Tuesday, August 23, 2016

A Change of Heart

A Change of Heart 

The Callaghans & McFaddens #1 

Kindle Edition


  • Print Length: 231 pages
  • Publisher: Three Strand Press
  • Publication Date: July 4, 2016
  • ASIN: B01HYUSHG2


This Christian romance novel of 80,000 words is the second book in The Callaghans & McFaddensseries from author Kimberly Rae Jordan. A HANDFUL OF FLOWERS (ASIN: B01APAIXM6) is the prequel to this series.
NOTE: This book is also part of the boxed set, WHISPERS OF LOVE (ASIN: B01DMH1FME) which released June 2016.
Makayla McFadden has been part of her family’s business since it started. At sixteen, she’d helped her dad by answering phones and doing the filing when she wasn’t in school, and now she’s the office manager for C&M Builders. As the company has grown, they’ve had to hire new people, but the core of the company has always stayed the same. When her father announces his plan to retire, Makayla knows change is coming. Hiring from outside the family will disrupt the way they’ve run their business, and she’s not happy about it.
Upon learning that his father and step-mother plan to move to a new city with his younger sister, Ethan Collins knows he needs to move there as well. The day he gets a call from his first choice for a job, he figures God has answered his prayers. But then he meets Makayla McFadden and realizes that she doesn’t want him there. After they offer him a job on a three month probationary basis, Ethan knows he not only has to convince them he can do the job, he has to somehow convince Makayla that he is a good fit for her family’s company.
When he finds himself falling for Makayla, Ethan tries to fight it since he refuses to do anything that might jeopardize his job and his sister’s future. But when the heart can’t be denied, will Ethan take the risk for love? Or will Makayla be reluctant to embrace change on a personal level and leave him without love or a job?
My thoughts:  A CHANGE OF HEART is the first book I've read by Ms. Jordan but I'm sure it probably won't be the last. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the writing in this story, the realistic characters and the way the story developed. 

The story was a bit slow moving and dragged a little, and I did figure out pretty much what the black moment would be before we got there. Actually, I thought initially it might have something to do with something else (not to give spoilers away) and was pleasantly surprised that it didn't. 

I enjoyed getting to know this family, and their strong testimony. I enjoyed they demonstrated what true family looked like be it birth, blended, or brother-sister. The faith message wasn't mentioned until the end, but it worked out.  This was a really good story, and I was quite honestly very pleasantly surprised. I would read more books by this author.  
Stayed tuned for the next Christian romance - HIS HEALING LOVE - in The Callaghans and McFaddens series coming January 2017.
If you enjoy heartwarming Christian romance with a focus on love, faith and family, be sure to check out these other books and series by Kimberly Rae Jordan.
Other Christian romance series by Kimberly Rae Jordan:
  • BlackThorpe Security 
  • The McKinleys
  • Home to Collingsworth
  • Those Karlsson Boys 

Other Christian romance books by Kimberly Rae Jordan:
  • Faith, Hope & Love
  • Marrying Kate

In case you are interested in the collection (which is how I bought it)


Whispers of Love (Chicago Wind #1)

A Change of Heart by Kimberly Rae Jordan
Only one thing stands between Ethan Collins and the job he desperately needs: office manager Makayla McFadden. She hates that he represents a major change in her family’s business, but finds herself intrigued by him, too. Will Makayla be able to see that change can be a good thing, professionally and personally? Or will Ethan be back to square one—in need of a job in a new city?


Not This Time by Leah Atwood
Amie Reynolds wakes up on her wedding morning to find a note from her fiancé that he left the country. Needing to escape her heartache, she visits her great-aunt’s lake house for the summer and meets Drew Sullivan. Romance between them blooms, but will Drew’s secret tear them apart?

Homestands by Sally Bradley
A pro athlete stumbles across his ex-wife, the son she hid from him, and the rare opportunity to right his wrongs, but a secret from the past threatens their attempts to repair their shattered relationship.

Secrets of Sunbeams by Valerie Comer
One animal control officer with her own escapee goat. One solar architect whose report has been eaten. Can romance and urban farming blossom on the same city block?

Overture and a Prince by Christina Coryell
She’s an actress who can’t seem to get out of character. He’s a mechanic who puts little stock in imagination. Will their love story make it to the opening curtain?

Gentle Like the Rain by JoAnn Durgin
Isabella Caccavale’s stable life plunges into a tailspin after she buys her aunt's general store in Evergreen, Maine. When “runaway” lawyer Sidney Prescott roars into town, he jump-starts her wounded heart. Will Sidney find what he seeks in quaint little Evergreen or will he take Isabella’s heart with him when he returns to Boston?

Teapots & Tiaras by Autumn Macarthur
When their best friends’ wedding in London pushes medical missionary Matthew Coalbrooke and bubbly shoe-aholic kitchenware saleswoman Anita Kiernan together, it’s dislike at first sight. But God has a bigger plan for them than they can possibly imagine.

Oceans Apart by Lesley Ann McDaniel
This is the Inn at Crescent Cove's biggest weekend since Lily Duarte bought it last year—a wedding. Now if only she can stop dwelling on the last wedding she planned then called off at the eleventh hour…her own. When an employee quits and handsome best man Matthew Case steps in to help, Lily’s thoughts of what might have been start to fade away.

The Lifeguard, the Abandoned Heiress, and Frozen Custard by Carol Moncado
Adam Wilkerson is looking forward to a summer of fun working at the Serenity Landing Aquatic Center. Gwendolyn Cranston-Schmidt is looking for a fresh start. Can they see past both of their secrets to find their way to a real relationship?

Flight 259 by Staci Stallings
It was only a chance occurrence. When Jenna Davis happens to sit next to Dr. Scott Browning and his young son on the plane to Newark, she has no idea how that one chance decision will change all of their lives forever.

Smile for Me by Jan Thompson
A workaholic assistant principal who meticulously plans his schedule months in advance meets an easygoing potter and art teacher with no sense of time, living her life as the seasons come and go. Crossing paths again at the Summer-by-the-Sea Day Camp sponsored by his church in the Bahamas, how can they work together if they cannot see eye to eye?

The Other You by Marion Ueckermann
Five years spent searching for her identity brings photojournalist Taylor Cassidy no closer to the truth. When Taylor is sent to South Africa to uncover the story behind winegrower Armand DeBois’s flagship wine, Aimee Amour, their meeting raises questions that demand answers—for them both.

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