Reviewed by Kat

TITLE: Change of Heart

AUTHOR: K. M. Neuhold

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 276 pages

RELEASE DATE: June 17, 2019

BLURB:

Does my husband’s heart still miss me now that it beats in the chest of another man?

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A heartbeat more familiar than Easton’s own

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He vowed to love his husband until death do they part. And then the worst happened.

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His heart kept another man alive. River. A stranger in the world with Easton’s husband’s heart pumping the blood that warms his skin. Does his heart ever miss Easton without knowing why?

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Sweet, kind, beautiful, River. Easton never meant to meet him…never meant to know him…never meant to fall for him.

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Easton loved River’s heart long before he ever met him, but is it possible he’s falling in love with his mind and soul too?

***Change of Heart is a stand alone story with strong hurt/comfort themes, mild bi-sexual awakening themes, and a HEA

REVIEW:

This was a very interesting twist on if a loved one’s donated heart would still pine for them in another person’s body???

Easton has to do the unthinkable when his husband Paul is pronounced brain dead after a horrible accident on his job. He has to make the immediate decision to do as his sweet husband would have wanted and donate his organs as listed on his donor card. But all he wants to do is press rewind and keep him home and safe that dreadful day. Five years later and Easton can’t seem to move on in his life. All of Paul’s belonging are still in the spare bedroom and the extremely successful graphic novelist can only draw in black and white…the color has left his life. When he can no longer bear it anymore he asks Paul’s best friend Fox, a private investigator, to find this River Williams who received Paul’s heart. While Easton is stalking River to see if this man is worthy of his beloved dead husband is heat, River and Easton meet when Easton saves his life a second time. But is there any connection between their hearts?

I’m not sure I buy into this premise that the heart from a person that is transplanted into another person’s body has a will of it’s own. I guess that I’m more cynical than hopeful. I believe that the person will remain the same but that they will be grateful for the generous gift that has saved their life. I was pleased that the author took the time to show how grateful River was by the changes he did in his diet and life routine to protect the heart he was gifted. I get that River’s situation was a unique way of needed a heart replacement. Our son had open heart surgery at 13 months to repair his heart. When he entered school I was constantly concerned when I heard that there was strep in his classroom. Even though he is close to 40, very healthy and has had all his vaccines as a child and adult, we still live with the fear of strep, scarlet fever and now measles that could attack his heart. Ms. Neuhold had River being the perfect heart transplant recipient. You would hope that, if you ever had to make such a heartbreaking decision, a person of River’s integrity would be the recipient.

The part that really bugged me was that Easton kept his knowledge of who River was a secret way too long. I believe that he never meant to start a friendship/relationship with his dead husband’s heart recipient but when it happened he needed to fess up fast. He was a coward and that almost made him lose his second chance at love. I thought that his being his mentor was risky but sweet. And I loved that River “fan boy’d” all over Easton when he discovered who he was. But holding that secret when things progressed was profoundly wrong. I get it got too far too fast and then he didn’t know what to do but still it was wrong!

I had a difficult time rating this one. I loved the novel and even was intrigued by the premise that a heart still beats for a lost loved one when transplanted. But I never bought into the reality that it could be true…it was more like a fantasy for me. I finally decided that I truly loved the love story but was never swayed that it could be true.

RATING:

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