3.5 stars

When Julie goes home to help her mother, she never knew her life would change in so many ways. When she returns to Wood Violet, her parents Wisconsin resort, Julie has two goals - to help her mother and to heal her marriage after yet another miscarriage. Although Tristan, her husband is with her, his actions speak louder than words. He wants to go back to Chicago where his career is on the rise.

Julie wants to focus on helping at the resort, helping her Mother and becoming reacquainted with old friends, namely Chase her childhood sweetheart. She also becomes acquainted with Margaret, an eighteen-year-old hiding in an old cabin. Margaret has her own reasons for being at the resort. She has a secret which could change things for Julie and her family.

Family is the name of the game here - family secrets, being a family, and helping family are BIG here. So is the emphasis on finding what you want in life, going home, finding a home, and making tough choices. The book also touches on romantic love, friendship, jealousy, betrayal, secrets, ultimatums, caring, hope and starting over.

An enjoyable book from an author I look forward to reading more of in the future. Beautifully written, with just the right amount drama to keep the reader engaged. The characters are likeable, and I was invested in what happened to them. This was a captivating family drama with a couple of twists, turns and revelations.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Julie’s mother has had a stroke, and for weeks her father has said she is doing fine, but when Julie arrives for a weekend at their family’s Wisconsin resort, Wood Violet, she finds that her mother is not doing well and is not mobile. Despite the objections of her husband Tristan, Julie decides to stay and help out with her mother and the business for the summer. When she meets teenage Margaret, who is staying in an abandoned cabin and searching for her biological mother, Julie develops a connection with her. She also reconnects with her old friends, including her ex-boyfriend Chase. But secrets and lies come to the surface. Will it break them all apart?

This is was nice family story about supporting each other in the hard times and what happens when you don’t. Margaret’s search for her mother with Julie’s help is interesting. Julie’s connection to the woods, the cabins, and the area are heartfelt and believable, as is her strong desire to protect her family. However, the character Tristan is quite over the top. There were surprises that were not all that hard to figure out, but all in all this was an enjoyable family story with a touch of mystery and romance. Three and a half stars, rounded up to four.

I received a free copy of this book from Bookouture via Netgalley. My review is voluntary.

This is the first book I’d read by Cynthia Ellingsen. The premise of this book captured my attention and the setting description is beautiful At times it just so happens that a family binds itself together when a deep dark secret is revealed. Well written. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for a honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for providing me me an e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book enabled me to escape; I felt like I was spending a summer vacation in a wooden cabin by the lake. I love when I find a little gem such as this book that ends up surprising me. I could very well picture a movie made out of this story.

It is simple and tells the story of a family going through business challenges and the female protagonist reevaluating her life and marriage. There is love, there is friendship and mystery. Most of all, you get to witness childhood memories.

The author succeeded in setting the location so that it warms your heart and truly makes you escape.

Cute story. Very unexpected!

Choices Are Rarely Clear Cut. Ellingsen does a remarkable job here of showing the tensions between competing choices so many of us face. Spouse vs genetic family. City vs rural. What I wanted to be vs what society made me into. Finding myself vs keeping what I have. And so many more. All within a solid tale ostensibly about a childless married woman trying to help save her family's Dirty Dancing-style wilderness resort... and stumbling across a secret that could bring it all tumbling down. Excellent work layering so many issues into a readable and average ish length (circa 300 page) story. Very much recommended.

This is the first Cynthia Ellingsen book that I’ve read and have now added her to my list of authors to read more.

The book was well written. I enjoyed the storyline as it progressed and the development of the characters. Human emotion was shown as it really exists. Showing both the good and bad sides of people, although not really bad. Just real. Descriptions of the resort and the city were also well done. It was easy to see and hear the scene and in many cases, wish I was there!

Occasionally I would read a sentence that would make me stop and think....
“It also made me wonder how many women gave up their power in the name of love. Tilly had wanted her husband to be happy, so she’d gone along with his vision for their future. I’d done the same with Tristan, for much too long.”... I reread it few times before I carried on. I think this was a turning point for the main character, Julie.
Or this one....
“The darkness of the night surrounded the porch on all sides. I held my mother as tight as I could, leaning into her shoulder and breathing in the strength of her love. I wondered what I had been doing, what I had been thinking, trying to carry this burden on my own. My mother had always been there, waiting for me, to find the way back home.”.... just so good!

A few times in the first half of the book, I jumped paragraphs because of the repetition of details. The story seemed to have stalled for a couple of chapters but maybe it was just me? Maybe I just really wanted to know what happened next. The second half moved along well and kept leaving little bits to make me want to keep reading to find out more.
I was happy with the Julie’s choice of where she wanted to be. Its the choice I hoped she would make. I would’ve like to have seen more about her relationship with Chase developed instead of a paragraph in the epilogue. And what about Chase’s memory box?!? Where is it?!

Overall, it’s a great story about family, emotion, a bit of mystery and how the choices we make shape our lives and that of others.

Much thanks Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me this opportunity and introducing me to another great author!

Julie and her husband Tristan live in Chicago and both spend all of time working at their careers so that they can save for the future but they rarely take time to enjoy life. Julie finally gets home Wood Violet, a 140-acre Wisconsin resort lovingly built by her grandparents and now owned and managed by her parents. Julie and her husband planned to spend the long weekend together to ease the issues they have been having with each other after her miscarriages. When Julie gets to Wood Violet she feels like she is truly home but when she sees her parents, she is very concerned. Her mother had a stroke that her father told her was not serious but when Julie sees her mother, she's very upset. She has some paralysis and seems to have given up on life. Their house is a mess and her father is working constantly to try to get everything taken care of at the resort. At the end of the long weekend, she decides that it's more important to stay with her parents and help than it is to go back to her high pressure job in the city. Tristan leaves angry with her for putting her parents ahead of their marriage. Julie finds out that some of her old friends are staying at the resort and they immediately connect with each other. When they find a young girl living in an abandoned cabin at the resort, they are all concerned. After doing some investigation, Julie finds that Margaret is looking for her birth mother and some of her information pointed to the resort. Julie tries to help her while she is working at the resort trying to help with the financial situation as well as her mother's heath. When she finds some hidden letters, things start to make sense but she knows that bringing it to light will totally change her family dynamics. At the end of the summer, she has to decide whether to go back to Chicago and try to repair her marriage or whether she should stay at Wood Violet where she feels that she can make a difference and do what is important for her life.
This is a well written family story about finding your true home and happiness in what you accomplish in life. The characters feel like old friends. There's love for family, friends and husbands along with a bit of mystery and a beautiful setting. This my first book by this author and I definitely plan to read some of her earlier books.

I loved this book! It was heartwarming and strong. It was exactly what I needed with everything going on in the world! A happy little escape!

3,5 stars
At times it just so happens that a family binds itself together when a deep dark secret is revealed.

Julie, the main protagonist in the book The Choice I Made, does have the light shone upon her as she struggles to reconcile the love of her family home and business and the marriage to her husband. Wood Violet is not only a home Julie has treasured, it is also the business, the exclusive resort her parents own, bequeathed to them by their parents. Her grandfather is still alive, but loves to travel so he is away a lot and Julie's mom and dad are the proprietors.

Tragedy comes in the form of a stroke suffered by Julie's mom. As Julie rushes home to help, she finds her link to her husband becomes more and more tenuous. He wants her back in Chicago by his side and frowns upon her losing her lawyer job to care for her mom. She is torn between her duty to her husband and her love and care for her mother. It's a hard road to travel, but Julie knows where her heart and head lie. Added to that is the fact that Wood Violet is in financial trouble and she feels she needs to do something to assist the place she loves.

Julie becomes involved in the goings on of the business, and one day discovers a runaway living in one of the old dilapidated cabins. The girl, Margaret, is on a mission, that of finding her birth mother, who has a tie to Wood Violet. Some of the present guests of Willow Violet are old friends of Julie's, one of whom was a boyfriend of the past. The attraction is still there between them, but Julie feels duty bound to her husband, even though she realizes that they no longer have what they once did.

Things heat up when Julie finds a number of clues that point to the fact that Margaret does indeed have some sort of connection and as the family pulls together, they find themselves discovering a huge secret that effects the lives of the whole family.

This was a nice family drama and as I started to think about the story, I realized that all families have secrets. It's how they handle those secrets that is the base of family love, comraderie, and the ability to carry on as a unit. Recommended to those who like the interactions of family.

Thank you to Cynthia Ellingsen, Bookouture, and NetGalley for a copy of this story due out on March 10, 2021

When Julie’s mother falls ill, she has no choice but to return to her parents’ Wisconsin resort, Wood Violet, for the summer. Away from the pressures of their corporate jobs in the city, Julie hopes she and husband Tristan can start to heal after another failed pregnancy.

Such a wonderful story to read! I enjoyed the writing of this book! And I'm looking forward to.finding more books by her! I just loved her writing style! The characters were so easily lovable! And fun to read about!

Exhaused from trying to be the wife her husband wants her to be and from the demands of her legal career, Julie heads home to look after her mother who has suffered a stroke. Julie isn’t really in a position to help; she’s suffered two miscarriages, recently started with a new law firm and beginning to have second thoughts about her choice for a husband. Tristan isn’t as supportive as she’d like him to be and can’t understand the importance of family nor the pull of responsibility. Julie’s family owns Wood Violet, a 140-acre Wisconsin resort lovingly started and nurtured by her grandparents. Every thread of Julie’s existence is tied to memories made at Wood Violet; it’s not something she can put on the back burner any longer. Her family needs her. Begrudgingly, Tristan makes a brief appearance at the resort before high-tailing it back to Chicago full of empty promises to return the following weekend. When Julie starts to dig into the financials of the resort, she discovers that her father hasn’t been telling her the truth. Not only that, she discovers that her mother’s recovery is slower than her father reported. In an attempt to familiarize herself with the property, Julie heads out to the cottages at the edge of the property. She is shocked to find an 18 year old run away living in one of the abandoned cabins. The discovery rocks her world. Who is this teen? Why is she here?

Cynthia Ellingsen, a new author for me, is phenomenal! Her writing immediately pulled me into the story and I couldn’t set the book down until I’d finished. I love how she writes offering little pieces of cheese to keep readers interested. Her characters are so authentic and her descriptive setting so vivid, it allows you to feel like you are a guest at the resort. It’s more than a story about a marriage on the rocks, it’s a story about the importance of family and connection. I’ve been thankful for the opportunity of family time and reinforcing the ties that bind during this pandemic. When the chips are down, so does Julie. Family first. I loved reading about a character who dug deep and realized the necessity of being true to herself, and once she’d found her true home, she helped others find theirs as well. It’s also a story about recovery after a stroke and how it affects the victim as well as the caregivers. I hope to be as loving and patient if I ever have to deal with the situation. As I turned over the last page, I was sad to say goodbye to the friends I’d made at Wood Violet. I wasn’t ready to let them go. This will be one of those books that I reach for time and again. Ellingsen is currently writing about two estranged sisters who are brought back together. I’m positive it will be just as engaging a read and can’t wait for more news.

This compelling and emotional read needs to be on your radar come March 10,2021.

Thank you to Cynthia Ellingsen, Bookouture, and NetGalley for a phenomenal advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book I’d read by Cynthia Ellingsen. The premise of this book captured my attention and the setting description is beautiful. It reminded me very much of the resort from Dirty Dancing which I loved. I want to visit!

We are introduced to Julie, a successful lawyer in the city, who returns home to her family’s holiday resort after her mother unexpectedly falls ill. Little does she know that this trip has the power to change her life completely and show her what really is important in life. Burned out from her all consuming city job and realising how much she has missed her family, she decides to spend the summer at her families holiday resort and slow down a little. Well slowing down isn’t quite in the plan life has for Julie as she navigates being miles away from her husband not to mention the distance already between them, the challenge running a large and successful business entails, the appearance of your first love coming to terms with his own issues. And who exactly is the beautiful strange young girl in the woods??

I found the book to be a lovely, easy read that just kept me turning the pages. I couldn’t put it down and finished it in a day! The story flowed really well and the characters were relatable, yet not without flaws.

Although there are several sensitive and heartbreaking issues covered in the book, it ultimately feels like a warm hug and highlights the importance of family, old friends, kindness, love and difficult decisions.

I will definitely seek out more of Cynthias previous novels now and in the future.

Thank you to the publisher Bookouture and NetGalley for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book reflects the effects of many interwoven choices (and multigenerational secrets) in the constellation of characters. I found the book both engaging and thought-provoking.

Julie and her husband, Tristan, have high-powered careers based in Chicago. When Julie returns home to Wood Violet, the family’s beloved Wisconsin resort, she finds that her mother’s recovery from a stroke is much slower than her father had led her to believe and the resort itself is on a shaky financial footing. This is all compounded by the discovery of an enigmatic eighteen year old runaway in one of the abandoned cabins on the property. As the summer unfolds, Julie becomes more and more conflicted in her determining where she belongs – does she stay committed to her marriage to someone who at best can be described as both ambitious and selfish and to her increasingly unsatisfactory profession as an lawyer or does she stay at the resort among family and friends to support her parents, solve the mystery of the young runaway, and help turn the financial tide of the business she loves?

I enjoyed the storyline and liked the character development. Julie is both admirable as well as frustrating as she struggles between telling the truth and protecting those she loves. Tristan, while a bit of a cliché, is portrayed as an emotionally volatile spouse who expects absolute fealty to his life goals. He is not really evil, but he epitomizes someone out to prove his value, even at the expense of his wife’s feelings and well-being. I appreciated the author’s honesty in dealing with one character’s reprehensible behavior; there was no sugar-coating a decision from the past that dramatically impacted many lives and left the family in shock.

Overall, this is an entertaining story that addresses issues of love, grief, betrayal, truth and honoring oneself.

My thanks to the author, Bookouture, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing a digital ARC in exchange for an independent, honest review.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

Life is a sequence of choices. Sometimes wisdom arrives in time.
Julie's finally back at home, after her mother's sudden illness. The idea of leaving her personal life and career in Chicago becomes more bearable once she set foot on her family's beloved resort. There, she'll find the joy of being with some of her childhood friends and some interesting development about the business. But, will her marriage and career survive the decision?
This is an interesting story, and the author guided the readers pretty well through different stages. The characters are absolutely lovable and the pace is good. I enjoyed the reading.
Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.