While the writing was good there was a GREAT deal of the book that was repeated verbatim throughout. This was not enjoyable to me. I really liked the premise of the three choices and seeing the different outcomes and the characterization was good, I just wish the author had taken the time to rephrase those parts of the story that reoccurred. I found myself skipping over the parts I had already read before looking for where things finally started to change.

A Choice of Secrets by Barb Hendee was an engaging read.

It plays out like an intriguing choose your own adventure but, you get to experience all three separate adventures in one story.

At the age of seventeen, Lady Nicole overhears a conversation that pits her loyalty between her most beloved sister, and the man she loves.

Not knowing where to turn or who to ask for help or even if she should, she is left at an impass.

Cue our magic mirror and Nicole’s journey into her potential futures begins. Who will she choose and what decisions will she be able to live the rest of her life with?

Barb Hendee is a wonderful story teller and knows how to pen an exciting tale. Twists and turns abound as Nicole lives through each choice.

This was a page turning read for me. It is not the first book I read in this series and it will not be the last. The premise never gets old. I love living through each decision with our main character while simultaneously trying to guess which outcome she will choose.

There is minor repetition at the beginning of each choice as the scene is set but doesn’t detract from the overall enjoyment of the book.

Although this is a series, in my opinion, they do not need to be read in order but, I must admit that each one MUST be read!

I received an ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own

This was better than the last one. However, this is the first time I didn't agree with the choice. I'm not sure if I was meant to agree because the choice did feel in character for the main character. Yet, I never liked the character well enough to agree with the sacrifices made for her. Still an interesting series that I have to put aside time to read it in one sitting

<b> “Keeping a secret was one thing. Living with it was another.” </b>

Nicole is the youngest daughter of a wealthy lord. She has her older brother Erik, who is a soldier, and her older sister Chloe, who is very friendly and outgoing.

Her father is in need of soldiers and Erik’s closest friend Christophe is in need of a wife. An agreement is made and Chloe will marry Christophe and he will send soldiers to protect her father’s land.

Chloe is in love with Julian, who is living on her fathers lands. Christophe has no affections for Chloe, but is instead drawn to Nicole. When Christophe goes to her father to ask for Nicole’s hand instead of Chloe’s, she is shocked. Christophe has always been a kind friend of her brother’s, and changing the betrothal this close to the wedding would shame Chloe. So she politely rejects him.

Nicole overhears a conversation with Chloe and Julian that Chloe is pregnant. Julian knows if Chloe leaves Christophe for him, he will not get a dowry. So he tells her to marry Christophe and act like the baby is Christophe’s.

Nicole has a choice. She can tell her brother, she can remain silent, or she can tell her whole family.

Nicole was a great character and easy to relate. She’s kind, she loves her family, she loves Christophe as a family friend, and is truly agonized at the choices to be made. No matter who she picks, someone she loves is hurt.

I think what I love about this series is there is never a right choice. I’ve read all four books and only once has the protagonist picked the choice I would make. I wasn’t expecting Nicole to pick the choice she did, but after thinking about it, it did suit her character well.

Each book in this series is better than the last. There is romance, but it doesn’t overpower the story. I would love to see a little more character development in the next books, but it’s interesting to see how each choice affects the character’s personality and not just the plot.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Rebel Base for an ARC of this book. The opinions are mine own.

This book shook me. I've never read anything else from Barb Hendee but I have put more of her books in my TBR. This book was so interesting and not at all what I expected it. It was engaging, fun and honestly the writing is SO beautiful. I felt so close to the MC throughout the whole book and I felt her pain and her joy on each one of the choices.
I'd highly recommend this one to friends and people that would like to find another great author.

I love this series. You would think with there being 3 choices every time that the author would run out of idea's but you would be wrong. You can't help but get sucked in and fall for the characters as you live out each choice. There are some choices I would have blindly made and as I lived it out with the character I learned how disastrous it can be. Choices are everything, what will you choose to do?
This book I was stuck with 2 choices, usually I have one I want to go with at the end even if it doesn't match up with the characters choice, but not with this one. I could easily see myself picking option 2 or 3 and living just fine. You will not regret picking up this series and enjoying the wild ride.

We have Nicole, a happy, carefree not quite 18 year old who is puzzled by her older sister's forthcoming marriage but largely unconcerned. To her way of thinking her beautiful awesome older sister is a catch and Christophe - family friend and neighbor - is the best. Heck Nicole is even content with the notion she'll likely never marry and care for her parents in their old age while being a spinster aunt to her nieces and nephews. As she puts it "[she is] a daughter of White Deer Lodge" and everything that entails.

When I say this girl is happy with her life and future I quite mean it.

Unfortunately drama must occur and it comes in the form of an indiscreet affair her sister is embroiled in that has the potential to screw everyone's lives up.

Nicole's first choice is to tell her older brother Erik who is besties with Christophe but would certainly do the right thing to solve this issue. That goes as well as you'd expect when you ask a warrior to be subtle.

While the ending works out potentially the best (in terms of how it effects everyone's lives), it does leave Nicole feeling less content with her future life.

Choice 2 is to remain silent. Again this goes as well as you can expect since her sister's lover is a cad, scoundrel and downright cruel. It's okay for a hot second.

In the end a lot turns out better then it could have, mostly because Nicole (once again) puts in a lot of effort to give everyone a better ending.

Choice 3 is Nicole tells the family. Which...does not go as well as one could want. Oh at first it's mostly okay. Like Nicole knows there's not great stuff in the future but that's a LATER issue and one she's pretty certain no one will listen to her about anyhow (she's not wrong). Its also, like in Books 1-3, where she chooses LOVE for herself (though not at first, I'll get into that).

The ending is the best for Nicole since she has a life that she truly enjoys and feels fulfilled by.

Much like Olivia's choices in CROWNS this came down to two things: how much pain could Nicole tolerate for herself versus other people. Truthfully all three endings would give Nicole a measure of fulfillment in life, but it would also cause people she cares about to suffer.

For Nicole there are two people she is constantly, through all three Choices, trying to protect. Chloe, her beloved elder sister who's only real fault is she fell for an unscrupulous cad and Christophe, who she only begins to see in a new light after his desperate confession (one can make the argument she obviously cared for him a great deal more since she catered to his preferences in food and clothing but I digress).

In the 2nd Choice she says to Christophe again and again "She is my SISTER" in regards to why she (more or less) takes Chloe's side. Which I think is the important part here, especially in regards to her chosen path at the end. Nicole is the younger sister, but she is clever, determined and observant. Chloe is skilled at being a Noble Lady, but when push comes to shove she let's her fears overwhelm her innate talents at taking control of a situation. Nicole by contrast is constantly thinking thinking thinking of ways to save everyone or at the least cause the least amount of pain.

I found her choice interesting. I felt for sure she'd go a slightly harder path, but I can understand the compromises she made. They are very in line with her character and the person we see in all three choices.

For Nicole - who in every path did her best to save her sister, save her family and bring Christophe a measure of peace - she has to learn that no one is "one side" or perfect. Not her brother, not Chloe, not Christophe. People are hella complicated.

I feel with her choice she understood that. You have to take the good with the bad - understanding each day comes with it's own sacrifices.