Change of Hart

Jason Hart is truly a sweetheart, swoon worthy lead and I totally loved getting to know the whole story through his POV. It gives us an intimate look into his love for the game but also realizing that it's temporary, wanting to concentrate on his career without distractions but also being open minded enough to recognize a potential life partner.

Addison initially comes across as a shy, grieving widow but slowly we realize that she is actually low on confidence because of her past and mostly just worried about her little boy. Once she opens up to Jason, we see a much more relaxed, laidback and sassy version of her. The relationship here is not exactly instalove but we can feel right from the get go that there is a spark between them. I loved the slow progression of their friendship and love, their interactions and genuine feelings for each other.

There are also some amazing side characters here. Lindsay is a wonderful friend to Jason and I admired her for treating him like her childhood friend and not letting his celebrity affect their friendship. Her conversations with Jason and her daughter Emma are so hilarious, I laughed out loud in public. Jason's teammate Duece is very goofy and behaves like a juvenile most of the time, but is also a great friend and always has his back. Addison's father-in-law Mike is very protective of her and just wants her to have a better and happy future.

But the heart of this book for me was Jaxon. He is a little bundle of boundless energy who floors us with his sweet innocence but also tears us up with his genuine love for football and Jason. Every single conversation between Jason and Jax was so funny and adorable, I just kept waiting for more of them. Jaxon's voicemails even when Jason loses his game are better than any motivational speeches ever. This book may be categorized as a romance novel but for me, it was totally about the beautiful loving relationship between a father and son. From the first page, I was completely rooting for Jason and Jax because they are too precious.

I would highly recommend the audiobook because Jacob Morgan does an exceptional job bringing Jason's true personality to life. He gives every character a unique voice that reflects them which made the listening experience much more enjoyable. But I think his best work here is narrating Jaxon – he perfectly nails the performance as a supremely energetic, non-stop chattering, adorable seven year old boy.