Name: Kaleidoscope Hearts
ISBN: 9780986416705

Claire Contreras

He was my older brother's best friend. He was never supposed to be mine. I thought we would get it out of our system and move on. One of us did. One of us left. Now he's back, looking at me like he wants to devour me. And all those feelings I'd turned into anger are brewing into something else, something that terrifies me. He broke my heart last time. This time he'll obliterate it.

Kaleidoscope Hearts

He was my older brother's best friend. He was never supposed to be mine. I thought we would get it out of our system and move on. One of us did. One of us left. Now he’s back, looking at me like he wants to devour me. And all those feelings I’d turned into anger are brewing into something else, something that terrifies me. He broke my heart last time. This time he'll obliterate it.

have i 100% finished it? no. but i am going to count it as one anyway because i have reached half and then i went right into the epilogue. i just couldn't stand oliver; he's so indecisive and irritating. his undefined relationship with elle through the year is hurting her and yet he couldn't man up? the thing i like about brother's best friend trope is the way they usually felt bad but seeing heroine and how much she deserved love, he'd say "fuck it, we love each others"; but this book failed to deliver that. pity because i actually like author's writing style and the short chapters.

Habiba Herisha

Sven Test

4.5 stars
The full review can be found on GenGen's Book Blog.

I have two friends that have been obsessing over Kaleidoscope Hearts since it came out. I will have you know that this is my very first time paying $3.99 for an e-book. I never buy e-books that are over $2.99 but I heard so much about this one that I gave in and bought it. Let me tell you it was the best decision ever and money well spent. I read this book last week and didn’t know what to write. This is always my problem. When I read a book I love, I never know what to say about it. I just feel like doing this:



But I can’t do that so I will have to search through my mess of feels and do my best to get you to buy this book!!!!! This book deals with loss, letting go and trying to find oneself. I was intrigued by the prologue, where we get a glimpse of Elle being heart broken. She had chosen Wyatt, an older guy and an artist, over her childhood love and the reader wants to know why from the beginning.



I believe Oliver can steal anyone’s heart. He definitely stole mine. Hell, he didn’t steal it. I basically handed it to him on a silver platter. He really is amazing. He will have you drooling and swooning and fanning yourself from the start. Elle and Oliver had an electrifying chemistry (this makes sense in the book world) between them and pent up sexual desires for one another. Not only that, but their romantic moments together… They are so perfect. You do not want to miss this.



I freaking love Mia, Elle’s best friend! She is a photographer and she needed a female for one of her shoots so she asks Elle, who agrees. Mia sets up Ella and Oliver, knowing they have undeniable chemistry and man, that was a hot photo shoot!! Victor, Elle’s brother, is another key character in this story. He is funny and very protective of his sister. I believe he brought light to this story, at times.

I loved my journey with this story. I had so much fun! The chapter before the epilogue is one of THE best endings I have ever read. It was beyond perfection. It was so magical and beautiful! I had tears in my eyes while reading that chapter. Please please please buy this book!

The author finally announced she is working on Mia’s and Jensen’s full story, which will be called Paper Hearts! Read all about it here and read the synopsis!

You can now read the prequel novella to Paper Hearts on Wattpad! It is called Torn Hearts and it is about Mia and Jensen. Check it out here!

Bea R.

“Day after day, we’ll drive each other a little crazy and remind the other how head over heels in love we are. Because that’s the kind of love we have—the kind that doesn’t come in a bottle, but can fill thousands of them, because we have that much of it to spare.”

Nedu

Julie D.

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

4.5 stars!

Oliver!! <3 So much love for this guy. At the beginning of this story I wasn’t sure that I would like him… but, oh man, did he grow on me! He actually ended up being one of my favorite book boyfriends. He’s adorable, fun, and filled to the brim with swoon-ness!!! (Okay, not a word… but he totally is!) I really adored him, and I have no doubt that others will adore him just as much once they meet him.

Yes, that means you should all read this book. Now. Just go. Thank you. :)

“The hearts I make are shattered, but whole. They’re kaleidoscopes that beam under the sun. They signify hope in love when you’ve lost it because, like love, you can look at a kaleidoscope a thousand different ways and find something new every time. Shattered or not, if you look carefully enough, you’ll find something beautiful in them, and all beautiful things are a little broken.”

Kaleidoscope Hearts is usually categorized as a New Adult Romance, but these characters are in their later twenties, so I would say this borders more on the Adult Romance line. It was a beautiful story that packed and punch and left me filled with all the feels. One of my favorite contemporary romances this year.

Find this review and others like it at Lost in Literature!

Lacey

Originally posted at Booklovers For Life

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW

I enjoyed this audiobook so, so much! This is my first read – well, listen – from Claire Contreras, and it certainly won’t be my last. Mainly because I NEED the sequel, and I just love Claire’s writing! Kaleidoscope Hearts is a combination of two of my favorite tropes: second chance romance and the best friend’s little sister. So YAY for that alone! But I’m glad to say that this book won my heart because of more than just those tropes – I adored it because of its gorgeous writing and the heart-wrenching romance.


  Every second counts. Live in this moment. This is life. This is what matters.


A year after her fiancé’s death, Estelle is finally moving on. While Wyatt may not have been THE love of her life, Elle still loved Wyatt all the same and was devastated by his death. Now, she’s moving in with her brother, Vic – but Elle’s first love, her brother’s best friend, the boy who shattered her heart so many years ago, is back in her life.

He was the one I loved first. He was the one who broke my heart first, and here he is again. For how long this time, I wonder? Does it matter? My heart bleeds.

Elle and Oliver kept their love and relationship a secret, because they didn’t want Vic, Elle’s brother and Oliver’s best friend, to find out. Plus, while Oliver may have loved Elle back then, he had so many problems and just wasn’t ready to settle down. I really loved the way Claire Contreras slowly revealed to us about Elle and Oliver’s former relationship. Kaleidoscope Hearts is told in dual POV, with Oliver’s set in the past and Elle’s set in the present. My heart broke for Elle after all the pain Oliver caused her. Theirs is a one-of-a-kind love, but it just wasn’t meant to be at that moment of time in their lives. Now, though, everything’s different – yet the same, because it’s obvious that Oliver and Elle never stopped loving each other.

“I always thought you were mine,” he says.

I liked Elle, surprisingly a lot more than I did Oliver. I loved the way Elle shoots Oliver down when he comes back in her life, because Oliver seriously needed to do some ass-kissing before he even deserved another chance with her. She’s been through so much pain, first with Oliver, then with Wyatt’s death, but she comes out stronger than ever. Elle is an artist with a talent for creating kaleidoscope hearts, building shattered pieces of glass into hearts that are now whole. It’s pretty meaningful and symbolic – the whole book is pretty meaningful, actually. Claire Contreras wrote a fantastic book about second chances, about living life to the fullest, because you never know which moment may be your last.

I loved Elle’s narrator, Christy Romano. She did an excellent job of conveying all of Elle’s heartbreak and strength. The voice of Oliver’s narrator, Vikas Adam, didn’t really seem to match up with what I thought would be Oliver’s voice, but it grew on me later on.

Oliver’s character, unfortunately, is the reason I can’t give Kaleidoscope Hearts 5 stars. Sometimes, I really was skeptical of Oliver’s love for Elle, because of how much he kept hurting her. He doesn’t really prove his love when he comes back into her life either. It wasn’t until the very end that I was finally sold on him as a hero, because Oliver finally takes action and becomes the man who deserves to be with Elle.

“My mind is yours. My hands are yours. My heart is yours. Everything I have is yours. Everything I am is yours.”

Overall, Kaleidoscope Hearts is a fantastic second chance romance full of heartache and emotion. There’s quite a bit of back and forth between Elle and Oliver that only grew slightly tedious, but I really did like the way their romance developed this second time around. It was also so lovely as an audiobook – I love dual narrations, so this one made me really happy. If you’re in the mood for a second chance romance with a ton of feels, I highly recommend this one!

Audible: http://amzn.to/1TvTI4d
Amazon Ebook: http://amzn.to/1Mlsi0c
Amazon Paperback: http://amzn.to/1L7ft8f

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