Favorites Friday Review: An Uncertain Choice by Jody Hedlund

When I first started “Favorites Friday”, my intention was to pull books out of my archives, dust them off, and share with you my undying love for them.  That hasn’t entirely gone as planned. Why? Because there are SO MANY GOOD BOOKS.  I keep finding new favorites.  My blog, my prerogative 🙂 

Before I can properly review An Uncertain Choice, I need to tell you about The Vow.  Currently free for ereaders, The Vow is a short prequel to An Uncertain Choice and while it’s not necessary to read the novella first, it does help make things more clear.  Plus, it establishes the emotional roller coaster that led up to An Uncertain Choice as well as laying the foundation for most of the major players.  And it’s FREE … so there’s really no reason not to read it 🙂
And now for our regularly scheduled programming…

Due to her parents’ promise at her birth, Lady Rosemarie has been prepared to become a nun on the day she turns eighteen. Then, a month before her birthday, a friend of her father’s enters the kingdom and proclaims her parents’ will left a second choice-if Rosemarie can marry before the eve of her eighteenth year, she will be exempt from the ancient vow.

Before long, Rosemarie is presented with the three most handsome and brave knights in the land. But when the competition for her heart seemingly results in a knight playing foul, she begins to wonder if the cloister is the best place after all. If only one of the knights-the one who appears the most guilty-had not already captured her heart.

My Review: 

Oh y’all.  If only “The Bachelorette” could be more like this book, I might actually watch it.  (Ok, probably not.) The good news? If you do like watching “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” and you get caught up in wondering who in the world he/she will choose, then An Uncertain Choice is most definitely a book you need to read!  Unlike ABC’s popular reality siblings, however, this first book in Jody Hedlund’s new YA historical fiction series has chivalry and courage and class.  It is blessedly missing any iota of sleaze and instead overflows with lovely romance and a dash of intrigue and suspense. There are plenty of smoldering glances though (be still my heart!) and some literal back-stabbing may also come into play!

I enjoyed several aspects of this story very much – not the least of which were the three knights (and not just for all the smoldering glances and the flirting, thank you). Their close friendships set the stage for the rest of the series, and there’s just something about guys that have each others’ backs no matter what.  Not to mention, I liked all three of them as characters in and of themselves, and I could have lived with any of them being Rosemarie’s choice.  (Ok… not really.  From the very beginning, there was only 1 knight for her as far as I was concerned.  But I think the other two should find nice girls to marry.  I’m sure Jody Hedlund is taking care of that lol.)

Rosemarie started out as a typical 18-year-old… but, you know, medieval and in charge of her own castle-dom. But, she wasn’t as mature as she needed to be, and I appreciated the opportunity to watch her character grow as the story developed. She found her courage – and her spine – eventually, and that’s what counts! As far as other people …there were a couple of characters I never trusted, and a couple of characters that I loved right away.  And while it basically played out the way I thought it would, it took some surprising twists and turns toward the end!

Speaking of twists… the very end? Total cliffhanger for the next book in the series which comes out in 2016.  It in no way takes away from the book or the tying up of this particular story line, but it startled me nonetheless lol.  I may or may not have gasped “Nooooooooo” out loud. (Except yeah I did.) Made me super-excited to read A Daring Sacrifice and see how the knights’ friendships with each other will affect the three of them and even Rosemarie in this next plot and in future books.

Bottom Line: Full of dashing knights, a lady in waiting, and a dastardly villain or two, this book provides a refreshing alternative to some of the YA options currently saturating bookstores. An Uncertain Choice should be the certain choice for anyone – from teens to adults – looking for their next favorite read.

I hereby bestow upon An Uncertain Choice 5 out of 5 stars and bequeath unto it a spot on my favorites shelf! (See what I did there? With the medieval speak? Yeah…ok…I know.)

(I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via BookLook Bloggers in exchange for only my honest review.)

About the Author:

Jody Hedlund is an award-winning and bestselling author of inspirational historical romances for both adults and teens.

As a busy mama-writer, she has the wonderful privilege of teaching her crew of 5 children at home. In between grading math papers and giving spelling tests, she occasionally does a load of laundry and washes dishes. When she’s not busy being a mama, you can find her in front of her laptop working on another of her page-turning stories.

She loves reading almost as much as she loves writing, especially when it also involves chocolate and coffee.

Visit Jody at her website to connect and learn more!