My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Let me calm myself before I begin with my review because I’m this close to leave my short review as it is and just get over this book quickly.
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Okay. I have so many resentments about this book and the fact that I had a really high expectation of finding a unique and heartbreaking love story inside the book (which cover is really beautiful) made me really upset. I am a sucker for romance story and I have to admit that I am so easy to fall in love with books that have even a little spark of sweet romance in them. I often came across romance books with slightly similar plotting but then I got to find their unique features that could make me completely ignore the ‘similarity’. I wished to experience the same with Kaleidoscope Hearts. But I’m sorry to say I did not. And there’s also a bunch of complaints I had about the characters. I’ll try to put them out here later for you to judge.
“Sometimes we let the first ones get away, but it teaches us to cherish the second ones that much more”
It’s been a year since Estelle Reuben’s fiancé died from a terrible surfing accident. Yet she still found it hard to bring herself to move on without a ghost of guilty feeling haunting her every move. When she decided to move out of their shared house to stay for a while with her brother, she thought it could be a great step to move on for her. Except, ‘a ghost’ from the past suddenly came back to her life like a lightning in the middle of the day.
Oliver Hart was the one person she would love to forget forever. The past they shared together was like a nightmare in the back of her mind. Then he reappeared out of nowhere and begged for a second chance making the haunting past flew back to every corner of her heart. Estelle’s scared. Her heart has been through a lot. The scar Oliver left that she didn’t know was still there; added it with losing her fiancé made her should think twice before taking a risk that would come by letting him back to her life. But she couldn’t deny the comfort and attraction Oliver brought along with him; also the fact that Oliver was the only guy who’s able to make the ghost of her fiancé not as haunting as ever. With the possibility of their history repeating itself was high, would Estelle give her heart ―the broken pieces that she rebuilt as a kaleidoscope― back to the guy who broke it for the first time?
I should say that the blurb was so intriguing and hello… who doesn’t fancy romance story with brother’s best friend? I’ve read a book with similar falling-in-love-with-brother’s-best-friend plotting (say Ugly Love) so I was hoping this book would give me ‘something different’. It never came, though, so it left me with a cliché love story with lots of frustrating scenes. It was actually fine with me for the story to be the same old same old as long as I could relate with the characters. But the main characters here… *sigh* really, I don’t know what to say about both hero and heroine except that I disliked
them so much. The hero is actually the BIGGEST JERK I’ve ever met in the history of romance books. Really. Why? Oh I won’t say much, but I’ll put these lines that I highlighted because it actually made my jaw dropped several times.
them so much. The hero is actually the BIGGEST JERK I’ve ever met in the history of romance books. Really. Why? Oh I won’t say much, but I’ll put these lines that I highlighted because it actually made my jaw dropped several times.
“When I was a teenager I had girlfriends, but none of them held my attention long enough to be long term. It wasn’t that I wanted to screw around or sleep with someone else. It was as simple as having different interests or the fact that I couldn’t stay on the phone long enough to have a conversation without falling asleep.”
I’M SORRY but… what kind of man who could say things like that? Actually comparing having girlfriends with surviving having conversation on the phone??? I’m not naïve that guys keep changing girlfriends is a common view in real life (doesn’t mean I’m okay with that), but for him to actually admitting it that way? It’s a total major turn off for me.
And here’s another one:
“Well I haven’t found the right girl yet.” (―Oliver said)
And that was the thing, I hadn’t. Not that I was looking, but I’d like to think if I was f*cking her, I would know she was the right one for me. …”
EXCUSE ME while I collect my jaw from the floor…
This man is unbelievable! I don’t even want to comment on the last line above. And there were still so many other unbelievable things about this hero ranging from the jerk move he’d done to Estelle on the past to the ‘one-date-please’ cycle he proposed to her. If I was Estelle, I’ll make sure to put the biggest trap hole on my door whenever he comes so I don’t have to deal with him at all. But here comes our heroine, Estelle, with all her ‘love makes me blind’ attitude toward Oliver.
I tried not to hate Estelle, really. She’s been through a lot and it’s amazing that she still had her heart intact and function well after all the miserable moments she had. I wished that she could be stronger and not back down easily like that. I lost count of how many times I rolled my eyes at her being weak over and over again. And with all of the lack of respect I had for both characters, the chemistry between them was close to zero. I couldn’t even see their love as the beautiful, sweet, or even the true one. It’s just… nothing.
My only reason to give the book 3 stars was because of Ms. Claire’s writing style. It was the only thing that kept me going to finish the book. Hers was really good, funny, and I have no doubt of taking another chance of reading her books next time. I had to admit that when it was close to the end, I found myself liking Oliver a bit (during the part saying he was actually a really really good doctor… so sad he could not be a good hero). And it’s relieving that Ms. Claire managed to put a touchy-feely ending which I liked. Nice wrap despite everything.
Love, read, and review,
Cynthia D.
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