Review: A pleasant surprise
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 19, 2013
~3.5 stars.It really surprises me that I happen to like this book despite the shifter/were-whatever-animal plot.This book has all the elements I usually dislike in the shifter genre: mating with instantly-falling-in-love-with-each-other-characters, love that is fated and seems more like a spell/curse than the real thing, sudden straight to gay shift without any issues etc.But for some reason they worked for me in this book.First of all, I like the 1st person POV (Jin). I totally bonded with him and I could totally understand his motivation for being on the run, not staying anywhere too long in order to keep possible contact to pack members/other shifters to a minimum.Whereas were-animals of any kind usually seem to desire meeting their, and only their, mate in this genre (and in this book as well), it was quite refreshing to read about someone who wants to prevent exactly that.Jin believes that meeting his mate will turn him into a slave to this "pseudo-love" and deprive him of his free will.I couldn't agree more with him. That's exactly the issue I'm having with the whole mating thing.Jin, of course, doesn't succeed in his whole "never-meet-my-mate" agenda, despite all his efforts, and becomes what he feared most - a slave to this (so-called) love caused by the mating procedure.Surprisingly, I didn't mind that the love between the 2 MCs in this book is due to the fact that they are mates, destined to love each other forever. Why? I can't really put my finger on it.Maybe it was because of the likable and believable nature of the 2nd MC, Logan.Maybe it was because the book itself addresses the problematic nature of the mating.Who knows..One other thing I really like is the detail Mary Calmes dedicated to the description of rules and laws of and life within the pack. Whereas some reviewers said that they were having problems with all the terminology in this book, I actually happen to like it because it helps explaining the different functions of the pack members very well.Using this set of "invented words"(?) gives the book a certain credibility, that certain something.As you can see, "Change of Heart" proved my previous judgement about the shifter-m/m-genre wrong. This book is a enthralling and engrossing read.I can rcommend it with a clear conscience ;)