{"id":30711,"date":"2018-03-01T12:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T17:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=30711"},"modified":"2018-03-08T09:47:16","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T14:47:16","slug":"review-the-choices-ive-made-by-the-bay-1-by-j-l-berg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=30711","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Choices I’ve Made (By the Bay, #1) by J.L Berg"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a>
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Review<\/b><\/h4>\n

3.5 stars<\/b><\/p>\n

This was a really sweet read. A heartfelt and surprising second-chance-romance, and a story of soulmates finding their way back to each other.<\/p>\n

Jake Jameson is a doctor who is returning to his small home town \u2013 the island of Ocracoke in North Carolina \u2013 following the death of his father. They didn\u2019t have the best of relationships, but his father left him the medical practice that he ran on the island, and though he has no intention of staying put in the town that he escaped as a teenager, he is visiting for the funeral and to get things in order so that he can leave again. But returning home means that he is returning to the place where he broke the heart of the only girl he ever loved.<\/p>\n

Molly McIntyre is an Ocracoke girl through and through. She grew up on the island, and now runs her family\u2019s inn. She grew up with Jake, and the two of them started dating in high school. They were each other\u2019s first everything, and they fell in deep, all-consuming love, becoming each other\u2019s soul mates and knowing they would be together forever. That was all shattered when Jake left. Molly has tried to move on with her life, and though on the surface she\u2019s done exactly that, the reality is not that simple.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been 12 years since Jake and Molly have seen each other. They are both in completely different stages in their lives from where they once were, but their deep feelings for each other are still very much alive \u2013 just buried under grief, guilt, anger and confusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried, Molly. God, how I tried.\u201d
\n\u201cTried what?\u201d I asked, pinching the bridge of my nose.
\n\u201cI tried to forget you. But I never could. I tried to forget this place and all it represented, but the memories never faded. You never faded.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s a whole heap of emotion between Jake and Molly, and their coming together was never going to be easy, but as they wade their way through their complicated feelings, they discover that their feelings for each other were as intense as they ever were, and they blissfully and passionately succumb to the inevitable.<\/p>\n

In all my life, this girl\u2014this woman\u2014was always my one weakness, even after a decade apart.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But as Jake finally begins to deal with the demons of his past, and Molly starts to recognise that things in her life aren\u2019t as idyllic as she once believed, they will both need to examine where their life choices have brought them, what they want from the future, and then figure out how to get it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an emotional ride for Jake and Molly, and I loved the chemistry, the fun moments, the sweet moments, and the swoony romance. And while I figured I knew what to expect going in, there is some is unpredictability about the story \u2013 though honestly I\u2019m still unsure how I feel about it. It wasn\u2019t the mega-swoonfest that I was hoping for, but it was still a realistic, heartfelt love story, and I liked how functional Jake and Molly were in sorting through their issues and finding their way forward.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m looking forward to reading Dean\u2019s book up next.<\/p>\n

3.5 stars.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By the Bay<\/strong><\/h4>\n

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The Choices I’ve Made (#1) <\/strong>(Jake & Molly)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The Scars I Bare (#2) <\/strong>(Dean & Cora)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

The Lies I’ve Told (#3) <\/strong>(Aiden & Millie)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

The Mistakes I’ve Made (#4) <\/strong>(Taylor & Lani)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

The Secrets We Keep (#5) <\/strong>(Macon & Marin)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bridges I’ve Burned (#6) <\/strong>(Zander & Elena)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback Review 3.5 stars This was a really sweet read. A heartfelt and surprising second-chance-romance, and a story of soulmates finding their way back to each other. Jake Jameson is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":3.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Product","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,24,29],"tags":[808,282,48],"class_list":["post-30711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-romance","category-second-chance-romance","category-steamy","tag-by-the-bay","tag-j-l-berg","tag-review"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/The-Choices-Ive-Made.jpg?fit=150%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-7Zl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}