An Uncertain Choice


An Uncertain Choice
Jody Hedlund
Zondervan

The first book in a new YA historical fiction series from bestselling author Jody Hedlund.
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.
   Ah, knights, castles, princesses, and dungeons. Who doesn't love them? With this in mind, I couldn't help but be interested when I saw this book first advertised. 

    However, now that I've read it, I have a lot of mixed feelings. First off, it took me a REALLY long time to get into it. The first 100 or so pages seemed to go on forever and nothing really seemed to be happening. If the story had been better then the somewhat cliché dialogue wouldn't have been so bad; if the dialogue had been better the story would have worked. Alas, with both of these lacking, I had a hard time being interested.

    I will fully admit that the latter half of the book was much better and more exciting, but even so, I felt like this was a book that was aimed at more of a middle-grade age group. Or would have been, had the romance been less heavy/central to the plot and the the medieval torture a bit more restrained. (That surprised me, as the book's writing style seemed written to an age group younger than YA, yet the torture was much more prominent than I really think is appropriate for that age.)

    One thing I will say that I liked was the friendship between the three suitors, and I wish I could have seen more of it. Quite frankly, I probably would have liked the book better had it been about the three of them off having adventures! :)

    Overall, while I think An Uncertain Choice ultimately shows a positive romantic relationship for teen girls as opposed to the other stuff out in the world today, I'm still a bit muddled on the intended age group target. While the content levels make it seem like it's supposed to be for teens, the writing style itself seemed younger and that made it harder for me to get into. Still, I didn't hate it, and depending on the synopsis for the next book, I might try reading that one to see if the series gets better.

 Rating: 6
I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Comments

  1. RissiMarch 16, 2015 at 3:59 PM

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Hayden. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. English LadyMarch 25, 2015 at 5:55 AM

    I felt the torture was really overdone as well- but I also believed it was not very historically accurate.
    The methods of torture highlighted in this book were never used for punishing the offenses commited that I am aware of, and it was not nearly as common or widespread as Hollywood or novels makd out.

    ReplyDelete
  3. HaydenMarch 25, 2015 at 10:19 AM

    Medieval Girl: I'm not a medieval expert, but I did find it odd how extreme the torture was for some rather small offenses....It's good to know that part wasn't accurate!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. English LadyMarch 25, 2015 at 4:17 PM

      Yes, to my knowledge (based mainly on Britain), torture was only ever used for the most extreme of offenses, like High treason and heresy.
      The penalty for stealing was usually only something like a fine, a flogging or the like- maybe hanging, but not all the time- certainly not torture. Only the forest laws could be a little on the extreme side when it came to that type of thing
      Still....you don't want a history lesson I am sure!

      Its sad that so much of what is considered to constitute 'realism' in historical fiction might not be realistic at all......

      Delete

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