shit that took place there. I mean, sure, there’s a lot of hot über alpha guys, but there are also a lot of serial killers and crazy people. Why move to a place where there’s too much crazy psychotic people?The book starts with Deck’s POV as he hears someone call out his name. While the voice is very familiar, the woman in front of him is someone he doesn’t remember. She turns out to be Emme, his ex-girlfriend — Elsbeth’s best friend, a girl he got really close to but stopped seeing after his relationship fell apart nine years ago. With a new look and a boyfriend in tow, Emme is physically different from the sweet but plain girl he remembered. Deck is asked by the local police to assist with the investigation of a bunch of burglaries around the county. Unfortunately for Emme, her current beau is suspected as the mastermind of the whole thing, which also makes her an automatic suspect. Deck doesn’t believe that she’s involved though… nine years may have passed, but he has never wavered in his belief that she’s still the same sweet girl that he remembers.This book is like alpha boy-next-door meets ugly duckling turned swan. It’s like a second chance romance without the romance. How could there be when he was in love and in a relationship with her best friend? I normally don’t like my heroes pining for someone else but it helped that I knew Deck’s side first and I saw how his feelings developed from seeing a girl he was once close to but platonic with, to something more… someone special. It also helped that he got over his ex on his own and when he and Emme met, he wasn’t pining for Elsbeth anymore.Emme is a typical KA heroine with her sassy monologues and slightly clueless personality but what sets her apart from books I’ve read by Ms. Ashley is that she’s more damaged than the others and she doesn’t even know it. I’ve mentioned before that this book is more toned down in terms of action than its predecessors and because of that, it was able to focus a lot more on the characters’ relationship and their individual issues, especially Emme’s. She’s damaged but I like how their relationship didn’t only fix her (how could she be fixed when she didn’t even know she needed fixing), but brought her issues to light in the first place.There was an instance in the beginning that I didn’t like. It was when Emme revealed that she dropped her best friend because she didn’t agree with what Elsbeth did to Deck, which was to leave him for a more financially successful man. Sometimes friends make stupid, thoughtless decisions that you may disagree with but I still believe in the saying ”Bros before--”, well you know. Yes, Elsbeth may have be really stupid for choosing money over someone like Deck but I didn’t like that Emme stopped being friends with Elsbeth because she made that decision. She should’ve been loyal to her best friend regardless, that’s what I believe friends should do. At the end I understood why she did it though, and it only brought out how deep Emme’s issues were.I like how Ms. Ashley is able to portray a damaged character with a sassy sense of humor and who is not too angsty. I also love how Deck stood by Emme no matter what. He was patient, loving and honest about his feelings from the start and he did not give up on Emme even once. I think he’s probably one of the nicest alpha character I’ve ever read and it’s refreshing to read a strong hero that’s not initially a jerk. Their romance may have started early in the book but because of their history it never felt rushed and their feelings for each other were believable because it spanned years, even if they were only subconsciously aware of it.I enjoyed Kaleidoscope and the romance between Deck and Emme.  It has led me to want to try out more of Ms. Ashley’s previous works. Although, because it is more toned down compared to the rest of the series, some readers who enjoyed her crazy drama-packed storylines may not enjoy this book as much as I did. But if readers just focus on the relationship between the two main characters, I think the romance has enough drama to not need psychotic, evil serial killers in the mix.An advance readers copy was provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.