Kate McGuire has had a crush on her brother's best friend, Quinn Haley for years. This is her senior year of high school--a year that should be memorable. This is a year that she will never forget--for all the wrong reasons. Kate is 18 and has never had a period. She finally tells her mother--for years Kate has been lying to her mother about her cycle. Her senior year is filled with doctor appointments and trips to specialists. What Kate finds from these appointments changes every fiber of her being. Who is she? Can she overcome these issues? How will her future look?

Kate also discovers that Quinn doesn't see her as his best friend's kid sister. If he was honest with himself, he hasn't felt that way for years. He has a girlfriend and preparing for law school. Oh, and his biological father decides to reappear in his life--who wants an active part of his life. Even after he declares his love for Kate, she pushes him away afraid to tell him about her health issues. He stays and supports her though she keeps her health issues from him. But can they survive with so many issues between them?

I love that this book was not what I expected.  I went into thinking I was getting to get to read a fairly typical in love with your brother's best friend story.  While that story line is certainly included this book was so much more.  I learned a great deal about a medical condition I had never heard of before and Murphy writes about Kate's journey in dealing with her diagnosis so incredibly well.  From the fear, to the depression, to the hope and resolve I was with Kate every step of the way.  Quinn has his own issues in the book but he was still very much an idealized boyfriend type that I never really felt as connected to.  My main issue with this book was that it was so long and contained so much filler with story lines with friends that never go anywhere, dialogue that was often a bit flat, and a lot of discussion about teenage sexuality that seemed all over the place.  Still it was an engaging book and one that I am glad I read.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was phenomenal! I loved it from the first page and I was sad when it was done. It was humorous but you also felt your heart break for the main character Kate. You just can't help to feel happy that she got her version of a happy ending.

When I requested this book, I took a chance. The blurb did not reveal enough to understand what the book was about. I was afraid the heroine would have some life threatening disease, so I was quite wary but intrigued.

I am happy to have read this book and I think the author should have told more in the blurb. People searching for books about it will find it easier.

Kate, the heroine, is 18 when she discovers she is suffering from a syndrome called MRKH. And this is actually not rare at all, one in 5000 girls are born with it. The book is about Kate dealing with this new reality, but also about her deep crush on Quinn and how he helps Kate as much as he can. I loved the dynamics of Kate’s family, the realities and the laughter.

I thought it to be a powerful book and also a lovely romance. It doesn’t shy away from difficult issues.

The premise of ‘Changed’ is beyond unusual, which certainly makes this more than an unrequited-love-for-thebrother’s-best-friend type of story and I dove into this, wondering how T.S. Murphy was going to tackle the major issue that seemed near insurmountable for many people. Not least, for a protagonist for whom, at the age of 18, everything is writ large with the hormonal teenage tendency to bring with it the ‘end of my world’ kind of vibes. I can only imagine, from the author’s afterword, how personal this must have been to write and that much gave me a greater appreciation for Murphy’s bringing to light an issue that I barely knew existed. 

In many ways, ‘Changed’ is Kate’s rather rocky journey navigating love and life with a serious condition to boot, with people rallying around her. I did feel for her, even liked the rather realistic portrayal of her reaction and confusion, though not so much of the requisite push-pull, the moody lack of communication (expected but nonetheless frustrating) and the sudden inability to trust the closest ones around her, even Quinn, who’d been a good friend before. The shenanigans between Kate/Quinn are thankfully not a minefield to go through and Murphy does write as though they are both meant for each other, which makes the pairing easy to get on board with.

Context and premise aside, I did think however, that the storytelling could have been ‘tighter’, so to speak, with some meanderings here and there which laterally expanded (and dragged down) the plot instead of driving it forward. The detailed insertions of Kate and Quinn with their exes, along with scenes that told convoluted family histories felt superfluous at times; instead I wanted to see more vital bits between the couple in question elaborated on, which disappointingly weren’t. There were parts of the book when I was definitely less engaged than others as a result, diving back in only more enthusiastically when the storytelling got back to Kate and her condition—as well as her burgeoning relationship with Quinn.

Slow-moving as it was nonetheless, ‘Changed’ was eye-opening in some ways—all of which had nothing to do with the romance-front for one. In essence, Murphy’s honesty with Kate’s condition kept me glued to the pages—fictionlandia as this is however, the HEA by the end is still much, much appreciated.