4 out of 4 stars
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Turning Payne by Chantel Seabrook is a supernatural romance novel that follows Turner Payne as he tries to find out why people are turning into mutated versions of metamorphs. Metamorphs are people with a genetic mutation of their chromosomes that gives them the ability to change into a specific animal decided by their DNA coding.
During his investigation, Turner meets Riley. Riley turns out to be the daughter of the man who Turner believes abducted his mother years ago and who is causing the mutations in people. The investigation is further complicated when Riley’s sister, Kiera is turned into a werelion. With the help of his brother Chase, Turner has a week to find the person responsible for the breakout in mutations, figure out a way to turn Kiera back into a human before she succumbs to the animal in side her, and keep from falling in love with Riley.
“In what couldn’t have been more than a few heartbeats, he’d transformed from a smoking hot, extremely naked man, into a lion.” [Chapter 4]
This book has shapeshifters! I am always pulled towards romance novels with shapeshifters and the fact that Turning Payne is centered around shapeshifting, and how it can be controlled, is something that I could not put down. I do wish that there had been more diversity in the characters; all of the main characters that are metamorphs are lions. It would be interesting to see the dynamics between the different types of animals and how their personalities reflect which animal they harbor. There are a few mentions of werewolves/ werecoyotes that Turner makes were he shows his dislike towards them, and I had hoped that this could have been developed further.
I have read a fare share of books that include shapeshifters in some way and after reading Turning Payne, I can say that this book is similar to Lora Leigh’s “Breed” series. I absolutely love Leigh’s writing style and Seabrook falls into this circle with Turning Payne. The dialogue and interactions between characters does not feel forced or far-fetched which adds to the ease of reading the book in one sitting.
“’Based on the animo acid sequence on chromosome fourteen, the metamorph has the ability to shapeshift into a specific animal form.'” [Chapter 3]
Adding to the shapeshifting factor, the idea of genetics being the key to shifting was intriguing. Now, I am sure for someone who is interested in genetics and molecular DNA, the reasons given for shifting may not be as convincing, but to the general romantic, like myself, it adds variety to the subgenre. It is especially nice to include the hereditary and recessive genes aspect to the mix as it gives the idea more credibility to the overall plot and more loopholes for future books.
“He was already on probation after what happened with Boyd.” [Chapter 1]
There are only a few issues that occurred with reading Turning Payne and are all very minor. However, these issues still hinder the flow and in turn the strength of the story’s presentation. The first issue is how information that was introduced in the first book in the series is included into this book. Turning Payne, is the second book in the series and, aside from these few lines, like the one quoted, reads like a stand alone novel. My issue is that the character Boyd is introduced, Tuner makes a few cryptic comments about not liking him and then ignored. This would have been fine if he was summarized in more detail, but that is all the information that is given for a good portion of the first half of the book. Each time Turner mentions him afterwards, I had to stop and wonder what I was missing from the plot of the first book rather than stay enveloped in the story.
Another aspect to the book that I found annoying is that the shapeshifters are called “metamorphs”. There is nothing wrong with the word and makes perfect sense when trying to make a unique name for these humanoid people. However, every time the word was mentioned, I pictured the Animorphs book covers from Scholastic. I could not help thinking of the ridiculous covers to those books and how these metamorphs potentially could physically change in similar way.
In terms of the physical layout of the book, there are a few chapters towards the end of the book that could easily be grouped together into one chapter. Again, the layout is not something that affects the story, but would boost the professional look of the book. In multiple chapters, nothing happens to move the plot along and they felt unnecessary. However, they would work much better if they could be placed together.
The final issue that I have with the book is the length of the story itself. Two hundred pages were not enough. There is a lot going on at the end of the book and it would benefit from another fifty to one hundred pages. Every conflict that occurs throughout the story is resolved within a few chapters no matter how high the odds are stacked against Turner and Riley. Even for a shapeshifter, the speed that issues are resolved is unbelievable. With more pages, the conflict could have time to provide some tension for the reader; as it stands, I did not have a chance to worry about the characters because they get saved or figure out a solution to the problem as quickly as it comes.
Overall, I truly did enjoy reading Turning Payne. It has a quick paced plot and enough conflict and mystery to keep it engaging. The shapeshifting element is well developed and introduces some thought-provoking reasons for how shapeshifting could exist in humans. Even the issues within the novel could not detract from the overall enjoyment of the book. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick read with romance and murder as well as to fans of Lara Leigh. These reasons are why I would give Turning Payne by Chantel Seabrook a rating of 4 out of 4 stars.
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Turning Payne
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