The Choice I Made

“Phenomenal! Immediately pulled me into the story and I couldn’t set the book down until I’d finished… This will be one of those books that I reach for time and again.” Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I don’t know what I’d expected to find. Pictures of her mother, maybe, or a locket. Instead, there was a letter. My breath came fast as I read the first few sentences… 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 city life, Julie also hopes the trip will give her and husband Tristan the chance to heal after the heartbreak of another miscarriage. Back home, surrounded by nature and old friends, Julie starts to feel a sense of calm she’d thought she’d lost forever. But her fragile peace is shattered when she stumbles upon an eighteen-year-old girl hiding out in an abandoned cabin. The girl, Margaret, seems lost in the world and Julie wants to help her. But when she finds the letters in her backpack, Julie realizes she isn’t telling the whole truth about why she’s here. And if Margaret finds what she’s looking for, it could expose a long-buried secret that could destroy Julie’s family’s reputation and tear all their lives apart… A beautiful and emotional story about love, betrayal and finding your true home, from the bestselling author of The Lighthouse Keeper. Fans of Mary Ellen Taylor, Barbara O’Neal and This is Not How it Ends will adore Cynthia Ellingsen’s captivating novel. What readers are saying about The Choice I Made: “Kept me turning the pages… I couldn’t put it down and finished it in a day!… feels like a warm hug.” Goodreads reviewer “Such a beautiful and emotional story… completely captured my heart and my sense of adventure.” Berit Talks Books “Hooked from the first page… I found myself wanting to read faster and know what happens next.” The Writer’s Workout “Will tug at readers’ heartstrings and make them laugh and cry… a stirring tale of love, loss and loyalty that manages to be life-affirming, heart-breaking and uplifting at the same time.” Bookish Jottings “Filled with memorable characters… I barely could put it down… There are plenty of twists and turns and the reader is pulled this way and that.” On the Shelf Books “The characters were so easy to relate to and the setting was beautiful… helped take me away like a book should… One of the best books I've read so far in 2021.” Book Dreamer, 5 stars “Terrific… I didn’t want to stop reading…The characters are so real I felt like I really got to know them.” The Book Lover’s Boudoir “Captivating… compulsive… packed full of emotion… all set against an exquisite rural backdrop.” Avid Reader’s Retreat “The characters feel like old friends. There's love for family, friends and husbands along with a bit of mystery and a beautiful setting.” Nicki’s Book Blog, 5 stars “I could very well picture a movie made out of this story… warms your heart and truly makes you escape.” Goodreads reviewer “I loved this book! It was heartwarming… exactly what I needed with everything going on in the world!” @aliciagoeser “Such a wonderful story to read!!” @oh.happy.reading

The choice I made when I was twenty-three is about a young man's becoming of age story. It's about overcoming battles with identity, sexuality and spirituality. At age twenty-three Mark faces his secrets, pain and anger from the past and announces to his parents that he is gay. After his announcement he begins feeling empty and desperate once again searching for help and answers. One day in his room he receives help in a way he least expected. Mark perseveres through some of his hardest moments in life eventually marrying his true love. Through it all he realizes that everything people do, become, and achieve all starts with the power of a choice. Here is Mark's story of hope to those who have ever wondered who am I? What am I here for? And how one choice can put you in a brand new direction that will change your life forever.

Whether we're buying a pair of jeans, ordering a cup of coffee, selecting a long-distance carrier, applying to college, choosing a doctor, or setting up a 401(k), everyday decisions—both big and small—have become increasingly complex due to the overwhelming abundance of choice with which we are presented. As Americans, we assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. But beware of excessive choice: choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you even make them, it can set you up for unrealistically high expectations, and it can make you blame yourself for any and all failures. In the long run, this can lead to decision-making paralysis, anxiety, and perpetual stress. And, in a culture that tells us that there is no excuse for falling short of perfection when your options are limitless, too much choice can lead to clinical depression. In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz explains at what point choice—the hallmark of individual freedom and self-determination that we so cherish—becomes detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being. In accessible, engaging, and anecdotal prose, Schwartz shows how the dramatic explosion in choice—from the mundane to the profound challenges of balancing career, family, and individual needs—has paradoxically become a problem instead of a solution. Schwartz also shows how our obsession with choice encourages us to seek that which makes us feel worse. By synthesizing current research in the social sciences, Schwartz makes the counter intuitive case that eliminating choices can greatly reduce the stress, anxiety, and busyness of our lives. He offers eleven practical steps on how to limit choices to a manageable number, have the discipline to focus on those that are important and ignore the rest, and ultimately derive greater satisfaction from the choices you have to make.

Revised edition of the best-selling memoir that has been read by over a million people worldwide with translations in 29 languages. After too many years of unfulfilling work, Bronnie Ware began searching for a job with heart. Despite having no formal qualifications or previous experience in the field, she found herself working in palliative care. During the time she spent tending to those who were dying, Bronnie's life was transformed. Later, she wrote an Internet blog post, outlining the most common regrets that the people she had cared for had expressed. The post gained so much momentum that it was viewed by more than three million readers worldwide in its first year. At the request of many, Bronnie subsequently wrote a book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, to share her story. Bronnie has had a colourful and diverse life. By applying the lessons of those nearing their death to her own life, she developed an understanding that it is possible for everyone, if we make the right choices, to die with peace of mind. In this revised edition of the best-selling memoir that has been read by over a million people worldwide, with translations in 29 languages, Bronnie expresses how significant these regrets are and how we can positively address these issues while we still have the time. The Top Five Regrets of the Dying gives hope for a better world. It is a courageous, life-changing book that will leave you feeling more compassionate and inspired to live the life you are truly here to live.

“An intense snapshot of the chain reaction caused by pulling a trigger.” —Booklist (starred review) “Astonishing.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “A tour de force.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) A Newbery Honor Book A Coretta Scott King Honor Book A Printz Honor Book A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner for Young Adult Literature Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award An Edgar Award Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner An Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of 2017 A Vulture Best YA Book of 2017 A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of 2017 An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds’s electrifying novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother. A cannon. A strap. A piece. A biscuit. A burner. A heater. A chopper. A gat. A hammer A tool for RULE Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he? As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator? Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES. And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if Will gets off that elevator. Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.

From cradle to grave, the most common act of man is choice making. We take decision everyday for better livelihood. Every student has choice of career to make. Career is who you are and what you can still be able to do. In this book, choice of career is explained with clarity and guiding questions into a definite outcome that will save you from the effects of your unguided decisions due to corrupt environment, parents’ wishes, peer groups, available institutions and detail of courses to study. As a student seeking guidance on choice of career, solemnly read through this book for timely and timeless treasure of good decision that will save and solve your generational issues. It also contains 96 successful career profiles. Happy reading!

This updated edition is radically changed from the original and will be much appreciated by thinkers within economics. Boland is back.