Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the eARC.

I LOVE FALLON BALLARD. There I have said it. All of her books just do it for her. The characters, the banter, the real life feel to it all. So so good.

I liked this but I’m not sure the premise was totally my thing. This is the second book I’ve read where the main characters are magically transported to some idealistic town to fall in love and change their lives and I just don’t think they’re for me. I enjoyed the characters in this book (especially Emma) and the development of Cam and Ben’s relationship but it just didn’t feel real since it wasn’t “real life.” I still adore Falon Ballard, this just wasn’t my favorite.

A super cute read to get into the Valentines spirit! I imagined the world of Barbie meets a Hallmark movie, the escapism we need right now. Ballard does a great job in her newest novels building creative worlds that draw you in (her Christmas novel was one my 2024 holiday faves). Her characters were a little shallow, I could have used more backstory, but the message of loving yourself and building your own happiness was a good one.

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to experience a town right out of a Hallmark movie?

I'm no stranger to a Falon Ballard book, but I wasn't sure what to expect when I got access to read Change of Heart. This book is both funny and heartwarming all while making you question - could I actually survive the plot to a Hallmark movie?

Right from the start I love how quickly we jump right in to Cam waking up in Heart Springs. Once I had read the plot of this story I wasn't sure how Falon was going to bring in this fantastical element of a different world but I loved how we had one date where we saw exactly who Cam was and why it was valid for her to be thrown into the town of Heart Springs.

I also am always a sucker for a cute, smart, kind of sarcastic MMC and Ben was exactly that. I was hoping from that first chapter after their date that he was her main love interest and I was giggling and kicking my feet when she found him right there next door in Heart Springs.

Once again Falon Ballard has written not only a beautiful love story about finding romantic and friendly love, but also the most important kind of love - self love.

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Son for the ARC of Change of Heart by Falon Ballard.

Sometimes you need a sweet, cheesy rom com & this is just that. The plot is similar to something you’d find in an Ashley Poston book with the magical realism. Cam was really funny and I loved seeing her character growth. I don’t think we got enough out of Ben but he did call her sweetheart over 100 times. It was cute & a quick read!

Unfortunately this one didn't do it for - I've loved all other books I've read by Ballard but I couldn't connect to the main characters in this one and the romance just wasn't believable for me. It had its moments occasionally but for the most part I was not invested in this story.

Change of Heart was different than the other Falon Ballard books I have read but I still really enjoyed it. Was it cheesy and predictable? Yes. Was it a book version of a Hallmark Movie? Yes. Would this be great turned into an actual Hallmark Movie? Also yes.

The FMC Cam really was not likable to start but found her journey to love herself a fun ride. When Cam and Ben were transported to a magical town after their failed blind date they had some tasks they had to finish to be able to go back home. It was fun to see Cam start to like and love others and the people from the town going from hating her to liking her. This was a cute book with some spice!

Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons for an ARC of Change of Heart for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Change of Heart by Falon Ballard is a fun rom-com about Campbell Andrews, a workaholic lawyer who hates love stories and always puts her career first. She ends up in the small magical town of Heart Springs and has to complete certain tasks to return to her normal life, which include finding true love.

I enjoyed seeing Campbell grow as a character. At the beginning she was cold and cynical but as the book goes on she opens up to others and learns to embrace life. The story feels like a mix of a Hallmark movie and The Good Place with its quirky setting and themes of personal growth.

I just wish Ben had been developed more as a character and love interest. But overall was an enjoyable read with a sweet ending.

Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Books, for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was such a sweet, cozy read—I devoured it in just one day! It felt like a warm hug wrapped in a blanket, and I couldn’t help but imagine it as the perfect Hallmark or Netflix Christmas movie.

I really enjoyed getting to hear Cam’s story, but I think I would have loved it even more if it had been told from multiple POVs, especially Ben’s. Their slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance was adorable, and if you love those tropes, this book is definitely for you!

The only character I didn’t love was Mimi—if I were stuck in an alternate universe, I wouldn’t appreciate someone holding me hostage and telling me what to do. I’m a Taurus, okay? We don’t like that! 🤣

That said, I absolutely adored the message behind the story. It’s a beautiful reminder to slow down and reflect on what truly makes you happy. If you’re not loving what you do, maybe it’s time to change your surroundings and reevaluate your priorities. Most importantly, it reinforces the idea that you need to love yourself first before you can fully love others.

The book gave me A Christmas Carol meets Through the Snow Globe vibes, and the small-town setting was so charming. I did feel the banter was a little weak, but that might be because we only got Cam’s perspective.

Overall, this was a fun, quick holiday read, and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a feel-good Christmas story / romance story!

All thoughts are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for the early read. This book reminded me of a Hallmark movie, Campbell Andrews is work driven and doesn't have a life, much less a dating life. On a blind date with Ben, a waitress covers their bill and says she hopes they spend time actually talking on their next date. The next day she awakens in a Hallmark like town, everything is perfect, even her hair and make up each morning. The waitress from the night before is there. She cryptically tells Campbell in order to get back home she needs to complete 3 tasks. Surprise, Ben also ended up in this alternate town as well. This book has been my least favorite Falon Ballard book, it was somewhat predictable. I think I would have liked listening to this book rather than reading. I tend to like listening to light hearted reads.

What would it look like if Pleasantville had a baby with a Hallmark movie plus a little steam? It would be this book!

Campbell (Cam) is a workaholic. She lives to work. And she's good at it. Her dream is to take over her grandmother's firm, not to find love. So when her grandmother puts her up for a blind date, she's not interested in a love connection, just work.

When she wakes up the next morning, though, it's not... home. It's a sweet little town called Heart Springs. Where everything is sweet. As in, everybody knows your name, and everyone is as kind as can be.

One person who looks familiar is Cams waitress from the night before. The other is her blind date.

What comes next is a challenge. One that Cam doesn't think she has in her. She's destined to take over her grandmother's law firm, not find true love. And what's Dr Ben Lovings' challenge? Why is he stuck here, too?

The book is so fun. Cam is truly a fish out of water who thinks she knows what she wants and doesn't want to compromise. Heart Springs is a super sweet town. This was a fun book. Cam really had to find her way.

Cheesy and predictable! A cute romance to escape to for a few hours. Definitely has a Book Lovers vibe with Campbell serving as what Hallmark movies make out to be the unlikeable girl.
3.5⭐️

This book was so much fun! I loved the Hallmarky town and the silliness that it brought. I loved Cam and Ben. Their chemistry was delightful and I found Cam to be such a fun protagonist. I loved the overall message of the book. I only wish it was longer!

Fallon Ballard does it again! This book is magical and charming and has all the feels. At first I was not sure if I would like the story since it's a different kind of romance and certainly different from other Ballard books. But I was drawn into the story, especially when the main characters wake up in a Hallmark Movie sort of town. I kept wondering how Campbell and Ben got there and if they would stay.

Campbell is a hard driving attorney who does not make room for love or anything outside of
work. Ben is a surgeon with a soft side who is open to love . Now they are neighbors in Heart Springs, a magical town where neighbors know your name and story, seasons seem to change on a whim, and love flourishes.

Campbell grows and changes immensely throughout the book and the love story that develops between Ben and Campbell is everything that makes a romance story glorious. I loved this book so much and found the ending perfect. And I melted every time Ben called Campbell "Sweetheart." There are no gimmicks, just love. Change of Heart is a perfect romance. Don't miss this one.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

In this whimsical rom-com, Campbell, a driven workaholic, and Ben, her unexpected love interest, end up trapped in a picture-perfect, Hallmark town after a first date gone terribly wrong. To escape and return home, Campbell must face impossible sounding challenges.

This is a cute take on the classic "bossy city girl falls in love with a small town" trope. It's not my favorite trope, but I think it was well done here. The bossy city girl is always a lawyer, and even as a lawyer, I can never relate. More often than not, the character ends up leaving their lawyer or corporate job. I do agree with Cam that it would be a nightmare to wake up in a town where I had to wear pastel dresses every day! I did end up enjoying this more than Book Lovers by Emily Henry.

As for the romance, it was sweet, but I felt that Ben’s character lacked development, especially in the first half of the book. He didn’t take on a central role until later on, which made it harder for me to really connect with him at first. While the chemistry between him and Campbell grew over time, I wished there had been a bit more focus on his personality and backstory earlier on to make their connection feel more real. Still, the overall journey was enjoyable, and the way the small town and its quirky charm brought the two characters closer was sweet,

Not every book has to blow my mind and rewire my brain cells for me to like it and think others should read it. In fact, sometimes I purposely want something a little on the simple campy side after I've read some big impact books. Change of Heart was not necessarily my favorite Falon Ballard book (and I auto read all her books), but it was a really fun concept grounded in Falon's fun banter, commentary, and strong opinionated FMCs with a touch of spice.

Campbell 'Cam' Andrews is a workaholic lawyer who works with her very toxic family. She has a terrible blind date (because she sucked) with Dr. Ben Loving. After their date, the waitress from the diner they are in sends them off to an alternate world/timeline/universe, for a second chance on, well, a lot of things, including their possible relationship. This is absolutely magical realism done well!

From here is a Hallmark-esque romp through a small town along with all the predictable tropes and characters. This had Pleasantville and Schmigadoon vibes, with Cam basically calling everyone in the town out on their $#!+, until she starts to realize the positives of community, slowing down, and letting people in.

Although it was campy, there was character growth, friendship, community support, found family, friends to lovers, self love, and boundary setting. If you are looking for something easy to digest and give you some laughs, I recommend this one as as an option 💕

really enjoyed falon ballard’s previous book so I had high hopes for this one, but this wasn’t it. I came very close to DNFing this on several occasions.

I’ll get the big problems in a second, but there were several little things that drove me absolutely up a wall: I loathe the fact that Ben kept calling Cam “sweetheart”. The only thing worse would have been “ princess.” It also just wasn’t very well written. Cam doesn’t sip or drink she only swigs or chugs (and her relationship with alcohol leaves something to be desired). She never walks, she strides. And Ballard is so determined to make us think she is “unlikable” that instead of remembering that most unlikable women are actually just driven, passionate and smart - and unapologetic about it - she makes Cam actually unlikable. Case in point: her favorite adjective seems to be “dumb” even when A talking about a fundraiser for children. Good grief.

But all that might be forgivable if it actually stuck to its guns about how retrograde the trope of a big city working woman going to a small town and realizing everything in her life needs an overhaul. I found Mimi and her whole three tests thing creepy; no one should ever be trapped against their will, especially not in the romance. Ben was fine, if bland and I found his Insta love to be unbelievable given how cam wasn’t just a pain on their blind date, she was outrageously rude. And I find it incredibly insufferable if a woman’s entire character was to help a man find himself, so I don’t think much of it when the genders are swapped and he has absolutely no personality or reason to be in the town other than to help Cam.

I was really hoping this book would get Cam and Ben out of Heart Springs much sooner and actually spend some time with her building the life she wants and working on her family relationships. But that level of emotional complexity seems beyond this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Redhook Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This one just was not for me. It was overly saccharine and cheesy. Then, when you weren't expecting it at all, you were hit with full on open door steam. It really threw me off. I could not handle Ben calling Cam sweetheart One. More. Time. The characters were fine, the story was alright, but it just didn't do it for me.

Cam, a workaholic with little time for relationships and incompetence, wakes up in Heart Springs, a cutesy peppy world. And somehow, Ben, her blind date that she ignored to get work done, is there alongside their waitress, Mimi. Mimi tells Cam that in order to return to the real world, she has to complete 3 tasks. While she works on these tasks (with Ben's help), she beings to realize that maybe the real world isn't all that great.

I adored this book! The world-building of Heart Springs was done exceptionally well; I could really picture this precious tiny town with eccentric and lovable townies. However, I wish the character development and relationship was given more depth. Falon's books usually center around the relationship and have lovely slow burns, but it felt like the small town and Cam's tasks were the driving force behind this story.

Tropes: forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine, small town romance

I thought the plot of this story was clever even though it was similar to other books and movies I've experienced recently. I liked the characters' personalities, but couldn't get over Cam's potty mouth and her one-night-stand attitude. All the other characters seemed to be more civil. This book had way more spice than I expected and I had to skip over several pages to move on with the storyline. Therefore, I will NOT be recommending this book to my audience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!