Kaleidoscope Me by Hillary K. Grigonis

Kaleidoscope Me by Hillary K Grigonis

Genre: Contemporary, Mystery

Published: February 24th, 2014

Publisher: Pixel Press & Photo LLC

Pages: 162

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Synopsis: 

“Sometimes, my mind is a kaleidoscope. Somewhere, buried beneath a hundred different swirling colors, is the original image, but as you turn the dial, the original meshes with colors and becomes something completely different.”

Jadyn’s world twirls out of control after her mother dies in a car accident and her  forgetful Great-Aunt Nadine moves in. Her dad is never home and her best friend doesn’t even know  half of it. Jadyn is trying to keep it all together for her little brother, Trenton. But when Aunt Nadine disappears with Trenton in the middle of a snowstorm, Jadyn may be the only one who can find them. Kaleidoscope Me is an exciting novel about family, friendship and faith with a unique, non-linear style.

Review: When I received the email about this blog tour, I was pretty excited about it. Honestly, I like tours that allow me to do reviews the most. I want to focus on reviews when it comes to the blog (though I have failed at that the last couple of weeks). I love getting to read books that I might not otherwise find, and I feel like Kaleidoscope Me might be one of those books, and I would be disappointed if I had missed out on reading this one. 

I'm going to admit, a lot of this book is quite sad. Jadyn's mother has died, after all, and it goes through her family's healing period, and how each of them handles everything, or does not handle it. Jadyn has trouble focusing, something that her mother had taken her to the doctor for when she was younger, and she did work very hard to stay focused when needed. However, I loved how she expressed that her mind was like a kaleidoscope. Metaphors were used throughout the novel to express this, and I enjoyed it very much. I enjoyed Jadyn's character in general, though. She was a sweet girl who was struggling to keep her head above water after losing a parent. 

The book does jump around a lot, the different "chapters" starting with titles like "Two weeks earlier" or "five months ago." I was quite worried that it was going to cause me to dislike the book since it can be difficult to follow along when books skip around so much. However, I believe that it was handled quite well. While sometimes I did wish that I could get some more of the current story before it switched again, I could understand why it kept happening. We received important information and scenes throughout the flashbacks, so I could not get too upset about it. 

Ultimately, one of the main conflicts in the book is that Jadyn's father believes that she and her younger brother need someone to help watch them after their mom has died; though she does not agree with this. This is how Great-Aunt Nadine comes to live with them. She can hardly remember who she is sometimes, so it makes for some interesting, and sometimes humorous situations. This ends up leading Jadyn to most of the life lessons that she discovers throughout the novel. This book is an enjoyable, quick read. 

Rating: 4.0/5.0 

About the Author:

When she isn’t writing, Hillary K. Grigonis can usually be found with a camera in hand. She lives in Mid-Michigan with her husband and young son. After starting to write fiction as a teenager, she’s always been interested in creating stories for young adults. She started writing Kaleidoscope Me while attending Saginaw Valley State University.  A writer at heart, she also contributes to several websites on a regular basis, including serving as the editor of DigitalCamera-HQ.com. Kaleidoscope Me is her first novel.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hillarykgrigonis

Website: http://hillarykgrigonis.com/