Title: The Choice
Author:  Stella Gray
Publisher/Year:  Stella Gray 11/25/19
Length:  236 Pages
Series:  Arranged #3

Overview

On the day my husband and I committed to each other, I didn’t wear a white dress.

We didn’t exchange rings.

There was no audience or minister to witness our union.

Only the two of us.

We swore to put each other first, to take on the evils our families had perpetuated together. Side by side.

But that was before the past returned to haunt us.

Now everything has changed.

Stefan can’t have both his past and my future.

I can’t ask him to choose.

And neither of us can do what has to be done without the other. It’s an impossible choice, but we’ve run out of time.

My Thoughts

When we were left at the end of book 2, Stefan’s past was paraded in front of his face at a time that could not have been more destructive, with implications that challenged everything that he knew. His father was behind it all, the past and the present and i think that it’s clear to us that there’s no length that he will go to that’s too far.

Anja – the woman that Stefan loved all those years ago is the woman that’s in front of him now. Not only has she come out of hiding, but she’s come with a seven or eight year old son – the perfect age for when she left Stefan. Meaning…Stefan has a child that he didn’t know about. And to add insult to injury, when Stefan was sure that she was running to protect herself, it turns out that she was likely under his nose – because his father had paid her to stay away, and had paid to keep her cared for all these years – waiting for the right moment to bring her and the boy out.

So we spend much of this third installment watching how this has implications on everyone in the plot. What choices can Stefan make that will care for everyone involved. He’s clear to himself that his intentions towards Tori are the same, that she’s the person he loves and the person that he needs, yet Tori being the young girl that she is, she feels that she has to step away. She puts on a brave face for a while of course, but she knows that she has to back away since there’s a family involved now, and she can’t be the one to break it up.

Anja is the pawn in all this – brought back under false pretenses, of course all at the manipulations of Konstantine. Thinking that she has a chance to be with Stefan again, thinking that they will have a happy ending, but that’s not necessarily the case- until a fantastic day at the zoo makes it a possibility.

Throughout this finale to their story, we’re on a roller coaster of emotions. Trying to determine when you’ve fought enough to say that you’ve done all you can and walk away from emotions. Don’t forget the plot to take down the dark side of KZM which is still in play, yet much more challenging now that there are all these other distractions.

Someone in this story dies – hearts are broken and families are torn apart. What we get in addition though is a lead into the next series that i’ve picked up, giving us a glimpse into what could be a new reality for some of our characters and what we hope will be a happy ending. All while enjoying some of the steamiest scenes of this series yet. There’s chemistry that keeps bringing characters together, and at the same time, pulling them apart.

So, on that note, i’m excited to see what comes next in The Sham, another series by our great author and i’ll be back soon im sure with that review. Enjoy!