Review: I liked it, but didn't LOVE it
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 6, 2014
ARC RECEIVED VIA NETGALLEY and FOREVER(GRAND CENTRAL PUBLISHING) FOR HONEST REVIEWApproved for an advanced copy of a Kristen Ashley book - why, thank you so much!I just love everything that Ms Ashley writes, and her Colorado Mountain series is amongst my favourites.Emmanuelle "Emme" Holmes and Jacob "Deck" Decker have a history. He dated Emme's best friend for a lot of years, and during that time they became close.Break ups and lost friendships kept them apart for 9 years, but now a chance encounter brings up all the old feelings.Deck is an uber-alpha. Strong, sexy as sin. Heart of gold that has always had a soft spot for Emme. Now they are both free he is going to act on it.Emme has change physically since he last saw her. If it wasn't for her voice, he would not have even recognised her on the street. She was always beautiful but now she is a knockout, and he wants her.I love Emme and Deck's interactions, their banter is fun as well as sexy. You can feel their history coming through in their story. As complicated as their relationship is, I loved that in typical Ashley-alpha style, it got sorted.And Deck and Chace - very alpha, very caveman. Sexiness overload.What I did feel that Kaleidoscope lacked in comparison to her other books was the interaction and the closeness with the women. Sure, they had their "girl posse" but it just didn't have the fun and light-heartedness, or the "in everyones' business" that other books have had.What it does have though is a great story about reunion, reconnection, love. It also deals with issues such as PTSD and the effects it can have on people years after the fact. I felt that Ms Ashley dealt with these issues in a way that did not trivialise them or sugar coat them at all."You think you lost beauty, but you didn’t.Just turn the dial."I felt that the pacing of Kaleidoscope was also a little off compared to other books in this series. There was a lot of explaining going on especially in the beginning, and it slowed things right down. There was also a bit of jumping back and forth. I also felt that the "ex" problems that Emme was dealing with were pretty much.. I don't knowI guess I am just so used to all the big build up and suspense in Ms Ashley's books, and Kaleidoscope didn't have all that tension? This could just be me though!!We did also get a bit of a cross over with the boys from her other series, which I really would have missed if it wasn't included (hellllloooo Nightingale!!)While it did not completely rock my socks off like others in this series, I still loved Kaleidoscope.