I am not sure why Roman had to be set on fire. Mary Calmes already set him up with such a tragic family history, you think "WTF? Give the kid a break." Right? NO - Off With His Face!
But what is the purpose of this ...exercise? Kids in college couldn't care less about his scars. Everyone in the state of Maine (and beyond) still wants Roman. His injured face does not pose any difficulties to him, once he stopped the surgeries. He himself sometimes uses it for 'shocking' purposes or excuses when he doesn't want to talk to people.
i dunno, i dunno.... will keep reading. maybe it will make sense somewhere down the road.

UPDATE
I get it now. The pack accepts you. YOU. Not what you look like. The appearances don't matter. You're not damaged unless you can't hunt or contribute in any other way.
So, what if we have an ex-marine (for example), big and strong in no way physically damaged, except for a severe PTSD? Let's put another character through hell, so we can learn the ways of the pack when someone looks perfect but can't contribute, shall we? We'll have a manual on jackal shifters in no time by dragging people through pain and suffering.

Don't get me wrong, I love most of Mary's books, it's just this one seems to me unusually cruel. She has this meaninglessly mean (a sad 'ha-ha') streak that pops up every once in a while in her fiction. As much as I loved the first two Change of Heart books, #3 & #4 got 2 stars from me for that same reason. Jin, a cute lovable boy, was turned into something hateful, fearful and highly unpleasant. No wonder he didn't want to get mated in book one, he knew. Look where it got him.

That said, I do read books where the characters are damaged physically or emotionally or both, that doesn't bother me. But I am uber cautious now when it comes to reading Mary Calmes. Sad days :(

PS Forgot to mention: it ticks me off that the tragedy (actually many tragedies) that befalls Roman serves a singular purpose - to support one and one character only, Quade, who did not have live through the horror of it personally or even deal with it much. At least not the way Mary Calmes describes it. We only have a couple of tiny little peeks of how boys dealt with it. A brush off, no more :/

I loved - loved - the way the book started.

An offer of a pretend relationship, a quick (but lingering) kiss from a straight stranger, sadness, laughter, hurt, comfort, giggles, a promise of a revenge. It was fun.

But somehow along the way the book turned into a sex scenes marathon and a parade of cheating characters. Married and singles alike (except for the MCs, of course) slept around like no one's business, tho to be fair, always off pages. Brides and grooms alike were abandoned at the altar left and right. Left and right.

- I don't mind cheating characters, but this was way over the top :/
- GFY. A warning: do not dive in thinking it's the theme of this book. Tristan's sexuality and his past are complicated.
- Instalove. I didn't mind it here either. Two people, no strings attached, having fun and falling for each other head over heels in less than a week. Been there. Happens.

So, skipping all the sex and the cheating pandemic, this books is a pretty decent read: 4.25 stars.

Taking into account all the sex and the cheating pandemic, this book was overwhelming: 3 stars.

PS All of you who enjoy sex scenes, please, disregard my rating.

There are plenty of reviews that convey my feelings on the major aspects and I am just going to point them out very quickly, so as not to waste your time:

- The story takes place in Glitterland, where everything and everyone is gay and beautiful and sparkly, and even the douchest of the douchbags farts glitter and poops cookie-dough.

- The sex. It goes on and on and on in small bouts and huge chunks. There is no escape from it, even when the MCs are pouting and trying to avoid each other. It simply continues on by moving into the imaginary dimensions of Glitterland in their minds.

- This book not only rained, it golden frigging showered and thunder-stormed all over my BI parade. Because it turned out, we, the BI people, ruin the families, corrupt the innocent and will bring down the society. Or some such twisted, perverted nonsense.

And my personal pet peeve:

- Gram. The one suffering from an acute case of graphomania and verbal diarrhea. To be honest, I stopped reading "Chasing Mr. Write" right after AN Walker cited a few paragraphs from her book. THAT was IT for me.

I honestly don't know what to write here. The book was recommended to me as an m/m fantasy, but it is so much more ...and less. Let me explain some of the tags I used or came close to using:

- cheating: mentioned, implied but never really shown.

- non-con: described briefly yet efficiently (a couple of paragraphs), without much feelz. Occasional quickie of a reference occurs throughout the book.

- abuse; violence; pity fest: everyone, save for the very few lucky souls have endured some kind of abuse or horrendous trauma in their lives *sniffles*

- mystery-suspense: there is a question of murder in a certain family. There are witnesses who saw things in progress and then arrived at conclusions without seeing the whole picture or having a shred of proof.

- paranormal: I still say it's all in Marc's head. He feels "presence" and sometimes someone speaks to him in his head. That's it. Then there is a matter of curse, but could have just been a coincidence.

- historical: a good chunk of the story happens in the early 20th century. That's where true feelings, love and passion lie, not in the contemporary part of the story.

- m/f: the historical part of the story is, in fact, a love triangle and a very straight triangle at that ...O.o Unfortunately, I do not have an m/f tag here.

- contemporary; location New England: two words (a word and a letter, actually) P.Town. P.Town. and I am going to say it again: P-town, with all its businesses, parks, monuments, piers, beaches and hangouts. Charming :D

- profession - arts: lots of maintenance guys, caretakers, gardeners and maids, suppressing their writing, performing/singing, painting talents due to the prior abuse of some sort.

- romance: Marc and Cole are a mystery to me. Their romance is almost non-existent. They work together, taking care of Lola and her property. They are attracted to each other, but don't do much about it, until one day, right out of the blue, they suddenly "make love". No chemistry, nothing. Just like that.

- m/m: The first m/m hanky-panky ...sorry, sorry, "making love" happens at exactly 60% mark. That's about it :| No romance, no dating, no sex, not even attempts at getting each other off, just two horny 20-smth guys "make love" first time in bed together. Right.

Closer to the end Helena finds her/his dream man in Butch, who speaks maybe five-six sentences in the whole entire book.

To me it was more of M/F than M/M, what with all the historical drama in the Captain's journals.

********

On the whole - charming read. Not too many feelz in the present, but the Captain compensates in his journals.

As much as I loved the characters and the story, it fell short somehow. 3.5 stars and I am rounding up to 4 for the location.

I would recommend this book as a good historical mystery-suspense with the modern day gay character acting as Sherlock.