Kaleidoscope
by Kristen Ashley
Publication Date: February 4, 2014
Synopsis
Sexy, gifted, and loyal, PI Jacob Decker is a tall, cool drink of perfection who had Emmanuelle Holmes at "hello." His relationship with Emme's best friend kept them apart for years, but things have changed. Now that a case has brought him to Gnaw Bone, Colorado, the road is wide open for Emme and Deck to explore something hotter and deeper than Emme dreamed possible. So why is she sabotaging the best thing that's ever happened to her?
It isn't easy to catch Deck off guard, but Emme does just that when she walks back into his life after nine long years. The curvy brunette had her charms back in the day, but now she's a bona fide knockout . . . and she wants to rekindle their friendship. Deck, however, wants more. Emme's always been the one; she excites Deck's body and mind like no other woman can. But a dark chapter from Emme's past overshadows their future together. Now only Deck can help her turn the page-if she'll let him . .
It isn't easy to catch Deck off guard, but Emme does just that when she walks back into his life after nine long years. The curvy brunette had her charms back in the day, but now she's a bona fide knockout . . . and she wants to rekindle their friendship. Deck, however, wants more. Emme's always been the one; she excites Deck's body and mind like no other woman can. But a dark chapter from Emme's past overshadows their future together. Now only Deck can help her turn the page-if she'll let him . .
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Review by Wendy
****4 For Reunion, For Recognition, For Colorado KA Speak Stars * * * *
ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
As fan of KA books have learned a few things over the course of reading her books.
The characters who live in her world speak a special language… their way of speaking and the meaning of universal words are sometimes used not in the usual way.... so before I get into the book, here is a taste of what I am talking about….
First … shit gets sorted… they never get figured out or looked into and then finished… nope … they get sorted
People are shot of it… not they finished or free of it… they get shot of that guy or it…
Or they scrape that off… like dog doo and had to be scraped off your shoe… except that can be old friends gone bad … or ex boyfriends etc… you scrape that off
Something which would be expensive was whack… costly
Oh and never … ever say good bye… it is later… or later babe
Now the other thing to know about KA books is the way everyone communicates… there is the one word directive… so it can mean many things from calling your name to get your attention to declaring your true and real affection…
And you need to be aware there is a lot of explaining as to what is happening until you get to the meat of the question or statement being said. With all this being explained you have a primer for her books.
This book was a part of one of my KA favorites, the Colorado series. The best was all of the interaction between the main characters of all the past books. They were all there one way or another making it old home week and warm thoughts of all of their stories I held affectionately in my memory.
We are given the tale of Deck and Emme… Deck has history as the go to guy in security and investigation… he does things in a Maverick way. It was his assistance tracking Faye down when all hell broke loose for Chace in the book, Breathe. He knows what to do in these types of circumstances and in this situation now, Chace has called him into to help with a series of B&E’s gone very bad in Gnaw Bone.
On his way to the meeting to discuss all of this… he runs into Emme… and almost doesn’t know who she is…She has called out to him… and as he looks to see her… he sees a woman who has the sweet curvy figure that bares a second glance; hair which begs touching and a face that is all open … with eyes so unique and her signature dimple bringing it home to Deck.... this is his Emme… a huge transformation from the woman he last said good bye to 9 years ago.
Their history is complicated and in a nutshell… Deck was Emme’s best friend’s boyfriend… Elsbeth; Deck thought he loved her… but in reality… he always had feelings for Emme but just didn’t know it. Emme also wanted Deck… but again, was not aware or in KA speak, clued in, to her feelings.
So this meeting takes on more than just a gathering of old friends… so much more.
This book covers many different topics; PTSD; the impact of victims of crime and how it affects them years after; the concept of understanding love and what that means to an Alpha Male and how their women need to deal; just how to forgive yourself of time gone by and live in the now.
The pace of this book was slower as there was much to explain in the explaining…. And it did not move as quickly as many of her other books… there was also a lot of jumping to conclusions with more explaining after the fact… so this could be a tad frustrating for those who wanted things to move along.
The other part which was also different was the jumping in the end in skipping through years to get to results for the reader… I have been use to more from her in the past so it felt like the end really snuck up on me.
Over, all I would say it was delicious to see all the characters of the Colorado series fresh and happening …. Everyone interacting just was wonderful… I happened to get Deck and Emme’s story… I was totally ok with the story and how it went down… loved Deck as a man and what he wanted in life… and when he got Emme on board with it all… it was Beauty… so this experience was good….I got my KA fix... not a full blast down to the socks perfect... but there were many moments of seriously damn good.
As KA would say…. I got sorted and was clear… and in the end… it was Beauty
Excerpt
I looked out my office window, down to the yard, my eyes to the bustling activity, and I did this tapping my phone on my desk.
I should be working but I wasn’t thinking about work.
I was thinking about Jacob.
More precisely, I was thinking about calling Jacob, had an overwhelming urge to do so.
I was also trying not to do so because I had a boyfriend, even though he was a boyfriend I wasn’t all that sure about. He was sweet, he was into me, but he was just… off.
Additionally, after my dinner with Jacob last night, within an hour, I’d called him after ten at night and now it was only eleven thirty the next day.
I didn’t want him to think I was psycho, and calling him would imply psycho behavior. Further, when I called him last night, I’d asked him to dinner, which was dinner two nights in a row with a woman he hadn’t seen in nine years, a woman with a boyfriend, and that was semi-psycho.
Okay, maybe it was totally psycho.
I didn’t want Jacob to think I was psycho.
Ever.
But I wanted to hear his voice. I wanted to connect with him on the phone. I’d missed him and I liked having him back. I liked it a great deal.
I also missed him a great deal.
And I needed to ask him something. Further, he was the only one I could ask.
I looked from the yard to my phone. My mind telling my thumb not to do it, my thumb not listening, I found Jacob’s contact and hit go.
I put it to my ear.
“I’m a psycho,” I whispered and luckily finished whispering two seconds before Jacob’s voice sounded.
“You okay?” he answered.
He kept asking that mostly, I figured, because I kept calling when I didn’t need to so he probably thought something was wrong.
Or that I was a psycho.
“I need to know if you don’t eat anything,” I lied.
Actually, it wasn’t a lie. Although I remembered a lot about Jacob (most everything, in all honesty), I couldn’t recall if there was something specific he didn’t like to eat.
I could recall how beautiful he was, how tall he was, how strong he was. I could recall how smart he was and how funny he was. I could recall how cool he was with me. I could also recall how much I missed him. But I couldn’t recall if he didn’t like chicken.
But that wasn’t the only thing I needed to know. I needed to know something else too.
Much like last night, when he didn’t make me feel like a psycho, in fact, the opposite and sounded like he was happy to hear from me and would be willing to talk all night, he again sounded like me psychotically calling him yet again in a precursor to stalker way was no big deal.
“I don’t eat it, I’ll pick it off.”
“You can’t pick it off if I cook with it in it or if the mainstay of dinner on the whole is what you don’t eat,” I informed him.
“You makin’ Indian food?” he asked.
“No. Don’t you like Indian food?” I asked back.
“Love it,” he answered.
“Then why’d you ask if I was making Indian food?”
“ ’Cause I hoped you were.”
I burst out laughing.
No, Jacob definitely didn’t make me feel like I was being a psycho.
When I quit laughing, I told him, “Sorry, honey, I don’t know how to make Indian food.”
“Shame,” he muttered, a smile in his deep, attractive voice, and if I was on an infrared scanner, specific parts of me would have shown up hotter.
You have a boyfriend, Emme! I told myself.
For a while, I answered myself.
Jacob is also your ex–best friend’s ex-boyfriend, Emme! I reminded myself.
So? I asked myself.
I shoved those thought aside, thoughts that, if anyone knew I was talking to myself in my head might prove I was indeed a psycho, and pointed out to Jacob, “You haven’t actually answered the question.”
“I’ll eat what you cook, Emme. Cook what you like.”
He was such a nice guy.
He always was.
Nice. Tall (very tall). Handsome (unbelievably handsome). Smart (so damned smart). Funny. Interesting. Gentlemanly. And a repeat of nice because it was worth a repeat since he was just that nice.
I liked all that about him. I liked that he wore his dark hair way too long. I liked that sometimes a thick hank of it fell over his forehead and into his eye. I liked that he was who he was and didn’t wear designer jeans or put gel in his hair. I liked that, even considering he was extortionately intelligent, in fact, a genius, he never made anyone feel less than him because they weren’t as smart. I liked that he never acted superior or arrogant and with all that was him, looks, body, brains, he was one person who could. And I liked that he liked to do what he liked to do, he did what he liked to do and wouldn’t get pushed into doing something he didn’t want.
Like Elsbeth tried to do.
He’d lost her to that and he’d accepted it. I knew it killed. He’d loved her to distraction. But he refused to be the man she wanted him to be and instead was the man he was.
She should have seen she had it all even if he didn’t make bucketloads of money and thus couldn’t give her the life she was used to getting from her daddy. Country clubs, tennis lessons, vacations in villas in Italy and beaches in Thailand, fabulous homes kept by maids and fabulous meals cooked by cooks.
She didn’t see all she had.
Stupid.
About the author
Kristen Ashley grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana, and has lived in
Denver, Colorado, and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to
have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least)
but loopy is good when you want to write.
Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multigenerational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland, and Kristen grew up listening to the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon, and Whitesnake. Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music and love was a good way to grow up. And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.
Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multigenerational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland, and Kristen grew up listening to the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon, and Whitesnake. Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music and love was a good way to grow up. And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.
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