Synopsis:
When Erin Stewart hires a fake date for her parents’ anniversary party, she gets more than she bargained for. First, she gets Steph Mitchell, a professional actor with a side order of drop-dead gorgeous. Second, she walks slap-bang into a wall of family stress. Deep breaths, it’s only five days. Plus, with Steph’s help, she can totally get through this, right?
Only, Erin didn’t plan on falling for the charming Steph. She’s also powerless when the simmering tension erupts, with dizzying consequences for everyone. What happens when you fake it, make it, then break it? Erin and Steph are about to find out.
Review:
I went into Change of Heart pretty much not knowing at all what it was about – other than it includes fake dating. Sometimes it’s better to go into a contemporary romance with no knowledge of the book’s content. That way you can’t get your hopes too high, which has burned me before.
This was my first book by Clare Lydon and I don’t think it will be my last, even though this wasn’t a very highly rated read for me.
I liked that this had a new take on the fake dating trope, well it was one I’ve never read before. The graphic novel Virtually Yours has something a little similar, but that’s about a completely fake person, this one is an acting agency. Which did lead me to think, what if someone you know hires the same person, how would it be a sustainable business? I don’t know, but I like the idea, it’s fun, so I don’t care about the logistics.
I’m not entirely sure what was lacking in this for me. I loved the concept and the characters were great but something fell flat. Possibly the typical “third act break up” which was very convoluted and half the time I didn’t know what was going on. There was far too much back and forth and repeating of the same points within the ‘break up’ that just got too much and made the book way longer than it needed to be. I’m not going to spoil the ‘twist’ of the book, but when I tell you this was the most frustrating part of the whole thing, I’m not joking.
Erin’s family were the stand out characters for me. They were complex, flawed and really added a lot to the story. Her brother was a little pointless, but the relationship with her mom and dad was one of the best parts of the book. Seeing Erin develop as the pages go by to finally work up the courage to confront her parents about Nadia’s death was done so well.
The romance element was super cute and there can never be enough sapphic romance books if you ask me. There’s a little bit of spice dotted throughout, it mostly happens around the middle of the book and it was pretty well written. I didn’t find it overly cringeworthy, which is always a plus in my book.
Overall, Change Of Heart was a very decent read and a great introduction, for me, to Clare Lydon as an author. It’s a romance book that doesn’t focus solely on romance. These characters are real, flawed and you do root for them.
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