Awhile back I reviewed the first book in this series, Good Girl Overboard, and Denise asked if I would read the remaining books in this series including a prequel to Good Girl Overboard. I said yes and the books are being released this month. The one thing that I found interesting is that she featured her sorority – not a made up one, but her actual sorority. I am glad to see a sorority painted in such a great light! I’m part of Alpha Xi Delta and how she described the friendship of her characters was exactly what I experienced! (well maybe not exactly but very similar) We give all of the books 4 paws up!
So here are the remaining books in the Change of Heart series.
Prequel – Sweet Girl Undone
Synopsis
Special education teacher Lucy Wheeler is sick of being taken for granted. Sick of people thinking that they know what’s best for her. And sick of being the sweet one. It’s time to break free from that role. It’s time for a do-over. But no matter what her best friend says, dating her ex-boyfriend, Reverend Curtis Campbell, is not the kind of do-over she has in mind.
Although Lucy and Curt grew up together, they didn’t start dating until the end of their senior year of high school. Then once they went off to different colleges, Curt changed. He withdrew to the point that he almost seemed embarrassed to be with her. Curt was so preoccupied with being the perfect minister, Lucy never felt like she had his full attention, and when he stopped returning her calls, she convinced herself it was for the best.
Lucy Wheeler has haunted Curt Campbell’s dreams. When he ended their relationship in college, he told himself that she deserved so much more than he could ever give her—a comfortable life and a husband who would never have to make her take a backseat to his parishioners’ needs.
When Lucy corners Curt in the supply closet and informs him that she is forgiving him for dumping her and is giving him a second chance, he knows he shouldn’t take it. But when she orders him to pick her up that night, he can’t resist.
Will things be different this time? Or will Curt’s ministerial duties come between them again?
Review
This is a novella and is about Lucy, one of the Four Seasons (4 women that are sorority sisters and their continued friendship, we met Darcy in Good Girl Overboard). She has moved back to her hometown and is a teacher and her first love, Curt, is also back as a minister at one of the local churches. He broke her heart but is she willing to give her true love a second chance?
This was short so the story seemed rushed, but to be expected with a novella. There are sparks between Lucy and Curt and while they are battling with some internal conflicts and some external ones, they do try and make the relationship work. It isn’t all roses for the two, which is good because it shows that they are human and run into the same sort of issues we would in our normal lives.
There are a few sex scenes but they are tastefully written.
Lucky Girl Hits the Jackpot – #2
Synopsis
The last place Delaney Smallwood ever expects to find herself is at the Illinois State Lottery office, holding a check with more zeros than she’s ever seen before. The last person cynical attorney Spencer DeWitt ever expects to be attracted to is a quixotic millionaire schoolteacher. The last thing either wants is a relationship. Can kisses hotter than a Midwest July thrust two such opposite people into a forever kind of love?
Delaney believes life is an adventure, but when she receives a lottery ticket for a birthday she’s not having from a father she hasn’t heard from in eighteen years, not even her horoscope can predict the astonishing outcome.
While Delaney’s lively intelligence makes her a great teacher, she uses her sarcastic wit to avoid intimacy, suppressing her deeply passionate nature.
Spencer is responsible, decisive, and in control, but his world was destroyed when he couldn’t stop his wife’s downward spiral into alcohol, drugs, and depravity. When she died in the arms of her lover during a high-speed automobile accident, Spencer lost all faith in his ability to right the wrongs evident all around him. Renouncing his affluent lifestyle, he moves to a small town in Illinois, determined to save his daughter from a life of too many dollars and not enough sense.
How can a man whose guilt makes him believe he doesn’t deserve love and a woman who doesn’t trust men ever find each other? Before they have a chance to try, Delaney wins the lottery and becomes everything Spencer has rejected. With her newfound wealth, Delaney and Spencer can’t agree on anything…except the chemistry between them.
Review
Delaney is a one of the Four Season (4 sorority sisters that have remained good friends) and this is her story. She is a teacher in her hometown and living paycheck to paycheck, or pretty close. She loves teaching and has close friends and some family. Enter Spencer, the new attorney in town and his teen daughter, Kaitlyn. Delaney agrees to tutor his daughter to get her ready for the next grade level. Then the unexpected happens, Delaney wins the lottery with a ticket sent to her by her father that she hasn’t seen in about 15 years. Spencer doesn’t know Delaney but has his own issues when it comes to wealth and believes that she will be taken advantage of and perhaps become a different person. Can Delaney prove him wrong?
While reading this book, once Delaney received the lottery ticket i had a feeling she would win. Her character is kind and compassionate and always wanting to lend a hand wherever possible. It is easy to see how she might be taken advantage of in light of this new found wealth.
The story is not one that is easy for Delaney and Spencer. There are other characters that interfere in their relationship and they do have misunderstandings. I think that Spencer is a true man and I had to chuckle when there were times all he could think about is being in bed with Delaney. Typical man!
All in all very enjoyable. there are sex scenes and are not over the top and are tasteful.
Smart Girl Swept Away – #3
Synopsis
When feminist author Sheridan Davis is forced to return to Sutton Falls, Illinois, to care for her estranged father, the last person she wants to run into is Ridge Sutton. Meeting Ridge, who has matured from handsome to gorgeous, while she looks as if she’s spent the night in a cardboard box is so not how Sheridan pictured seeing her high school crush again. Especially not after what he and his friends did to her the night of their senior prom.
Ridge is stunned that he didn’t recognize Sheridan. As often as he’s thought about her, her image should be permanently imprinted on his brain. Then again, she doesn’t look like the eighteen-year-old girl he daydreamed about in high school. Or even the woman in the photo on the dust cover of her books. Has she really changed that much, or is it him?
Ridge is tired of being dependable. Tired of trying to live up to his mother’s expectations. And most of all, tired of the life in which he’s allowed himself to become trapped. Tricked into a disastrous marriage that ended in a divorce and stuck in the role of Sutton Falls’ mayor, Ridge is ready for a change.
However, now is not a good time to abandon his responsibilities. With the town under the threat of a flood, and the levee that could save it owned by the Davis family, Ridge must balance his personal desires against his duty to the citizens of Sutton Falls.
Although neither Sheridan nor Ridge trust each other, sparks fly whenever they’re together. The sex may be terrific, but Sheridan questions whether Ridge’s interest is genuine or due to his desire to buy the levee, while Ridge wonders if Sheridan’s sudden sentimental attachment to the land is sincere or just a way to drive up the price.
While floodwaters creep higher and higher, can Sheridan and Ridge make peace with their past? Or will their growing love be swept away in a sea of doubt?
Review
This is the last book about 4 sorority sisters, their friendship and their love lives!
Sheridan has become an accomplished author and ends up in her hometown to take care of her father because of a fall he took which broke his wrist and leg. Coming back is hard because of what happened to her in high school and especially at prom. She had a thing for Ridge Sutton and apparently this attraction did not go away after all these years. But will she let the past hold her back from love and happiness?
Sheridan has built a wall around her heart like most of us might do after being hurt by someone we love. This wall has her doubting Ridge at many turns, which you can’t blame her because as humans we can’t just forget everything with the snap of our fingers. However, that wall almost causes her to lose what she deserves in Ridge and his daughter Sally.
I chuckled at Ridge’s mother, Evelyn, because she had the matriarch attitude that no one was good enough for her son, yet her allying her self with the wrong person almost causes her to lose her family.
This was a great conclusion to this series and I may not have mentioned it in other reviews in this series, I thought it was interesting to see an author use an actual sorority and not make one up. I have the same feelings about my sorority that the author has about hers, and having those ties of friendship is very important in life.
(there are sex scenes which I will admit I skimmed over, but they are tasteful!)
About the Author
New York Times Bestseller author Denise Swanson was a practicing school psychologist for twenty-two years. Good Girl Overboard was her first romance and began the Change of Heart contemporary romance series. She also writes the Scumble River and Devereaux’s Dime Store mysteries. Her books all feature small-town heroines with lots of heart.
Denise’s books have been finalists for the Agatha, Mary Higgins Clark, RT Magazine’s Career Achievement, and Daphne du Maurier Awards. She has won the Reviewers Choice Award and was a BookSense 76 Top Pick.
Denise Swanson lives in Illinois with her husband, classical composer David Stybr, and their cool black cat Boomerang.
