Another great read from Falon Ballard! What else would you expect?

Thank you to NetGalley, Falon Ballard, and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons for the free arc in exchange for my honest review.

The Plot:
Campbell is a rude lawyer who doesn't know how to play well with others. She's set up on a blind date with Ben, the easy-going pediatrician. During this date, she immediately writes him off, ignores him, and chooses to respond to emails instead. After the meal is comped by a lovely waitress, Mimi, they both head to their respective homes for a goodnight's sleep.
Campbell wakes up expecting to get ready for a super important meeting, but the world around her has changed. Transported into a straight-up Hallmark movie, Campbell is told she must accomplish three things with the most important being to find true love.

My Thoughts:
This will be a fantastic book around Valentine's day. The pacing was quick, the small town setting is cute, and the romance is very straightforward. I know this is a romance and the main theme here is finding true love and second chances, BUT I loved reading about the other two challenges more. Find a career that you're passionate about and become a valued member of the community.
Honestly, I preferred the connections around town more than I did Cam and Ben's. I think I would have been more involved in their connection if it was built up a little more. I get the whole "push them away until they chase you" thing, but it went on a bit too long here. I also think Cam's character was way too mean at the beginning and it took me a couple good interactions with the townsfolk to start rooting for her again.

Side note: Maybe I missed it, but did Taylor's side quest for Cam ever get resolved?

Overall, 3/5 stars and 2 spicy peppers. The cover encapsulates the setting very well and I can't wait for the official release on February 11th!

Change of Heart fell flat for me. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

I did love Falon’s dedication to “unlikeable” women and Cam’s embodiment of the traits that make a woman unlikeable (hey Alexa, play Taylor Swift’s The Man).

I just feel like there could have been more in this book. The first two-thirds felt like filler and had quite a repetitive plot. Cam’s backstory rang hollow to me and I felt like I barely knew anything about Ben. Overall, I didn’t emotionally connect with the characters.

Also, I get the whole cryptic elderly fairy godmother vibe, but could therapy not be one of the tasks if our goal is self-love?

The book reminded me of Ashley Poston’s A Novel Love Story, which I think is more worthy of anyone’s time.

This book had good promise with Hallmark vibes, but it felt really slow. I struggled to make it all the way to the end.

I'm discovering that dropped-in-a-Hallmark-inspired-alternate-reality is not my favorite trope, but in spite of that, this one was well executed. A charming cast of side characters, a dreamy MMC, and a handful of spicy scenes will please fans of this type of story!

Thank you to Falon Ballard, Penguin Group Putnam, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Change of Heart in exchange for an honest review. This book will be released on February 11th and I can’t wait to see what other people think! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

If you’ve been here before, you know that I am a BIG Falon Ballard stan, however, this one fell a little flat for me. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, but it wasn’t my favorite book from her. Campbell Andrews is a lawyer workaholic who thinks she has everything she wants in life. She doesn’t have time for dating, but entertains going on dates to please her grandmother and law partner. After a failed date with Dr. Ben Loving, Cam finds herself in the cookie cutter Hallmark movie town, Heart Springs. The only way she can leave is if she follows these three rules, the biggest being finding true love. The twist? Dr. Loving also finds himself in this fantasy land and must help Cam complete her goals so that he, too, can make his way back to real life.

Personally, I found Cam to be unlikable until about 70% through the book. I loved Ben and his willingness to help and see Cam’s “good” side (if she even really had one). I’m also not big on the ‘magical realism’ aspect of some romance books. I actually found myself wanting Cam and Ben to stay in Heart Springs rather than going back to their normal lives. If you’re looking for a sweet, slow burn romance, check this one out! For fan’s of Falon Ballard, you won’t be disappointed, but it may not be your favorite.

This book is a delightful journey that blends romance with a touch of magical realism, bringing the enchanting charm of a small town straight out of a Hallmark movie to life.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy. I believe I’ve read one other book by Fallon Ballard and I really enjoyed it so when this one came out I was quite excited. However, this book fell a little short for me. I enjoyed some of it, but I think the fmc is what killed the vibe for me. She was very self absorbed and annoying. I feel like Ben deserved better and I really did enjoy his parts of the book. I’m such a sucker for Hallmark movies and expected a lot more.

I adore the cover and it caught my attention. Small town vibes like a hallmark movie with the lead who is in her thirties?? I knew this would be just the book I was looking for. It kept me entertained and I enjoyed Ballard's writing.

This book is fabulous. It is much more crass and vulgar for me, and I wanted to quit it. But I couldn't. It was too absolutely wonderful to stop. From the first page I was hooked, the concept is brilliant and the book is laugh out loud hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. I could picture the characters from the moment I,met them, which is a sure fire marker of a winner. I had no expectation to like this book nearly as much as I did. I wish there were 10 more books just like it! Absolutely perfect.

This was a cute book that was a great pallet cleanser in between heavier reads. It reminded me of a mix between hart of Dixie and the good place.

This was an okay read. The mc’s lacked chemistry and the FMC was not my favorite. Well written but just not my cup of tea.

This is third romance book I’ve read by Falon Ballard and with each one I’ve become more of a fan. The previous books, Right on Cue and Just My Type, explored romantic relationships that didn’t work out, where this one places two strangers from a blind date into an idyllic world named Heart Springs where they must complete tasks in order to return to the life.

Campbell Andrews is a workaholic lawyer who only cares about making partner and doesn’t have time for love or relationships. After sabotaging a blind date with Ben, she wakes up in a fantasy world that she doesn’t fit into and Ben is her next door neighbor. The waitress from their blind date seems to be running the show and Campbell must play by her rules if she wants to get back to her life. Will she have a change of heart and make her way back home?

A big thank you to NetGalley & Penguin Group Putnam for advanced digital copy of this book.

I officially hate the word Sweetheart. The amount of times our MMC used this word took the cuteness away from it. While the story was cute in some ways, the love story part fell for me. While this was a magical realism type of story it was too far fetched and I honestly didn’t find the 2 main characters to have real chemistry. The “spicy” scenes felt awkward and forced into the story.

I do think this book would be a nice little palette cleanser because it did have a cute message about believing in and loving yourself and I feel that it’s important to hear..

I didn't read the description because I just love Falon and her books. However, I do not love magical worlds and terrible main characters. I will absolutely be back for whatever's next. But this one is just not my book.

Campbell is a hot shot lawyer who has little time for anything other than job, and she definitely doesn’t have time for the person her grandmother set her up with. After a blind date with Dr. Loving goes poorly, she wakes up in a version of Pleasantville with her former blind date, and she must complete a few tasks before being able to leave and go back to her world of corporate lawyering, of of which is to find true love.

I think the premise of this novel, a modern Christmas Carol spin-off if you will, is a fun one - readers get to see the FMC squirm under the confines of Hallmark-esque life - and she obviously learns to trust the MMC and ultimately learn to love him for her happily ever after. Still, the plot is pretty flimsy, even in a fantasy world. We aren’t given much as to who Mimi is, nor is that particular plot point explored very well, and it winds up relatively easily and quickly at the end. I feel like her character development is rather chaotic; she begins as a hard-as-nails lawyer who cannot even be bothered to be kind to literally ANYONE in the beginning, and she turns into a softie over a matter of months. I know the point is to show growth but she turns into a completely new person. That being said, I read this book easily, quickly, and enjoyed the flow of the writing. The overall movement of the book was engaging and I wanted to read it to find out what happened in the end.

I absolutely adored this book!! The magical realism was perfection, and it really did feel like she was dropped in a Hallmark movie. Another feel-good light-hearted rom com from Falon Ballard! Definitely make sure to pick it up in February!

Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.

Cam and Ben have a bad blind date (primarily her fault) and the waitress essentially casts a spell on her and she wakes up in a town suspiciously like every town in a Hallmark movie where Ben is her neighbor. She has to pass certain tests, e.g. learn certain lessons, to get back to her real life. Will she learn that work is not the be all end all? Will she fall for Ben?

Falon Ballard has been one of my favorite romance comfort authors for the past months and this book did not disappoint whatsoever! I loved the setting, the pacing and the characters so much. It is the perfect october read and I cannot wait for other to love it as much as I do.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Workaholic lawyer Campbell Andrews wakes up one morning in Heart Springs, a Hallmark movie-esque town, AKA her own personal hell. In order to make it back to her real life, she has to complete three tasks, one of which is experiencing true love.

I will read every book that Falon Ballard writes, but this story felt like it was missing something. I liked the concept of the book and the magical realism surrounding the town, and Cam was sent on a few “side quests” that were really entertaining (I laughed out loud at the bookstore and Chris Hemsworth lookalike scenes). As a character, she was very well rounded and I felt like I understood what made her tick, but I would have loved to know more about the MMC, Dr. Ben Loving, and would have liked some of the secondary characters to have been less one-dimensional.

Overall, this book is perfect for all the Hallmark movie lovers out there, but for me it felt a bit flat.

This is definitely the epitome of a Hallmark movie, so if those are your jam this book is right up your alley. I enjoyed the magical realism and alternate reality Cam was sent to to work on her general demeanor and cynicism. This was light hearted and fun read. Not my favorite book by this author, but cute overall.