Jude Devereaux - Change of Heart

The ninth book in the Edilean series, published October 21, 2014.
Genre: contemporary romance
Cover: normal



Dear Reader,
I am very pleased to bring you my new novel Change of Heart, and I'm equally delighted to share "the story behind the story" of his this book came to be.
Change of Heart began as a short story. When it was published some years ago, readers told me they liked the camaraderie between the two twelve-year-old do-gooders - exceedingly bright Elijah Harcourt and exceedingly wealthy Chelsea Hamilton - and the matchmaking scheme they concocted on behalf of Eli's single mother.
Over the years, readers have asked me what happened to them when they grew up. Did their childhood bond blossom into he love of a lifetime?
I thought it was time to find out the answer to that question. Eli and Chelsea were separated when they were still teenagers. But later, an adult Eli - who now looks very different - decided to invite Chelsea to visit him in the town of his ancestors, Edilean, Virginia. At first it seemed that they had grown so far apart that there could be nothing between them. That is, until they overheard a very sad story and began to look into it.
It seems that who we are as children often says with us. I hope you enjoy the adventure of Eli and Chelsea and seeing their own change of heart.


This book is made up of two parts, the first when Eli and Chelsea are still children. Eli is brilliant and at twelve he is scouted by major universities. But he can't leave when there is no one to take care of his gullible mother whom he adores. And so they come up with a plot to matchmake her to a billionaire, and Eli knows just the man. It will have to be like one these romance novels his mother loves so much, or she will never meet somebody.
And so with some help of the family of the intended groom, his mother is hired as a nurse to take care of Frank Taggert and his broken arm in a remote mountain cabin …

The next half of the book, Eli and Chelsea are adults and after having lost contact for years, Eli has found Chelsea again and he has invited her to spend some time in his new home in Edilean. While Eli is working super secret jobs for the government, Chelsea has been a drift after been discovered as a model, and lost in the world of drugs and alcohol and bad men. She doesn't know what she is looking for, or what she wants out of life, but she is still gorgeous and mega rich.

I enjoyed this story as well, but not as much as the first part of the book. The interactions between Eli and Chelsea are a bit strange, but they still know each other and know how to handle the other. I did not like that Eli tried to keep Chelsea out of every part of their new investigation, as she is capable enough, as he finds out again and again. Eli also has some intriguing assistants, who just might have found love in Edilean as well.

What I did not feel, was that this book fits in the Edilean series. Yes, Eli bought a house there, as his father came from there (whom he loathed) and some Edilean secondary characters play a part, but it could have played anywhere in America.

8 stars.

© 2015 Reviews by Aurian