Good little book. One woman following a more life loving woman to learn more about life and herself in New Orleans.

Change of Heart is a story as lovely as its cover, an historical romance that effortlessly transports the reader to 1930s New Orleans, and seduces us into falling in love with Clarabelle and Vaughn. Liv Rancourt captures the essence of the era and the characters, with a wonderful narrative voice that is full of sensual authenticity.

I loved the innocence of Clarabelle, a young woman who chose to the Sodom of the time, hoping that her sinful was might find a home there. It is wonderful the way Rancourt captures her conflicting desires, allowing her to be both proper and passionate at the same time. Vaughn took a little more time to warm up to, initially coming across as an empty, playful sort of scoundrel, but when her transgender nature is violently outed, she comes alive for the reader.

The playful romance between these two women drives the first half of the novel, while a heartbreaking tension between then drives the second. As much as we sympathize with Clarabelle feelings of betrayal, we empathize with the difficulty of Vaughn's identity even more. It is that conflict of genders, desires, emotions, and personalities that makes Change of Heart such a powerful story. You cannot help but be drawn in and entertained by their flirty sort of courtship, and then thoroughly tied up in their efforts to find their way through to true love. Just an altogether wonderful story, with a unique setting and a refreshing narrative voice.

This novella is quite different than any I have ever read before. It is a piece of historical fiction showing a slice of life for a group of members of the LGBTQ community in New Orleans in 1933. The book focuses on a group of people living in a time period that is particularly unkind to difference, at the same time so diffferent and so like the time we live in. Clarabelle, a country girl, has moved to New Orleans, which she refers to as "Sodom and Gomorrah", after exposing herself as a lesbian in her small town. While working as a coat check girl at a nightclub, she meets a waitress, Vaughn. Vaughn is mysterious and cosmopolitan, attracting Clara's attention. There are scenes of passion and violence, as well as a few twists in these scant 80 pages. Despite a bit of uneven writing and the short length, the characters really make you care for them. I was invested in their story; and when it ended, I wanted to keep reading. I hope that there will be more to come.

Ok, first off that cover. I was immediately drawn to it. really love the play of colours against the white background. Stunning.

The writing style was great, i must say. It kept me wanting to know what came next.. Although I have to admit seeing Clara use words like "Negroes" and "colored" was jarring, but I got that a white woman in the 1930s would refer to black persons like this. Still jarred me enough to have to stop reading at those moments, and take some deeeep breaths.

And whoooo boy was I riled up at Lorraine and the racist crap she was spouting, but I'm glad through Clara's internal thoughts we see she doesn't agree with what Lorraine was spouting. So even as the MC didn't outright challenge Lorraine's view, because her being the boss's family would definitely jeopardize Clara's job I'm glad we at least get to see, via her thoughts, that Clara does not agree with this.

Vaughn's secret wasn't a big shocker for me because I guessed it early on. I did like how the relationship unfolded between the two ladies. Even as we get to see Clara's shock and some of her thoughts I found were awful at times, I got that Clara felt deceived, although that wasn't Vaughn's intention. She was just trying to be herself, and Clara does realize this eventually. Was still pissed at Clara bit there though.

Oh! I also loved the cameo from one Mr Dupont, as this was sort of a prequel to the other books in the series.

So overall i enjoyed it.