A Change of Heart

By Marianne Arkins

The Wild Rose Press - 2008

Contemporary Western Romance


Jake Langley had returned home. It had been six years. Six years of following his dream and working the rodeo circuit. Now, however, he and his friend Bode Mitchell had returned to his family's ranch only to discover that it was ill fit for the stock about to arrive. He had hoped that the Middleton's stables would hold them until they were prepared, but the clear unwelcome he received from Emily, the woman who had once been his best friend, made him realize he needed a different plan.

Emily was thrilled by the unexpected income from Bode. Yet it was his obvious interest and flirting with her that truly thrilled her. Unfortunately, Emily didn't seem to be able to tear her thoughts away from Jake. Still, she knew him to be a scoundrel and a cad. He had slept with her sister, and left her with a baby. A niece that she absolutely adored, it was just her niece's father she couldn't tolerate.

Jake couldn't understand Emily's hostility. Nor did he like Bode dating her. He didn't completely comprehend his feelings, but he knew that they'd changed. Whereas once he had doted on Casey, it was passion he felt for Emily. Emily still feared what would happen when he learned the truth of what he'd left behind six years earlier. Would he have a change of heart again?

A Change of Heart was a best friends romance, but with a touch of betrayal. Granted Emily had never begrudged Casey the intimacy she had shared with Jake, Emily did blame Jake for leaving Casey to face the consequences. Now that he was back, she also didn't want to interfere with any relationship they might form. I found the fact that Jake had slept with one sister and gotten her pregnant and now was in love with the sister who had been his best friend a bit difficult to accept. However, as the title says, he had had a change of heart, and whereas when he had been a youth, he had loved Casey, as a man, his heart belonged to Emily.

Kathy Andrico - KathysReviewCorner.com