Review: Change of Heart by Mary Calmes
SYNOPSIS:
As a young gay man—and a werepanther—all Jin Rayne yearns for is a normal life. Having fled his past, he wants nothing more than to start over, but Jin’s old life doesn’t want to let him go. When his travels bring him to a new city, he crosses paths with the leader of the local were-tribe.
Logan Church is a shock and an enigma, and Jin fears that Logan is both the mate he fears and the love of his life. Jin doesn’t want to go back to the old ways, and mating would irrevocably tie him to them. But Jin is the mate Logan needs at his side to help him lead his tribe, and he won’t give Jin up so easily. It will take time and trust for Jin to discover the joy in belonging to Logan and how to love without restraint.
REVIEW:
I was looking for a shifter book that I haven’t read, which seems to get harder and harder too find. After browsing several Goodreads lists, I saw that Change of Heart kept popping up. So I finally decided to look beyond the mediocre cover and give this story a try. I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I got sucked into this complex world.
As the first book in shifter series commonly goes, this story was a lot of world building. It was laying the foundation and terminology for titles, positions, people, alliances, and discriminations. The setting of a small town and mountainside home instantly draws you in. The people and whose who aren’t hard to follow. But how the author introduces the hierarchy is. Mary Calmes just throws out titles like semel before she explains them and sometimes you have to wait several pages before you get an explanation that a semel is essentially a pack leader. While not a deal breaker, I found it distracting and it did take me out of the world I was immersed in. I wish their would have been a glossary at the beginning of the book where I could review these things first.
Jin as a character was delightfully complex. He has a tragic background and so much strength. In contrast, Logan was brutally honest and blunt. I loved how they are complete opposites and as the way with fated pairs, their is insta-love but Jin is determined to fight this. He doesn’t want to give himself over to his panther. They had plenty of chemistry in the bedroom (seriously, these were some hot scenes) and while they didn’t get to have too many heart-to-hearts, it’s clear that this is going to be a rock solid relationship.
The secondary characters are so intriguing and I loved how they all brought something different to the story; whether tension, support, or animosity, I can’t wait to see how these things play out. Honestly, when I finished the book I was getting some series Nalini Singh vibes, which makes me excited to dive into the next book in the series. The plot isn’t perfect but you just gotta strap in for the ride because if you can overlook these things, you are in for a wicked sexy shifters book.
LINKS:
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
