Thank you to Dutton Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I am having a hard time rating this book as I honestly don’t know if I liked this book. Here are the facts:
1. I read the whole book.
2. It’s about a bond between sisters and their love for each other. (Healthy? Unhealthy? I never really understood how that bond was created, other than it may have been born of the strong bond between the parents).
3. In my opinion, Riley was sullen and not likable.
4. Morgan was the golden child.
5. I was quite surprised about a third of the way through as the unexpected happened.
Based on all the above, I would rate the book at 3 since I still am unable to decide if I liked it or not.

This is a very beautifully written book about the extremely complicated relationship between sisters, Morgan and Riley, and their ineffectual mother, Karen. There is an incredibly tight bond between the sisters. Yet, there are simmering resentments and miscommunication. It is a singular, fluke, tragedy that rends this family and restructures their relationships.

This is very complicated, lots to analyze and definitely not an easy beach read.

I think this might be enjoyed by some reading groups, but certainly the complexity and overwhelming sadness make it difficult to recommend to all readers.

Thank you Netgalley for this haunting, complex book

I really wanted to like this one, but it just did not flow. The extensive details got to be monotonous and the random change in character perspective seemed out of place.

The author of this novel takes her title very seriously, creating a story out of various pieces and parts. However, I found the form to distract from the substance and, ultimately, didn't finish this one.

Not quite my kind of book I’m afraid. I didn’t enjoy the writing style and the unnecessary profanity on almost every other page, sometimes even a few on the same page, just turned me off, The obsessiveness with the sister is disturbing to me too. There were some interesting passages on the fashion world but other than that, I was just not very interested.

I finished this book because I got to the pivotal point (~37%) very quickly, and at that point, I wanted to see where the rest of the book went. As much as I struggle with how to rate it, I also can't really overlook the fact that I didn't enjoy almost all of it. I thought the juxtaposition of Riley's and Morgan's characters was interesting, particularly how Riley feels like Morgan is perfect and the only person to understand her, so Riley herself remains unknowable to others. This coupled with a few revelations about Morgan toward the end of the book made the book stronger to me. The rest of it, however, fell flat. These are my own opinions though, and overall, I think it just was not a book for me.

Incredible writing, intriguing storyline, amazing character development, vivid prose! I can't recommend this book enough. A truly unique and immersive story.

This was a solid 3.5 for me that I've rounded up to 4 stars. On the surface, Kaleidoscope is a novel about a family's evolution, and in particular, how this affects the close knit sisters. When tragedy falls, the narrative shifts to focus on one sister and her personal growth. It's heart-wrenching, but then what growth doesn't come with some pain? I appreciated some of Wong's rich descriptions and how she dives headfirst into the pain of grief. My main complaint is that there was this plot twist that seemed like it would yield more information or direction, but then didn't amount to much in the end. I respect Wong's decision not to make it into a big thing, but I would have liked to see more follow through. Apart from that, the book engaged me and its appeal lies in its descriptive power.

Absolutely, incredibly outstanding. Fantastic. Brilliant. I could go on, but there are no words that quite reach the measure.

This was a story of hope and love and forgiveness and it was perfectly done.

I also can’t miss this opportunity to emphatically state how very deeply, to my innermost core, I despised Karen. She was a hideous individual and the fact that no one punched her was profoundly disappointing.

This is absolutely a book that surpassed all of my expectations. The way that Wong was able to craft such a realistic and compelling story allowed me to truly feel for all of the characters, even the ones that I wasn't necessarily meant to love. I feel like this is a book that I'm going to have to sit with for a long time, but I for sure want to get a physical copy when it comes out so that I can annotate it and organize my thoughts better.

In her newest novel, Cecily Wong has captured the complicated dynamics of a mixed race family suffering from a tragic loss. This book immediately pulled me in with the interesting relationship between the two sisters. I come from an Asian family with a sister who is very different from me, so it was very relatable. The author does a great job leading the reader through the joys and the pain of familial relationships. Without giving away any spoilers, I just want to say that this book would have been a five star except for one spot about three fourths through the story. Part four really dragged for me, it felt like a fever dream that I couldn't escape from. The ending pulled things together again and redeemed what almost became a DNF in part four! Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the chance to review this book!

There's a lot to think about in regards to this book: there's some great prose, interesting characters, and a unique plot. I did find myself struggling at times with the tense and point of view, and wasn't sure all of the jumping around did a lot to serve the book; this is also simply a matter of taste, so other readers could easily enjoy the narrative choice. I felt the book went on a bit long, and while many of the plot twists were intriguing, I wish we had gotten to them sooner, as the book at times felt unbalanced. All of this said, I'm sure plenty of folks will love the book and still encourage you to read it if the plot or themes stand out to you; this writer has talent, and there's a lot of good here, I'm just not the ideal reader

A phenomenal MUST-READ. Kaleidoscope blends heartfelt storytelling with relatably raw characters, creating silken adventure. Kaleidoscope is filled with color, from Morgan and Riley’s lives, their lies, and their loves. I did not want this story end!

This book has a strong sense of place with a few beautiful vignettes, but the pacing of the story didn’t work. Additionally, the third act twist felt cliched.

Kaleidoscope follows a family’s rise as they grow their store Kaleidoscope, which sells redesigned Indian goods. The story centers on the relationship of the family to golden child Morgan.

The author spends too long building up to the pivotal moment of Morgan’s unexpected death. A big part of the story involves the redemptive nature of travel.

The author does a great job describing travels in New York and India. This gave the novel a strong sense of place and would appeal to armchair traveler types. But the book felt too long and drawn out.

The book has many strengths but overall not for me. You may like it if you enjoy complicated family relationships.

This story began in what seemed to be a pivotal moment in Riley and Morgan's lives. It honestly ended up not even being a further factor as the story progressed. So I potentially could have done without that, plus it was a trigger warning for some.

As the rest of the book unfolds it becomes a chaotic messy ride. It felt like a real family, nothing farfetched about reactions or certain personalities interacting. That might have been my favorite part of the book. Wong was able to cut to the heart of familial problems I think most can relate to. Whether it was sister dynamics or butting heads with parents, Kaleidoscope covers it all and does it well.

Some of the food descriptions and travel descriptions were amazing and I felt like I was transported back to that same era in my life (which happened to be the same age/time as Riley and Morgan). Well done on character development, looking forward to reading more books in the future!

This book was such a thrilling journey to consume. I’ll admit that after reading the first 40% of the book I assumed I knew where the story was going. I thought this would be a typical story about a little sister jealous of an older sister. Wow was I wrong. The sisters’ relationship is used to explore self doubt, self acceptance, marriage, depression, trust, family dynamics, race, class, etc. Not to mention this book also contains some invigorating travel stories. Also, I am a sucker for books that delve into mother daughter relationships when the two women at the center just aren’t that close. This book contained multitudes and I was here for each one. Thank you to Penguin for providing me with an advanced copy.

Kaleidoscope, the soon-to-be-published book by Cecily Wong, started out strong and promising, lost a little of its dazzle midway through, but ended up getting a lot of its strength and sparkle back in the end. A unique story centered around a strong family bond and sisterly love, Kaleidoscope will hopefully be a hit when it comes out in the summer of 2022. The storyline and characters will endear themselves to many a fiction lover. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced eCopy.

A beautifully written book. This is a deeply moving story, one that begs you to sit for a long while to absorb its powerful message. I loved it and I will read it again and again.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

I look forward to recommending this to serious readers who want to get totally caught up in a story, and who are eager to puzzle out some twists, turns, and even change in point of view. It's a beautiful book, full of family drama, vulnerable characters, and non-stop action.

This story followed a family and loss and that’s something that I’m usually very interested to read. This story jumped back and forth between first and third person for seemingly no reason. The time line jumped with no sense of order. There was no flow. Many times there were things that were very subtly hinted at but you were supposed to know what was happening a paragraph later. When the big event happened I felt nothing because of how it was revealed. The funeral speech thing was very weird. I’ve experienced a similar loss the family loss in this book and I didn’t find the family dynamic to ring true to anything I experienced. The first chapter get very unnecessary and misplaced as it did nothing for the story.