GRR Reviews Choices (New Beginnings Book 1) by Michelle Lynn

Choices is about a woman who needed to figure out what she wanted in life, and in love, and choosing between two men, and two choices in life. The theme is universal, and nicely executed, but I feel the "darkest hour" wasn't quite dark enough, and the ending was a bit long.

Michaela Matthews just wanted to be happy, but her rich blueblood family and her fellow snobby boyfriend are pushing her in a different direction. Both she and her brother are being groomed for positions in the family law firm, and her mother had been planning her wedding to boyfriend Ethan since they were children. And she did want to marry Ethan... but not yet. Michaela knew that if she married Ethan, she'll be stifled into being a society wife, and little else. Now that she's going to law school in New York, she wanted to experience life on her own. When she chose to defer her school admission for a year and became a receptionist, her decision was not well received. She was surprised to see Jason Marks, a friend of her brother, there to comfort her. Jason made something out of nothing. He's now a successful bar owner, far from the unwanted foster kid he once was, but he did not believe in love... Until he saw Michaela, who fell apart in his arms and cried. But Jason was not ready to give her his heart when he knew she wasn't quite over Ethan...

The book could have simply gone fo the inadequacy trope for the MMC and be lazy and let Ethan be a snob that made the choice "obvious", but the author did not take the easy way out. Ethan was sympathetic enough to make Michaela's struggle real. On the other hand, the darkest hour feels really drawn out and ended up being not that dark, and the tension wasn't as high as it could be.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Young woman from rich family struggles in choosing between obligation to her family and her own happiness

Tropes: family pressure, triangle, brother's best friend, different worlds

Overall Rating:  4/5