An Uncertain Choice by Jody Hedlund

Lady Rosemarie has resigned herself to life in the convent when she turns eighteen. Her parents made a vow that pledged her to service to God, and she would honor that vow. She desires to be a good leader to her faithful people and believes she can do that from the isolation of the abbey. When a family friend shows up at her home one month before her eighteenth birthday with news that he has found another option for her, Lade Rosemarie struggles with her decision. Move into the abbey and take her vow as a nun or spend the next month with three knights to find out if any of them are her true love and marry them instead. After choosing to allow the knights to court her, Rosemarie is drawn to each of them but one more than the others. Foul play begins to occur at the different celebrations with the nights and even in town with her townspeople, and she begins to doubt her future. Plus, she’s never been in love before so how can she know if she loves one of these men?

I’m not sure what it is about this one but I had a tough time getting into it so I’ll try and hash out what it was that bothered me about the book here. First, I hate it when the description of books isn’t quite right. This was one of them. The whole thing about the knight who is behind the foul play is like half a chapter three quarters of the way through the book. Second, I’m not sure this book should have been labeled young adult (new adult, maybe). The only person in the entire thing is Lady Rosemarie and she has some very adult responsibilities. Every other character is an adult—Lady Rosemarie doesn’t even have a friend or servant her age. Finally, I wasn’t engaged with the book until the accusations started (again three-quarters of the way through). Lady Rosemarie grated on my nerves with the knights at first because she seemed wishy-washy, unable to settle on which knight drew her heart out. The story was predictable—I knew which knight she would choose from the first time she met him, who the villain was, and even had a pretty good inkling of how it would end. Granted, this is Jody Hedlund’s first go at a young adult book (it’s also the first of her books I’ve read so I can’t even compare it to her historical fiction), so perhaps she’ll grow with her readers.

****Booklook Bloggers provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. All opinions expressed are my own.