Choice

by Rachel Medhurst

It all started when he came into my life. I was robbing a shop with my mates cos we were piss poor and there he was, watching us go about our business as if we were shopping, or something. He told me that I had a choice, but what would he bloody know? My mum had stopped taking her meds and I came home to find her off her rocker. Carting her off to the looney bin wasn't something I enjoyed doing. My mates were my family and I'd never do anything to abandon them. We were gonna get a council house together, if only they'd get a bloody job. I was the only git who worked. That's where he found me. The weirdo with dark cropped hair and blue eyes. His name was Scott. The goody two shoes kept talking to me about having the choice to change my life, but he had no idea.

144 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2014

About the author

Rachel Medhurst grew up in a small village in Surrey, England. She writes to inspire and heal. She lives in the British countryside with her dog. If she’s not writing, she can be found walking in nature and reading. For more information about current projects, including her short story dystopian series, Avoidables, please check out her website.

Reviews

[Chrissi Sepe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was immediately drawn into "Choice" by lead character, Nat's, down-to-earth, wisecracking voice. When the book opens, she and her friends, Tiff, Tommy and Jack, are robbing a shop for cigarettes and liquor. However, this is not something out of the ordinary, as these down-and-out, young adults have been getting into trouble together for years. They consider themselves a family who always have each other's backs. That is until Nat meets Scott who holds the door open for her as she tries to flee during the robbery. "You have a choice," he says. I love how Medhurst immediately introduces the title of the book so early in the story. These words hang in the air as Nat tries to make sense of this stranger who she finds both attractive and mysterious yet also nosy and annoying.

Nat returns home and finds out her mother has just gotten engaged to Richard who Nat doesn't care for at all. I literally laughed out loud as Nat lets us in on her thoughts as the scene unfolds. Her mom is acting strangely, and Nat believes her mom is suffering a mental breakdown similar to ones she's had in the past but which Richard has not yet witnessed: "My mum had tears hovering in her eyes, and Richard, yes...he really is a Dick...didn't look amused...Tempted to tell Dick to stop being a dick and ring an ambulance." Then, by accident, Nat addresses him that way: "Dick, I mean, Richard..." I found this whole scene very funny.

Nat works at a cafe and is on her lunch break, drinking a hot chocolate with a double shot of mint, when Scott shows up. As they chat, she feels herself slowly being drawn in by this "weirdo," as she calls him, but she doesn't think she should be because he is so different from Tommy and Jack who are always getting into fights with people and are even prone to bullying their "sisters," Nat and Tiff. It irks her that Scott is so judgmental of her life and how he seems to think he knows what she needs to do with it: "You chose to rob a shop," he says. "You choose to work here every day. You choose to be the parent to your mum."

What I particularly liked about "Choice" is its unpredictability. We can guess that Nat and Scott may wind up as a couple, but we don't know for sure. We don't even know if Scott is just being kindhearted or if he is indeed attracted to her. That's what makes the buildup to their first kiss so much more exciting. Medhurst's book is full of surprises right up to its shocking conclusion. I enjoyed every minute of it and couldn't put my Kindle down. An excellent read!

[Patricia Huffman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a stand alone book, by an author I really enjoy. I wasn't sure what to expect, maybe a guardian angel. Instead it is a weird story, that basically comes down to some strange guy takes it into his head to help out a young (18ish) girl he sees headed down a wrong path. "You have a choice". I personally think this expression and way of thinking are a bit trite. Yes we have a choice how we respond to things, but you know what some times people get dealt a bad hand. And sometime no matter how hard you work to change your life not much changes, but we all do have a choice.
SO I hung in there until the end. And was extremely disappointed. I knew the book only had like 5 pages left but still finished it thinking they must have forgotten to put the last part of the book in.
Huh? That's it?
I really wanted to like this book, and it has some good messages but overall, I was disappointed and felt I could have spent my time reading other things.
**Note: altered to remove spoiler.